Penguins (W)in!!

The Penguins punched their ticket to Lord Stanley’s postseason dance last night with a 5-2 victory over the Devils in Newark.

Stylistically, it wasn’t our tidiest game of the season. We yielded so many odd-man breaks I began to experience flashbacks to the last couple of years under Mike Sullivan. Still, our Pens prevailed, thanks in no small part to a solid, 19-save effort between the pipes by Stuart Skinner.

Our guys looked a tad rusty at the outset, perhaps the result of three days off in a row. Less than a minute in, Nico Hischier picked Egor Chinakhov’s pocket and sent Timo Meier speeding in on a breakaway. The Pens got a break when Big Ben struck the post to the left of Skinner.

The Devils proceeded to pile up a 5-0 edge in shots on goal while keeping us hemmed in with their speed. Then Kris Letang made a strong play along the wall to pick off a Devils exit pass. In a flash, Tanger passed the puck diagonally to Chinakhov, who promptly fed Bryan Rust in the right circle. Rusty ripped it into the wide-open near-side and past Jake Allen.

First shot, first goal.

The Pens’ lead held up till 9:51 of the second period, when Paul Cotter went forehand to backhand and tied the game on one of those darn breakaways. Just when it appeared the Devils had seized the momentum…WHAM. Or should I say, double WHAM.

Less than two minutes after Cotter’s tally, Erik Karlsson took a pass from Tommy Novak and cruised over the Devils’ line before slipping the puck to Evgeni Malkin cutting toward the net. Geno nudged the puck ahead to Novak, who whipped the biscuit past Allen high glove side.

Nine seconds later, Chinakhov made it 3-1 when he chased down a rolling puck and again beat Allen glove side.

The camera quickly panned to the Devils’ bench. To a man, they were absolutely stunned.

Still, they struck back minutes later on a goal by Olympic hero Jack Hughes from the high slot. Three-two, and the outcome was still very much in doubt.

Leave it to none other than our Two-Headed Monster to score the decisive goal. Near the seven-minute mark of the third period, Chinakhov gathered in a Ryan Shea corner dump and zipped it out front to Sidney Crosby, who narrowly missed a goal as he cruised past the net. Instead of trying to reload for another shot, Sid had the presence of mind to chip the biscuit to an onrushing Geno, who slipped behind a sprawled Allen and buried it. The absolute joy on Sid’s face as he skated over to embrace his long-time comrade in arms said it all.

Team MVP Karlsson applied the finishing flourish with an empty-netter from downtown Newark with three minutes to play.

Puckpourri

Chinakhov shook off two early giveaways to nab top-star honors with a goal and two assists. He now has an astonishing 18 goals and 36 points in 41 games for the Pens. Meanwhile, Chinny’s old team, the CBJ have managed just 17 goals in their past 10 games. Now imagine if their GM, Don Waddell, had never made that trade. The fortunes of the two teams involved might be dramatically reversed.

Malkin had a goal and a helper to garner second-star honors, not to mention his 60th point for the season. He and Sid have simultaneously registered a dozen 60-point seasons, which happens to be a new NHL record for teammates.

Remarkably, the Pens have scored their most non-shootout goals in a season, 282 to be exact, since 1996-97.

Rust tied his career high in points (65), set last season. He needs one more goal to reach 30. Like a fine wine, he keeps improving with age.

Novak snapped a 12-game, goal-scoring drought with his 16th of the campaign. Tommy has points in three-straight games and four in his last six.

Skinner only faced 21 shots on goal, but several came as a result of odd-man breaks. It was funny to hear so many “Stuuuuuu” chants emanating from the crowd, which was liberally seasoned with black-and-gold fans.

I’m heartened by the fact that Letang seems to have rediscovered his best self. Following some intense and prolonged struggles, Tanger has six assists in his past six games to go with a sparkling plus-7.

Avery Hayes replaced Connor Dewar, out day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

My word, is Hughes dynamic. Jack can flat-out fly. Wonder how he’d stack up in a race with Connor McDavid.

Not only did the Pens (41-22-16, 98 points) clinch a playoff berth, we wrapped up second place in the Metro thanks to a Flyers loss.

It’s always fun, especially after a season like this one, to look back at what you predicted. In my season preview, titled “Predicting Our Penguins(?),” I suggested we might compete for a wild-card spot thanks to our forward depth, tempered by concerns over our goaltending and defense. So I was right…sorta kinda.

Speaking of predictions, I’d like to think I had a big hand in us locking up a playoff spot. In the wake of our 6-2 loss to the Avs on March 24, I boldly and purposefully predicted we’d miss the playoffs, thereby invoking the “Reverse PenguinPoop Curse,” which basically causes the opposite of whatever I predict to come true.

Since then, the Pens have gone 6-1-1 while earning 13 out of a possible 16 points.

Yes, I’m being silly.

I confess, I’m (more than) a little concerned about the Pens’ home-and-home set with the Caps this weekend. Specifically, Tom Wilson. He may have evolved into a goal scorer, not to mention an Olympian, but physically he’s still very much a loose cannon who seems to relish hurting people.

Time to call-up Boko Imama and Joona Koppanen and dress the likes of Kevin Hayes, Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov.