Fans who attended last night’s home opener at PPG Paints Arena were treated (if that’s the right word) to three games in one.
The first dozen minutes or so belonged to the visiting Canadiens, who piled up an early 7-1 shot advantage while snatching the lead at 3:49 of the opening period on a goal by Cole Caufield.
Then our Penguins completely took over the next 30 minutes, knotting the score at 14:07 of the frame on a power-play tally by Evgeni Malkin before overwhelming the Habs on second-period goals by Declan Carlile (0:32), Sam Girard (7:59), Tommy Novak (14:01) and Ben Kindel (15:32).
Happily, it was beginning to feel like Philly all over again. Then Nick Suzuki scored on a backhander at 18:46 of the second to pare our lead to 5-2.
I didn’t feel especially uneasy at the time. I did when Caufield struck for his second goal of the game at 3:31 of the third period. Especially with the Canadiens suddenly pouring over us like milk over a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. I got especially uncomfortable when a would-be Egor Chinakhov tally was overturned on an offside, followed by Chinny’s trip to the penalty box at 16:19.
Although the Habs didn’t cash in on what was essentially an extended 6-on-4 power-play with goalie Jakub Dobeš pulled, it softened us up. Setting the stage for a Chris Kreider marker at 18:52.
Thinking I was the cause of all this bad juju (I’ll explain later), I stopped watching. Surely our boys could hang on for 68 seconds and salt this one away.
WRONG!
Twenty-four ticks later, Ivan Demidov knotted the score at 5-all on a sharp-angle snapper.
When the Canadiens dominated the first minute of overtime, I figured we were toast. Then, to my utter joy and disbelief, Kris Letang circled in the neutral zone and, with Alex Newhook breathing down his neck, slung a spin-o-rama backhand pass to Malkin off the sideboards.
Geno gathered up the puck and burst over the blue line on a 2-on-1. After toying with ex-Pen Mike Matheson, No. 71 fed rush-mate Novak for the OT winner. Mercifully allowing my blood pressure to return to normal, to say nothing of garnering two points for our favorite team.
PUCKPOURRI
Novak (2+1) and Malkin (1+2) paced the Pens’ attack with three points apiece. The former was named first star, the latter third star. From the blue line, Letang and Erik Karlsson each tallied two points.
Between the pipes, Arturs Šilovs was a bit of a mixed bag. He stopped 20 of 25 shots, including three breakaways, but faded down the stretch with the rest of the team. Not sure I trust him at this stage to carry the goaltending load.
With Kindel and Andrei Kuzmenko returning to the lineup, coach Dan Muse juggled his bottom-two lines. Frankly, I was surprised that he broke up the Hendrix Lapierre–Filip Hållander–Ville Koivunen trio that dominated the Flyers.
Lapierre (who picked up an assist) shifted to right wing on the third line. Hållander joined Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte on the fourth line, bumping Elmer Söderblom to the press box. Koivunen likewise was a healthy scratch. Veteran forward David Gustafsson was placed on waivers.
The defensive pairing of Girard and Kaedan Korczak each finished a minus-3.
Mario Lemieux participated in the pregame festivities and drew a rousing ovation from the crowd. It’s always such a special treat to have the big guy in the house!
Does anyone else think we should’ve acquired Kreider as a preventive measure? He’s only scored a gazillion goals against us.
As for that explanation I owe you? When we were up, 5-1, I texted PP colleague Caleb DiNatale and suggested (tongue-in-cheek, of course) that we’re Cup bound. Suzuki struck a short time later to touch off the Habs’ rally.
During overtime, I was just about to text Caleb that we were kaput when Novak potted the OT winner.
Needless to say, the reverse PenguinPoop curse is very much alive.
UP NEXT
The Jets (0-0-1) and old friend Stuart (Stuuu) Skinner visit Monday night. Perhaps we’ll see Sergei Murashov in net for the black-and-gold.
