Penguins Refuse to Lose, Rally Past Canucks

If…and at this stage of the season it’s still a big IF…our Penguins regroup and make the postseason for a 17^th straight year, last night’s exhilarating 5-4 comeback triumph over the Canucks may well serve as the springboard.

Casey DeSmith, the hero of Sunday night’s victory in the desert, simply didn’t have it. The Canucks struck three times within a span of 139 seconds (on five shots) to snatch an early 3-0 lead and send Casey to the bench in favor of journeyman Dustin Tokarski.

Perhaps it was our veteran leadership. Or maybe the boys vowed to win one for Kris Letang, whose father passed away recently. Perhaps the coaches offered a sage word or two.  Whatever the source of inspiration, the Pens simply refused to lose.

The Canucks unwittingly opened the door for our comeback when Curtis Lazar and native son J.T. Miller took overlapping penalties to hand us a 5-on-3 near the nine-minute mark.

Appearing more confident with each passing game, Ty Smith skated in from the left point and delivered a gorgeous no-look pass onto the waiting stick of Evgeni Malkin in the right circle. The big Russian ripped a shot off goalie Spencer Martin’s glove and in.

Next it was Sidney Crosby’s turn. With just over five minutes left in the period and the Pens buzzing like Mike Lange’s bees around Vancouver’s hive, Brian Dumoulin walked into the high slot and angled a perfectly placed shot/pass to Sid, who artfully steered it home.

Incredibly, the Peskies knotted the score at 16:30. Malkin, vastly improved in the faceoff circle, drew the puck back to Jason Zucker at the top of the left circle. The madcap winger let ‘er rip and his knuckling shot banged off the crossbar and in to cap a pulsating period of hockey, not to mention a lively celebration.

The march of the Penguins continued in the second period, albeit with a detour or two. Pierre-Olivier Joseph was hit with a four-minute high-sticking penalty, mercifully mitigated by a phantom tripping call to Elias Pettersson.

In the midst of a monster season, Canucks sniper Bo Horvat somehow missed a wide-open net. Moments later Jan Rutta hounded Ilya Mikheyev into a turnover at the Vancouver line. Malkin scooped up the loose puck and worked a seamless give-and-go with Zucker before burying the return pass.

In a flash of Geno’s wrists the Pens were up 4-3.

However, the aforementioned Pettersson (not to be confused with our “Dragon”) nearly notched the equalizer shorthanded, but was stopped thanks to an incredible toe save by the spread-eagled Tokarski at the post.

The Pens promptly rambled up ice and scored, as Rickard Rakell swept a juicy rebound past the besieged Martin to make it 5-3 in favor of the good guys.

Of course, our boys can never do things the easy way and this game was no exception. After killing off a 5-on-3 late in the second period, Travis Dermott scored at 12:52 of the final frame to make for a tense home stretch.

In the closing minutes, Rutta inexplicably dumped the puck into a corner instead of shooting into an empty net, and Brock Boeser made a tremendous hustling play to sweep away a long, lazy black-and-gold clear miliseconds before it crossed the line.

Naturally, the game ended with a flurry around our net, but Tokarski was up to the task.

Never the way you draw it up on the whiteboard. But we’ll gladly take the two points and run.

Puckpourri

Despite the rocky start, the Pens dominated the stat line. We held the high ground in shot attempts (66-47), shots on goal (36-24), scoring chances (50-25) and high-danger chances (29-13). Faceoffs, too (63 percent).

Malkin was superb, tallying two goals and two assists to earn top-star honors. With his power play tally, Rakell snapped an eight-game goalless drought.

Smith collected two assists and finished a plus-two in 19:45 of ice time. And what can you say about Tokarski? Appearing in his 77^th career NHL game, the former Memorial and Calder Cup winner came off the bench to stop 18 of 19 shots in relief, including several saves of the 10-bell variety.

Rutta’s misadventure reminded me of the late Pens defenseman Bryan Watson. An early incarnation of Mark Friedman, the rambunctious Watson had a breakaway one night while playing for the Capitals. “Bugsy” skated in all alone, cut loose a shot…and missed the net by 30 feet.

Confronted by an exasperated Tom McVie when he returned to the bench, the former penalty king quipped, “Coach, I just couldn’t get my stick out of cross-check.”

Speaking of rambunctious, is it just me or does Zucker have more than a little “Mad” Max Talbot in him? Love his game, his passion and his personality. Wish we had three or four more like him.

On Tap

Next up, the Pens (21-13-6, 48 points) take on the high-flying Jets (26-14-1, 53 points) at PPG Paints Arena on Friday night. Friday the 13^th, for those of you who are superstitious.

We’re presently in sole possession of fifth place in the Metro and the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, one point up on the Islanders.