Following our soul-crushing, come-from-in-front loss to the Islanders on Thursday night, you had to wonder how our Penguins would respond.
Although it wasn’t necessarily one for the highlight reels, we overcame a sluggish start—to say nothing of a determined if banged-up Philly squad—to capture a 5-1 victory yesterday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. A contest that was way more competitive than the final score would indicate.
Sporting four brand-new forward lines, the trickle-down effect of a scary injury to Nick Bonino, we snatched the early lead at 5:52 of the first period on a tally by our dramatically redesigned third line. Rickard Rakell pounced on a loose puck behind the Philly net and nudged it to Drew O’Connor, who chipped it up the wall to Mikael Granlund. The newcomer quickly zipped a picture-perfect pass to Marcus Pettersson high in the zone. The Dragon fired and friend and countryman Rakell directed it home for his first goal in 11 games.
Perhaps lulled into a false sense of comfort, we took our foot off the gas pedal and the Flyers, well-coached by John Tortorella, took over.
Midway through the period, failed Islanders prospect Kieffer Bellows rambled over our blue line and smoked Casey DeSmith from long range. A softie that would make a pee-wee goalie blush. To his credit, Casey shook off the ugly goal and was letter perfect the rest of the way.
Good thing, too, because Philly did have their chances. None better than a laser off a breakaway by speedy Owen Tippett in the closing seconds of the period that DeSmith managed to swat aside with his glove.
The Pens’ power play hasn’t exactly been lighting it up of late. However, we took advantage of a four-minute high-sticking minor assessed to Tyson Foerster early in the second frame. With Tippett incapacitated after blocking a shot and the Pens basically working on a 5-on-3, Jake Guentzel fed Sidney Crosby at the top of the right circle. Reprising his overtime winner against Columbus, Sid blasted the biscuit past Philly netminder Carter Hart to give us a 2-1 lead.
Jeff Carter had a golden opportunity to extend our lead late in the period, but was stoned by Hart on a shorthanded breakaway try. DeSmith returned the favor in the third period, stopping Tippett on a Grade-A power-play chance from the left circle with a fabulous reach-back stick save.
Leave it to Jason Zucker to break the game open. The fiery winger beat Hart on a deflection at 14:24 to provide a little cushion. Guentzel split the uprights with an empty-netter with 1:38 left to play, followed by a bullet of a goal by Granlund in the final minute on a partial breakaway.
No, it wasn’t a thing of beauty. But give our guys credit for turning the page and wrangling the two points. And it’s always great to beat the Flyers.
Puckpourri
Stats-wise, the game was fairly even. According to Natural Stat Trick, we held slight advantages in shot attempts (59-55), scoring chances (28-24) and high-danger chances (13-8). Shots on goal were dead-even at 32-apiece.
DeSmith, who earned top-star billing, is on a nice little roll. Dating back to his relief appearance against the Oilers on February 23, Casey’s posted a .932 save percentage spanning his last five games. On the unfortunate flip side? Tandem mate Tristan Jarry has an abominable .831 save percentage over his past three starts.
Third star Pettersson collected two assists. Not sure if it’s hidden vigorish or the birth of his son, but the Dragon’s taken flight of late with nine points (1+8) in his past eight games. Overall, our ‘d’ has been much more offensive. Since Valentine’s Day, a 13-game stretch, Jeff Petry has 10 points (2+8) and Kris Letang has nine (3+6).
Jan Rutta and Dmitry Kulikov have the makings of a solid third defensive pairing. Kulikov set up Granlund’s tally with a nice lead pass.
With a Mario-esque 10 goals in his past dozen games, Zucker’s the hottest player in the league this side of Connor McDavid (11 goals during that span.)
It’s taken 2/3rds of the season, but we may have finally stumbled upon an effective third line. The O’Connor-Granlund-Rakell combo looked solid while combining a lot of different elements. Wouldn’t mind swapping out Rakell for Bryan Rust to give Granlund a couple of speedy, north-south options on the wing. But keep an eye on these guys.
Granlund enjoyed a two-point game (1+1). Although his work in the faceoff circle leaves something to be desired (40 percent), his playmaking skills have been quite evident.
In general, the blenderized forward lines performed well. Rust rejoined the top line, while Alex Nylander slotted in on the second line and once again drew kudos for his all-around play. The Carter-Danton Heinen–Josh Archibald unit didn’t dazzle, but didn’t hurt us, either (Corsi of 50).
Congratulations to coach Mike Sullivan on his 400th career win. When asked about it afterwards he was very humble, deflecting credit to his players. I may take our coach to task from time to time (as if I know what I’m talking about). But Sully’s a quality human being, through and through. And despite some rankling tendencies, a pretty darn good coach, too.
Bonino suffered a lacerated kidney against the Islanders (yikes). Bones underwent successful surgery to repair the damage. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.
On Tap
The Pens (33-22-10, 76 points) continue their five-game homestand this afternoon with a matinee square-off against the Rangers (37-19-9, 83 points). Can’t wait to watch!
We’re presently tied with the Islanders for the top Eastern wild-card spot, with three games in hand. The surging Panthers (three points back) lost to Winnipeg last night.
Around the League
Not to suggest he’s a better player, but with 13 points (6+7) since the big Isles-Canucks trade, Anthony Beauvillier has outscored Bo Horvat (5+4). The trade-depleted Canucks are 10-7-2 under old friend Rick Tocchet and have won four in a row.
Checking in on the recently departed, Teddy Blueger has three helpers in five games with Vegas. Kasperi Kapanen’s tallied three points (2+1) in six games since joining the Blues. And Brock McGinn has a goal in three games with the Ducks.
