Less than 24 hours after soft serving a less-than-inspired effort in a loss to the Islanders on Long Island, the Penguins turned the tables on their nettlesome foe last night at PPG Paints Arena.
The result? For the most part, a solid 3-2 victory over the Isles.
Indeed, the Pens did a lot of things right last night. For starters, they grabbed the lead on an early goal by former Islander Anthony Beauvillier and kept ratcheting up the pressure to the tune of 41 shots on goal. The patchwork defense, sans Kris Letang, held up surprisingly well. Following nearly two weeks in cold storage, Alex Nedeljkovic authored a strong 29-save performance between the pipes, including a couple of big stops late in the second period to blunt an Islanders push.
Oh, and Sidney Crosby recorded career assist No. 1034 early in the second period on Michael Bunting’s power-play goal to pass a fellow named Mario Lemieux on the all-time list. Anytime you get anywhere near Mario in anything, let alone pass him…
…to say it’s an enormous achievement is the understatement of the millennium.
Evgeni Malkin notched what proved to be the game-winner on the power play at 6:57 of the third period, a goal originally credited to Philip Tomasino. The ex-Pred settled for a first assist, one of his two helpers on the night.
The Islanders scored both of their goals 6-on-5 with goalie Marcus Hogberg pulled, the first at 12:59 of the third period by who else but Anders Lee and their second at 16:10 by Bo Horvat. Credit coach Patrick Roy for bucking conservative mores and going for it.
Fortunately, the third time wasn’t a charm as our boys survived a late 6-on-5 to secure the two points.
Puckpourri
Bunting tallied a goal and an assist and was arguably the Pens’ best player not named Ned. “Mikey” has four goals and five points in his last three games. Jake Guentzel he’s not (few players are). But when you consider the overall haul Kyle Dubas got for Jake?
Not a bad days’ work.
With Letang shelved due to an unspecified ailment, 26-year-old Nathan Clurman made his NHL debut. The former Notre Dame captain and sixth-round pick of the Avs kept the game simple, registering a hit and four shots on goal in 11:05 of ice time.
“For his first NHL game, I thought he played solid,” Mike Sullivan said. “He made some plays with the puck. He had some real nice plays along the offensive blue line, delivering pucks down to the net. He defended hard. And when he had the puck, he had some poise. He didn’t look anxious with it at all. He looked like he belonged.”
Clurman and partner Ryan Shea also drew praise from color analyst Phil Bourque for their net-front play. Ditto Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who waged a private war with Isles’ star Matt Barzal while logging 24:14 of ice time alongside Ryan Graves.
Speaking of defensemen, Matt Grzelcyk has been playing quietly efficient hockey for some time now. He assisted on Beauvillier’s goal (made the play, really), giving him 11 points (1+10) in his past 13 games. And Erik Karlsson is playing some remarkably stout two-way defense. He’s even killing penalties!
In and Out
The Pens slipped into the second Eastern Conference wild-card slot, albeit briefly. They slipped right out again following Ottawa’s 3-1 win over the Wild.
Up next, the Red Wings on New Year’s Eve in the Motor City.
