Penguins Flip Script, Tame Wild, 4-3

What a difference a couple of days makes in the life of your favorite hockey team. Only 48 hours after suffering arguably the worst and most humiliating defeat of the Sidney Crosby-era, the Penguins flipped the script and bested the Wild, 4-3, at PPG Paints Arena. Our third victory in four games for those who are keeping track of such things.

The game itself seemed an all-too-appropriate representation of what’s been a topsy-turvy season to date. The Pens piled up an early 3-0 lead, then predictably allowed the Wild to tie the score through a series of defensive misadventures before pulling the game out of the fire.

Shaking off the stench from the Toronto debacle, the locals drew first blood at 7:39 of the opening frame. Following up a dump-in by Marcus Pettersson, Valtteri Puustinen came in hard on the forecheck and picked former Pen Alex Goligoski’s pocket before nudging the puck to Reilly Smith. Smitty slashed west-to-east through the slot and toasted former Pen draft pick Filip Gustavsson with a top-shelf backhander for his eighth goal of the campaign.

The Pens struck twice early in the second period. Working on a carryover power play with Zach Bogosian in the box, Crosby set up Erik Karlsson for a blast from the left point. Parked squarely in Gustavsson’s path, Jake Guentzel deflected the puck home just 36 seconds in.

Our next goal was a thing of beauty. Kris Letang absorbed a hard check to move the puck to Pettersson, who in turn fed Puustinen on the rush. Flying down the right side, the wily Finn sold shot, then dished the puck to Evgeni Malkin. Geno banged the puck into a yawning net at the 3:34 mark for a 3-0 lead.

Somehow, you just knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

Amid chants of “Fleury, Fleury,” the Wild pushback began in earnest at 15:06 of the period. The visitors flooded the uncovered right side of our zone, leading to an unfettered snipe by Ryan Hartman from close range.

Just over two minutes later, with our top line bunched in the corner to the left of goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, defenseman Jake Middleton waltzed through the back door unchallenged and beat Ned, again mere feet from the net.

The Wild culminated their comeback at 5:33 of the third period. Jon Merrill unleashed a drive from the left point that deflected in off Vinni Lettieri, who was practically stapled to Nedeljkovic in Patric Hornqvist fashion.

Fortunately, Kirill Kaprizov pulled a Penguin-esque boner when he high-sticked Letang a dozen seconds later. Working with the man-advantage, Malkin fed Guentzel down low. Jake attempted a pass to Crosby in front, but the puck instead clanked off a couple of Wild defenders before making its way back to Sid. Our captain slammed it home to restore a one-goal cushion.

Cue the inevitable black-and-gold largesse. Radim Zohorna was issued a somewhat questionable double-minor for high-sticking Hartman a short time later. However, our PK, bolstered by the return of Noel Acciari, got ‘er done.

Nedeljkovic was air-tight the rest of the way and even added a little drama to the proceedings by attempting to score into an empty Wild net, to no avail.

Puckpourri

The game was fairly even, stats-wise, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Wild had more shot attempts (62-59), while the Pens led in shots on goal (30-27), scoring chances (32-26) and high-danger chances (12-11).

In the hiding-in-plain-sight department, what a difference Puustinen has made. Smart and crafty, he deserves a great deal of credit for reviving our dead-in-the-water power play. With Puusti, we’re 6-for-19, pre-Puusti 7-for-71.

Hate to think about what happens to him when Bryan Rust returns.

Several players returned to the lineup last night. Rickard Rakell (no points, minus-2) joined Sid and Jake on the top line. Acciari centered a surprisingly effective fourth line (74.64 expected goals for percentage) for Jansen Harkins and Jeff Carter. Chad Ruhwedel displaced error-prone Pierre-Olivier Joseph on the third defensive pairing, which enabled John Ludvig to shift to his natural (left) side.

Speaking of defense, Mike Sullivan juggled his top two pairings. Pettersson (two assists) joined Letang, while Karlsson teamed with Ryan Graves (yikes). The latter pair was a combined minus-3.

Starting in Tristan Jarry’s stead, Nedeljkovic turned in a workmanlike effort, stopping 24 of 27 shots.

Typifying the up-is-down and vice versa nature of the season, the Crosby line drove possession (57.14 Corsi) but not the play (39.69 xGF%). Geno’s line drove play (60.94 xGF%) but not possession (33.33 Corsi). The third line of Zohorna, Lars Eller and Drew O’Connor had a rough night on both counts.

There are a lot of things wrong with this team. But I do like our resilience.

On Deck

The Pens (14-13-3, 31 points) host old friend Jordan Staal and Carolina (16-12-3, 35 points) on Thursday night. In a reversal of form, the ‘Canes are scoring goals but struggling to prevent them.

We’re currently three points out of a wild-card spot. We have to do better than the 13 points we’ve garnered in our past 11 games (5-3-3) if we’re to make up ground. A tall order, I fear, for this bunch.