The Tortoise Beats the Hare: Penguins Overtake Jets in Shootout

Thank God for Tristan Jarry. Seriously.

I wish there was a way to quantify how many wins a goaltender steals for his team. If there were, Jarry would nab the Vezina Trophy, hands-down.

It’s fair to say the Penguins missed their wakeup call for yesterday afternoon’s matinee clash with Winnipeg at PPG Paints Arena, their third game in four days. (Makes you wonder what the NHL schedule-makers are smoking, doesn’t it?) While our guys basically waddled around the ice for the first 30 minutes or so like their Antarctic name sake, the Jets countered with a plethora of 2-on-1s and odd-man breaks. About a month’s worth, by my estimation. With very little help from his lagging teammates, Jarry nearly stopped em’ all.

It reminded me of the days when the Pens routinely left Marc-Andre Fleury to fend for himself, trusting that he’d make the big saves. But I digress.

Adding injury to insult, Teddy Blueger left the game bleeding midway through the first period after having his head crunched into the glass courtesy of old friend Brendan Dillon’s shoulder. Deciding once was not enough, Jets defenseman Nathan Beaulieu performed a similar demo job on Brock McGinn in the final minute of the period. Brian Boyle answered the bell and he got hurt, appearing to injure his shoulder in the scrap.

Sheesh.

Whether the Jets shifted into autopilot or the Pens finally woke up after Kyle Connor struck on the power play midway through the second period to make it 2-0 for the visitors is a matter of conjecture. But the good guys finally started to pick up the pace.

Still, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, no slouch himself, held firm until 6:55 of the third period. That’s when Evgeni Malkin flicked off a shot from the top of the left circle that grazed the left skate of Kasperi Kapanen and slipped in, reinforcing the notion that good things happen when you shoot the puck.

Never let it be said that the Pens don’t possess quick-strike ability. Like a shark sniffing out a bleeding mackerel, we tied the game at 2-2 just nine seconds later when Hellebuyck misplayed a dump-in and bounced a perfect feed off the end boards and onto the waiting stick of Jeff Carter. Doing his best Mario Lemieux imitation, the big guy wired the puck in off Hellebuyck’s right skate from a sharp angle for his 12th goal of the season.

In what proved to be a thrilling overtime, each team had a plethora of Grade-A chances. Jarry made five saves in all, including a brilliant stop on Blake Wheeler with 31 seconds remaining. At the opposite end of the ice Hellebuyck was equally tough, making ten-bell saves on Kris Letang, Mike Matheson and Malkin.

On to the shootout. Sidney Crosby struck for the game winner in the second round, calmly outwaiting Hellebuyck before firing the rubber over the frozen netminder’s glove. Pierre-Luc Dubois missed the net on the Jets’ final attempt, drawing a standing O from the Pens’ partisans and touching off an emotional victory celebration.

Puckpourri

The Pens outshot the Jets, 38-29. The visitors won 57 percent of the faceoffs and outhit us by a whopping 47-19 margin.

Malkin has a four-game point streak. Geno’s tallied points in five of seven games since his return. With eight points in his past nine games (2 goals + 6 assists), Kapanen’s quietly picked up his pace.

Letang’s point streak was snapped at 10 games. The quicksilver defender logged a game-high 28 minutes of ice time and registered four shots on goal. Following an extended hot streak, Evan Rodrigues has fallen into a funk. He’s gone eight games without a point.

The Pens (26-10-5, 57 points) have won five games in a row. Starting with a 4-1 victory over Vancouver on December 4, we’ve gone a scorching hot 16-2. With the win, the black and gold leapfrogged past Carolina (three games in hand) and into second place in the Metro, a single point behind the front-running Rangers. Next up…Phil Kessel and the Coyotes visit the Paint Can on Tuesday night.

Bad Moon Risin’

Zach Aston-Reese sat out yesterday’s game. He’s listed as day-to-day. Goalie Louis Domingue is listed as week-to-week with a foot injury. Which means we’ll need to turn to struggling Casey DeSmith between the pipes at some point. Uh boy.