Shortly after Marcus Pettersson scored on a stunning power move worthy of former great Kevin Stevens (who happened to be in the broadcast booth) to stake our Penguins to a shocking and seemingly insurmountable 4-1 lead over the Panthers, I received a text from PP colleague Caleb DiNatale.
RICK! WHAT’S HAPPENING? Why are we doing so well against a contender?
My answer, or attempt at one, amounted to a textual shrug of the shoulders.
I confessed I didn’t really know why we’d improved so suddenly and dramatically, then suggested it might be due to a combination of factors, all working in harmony.
Mike Sullivan airing the boys out and lighting a fire under our collective behinds at practice, for one. The return of Blake Lizotte from IR for another. Lizotte has replaced Lars Eller at third-line center and injected a desperately needed shot of speed, juice and spirit, to say nothing of offense. It’s no coincidence we’re 7-2-2 with Lizzo in the lineup.
Then there’s the play of newcomer Philip Tomasino (the perfect addition?) and rookie defenseman Owen Pickering. Not to seem harsh, but the fact that Ryan Graves isn’t in the lineup.
Better decision making leading to better team defense. And, dare I say, clutch goaltending.
At any rate, I was thoroughly enjoying the game. Up by three goals with less than 14 minutes to play, and the Panthers appearing tamer than your average house cat. What could go wrong?
As Eminem once rapped, “snap back to reality, there goes gravity.”
In the blink of an eye, we went from buttoned up to buck naked.
Sam Bennett struck from the slot at 6:55 of the third period following a disjointed sequence to make it 4-2.
Uh oh.
Two minutes later, our fourth line failed to clear the zone. While our boys resembled so many tripods on ice, Adam Boqvist beat Tristan Jarry from the slot.
Now I’m getting that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe Sullivan should call a time out.
Moments later, Lizotte gets his stick up on old friend Evan Rodrigues and the Panthers go to work on the power play. Matthew Tkachuk (four points on the night) deflects a shot by Aaron Ekblad off the post, then bangs home the ricochet before Jarry can react.
And just like that, a seemingly secure three-goal lead up in smoke.
Sheesh.
I confess I didn’t hold out much hope for a victory, especially after the game went to overtime. After all, 3-on-3 hockey hasn’t exactly been our domain.
However, 91 seconds in Evgeni Malkin sprang Bryan Rust and Erik Karlsson on a 2-on-1. Using EK65 as a decoy, Rusty sailed into the right circle and let ‘er rip, beating Panthers goalie Spencer Knight high glove side for the winner.
Puckpourri
The Panthers dominated statistically, outshooting us by a whopping margin of 41-16. However, the Pens reminded me of the Barry Trotz-era Islanders, patient and opportunistic, which IMHO is the way we need to play in order to be successful.
Pickering, Malkin and Kris Letang tallied our first three goals. Geno (a goal and an assist) and Lizotte (two helpers) paced the attack. Eleven black-and-gold skaters registered at least one point.
Following a flat-line start to the season, Letang seems to have risen from the dead. He has goals in two straight games and pulverized Panthers star Sam Reinhart with a crushing body check near the end of the second period.
I’ll include Jarry in the Lazarus category. He stopped 37 shots, many of the high-danger variety, and absolutely robbed Rodrigues and Aleksander Barkov from close range following a dreadful dead-fish giveaway by Matt Grzelcyk midway through the second.
On the flip side, his Panthers counterpart, Knight, yielded five goals on 16 shots. Good for a crispy .688 save percentage.
Tomasino (an assist) has points in three straight-games. Snakebitten Drew O’Connor (goalless since October 18) has three assists in his past four games.
Late in the game I noticed Rust shaking his right hand and in obvious pain, perhaps after blocking a shot. The fact that he scored the OT winner was both sweet…and unexpected.
Thanks to our four-game winning streak, we’ve departed the Metro cellar and are back in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.
Up next…the skidding and troubled Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
Hey Rick,
A win is a win is a win. There are no style points. However, before you buy your Stanley Cup tickets consider this, 3 of the 4 wins came against opponents back-up Goalie., Cgy and Bos have Sub-500 regulation records, and Fl is 4-5-1 in their last 10 games. Even Van is struggle right now, 5-4-1 in their last 10.
First, I think there are some good players on this roster being wasted by an idiot coach.
Second, I never really thought this team would lose all the rest of their games.
Third, this team had a couple of moderate W streaks last season too and it didn’t matter (other than it helped the friends of Sullivan push to keep the bum).
Fourth, Jarry is worse than the Coach. He still gave up a ton of rebounds (11) and his Sv% for the night was bouyed up from a lot of low danger chances. When it came to the HDC his SV% was 0.786.
I am not jumping on any band wagon yet. Nor will I raise my expectations this week, only to have them dashed by the end of the month or the beginning of the New Year.