Empty Thoughts: Penguins 3, Flames 2 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime win against the Calgary Flames.

Alex Galchenyuk has been exhausted for most of the past two months.

Physically, yes. But more so mentally.

As a former 30-goal scorer and a top pick in an NHL draft (No. 3 overall in 2012), there have been immense expectations of Galchenyuk throughout his career.

Those hopes were amplified five months ago when he was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes as the primary return in a transaction that sent Phil Kessel, a noted two-time Stanley Cup champion, to the desert.

He had failed to live up even the most modest of those expectations.

You didn’t have to look at his bleak statistics to verify that notion.

It was evident with how he worked himself to enervation after seemingly every practice the Penguins have held since he was able-bodied enough to skate following his recovery from an undisclosed injury in October.

In Dallas on Oct. 17, he was one of the last ones off the ice of American Airlines Center as he tested whatever “lower-body” ailment hobbled him.

And in countless sessions at Cranberry or in Uptown, he usually left the rink with other players who usually are designated as healthy scratches.

On Nov. 14 in Newark, N.J., as several of his teammates were about to take the bus to their posh hotel, Galchenyuk lumbered off the ice looking completely drained. He had spent so much time trying to refine his malfunctioning game, he had to catch his breath a few times as he worked his way through a media scrum, trying to explain why he had yet to score a goal.

“I know I need to be better,” he said in Northern New Jersey. “And that’s my mindset.”

Then on Sunday in Cranberry, as his more productive teammates left the ice and scurried off to the lounge or training room or whatever space had a television to watch the Steelers game, Galchenyuk stayed on the rink for upwards of 40 minutes along with forward Teddy Blueger and defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Once again, he left the ice appearing sapped of any energy.

The fact that he had yet to score a goal took a toll on him in more ways than one.

It deeply bothered him that despite his skills, he had as many goals as the team’s goaltenders or healthy scratches. Ever since he returned from injury, his body language suggested a blend of anger and confusion over his futility in scoring.

But more than anything, he was determined to correct it.

So he put in the work. A lot of it.

“We talked about it,” said forward Jared McCann, currently Galchenyuk’s center on the second line. “You can’t really control some things. Pucks hadn’t been bouncing for him or bouncing over his stick and stuff like that in front of the net. What you can control is how hard you work and he’s a good model for that.”

So when he finally got his first goal as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday against the Calgary Flames, he howled in elation along the boards.

“It’s been a while,” Gachenyuk said after Monday’s game. “When it went across the goal line, it was emotions. It was a great feeling. Even a better that we got the win of course.”

Galchenyuk might never score another goal in his NHL career or he could become the Penguins’ next great scoring winger. Or something in between those two extremes.

Regardless of where his offensive goes from here, he’ll never deserve a goal more than the one earned on Monday.

What happened

The Flames opened the scoring at 7:34 of the first period. Taking a pass at the right point, Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson surveyed the offensive zone for a moment and snapped off a pass to the slot for forward Dillon Dube. Turning toward the net, Dube lifted a wrister past kneeling Penguins defenseman Zach Trotman and through the five hole of goaltender Tristan Jarry. Andersson and forward Derek Ryan had assists.

Galchenyuk tied the game at 11:49 of the first. After gaining the offensive zone at the center point, McCann flicked a backhand pass through Ryan to Penguins forward Dominik Kahun on the left wing. Kahun hustled into the left circle and lifted a wrister on net which was rejected by goaltender David Rittich. A rebound caromed to the slot where McCann overskated it but prevented Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie from getting a stick on it. That allowed Galchenyuk to claim it and swat a quick one-timer under Rittich’s left leg for a power-play score. Kahun and McCann netted assists.

A more likely source scored the team’s second goal at 7:14 of the first period. After Penguins forward Brandon Tanev outworked Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin for a puck in the left corner, Galchenyuk claimed it on the half wall and fed a pass to McCann above the left circle. As the Flames provided McCann with an acre of ice and a calendar of time to operate with, McCann gripped and ripped a wrister which glanced off of Andersson’s left leg and sailed past Rittich’s glove. It was McCann’s ninth goal of the season. Galchenyuk had the lone assist.

The Flames responded with a power-play score at 4:51 of the second. Taking a pass in the slot, Flames forward Sean Monahan fired a wrister wide to the left of the cage. The puck hit off the end boards and Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk claimed the rebound then fed a pass back to Monahan in the slot. Monahan was able to hit the net on his second shot attempt and fired a wrister past an out-of-place Jarry. Tkachuk and forward Johnny Gaudreau were credited with assists.

The Penguins claimed a rare — as of late — overtime win. First, they needed a big stop and got one when Gaudreau, one of the NHL’s best individual talents, appeared to fan on a breakaway at the 3:31 mark against Jarry:

A few moments later, Kahun pushed the puck up the right wing boards and pulled up at the offensive blue line, allowing his team a much-needed line change. Circling around in front of the Penguins’ bench, Kahun snapped off a pass to forward Jake Guentzel at center point. Gaining the offensive zone, Guentzel motored to the left circle against Hanifin. Using Hanifin as a screen, Guentzel snapped off a wrister which toasted Rittich’s glove on the far side and hit twine at the 4:04 mark. Assists went to Kahun and defenseman John Marino.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins controlled shots, 38-34.

• McCann led the game with nine shots. That was a career-high for him.

• Defenseman Mark Giordano led the Flames with six shots.

• Hanifin led the game with 25:38 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Defenseman Kris Letang, who returned to the lineup after missing eight games with an undisclosed injury, led the Penguins with 25:37 of ice time on 31 shifts.

• The Flames controlled faceoffs, 37-33 (53%).

• Flames forward Mikael Backlund was 9 for 14 (64%).

• Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin was 13 for 22 (59%).

• Giordano led the game with four blocked shots.

• Forwards Patric Hornqvist, Sam Lafferty, Kahun, Letang, Marino and Trotman each led the Penguins with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins’ last overtime win against the Flames was a 4-3 home victory on March 5, 2018. Justin Schultz scored (off a slick assist from forward Phil Kessel) against Flames goaltender Jon Gillies:

• Galchenyuk is the 528th player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

Randomly speaking

• The Penguins improved to 4-4 in overtime this season. They have played seven overtime games in their past 11 contests.

• Galchenyuk recorded two points for the second time this season. He had two assists in a 7-2 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 5.

• For all the focus on his struggles scoring goals, Galchenyuk had quietly put together a nice stretch of offense with six points (one goal, five assists) in his past six games.

• Marino has a five-game scoring streak.

• Letang logged 3:10 of ice time on the power play and 1:30 on the penalty kill. He also had four shots on six attempts.

• Jarry made 32 saves on 34 shots. In seven games this season he now has a 4-3-0 record along with a 1.82 goals against average and .945 save percentage.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill, which was one of the league’s best to start the season, has given up goals in three consecutive games and is only 10 for 14 over that span (71.4%).

• Brodie returned to the lineup for the first time since he was hospitalized after fainting and lapsing into convulsions during a practice in Calgary on Nov. 14. He logged 24:01 of ice time on 31 shifts and had one shot attempt as well as two blocked shots.

• The Penguins are 8-1-2 against Western Conference foes this season.

• Dube’s goal was his first of the season.

• Flames forward Milan Lucic did this for some reason in the third period:

Coming in ? pic.twitter.com/jEUgiU9vlw

— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) November 26, 2019

• During the game, Flames coach Bill Peters was accused of directing racial slurs at former NHL player Akim Aliu, via Twitter, approximately a decade ago when the two were members of the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs.

Publicly speaking

• Galchenyuk admitted the slump was getting to him:

“Every season, you kind of go through slumps. Last year, I went 17 games. This time was harder because you want to get the first one with the new team. Happy to get it over with.”

• McCann on Galchenyuk finally scoring:

“It’s huge. When you see a guy just work hard every single day, you pull for him every night. We try to give him as much support as possible. Tonight, he was an animal on the puck and luckily, he was able to put one in.”

• Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on Galchenyuk:

“We’re obviously thrilled for him. To get that first one, I think is a bit of relief for him. It’s not a case of a lack of effort with Alex. He works extremely hard. He’s one of our hardest-working guys in practice. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to help us win. … Not only did he score though. I thought he had a good game. He had just a good strong overall game for us.”

• Galchenyuk on the work he put into trying to improve his game:

“It’s always nice to see your hard work pay off. When your game isn’t going and you’re maybe an offensive player, my offense wasn’t there. So I kept working on it. Kept working. Especially coming back from injury. There was a lot of things I needed to get back. The rhythm, my timing and confidence and everything. I just stuck to it in practice and it paid off today.

• McCann lauded the extra work Galchenyuk put in after practices:

“That’s what a professional does. It just goes to show how professional he is. How much he really wanted that first one. … He’s been grinding and it went in.”

• The celebration of Galchenyuk’s goal did not go smoothly according to McCann:

“I think I head-butted him or something like that. Almost knocked his teeth out.

• McCann thought Galchenyuk’s pass on his goal was slick:

“He made an amazing play. He found me in the middle of the ice there and I was just trying to get the puck on net.”

• Sullivan was lukewarm on his team’s play overall:

“(Jarry) was good tonight. I don’t think as a group, it’s been one of our best. For whatever reason, it didn’t seem like we had a lot of jump, especially early in the game. But I give our players a lot of credit because there is going to be nights over the course of an 82-game schedule where you have those kind of nights where it’s a little bit of a struggle. I thought we found a way to stay in the game, to defend hard, to be hard to play against. We battled hard against a pretty good team that played with a lot of urgency. Tristan was big for us. He made some timely saves. He makes the breakaway save in overtime then we go down the other end and score. When you watch the overtimes throughout the course of the league, it just seems that’s what happens. Those timely saves, they help you win games.”

• Sullivan gave an assessment of Letang’s return:

“He was decent. We always throw him right back into the fire and he’s missed a fair amount. He had a decent game. Specifically, in overtime, he’s one of our most important players. Not only does he skate well, he’s got good offensive instincts, he defends hard. But he’s one of those guys that when he gets caught on the ice, he can continue to play. It seems like his energy tank is endless when it comes to those situations. Sometimes, in overtime, you end up getting caught on the ice and you can’t get off. He’s one of the better guys that I’ve seen that can just continue to play with his fitness level and just his energy. It happened tonight in one of the early shifts of the overtime, he got caught out there in our end. He just fights through it, he battles through it. He’s a really important for us in (overtime) specifically.”

• Guentzel gave some love to Kahun for delaying things a bit to set up the overtime goal:

“(Kahun) made a nice play on letting us change, getting me out there. He made a nice pass to me. I just tried to use the (defenseman) as a screen. Glad it went in.”

• McCann suggested Letang’s presence is a boost during overtime play:

“He’s got that deception as a (defenseman) to kind of slow down and speed up really quickly. He catches forwards and (defensemen) on their heels. He was a guy we missed.”

• Sullivan thinks the penalty killing needs some fine tuning:

“There’s things that we have to do a better job at, that we were doing earlier and we’ve gotten away from it a little bit. Some our reads on the entries, we’re duplicating jobs instead of making sure we’re doing our own job. And sometimes, we’re in between on our pressure points. When that happens, usually you give up a pretty quality opportunity. I don’t think we’ve given up a lot of opportunities but the ones we’ve given up are high quality so the conversion rate on them is high. I think a lot of it boils down to details. The other thing is I think we’re taking more penalties as a group than we need to. We’ve got to get back to the discipline that we’ve showed for most of this season.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

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