Empty Thoughts: Penguins 3, Blackhawks 2 (SO)

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 shootout win against the Blackhawks:

First things first, there was no update on forward Sidney Crosby. The Penguins’ captain left the game with 18:09 left in the third period due to an undisclosed injury.

Coach Mike Sullivan suggested there might be an update on Monday (the team is off on Sunday).

Despite losing another important - and expensive player - the Penguins keep finding ways to stage comebacks.

On Saturday, they lost forward Patric Hornqvist but still found a way to come back from a three-goal deficit to claim a lead - which they ultimately surrendered - in Boston on Tuesday.

Despite losing Kris Letang in Boston, they found a way to rally from another three-goal deficit to claim a 4-3 road win against the stingy Islanders on Thursday.

On Saturday, even without Crosby, they overcame another deficit - only two goals this time - to defeat an opponent which had beaten them for 10 consecutive games in a shootout.

“The last two games, we’ve really shown our character, coming back in both games,” goaltender Matt Murray said. “Strong third periods that show a lot of resilience even though both the last two games, the second period definitely didn’t go our way. We didn’t let that deter us. It’s awesome to see.”

What happened

The Blackhawks opened the scoring at 7:09 of the second period. After Penguins forward Jared McCann lost a puck in the offensive zone, Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad, a native of Gibsonia, poked it past defenseman Justin Schultz at the right point and created a three-on-one rush with defenseman Slater Koekoek and forward Dominik Kubalik against Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Saad fed a pass to Koekoek in the high slot and Koekoek one-touched it back to Saad at the left faceoff dot. As Pettersson slid to one knee in hopes of breaking up the sequence, Saad fed a forehand pass around his right skate to the right of the cage where an open Kubalik slammed a forehand shot past the left skate of Murray. Assists went to Saad and Koekoek.

Chicago doubled its lead only 1:38 later. Lugging a puck from his own left circle and up the offensive right wing one-on-one against passive defense from Pettersson, Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane ripped a wrister from the right dot past Murray’s glove hand on the near side. Defenseman Calvin de Haan had the lone assist.

A would-be goal by Penguins forward Dominik Kahun at 11:51 of the second was reviewed at length by off-ice officials but ultimately, the call on the ice of no goal was upheld after officials determined play had been halted due to a Chicago penalty.

The Penguins finally got on the scoreboard at 16:04 of the second. After stealing the puck in the neutral zone, forward Evgeni Malkin roared into the offensive zone on the left wing. Waiting until seemingly the last possible moment, Malkin fed a pass around the stick of Koekoek to the slot where trailing forward Jake Guentzel whacked it past the glove hand of Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford. Malkin was shaken up a bit after colliding with a referee and took a few moments to recover to his skates but eventually returned to the bench with no issue. Assists went to Malkin and McCann.

It was tied, 2-2, at 10:57 of the third. Controlling a puck at the right point, rookie defenseman John Marino displayed uncanny patience and waited for a cross-ice seam to open up. Once it did, he zipped a pass to the left of the cage where forward Bryan Rust lifted a wrister past the right skate of Crawford. Marino and Malkin had assists.

In the shootout, Guentzel tucked a backhander through Crawford’s five hole while McCann ripped a wrister past his blocker. Kane scored the Blackhawks’ lone shootout goal with a forehand shot through Murray’s five hole.

Statistically speaking

• Shots were even, 31-31.

• Penguins forward Alex Galchenyuk led the game with five shots.

• Forward Andrew Shaw led the Blackhawks with four shots.

• Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith led the game with 26:45 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Guentzel led the Penguins with 23:29 of ice time.

• The Blackhawks controlled faceoffs, 29-27 (52 percent).

• Penguins forward Teddy Blueger was 10 for 15 (67 percent) in faceoffs.

• Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews was 14 for 23 (61 percent) in faceoffs.

• de Haan led the game with five blocked shots.

• Marino led the Penguins with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• It had been a long time since the Penguins last beat the Blackhawks.

How long?

Like, Taylor-Pyatt-was-in-the-lineup long.

The Penguins beat the Blackhawks, 4-1, at what was then known as Consol Energy Center on March 30, 2014.

Their lineup that night:

The Penguins' lines and pairs the last time they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks on March 30, 2014: pic.twitter.com/Md5Tlh0e9k

— Seth Rorabaugh (@SethRorabaugh) November 10, 2019

• You may recall that game for a thunderous hit by defenseman Brooks Orpik which injured Toews:

• Having snapped their 10-game losing streak against the Blackhawks, the Penguins’ next longest active losing streak against anyone one team is shared by four teams at two games apiece. That quartet includes the San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights.

• Malkin (1,008 points) surpassed Lanny McDonald (1,006) for 86th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

Randomly speaking

• The Penguins were 0 for 3 on the power play and have failed to score with the man advantage in 11 consecutive games. They have failed to score on 26 consecutive power-play opportunities. Their last such score was by Guentzel in a 7-2 road win against the Winnipeg Jets nearly a month ago on Oct. 13.

• On the flip side of that, the Penguins have killed 14 consecutive opposing power-play chances.

• It didn’t really have much of a bearing on the outcome of this game, but the Penguins had a very strong five-on-three penalty kill early in the second period which lasted an ample 1:34. Making it even more impressive was three of their most regular penalty killers were absent. Brandon Tanev and Jack Johnson were in the penalty box while Rust was off the ice with an equipment issue.

Forwards Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and defenseman Brian Dumoulin limited the Blackhawks to two shots with all that open ice.

• Rust extended his scoring streak to a career-best six games. He has seven points (five goals, two assists) during that span.

• Marino has a career-best three-game scoring streak.

• Murray’s nine wins are tops in the NHL along with Toronto’s Frederik Andersen, Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury and Calgary’s David Rittich.

• Galchenyuk had a fantastic first period with three shots and one drawn penalty. He still needs to start scoring but he’s getting better and better with each game it seems.

• The Penguins are 7-2-1 against Western Conference foes this season.

Publicly speaking

• Losing Crosby for any period of time would clearly be bad as Guentzel explained:

“He’s obviously the best player in the world. So if he’s out, it’s going take commitment by everyone to step up. But we’ll have to see what happens.”

• McCann was succinct in explaining Crosby’s value:

“You can’t replace Sid. He’s one of the best players in the world, if not the best.”

• Sullivan offered some thoughts on the beleaguered power play:

“We obviously haven’t scored in a while We have a lot of good players that have had a lot of success on the power play for a long time. We have a lot of different combinations, we have a lot of guys coming in and out of the lineup. … It’s not one thing. It’s a combination of things. But part of it is, is I think guys are pressing a little bit because they’re trying to make it happen. Somtimes, when you’re trying too hard, you’re not in an instictive mindset. And that’s when our guys are at their best is when they’re in that mindset where they’re just taking what the game gives them and they’re instinctive. We’re trying to encourage them to trust their instincts.”

• One are of concern on the power play is clear for Sullivan:

“The one thing I’ll say is we haven’t had a net presence as consistently in the last handful of games, probably since Patric Hornqvist got hurt. That’s one thing that he brings to our power play that’s important. You have to make it tough on the goalie, you’ve got to take sight lines away, you’ve got to limit his mobility, just by in and around the crease. And I just don’t think we’ve gotten there enough.”

• Guentzel suggested a simple approach to getting the power play to click:

“I don’t know if it’s frustration but we’ve just got to stick with it. We have just got shoot the puck. You’ve got to get back to shooting the puck and break down their coverage and hopefully one will go in that way.”

• Rust broke down Marino’s pass to set up the game-tying goal:

“It was an unbelievable play. I tried to scream as loud as I could but I’m not sure if he heard me because it was pretty loud in there. He made a real good fake, got his head up and made the pass over to me. It was an easy one.

• Sullivan keeps being impressed by Marino:

“He’s a good player and the more he gets a chance to play in NHL games against NHL players with NHL intensity and NHL pace, he gets used to it. Usually, what happens is the game slows down in players’ minds as they get comfortable with the pace of play and how quickly windows of opportunity open and close in the NHL. That’s why it’s a tough jump for a lot of players. He’s just getting better with every game that he plays. He’s getting more confidence with every game that he plays. That was a real nice play he made. Just the puck poise, the vision to see (Rust) on the backside, it was just a terrific play. I just think he’s a real good player. With every day that he’s here, he’s just getting more comfortable.”

• As always, Sullivan is high on Rust:

“The biggest thing (Rust) has shown me since day one of training camp is just a sense of urgency and a certain hunger to his game. When he plays that way, that’s when he’s at his best. He’s done that consistently game in and game out, day in and day out in practice. That’s what I’ve seen since day one of training camp is just that urgency, that hunger, that will to win, that will to succeed. We always talk to our players about being a ‘next effort’ team. It’s not about second effort. It’s about third and fourth and fifth effort. It’s about next effort. (Rust), right now, probably personifies next effort play. He’s like a dog on a bone with the puck. He’s relentless and when he plays like that, he’s hard to play against. And he has scoring touch. He always (had) that. He’s always shown that since he’s been here. Since I’ve been the coach here, he’s scored some really, really big goals in high-stakes environements. He’s always shown an ability to finish. But the biggest thing for me is just that hunger and that willingness to pay the price to win.”

• Murray explained his approach to shootouts versus more typical game situations:

“It’s different. It’s all about patience honestly. That’s what makes a guy like Kane so dangerous is that he’s so patient and his hands are so fast. That’s why he’s probably one of the best in the shootout. You just try to battle and do what you can to make the save.”

• Sullivan is big on Malkin’s decisions ith the puck as of late:

“The biggest thing for me is (Malkin) is doing a better job managing the puck. He’s such a dynamic player offensively. He’s a guy that has a tendency to want to make plays all the time. And sometimes you have to make simple plays. We’re trying to stay out of his way offensively and allow him to act on his instincts. But he’s got to have some dilligence about his game. … He’s doing a much better job of managing the puck. He’s buying in to how we’re trying to play. He’s trying to play a more north-south game even though his instinct sometimes is to play east-west. We’re not trying to change (Malkin). That’s what makes him what he is, that’s what makes him unique. All we’re trying to do is just we’re asking him to meet us half way. And he’s done that.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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