Empty Thoughts: Penguins 3, Avalanche 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 win against the Avalanche.

The Penguins drove the message all offseason about playing with a greater level of hunger and urgency and attentiveness (and every other platitude you can apply to the concept of desire) than what the 2018-19 version of the club displayed.

And they have so far through seven games of the 2019-20 campaign.

It just happens that so much of that “giving-a-you-know-what” has been supplied by players recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over the first few weeks of the season.

That desire to outwork the opposition was clearly on display against the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets over the weekend. But consider the competition.

The Wild appears to be a leading contender for the rights to draft No. 1 overall next summer. And the Jets are the epitome of mediocrity with a .5oo record.

The Avalanche presented a completely different challenge. Entering the contest, Colorado was the NHL’s final undefeated squad. Blessed with a dominant top line including the NHL’s other superstar from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Nathan MacKinnon, as well as running mates Gabriel Landeskog and Miiko Rantanen, the Avalanche averaged a robust 4.4 goals per game before Wednesday.

Yet, it was the Penguins, a squad so decimated by injuries up front — and limited by curious roster decisions on defense — that defenseman Juuso Riikola had to skate on the fourth line, who dictated so much of the flow in this game. They got into a staring contest with the Avalanche and awesome Avalanche blinked just enough for the plucky Penguins to scrape out a victory, their fourth in a row.

So much of that is because of a complete buy-in from the group. And not just the call-ups from the AHL who are trying to keep an NHL paycheck as long as possible. The veterans, the remaining able-bodied ones at least, are meshing so well with the new or young guys.

“When we defend hard, we’re working as a five-man group,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “It’s hard to play hockey when you’re by yourself. You don’t have to work as hard when you have three guys on the puck, two guys on the puck. That’s defending. On offense too. We’re using everybody, we’ve got great movement in the offensive zone and holding onto pucks down there. And (the Avalanche) is a team you don’t want to give the puck too. You need all five guys to do that.”

What happened

The Avalanche struck first 3:16 into the first period. Colorado forward Matt Nieto gained the Penguins’ zone on the left wing and chipped a puck through a few sticks toward the right circle where forward Matt Calvert swatted a one-timer past goaltender Matt Murray’s glove on the near side. Riikola, who didn’t look comfortable or even familiar with his role early on, was late in defending Calvert on the sequence. Assists went to Nieto and former Penguins defenseman Ian Cole.

A brilliant individual effort by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby tied the game at 17:22 of the first period. Chipping a puck off the offensive left wall past Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, Crosby displayed his forehand against Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard then deked the puck to his backhand, spinning Girard into orbit, Driving to the right of the crease, Crosby was able to tuck a backhanded shot past the left skate of sprawling goaltender Philipp Grubauer for his fourth goal of the season. Defenseman Justin Schultz and Pettersson recorded assists.

Forward Jake Guentzel gave the Penguins a 2-1 advantage at the 15:30 mark of the second. After Crosby stole a puck in the neutral zone off a blocked pass attempt by forward Dominik Simon, he gained the offensive zone on the left wing and fed a pass to Guentzel driving up the right wing. Getting a step on Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves, Guentzel went backhand to forehand and flicked a wrister past Grubauer’s blocker on the near side. Assists went to Crosby and Simon.

A turnover allowed the Avalanche to tie the game 2:56 into the third period. Off a faceoff win by Crosby in Colorado’s right circle, Brian Dumoulin fumbled the puck at the right point and “passed” it to Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon just inside the blue line. From the neutral zone, MacKinnon dealt the puck to forward Miiko Rantanen surging up the left wing into the Penguins’ zone. As defenseman Kris Letang awkwardly approached Rantanen, he vacated the slot and allowed Rantanen to chip a centering pass to MacKinnon who walked in alone and toasted Murray’s glove hand with a wrist shot. Rantanen had the lone assist.

In overtime, the Penguins claimed victory. During a four-on-three power play for the Avalanche, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev took a puck at his blue line and, taking advantage of an abundance of unoccupied real estate with only seven skaters present, he embarked on a weaving trek through the neutral zone, into the offensive left circle and toward the Colorado net.

Fending off Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, he pushed a forehand shot toward the cage, which glanced off the left leg of Grubauer then deflected off the stick of backchecking Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and into the net.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 33-28.

• Letang led the game with seven shots.

• MacKinnon led the Avalanche with six shots.

• Letang led the game with 26:40 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• Makar led the Avalanche with 23:53 of ice time on 26 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 41-28 (59 percent).

•Penguins forward Sam Lafferty was 10 for 14 (71 percent).

• Landeskog was 5 for 8 (63 percent).

• Pettersson and Graves each led the game with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins’ last overtime win against the Avalanche was a 1-0 home victory on Dec. 18, 2014. Forward Blake Comeau scored off assists from forward Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Rob Scuderi.

• Tanev became the second player to score a short-handed goal in overtime. The other was Mario Lemieux. The Penguins legend scored in a 7-6 home win against the Boston Bruins at the Civic Arena.

• Justin Schultz (106 points) surpassed forward Craig Simpson (105 points) for 87th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

Randomly speaking

• Play was halted 1:59 into the second period when linesman Michel Cormier tripped and slammed his head into the boards in front of the Penguins’ bench. He laid on his back for several moments as Penguins’ medical personnel attended to him. He was able to leave the ice and retreated down the Penguins’ tunnel with assistance from team staffers. Cormier was held out for the remainder of the game for precautionary reasons according to an NHL spokesperson.

• Crosby scored his 450th career goal and extended his season-opening point-scoring streak to seven games.

• Riikola made his season debut on the left wing of the fourth line as mentioned earlier. In addition to getting beat on the opening goal, he also slid into Murray during the first period and dislodged the net. Given Murray’s history of injuries, it was an anxious moment or two before Murray appeared to be fine. After that, Riikola didn’t have much of an impact one way or another.

• Riikola logged 6:27 of ice time on 11 shifts and was credited with three hits, not including his collision with Murray.

• With Jared McCann sidelined, Sam Lafferty was promoted from the fourth-line right wing to the second line center. In addition to ripping up the faceoff circle, he logged 16:11 of ice time on 28 shifts, including 47 seconds on the penalty kill. He also took one shot on two attempts.

• Forward Dominik Kahun found a way to get on the scoresheet when he took a slashing penalty at 16:55 of the first period. Eventually, he was dropped to the fourth line, and forward Joseph Blandisi was promoted to the second line. In seven games, Kahun has one assist and four penalty minutes.

• On Wednesday, Kahun logged 10:35 of ice time on 17 shifts, a season low. His previous low was 10:49 on 15 shifts during the season opener against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 3.

Publicly speaking

• Crosby on the team’s all-in mentality:

“We’re working together. Anybody that has to defend on their own, you’re going to make mistakes and those guys (the Avalanche) are going to get chances. We understand that. We just want to make teams work for them. Our work ethic has got to be there. If it’s not, we’re a much different team. We all understand that. Guys are really playing the right way and it’s showing up.”

• Letang on slowing down the Avalanche’s forwards:

“Just defend as a unit was the key. We had good high forwards that were able to squeeze the neutral zone and didn’t allow them to come in on us with speed. There’s a lot of pucks that have to be chipped in and you have to work. You never know if you’re going to retrieve it. The fact that they didn’t have control coming into our zone made our job easier.”

• Despite having a four-on-three power play in overtime, the Avalanche only attempted two shots with that opportunity and neither found the net. Sullivan lauded his penalty killers:

“They did a great job. All three of those guys are great penalty killers. They did a really good job and they made a difference in the game. What I loved about it was the reaction on the bench when (Dumoulin) gets the penalty. It’s ‘We’re going to kill this off and go back at them.’ The mindset going out there was I think the proper mindset. These guys, they’re playing hard. They’re making sacrifices, they’re blocking shots, they’re doing all the little things I think that make us hard to play against. That particular penalty kill personifies that.”

• The listing on the scoresheet is curious as Tanev’s goal did not have an assist. Based on the only angle available publicly (thanks NBC), it appears Lafferty pushed the puck up to Tanev before he went through the Avalanche’s defense and scored. Yet, he wasn’t given an assist.

Regardless, Tanev credited Lafferty with getting the puck to him:

“Sam did a good job on the wall clearing that up. I saw some open ice and he was driving the net and just wanted to get one to the net. I was fortunate enough to get a bounce.”

• Crosby on Tanev’s goal:

“The way he works every night, how hard he plays, all those little plays he makes, it’s great for it to show up. To see one go in the back of the net for him, he’s had a ton of chances. He doesn’t get deterred. It wasn’t going in for him and it didn’t change the way he plays. He still plays the same way every night. He’s been a great guy to have and add. It’s a huge goal for us tonight.”

• Pettersson is familiar with how much of a nuisance it is to play against Tanev. Up until the midway point of last season, Pettersson was in the Western Conference with the Anaheim Ducks and regularly faced off against Tanev and the Jets:

“It’s tough. I remember we were playing them in Winnipeg. I didn’t play a lot against the top guys like (Mark) Scheifele and (Blake) Wheeler. I played a lot against (Tanev). When he gets his speed up, it’s so hard to stop him. He can really get up to speed very quick. Very hard to play against.”

• ullivan on Tanev:

“He played a hell of a game. His speed is so evident out there. … He’s physical, he’s hard to play against. I think he gets under our opponent’s skin. He’s just a good player. He relishes that role. I was thrilled for him that he scores in overtime because I thought his whole game tonight was terrific. He defended hard. … For him to score the game-winner was awesome.”

• Sullivan on Crosby’s goal and play:

“I don’t think it ever becomes matter of fact because we appreciate how difficult it is. We have the privilege of watching him night and in and night out. Sometimes, we marvel at what he does out there. Tonight, that goal was one of them. He’s just such a great competitor. He’s got the best 200-foot game in hockey. That’s why he wins the way he does. He’s a great leader. That type of a goal in this type of a game gave our bench such a boost.

“We give up that first goal early. But I love the response on the bench. The energy is so good right now. Guys just believe. They believe we can win, they believe we can come back. Sid’s leadership is the impetus of that.”

• Lafferty was drafted as a center, played that position in college and opened his professional career with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at that position. It wasn’t until this season the organization looked at him on the right wing. He explained the differences in the positions:

“A lot of similarities. The difference is at center, you can kind of keep your speed up a little bit more and come from underneath the play and then a little more down in the (defensive) zone down low. That’s about it.”

• Crosby spoke about facing MacKinnon in a three-on-three scenario:

“It’s not ideal, I’ll tell you that. There’s a lot of other guys I’d rather be going against in three-on-three than him. He’s so powerful and he’s so quick. That much ice, there’s only so much you can do at some point. You just try to angle him and when he’s able to turn it up like that in zone, you need some help. I don’t know if it was (Dumoulin) or (Guentzel) who chipped in there to help back me up, but it was much needed help. I was glad I got their stick there.”

• Sullivan gave an endorsement of Riikola as a left winger:

“He did a good job. It allows us to use him on the second power-play (unit) as well on the point. We think he’s pretty good there. I thought he played well. What made us think that he could play that role is that we’ve watched it in practice a handful of times. He can really skate. And he’s got good sense. We thought we would try it. We thought he played very well.”

• Riikola revealed the plan to potentially use him as a winger wasn’t exclusive to Wednesday’s game:

“I was ready, I was ready. When were (on) the (road) trip, there was the same type of thing. If someone not able to play, then I will be a forward.”

• Sullivan on Lafferty’s play as the No. 2 center:

“Sam played another great game. We’re not asking him to do anything that he doesn’t normally do. Just be the player that he is. He’s playing with a couple of good players. Sam’s got a pretty good north-south game. He can really skate, he’s strong on the puck, he can shoot, he’s conscientious defensively. We’ve been pleasantly surprised with the level of offense that he’s brought. He’s got decent hockey sense, he sees the ice pretty well and he’s chipping in offensively for us. He’s gaining confidence with every game that he plays, as he should, because I think he knows now that not only can he play in this league but he belongs. I’m thrilled for Sam. I thought he had another really strong game tonight.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

• Highlights:

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