3 takeaways: In much-needed change of pace, Penguins protect a 3rd-period lead

Three takeaways from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-1 victory over Minnesota on Thursday evening at PPG Paints Arena:

A lead protected

The Penguins have offered ample evidence this year — nine exhibits to be exact — suggesting that they are not the most reliable club when it comes to holding leads late in games. That’s the NHL-leading number of games they have lost when in front after two periods of play.

Breaking that down, their four games lost in regulation despite holding a lead entering the third period, in addition to the five overtime losses in such situations, are both tied for most in the league.

At the start of the third period Thursday, the Penguins held a 2-0 advantage, with Kris Letang and Rickard Rakell having found the back of the net on Marc-Andre Fleury to put Pittsburgh up by a pair of goals.

Less than three minutes into the final period, Jason Zucker scored his 27th goal of the season to make the score 3-0, handing the Penguins some extra breathing space.

The Penguins faced a challenge a few minutes later, however, when in the span of 33 seconds, Jeff Petry and Bryan Rust both took penalties to present Minnesota with 1 minute, 27 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play.

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The Wild’s Marcus Johansson promptly scored, ending the penalty assessed to Petry, but that still left 1 minute, 10 seconds-worth of a traditional 5-on-4 power-play.

The 5-on-3 goal proved to be the high-water mark of Minnesota’s threat, with the Penguins killing off the remainder of Rust’s penalty.

“They have a lot of good players,” goalie Tristan Jarry said. “Obviously, (they’re) putting out (their) five best players against three — it’s always tough. We want to put our three best and try to kill it off. They were able to bounce one off of us, and then I thought we did a great job on the 5 on 4. We were able to get clears and fresh guys, and I think that’s what helped us.”

From there, the Penguins (39-30-10) managed to close things out for the rest of the third period. Jeff Carter added in one final goal for good measure near the seven-minute mark, his 13th of the year, setting up the final score of 4-1.

Different defensive duo:

The Penguins got a welcomed reinforcement on the blue line Thursday night in the form of Jan Rutta, who returned to action after missing the past 10 games with an undisclosed ailment.

Unlike fellow defensemen Dmitri Kulikov and Marcus Pettersson, who have also been held out of late due to injuries, Rutta had not been placed on long-term injured reserve.

Rutta went on to see 16 minutes, 54 seconds of ice time against Minnesota in the win, recording three hits, a pair of blocks and a shot on goal.

The 32-year-old’s on-ice partner Thursday was Mark Friedman, who is notable within the Penguins’ corps of defensemen for his ability to play both the left and right side of a given pairing.

Moving defensemen around this season is nothing coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t done before, with several instances of injuries as well as performance-based issues forcing his hand as the year’s gone on.

But Rutta and Friedman made for an interesting pairing. Per Natural Stat Trick, the two had logged just 69 seconds of ice time together before the Wild came to town.

“I just think (Rutta) helps our team when he’s in the lineup and pairing him with (Friedman) tonight, I thought they played a solid game for us,” Sullivan said. “They kept it simple, they defended hard, they took what the game gave them, not trying to do too much and play within themselves. That’s when they’re at their best.”

Rutta’s primary partners this season have been Brian Dumoulin (285:28), P.O Joseph (199:46) and Pettersson (166:07).

Most recently, post-trade deadline, Rutta had been working with Kulikov upon the latter’s acquisition from Anaheim.

Letang’s impressive goal

With a bit over five minutes left in the first period, Sidney Crosby won an offensive zone faceoff.

Jake Guentzel soon took control of the puck and sent it to the left point, where Brian Dumoulin was posted.

After a cross-ice pass to Letang, the Penguins’ alternate captain worked his way down the ice to the edge of the right faceoff circle, firing a wrister that zipped over the left shoulder of Fleury for the opening goal of the game.

“It was a tight angle,” Letang said. “I was looking over to the left for a pass, and I think (Fleury) started to think I was going to pass, but I just put it there and it ended up being a lucky goal for me.”

Having scored a goal on his longtime friend and teammate Fleury, Letang also recorded an assist on Rakell’s goal in the second period that made the score 2-0 in favor of the Penguins.

Through 61 games, Letang has 11 goals and 27 assists. He played 23:35 Thursday, second to only Petry, who logged 24:55.

Letang’s seasonal time-on-ice average of 20:23 per game leads the Penguins.