The Pittsburgh Penguins trailed the Boston Bruins 3-0 in the second period. Boston had beaten the Penguins four straight, and the Penguins had scored a total of one goal in the last two games against Boston.
Oh, and the Penguins have been one of the worst teams in the league in overtime.
Yet one inspirational goal by Connor Dewar on a spinning backhand led to Anthony Mantha’s breakaway goal 33 seconds later, and another late tying goal by Mantha before Tommy Novak scored the OT winner.
“It’s a good comeback win for us. But I don’t know if I would say it’s a season saver,” cautioned Novak. “I think we’ve got a lot of games left to play, and it’s just a good step in the right direction.”
While Novak may have pumped the brakes on the enormity of the victory, the residual emotions certainly made the third period comeback bigger than the average win.
The sold-out PPG Paints Arena could feel something special happening. The third period buzz became an outright roar that lasted for minutes as the Penguins fought their way off the mat against a defensively stingy team that enjoys coiling around their opponent like a hungry Florida python.
The last time the Penguins overcame a three-goal deficit without Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby was in 2001.
Crosby remains out because of injury, and Malkin served the second of his five-game suspension.
It might not have been a season-saver, but it very well might have been a metamorphic win as the Penguins try to figure out who they are without Crosby, and for another week without Malkin. With an intense smile, one player said to PHN on his way out of the locker room, “I’ll take that f***ing win all day.”
Make no mistake, the Penguins are acutely aware of the gauntlet that awaits them on the coming five-game road trip, but in a flash of excitement and emotion, they found themselves.
Another Pavel Zacha goal scored on blown defensive coverage did not derail the building momentum. Facing what would have been a three-game losing streak with the surging Columbus Blue Jackets quickly catching them, the rising musical score reached its crescendo when Egor Chinakhov caught his fluttering rebound, tapped it over to Novak, who snapped it past Boston goalie Joonas Korpisalo for an invaluable two points.
Just another of the invisible obstacles the Penguins needed to overcome.
“A lot of emotions are involved in this victory. Just coming back–they play pretty tight defensively, so we have to shoot a lot outside of the box and find a way to get inside, get the rebound and score,” said goalie Arturs Silovs. “I think it’s a huge credit to the guys to work hard for it and get rewarded. So yeah, I think it’s a great win for us.”
Silovs’s statistics weren’t great. He stopped 22 of 26, but he kept the Penguins in the game with some tough saves on David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.
And yes, Boston’s third goal directly resulted from his misplay behind the net, but he’s far from the first goalie in a Penguins uniform to have an adventure with the puck.
Compared to their recent haphazard and intermittent performances, the Penguins were well structured and aggressive, but they butted against a pair of immovable forces that have forever bedeviled them.
Until the Penguins broke through them in the third period.
Korpisalo began the game with a career save percentage of .900, but .929 against the Penguins. He made a few tough saves in the first period, but also got help as Noel Acciari hit a pair of posts on glorious scoring chances (in the first minute and last minute of the first period).
Also, the Penguins had to fight through the Boston clog. For 200 feet, coach Marco Sturm’s team takes the middle of the ice. They also fastidiously outnumber opponents in the defensive zone.
“(Boston) is a team that they’re back so much, and they make it hard, and they make it muddy, and they clog up the middle … there’s going to be a level of patience of just staying with it,” coach Dan Muse said. “And, if you’re not getting the types of looks that you want early on, you’ve got to continue. But I do think tonight, it felt like we were getting better chances than we were in the previous games.”
The Penguins were facing their fifth loss in a row to Boston, but made a strong case that they badly outplayed and out-chanced them in each of the last two (1-0 and 2-1 losses), but failed to get the glorious chances.
Sunday, they figured it out … eventually.
Boston controlled the game until Dewar’s backhand that Erik Karlsson couldn’t help but tease.
“Yeah, he’s been working with (Evgeni Malkin) on that one for a while,” Karlsson said to laughter.
After Dewar’s backhand, it seemed the Penguins were a step quicker. They were taller, sharper, and more focused.
The Penguins had first and third-period success with controlled zone entries–good breakouts to the middle-out, creating speed into the zone on the strong side. In the first period, Boston ceded those entries in order to protect the middle.
In the third period, the Penguins used those breakouts and speed to get behind Boston and fight to the middle.
Shea heaped some praise on the Penguins’ fourth line, which is statistically the stingiest line in the NHL and has allowed only eight goals all season.
“(Boston) plays a lockdown neutral zone. It’s pretty effective. I think once we started carrying it and kicking it out wide and made sure guys had speed (we changed the game),” Shea said. “I think we got in trouble when the D held on a little bit too long, and so the forwards are stopped, and we can’t get any forecheck.
“I think that the fourth line tonight–all night, but especially in the third period, (Boston’s) D didn’t really know what hit them. Cookie, Lizzo and Dewey were forechecking like crazy all night, and I think that kind of trickled down the whole bench.”
Against Boston, there are no odd-man rushes, defensive breakdowns, and few uncontested chances. Every puck is a battle. The Penguins did well, but playing without their two best players didn’t help, which made the win even more transformative.
Their effort could not be questioned. Sunday was the first time in the post-Olympic season that their lack of talent was the biggest impediment.
Separating Kris Letang and Sam Girard was clearly a step up for each. Elmer Soderblom filled in well, especially considering he has taken part in exactly zero minutes of Penguins practice.
The Penguins’ third-period comeback showed guts and heart. Against a defensive team, it would have been easy to accept their fate.
The number of defensive miscues remains a problem. The Penguins’ scattered track back was a significant problem.
Muse made several changes. He split Letang and Girard, putting Ryan Shea with Letang. He moved Girard to the third pairing, but scratched Connor Clifton in favor of Ilya Solovyov.
All the changes worked to the Penguins’ benefit.
Without Letang, Girard looked like an NHL defenseman. He was involved in the offensive play without doing so dangerously.
Letang played an angry game. He delivered several open ice hits and threw punches. But Ryan Shea was also able to play his game, leaping through center ice with the puck and pushing the play when available.
Letang was a minus two, but one of those was on Shea, who left his post to join Letang behind the net, and the other was a non-call in which the Penguins bench yelled for a slashing penalty as Shea was prevented from clearing the zone.
