Shark-Bait No More, Penguins Escape with 4-3 Shootout Win

I apologize ahead of time for the brevity and lateness of this recap, especially in the wake of a rare Penguins victory. However, I performed doggy sitting duties for an adorable pitbull named Zeus (aka Bum Bums) last night that resulted in an unexpected sleepover and carryover into the morning.

Given my time constraints, I’m going to do a Dragnet-style summary, as in “Just the facts, ma’am.” Unlike the show, the names haven’t been changed to protect the innocent.

Here goes.

• Fact—The Penguins beat the Sharks, 4-3, in a shootout.
• Fact—The Penguins took a 3-0 lead on goals by Bryan Rust (backhand), Jesse Puljujärvi (wrister) and Sidney Crosby (slap shot).
• Fact—Sid’s goal was No. 599 of his career.
• Fact—The Penguins yielded three-straight goals, two in the third period, to force overtime.
• Fact—The Penguins have trouble protecting leads.
• Fact—The Penguins defense made a lot of mistakes.
• Fact—Alex Nedeljkovic did a decent job covering up (26 saves).
• Fact—The Penguins won the shootout on goals by Crosby, Anthony Beauvillier and Evgeni Malkin.
• Fact—The “Kid Line” of Drew O’Connor, Sam Poulin and Puljujärvi had a Corsi of 60.71 and an xGF% of 52.86 in 5v5 play.
• Fact—The trio were the only black-and-gold forwards to finish with a plus.
• Fact—Mike Sullivan dressed three recent call-ups from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, all age 23 and under (and gave them ice time to boot!)
• Fact—The roof at PPG Paints Arena didn’t cave in as a result. (The ice didn’t melt, either.)
• Fact—Sully scratched the 4.5-million-dollar d-man Ryan Graves (minus-7 on the season).
• Fact—His rookie replacement, Owen Pickering, collected an assist in his first NHL game, putting him one point ahead of Graves in the scoring race.
• Fact—Rookie forward Vasily Ponomarev added speed and jam to the mix.
• Fact—Former Pen Mikael Granlund scored the Sharks’ penultimate goal as well as a shootout goal.
• Fact—Granlund leads the Sharks with 19 points, the same total as Crosby and Malkin.
• Fact—Granlund has more goals (eight) than any Penguin, including Sid, Geno and Erik Karlsson.
• Fact—Granlund has outscored Karlsson 79 points to 67 since the trade, in 14 fewer games.
• Fact—Granlund makes half as much as Karlsson for less term.
• Fact—The Sharks dressed power forward/tough guy Klim Kostin for the first time in three weeks.
• Unfact—Perhaps Sharks GM Mike Grier was showcasing Kostin for Pens GM Kyle Dubas.