Empty thoughts: Penguins 3, Canadiens 2 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 win against the Canadiens:

Over the past two months, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has had a standard reply for the query.

No matter how it was asked, Sullivan reply was pretty consistent.

Has Tristan Jarry become the No. 1 goaltender?

Is Tristan Jarry taking over as the top goaltender?

Do you look at Matt Murray as the backup?

Has Tristan Jarry replaced Matt Murray?

This morning, Sullivan was asked by a Montreal reporter if the dynamic between Murray and Jarry - or is it Jarry and Murray? - was a “1A/1B” dynamic.

Sullivan’s reply was predictable.

“We have two really good goalies that are going to give us a chance to win.”

Sullivan has been diplomatic with his public assessment of Murray over the past two months as he has struggled while Jarry has excelled. He’s been eager to laud Jarry but not at Murray’s expense. After all, Murray is still a big part of this franchise.

Saturday night, Murray showed he still has a say in the fortunes of the Penguins as he played arguably his best game in roughly two months.

He wasn’t perfect. He rarely is. But Murray was pretty sturdy the vast majority of the night. And it’s been a while since that could be said.

With his teammates playing a somewhat uncharacteristically sloppy game in allowing several odd-man rushes off of turnovers, Murray had to stand tall with quite a few saves.

The toughest was a breakaway on Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen with 7:44 left in regulation. Towards the end of a power-play opportunity for the Penguins, Lehkonen, got loose on a breakaway chance and tried to tuck in a backhander to complete a hat trick. But Murray snuffed it out to keep the game tied, 2-2.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Murray was tuned in just about all night and validated his coach’s passive defense of him over the past two months.

“He was terrific,” Sullivan said after the game. “He made some big stops. The breakaway (save) he made in the third period was a huge save for us. Those are game-changing saves. He made some big saves at key times for us throughout the course of the game. Matt’s game is trending the right way. His last couple of starts have been pretty solid. Tonight I think was his best. We’re pretty pleased right now. We have two goalies playing pretty well for us.”

What happened

The Canadiens struck first at 8:42 of the first period. After Lehkonen chipped a puck from the neutral zone into the Penguins’ left corner, Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki outraced Penguins defensemen Marcus Pettersson and John Marino for the puck. Once he claimed it, Suzuki veered back up ice and fed a little pass to approaching Canadiens forward Max Domi in the left circle. Domi made a slick little play going forehand to backhand and feathered a pass to Lehkonen in the slot. Taking a moment to adjust, Lehkonen ripped a wrister past Murray’s glove hand for his eighth goal of the season. Domi and Suzuki had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Only 46 seconds later, the Penguins responded. Collecting a puck in front of the penalty box, forward teddy Blueger claimed the puck and gained the offensive zone on the right. Blueger flicked a backhand pass to the slot where forward Zach Aston-Reese took the puck and attacked the net, lifting a forehand shot past goaltender Carey Price’s blocker for this fifth goal of the season. Blueger had the lone assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

A brutal turnover by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang led to Montreal’s second goal at 3:37 of the second period. Controlling a puck in his own left corner, Letang tried to center it to the slot for defenseman Jack Johnson but there wasn’t much velocity on the puck and Lehkonen swiped it, converting it with a forehand shot past Murray’s left leg. There was no assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins tied the game again, 2-2, at 5:24 of the third period. Johnson teed up a slapper from the left point which missed the mark and hit off the end boards. The rebound ricocheted to the right of the cage where forward Bryan Rust was able to corral it and whip it past an out-of-place Price on the near side for his 17th goal. Forward Evgeni Malkin, who apparently tipped Johnson’s shot, and Johnson netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

In overtime, the Penguins claimed victory at the 1:49 mark. After failing to convert an odd-man rush, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev controlled the puck on the Canadiens’ right wall and distributed it to Pettersson in the neutral zone. Suzuki went for a line change on the far end of his bench – which is on the far end of the ice from the defensive zone in overtime – and that allowed the Penguins to create another two-on-one rush as Pettersson fed a pass up the left wing for Blueger. While Canadiens defenseman Marco Scandella took away a potential pass to Tanev, Blueger attacked the net from the left circle, trying to jam a forehand shot by Price’s right skate but was denied. Tanev followed through on the rebound and was able to sneak a forehand shot under Price’s right skate. Officials briefly reviewed the sequence for goaltending interference but the goal was upheld. It was Tanev’s eighth goal. Blueger and Pettersson had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 37-28.

• Forwards Patric Hornqvist, Jared McCann and Malkin each led the game with five shots.

• Forwards Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Domi, Lekhonen and defenseman Cale Fleury each led the Canadiens with three shots.

• Letang led the game with 28:57 of ice time on 34 shifts.

• Defenseman Ben Chiarot led the Canadiens with 26:39 of ice time on 31 shifts.

• The Penguins had a 29-28 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).

• McCann was 9 for 11 (82 percent).

• Canadiens forward Philip Danault was 15 for 27 (56 percent).

• Johnson, Letang, Marino, Chiarot and Scandella each led the game with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Penguins rookie forward Thomas Di Pauli made his NHL debut. He logged 4:16 of ice time on eight shifts and had one shot on one attempt.

• Di Pauli, of Cadaro, Italy, became the second Italian-born player in Penguins history. He joined Nelson Debenedet of Cordeno, Italy.

• There have only been four Italian-born NHLers in league history. The others are current Winnipeg Jets defenseman Luca Sbisa and former Blackhawks defenseman Victor Posa.

• Di Pauli became the second player in franchise history to wear No. 54 for the Penguins. The other was defenseman Alexandre Picard.

• Di Pauli became the sixth former Notre Dame product to play for the Penguins. He was preceded by forwards Riley Sheahan, Tim Wallace and Rust as well as defensemen Mark Eaton and Ian Cole.

• Aston-Reese and Penguins forward Joseph Blandisi each appeared in their 100th career games.

Randomly speaking

• Later in regulation, Penguins coaches moved Dominik Kahun to the first line in place of Alex Galchenyuk and that seemed to spark some chances for that unit.

• Just when it seemed like Galchenyuk was gaining some traction, he takes a step back.

• The power play had no traction going 0 for 4 including a four-on-three sequence for 33 seconds. They even gave up a few short-handed chances.

• The penalty kill was stout going 4 for 4.

• At 14:09 of the first period, Pettersson broke up a chance for Domi with a stiff hip check. Domi didn’t take kindly to it and began to fight Pettersson:

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan lauded the Aston-Reese-Blueger-Tanev line:

“We’ve obviously liked the line. We’ve kept it together here almost all year. They have a unique identity to this team. They get a lot of defensive zone starts. They play against the other team’s top players. They check hard. And they have an offensive dimension to their game. They’re hard to play against. Zach is a guy that is pretty stiff in the battle areas. (Tanev) brings a ton of speed and a physical dimension to his game. And Teddy is just a real cerebral center icemen. We really like that line. That’s why we’ve kept them together.”

• Sullivan was asked about moving Kahun up to the top line:

“We just didn’t think (Malkin’s) line was getting consistent zone time. We didn’t feel like the line … they were the threat that we expect of them. So we tried Dom Kahun up there and we really liked when we made that switch.”

• As warmups started, the Penguins’ veterans pulled the “initiation” tactic of making Di Pauli skate a lap by himself. He appreciated the gesture:

“The lap was cool for sure. Just in the tunnel right before, it hits you that you’re here now. It’s up to me to make the best of this opportunity and show what I can do with my speed.”

• Domi put blame on himself for Tanev’s goal:

“I had a stick on it and I’ve got to win that battle. You’ve got to get under a guy’s stick like that. Just the little details like that where I think we all could be better. That’s an example where I have to be a lot better too.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

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