Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Avalanche 3 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 win against the Avalanche:

The notion of Bryan Rust scoring key goals isn’t anything new. He established his reputation as “Big Game” Bryan Rust in the 2016 postseason and cemented it in the 2017 postseason by scoring game-winning and series-winning goals.

But that penchant for finding the net almost seemed exclusive to the postseason.

Until this season that is.

Granted, there aren’t many options to score important to goals given the various maladies the Penguins have encountered this season, but Rust’s game has matured so much this season in that he’s scoring goals the Penguins need.

His goal on Friday was of that variety.

The Penguins - or goaltender Matt Murray specifically - allowed a fluky goal near the end of the second period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 lead going into the second intermission.

With his team reeling a bit, Rust comes out of the chute in the third period and scored a game-tying goal which was vital to his team’s momentum. The Penguins could have gone into a tailspin after that ugly goal they allowed at the end of the second period.

Rust will never be as valuable to this team as Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Or even a lesser star like Jake Guentzel. But he’s been so important for this team this season.

He’s not only scoring more goals - he tied his career high of 18 on Friday - for the Penguins this season. He’s scoring vital goals.

What happened

A power-play goal at 14:38 of the first period gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. Avalanche forward J.T. Compher outworked Penguins defensemen Kris Letang and Jack Johnson for a puck on the Penguins’ end boards and was able to give it to Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog who offered a supporting forecheck. Turning towards the left corner, Landeskog flicked a pass to the left point for Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard. As Girard took a moment, Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon raised his stick in the left circle. Girard fed the puck to his captain who smoked a one-timer past Murray’s blocker on the near side for his 27th goal of the season. Girard and Landeskog had assists.

The Penguins tried to tie the game at the 16:24 mark of the first. Rust drove the net off the left wing and had a forehand shot denied by goaltender Pavel Francouz. As Rust kind of just lingered in the crease and hovered over Francouz, Penguins forward Dominik Kahun jabbed at the rebound but was denied. Evgeni Malkin followed up on that rebound and jabbed it into the cage. Officials immediately waved off the score and confirmed the call of goaltender interference with a video review.

A little luck led to the Penguins’ first goal at 13:29 of the second period. Just as a power-play opportunity expired, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson corralled a puck at the left point and chucked a heavy wrister on net. Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole blocked the puck with his chest in the slot. The rebound bounced to above the right circle where Penguins defenseman John Marino claimed it and chopped a shot/pass which glanced off Kahun’s stick in the slot and bounced to the left of the cage where Penguins forward Teddy Blueger cleaned up the garbage by plunking a forehand shot past Francouz’s glove on the near side for his sixth goal. Kahun and Marino netted assists.

A lot of luck led to the Avalanche’s second goal at 18:20 of the second period. Pushing the puck through the neutral zone, Landeskog encountered Marino and Pettersson at the offensive blue line and chipped it towards the cage. Murray kind of scrunched up on the lip of his crease to play the puck but had it take a crazy hop over his glove hand into the net, prompting countless “Murray’s glove hand” tweets. Landeskog recorded his 11th – and presumably, easiest - goal. The lone assist went to Girard.

The Penguins responded only 1:14 into the third period. Kahun gained the offensive zone on the right wing and tried to backhand the puck but had it blocked. Malkin followed up on the puck and roared into the offensive zone with plenty of momentum. He fired a wrister from the high slot which Francouz fought off. The rebound trickled back to the high slot where Rust reclaimed it and whipped a wrister through Francouz’s five hole for his 18th goal. Malkin and Kahun had assists.

At 15:43 of the third, the Penguins took their first lead of the contest. Rust lugged the puck up from his own zone to the offensive blue line and flicked a backhand pass to the left boards for Kahun. Pulling up on the half wall, Kahun fed a little forehand pass for Malkin in the left circle. As Rust drove the net and created a screen with Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, Malkin snipped a wrister from just above the left dot past Francouz’s glove hand on the far side. The puck clinked off the post and into the cage for Malkin’s 13th goal. Kahun and Rust recorded assists.

The game was tied again late in regulation at 19:29. With Francouz pulled in favor of an extra attacker, Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin corralled the puck at the right point and fed it low to the right corner for former Erie Otters forward Andre Burakowsky. Curling out of the corner to the right half wall, Burakowsky distributed a pass to the center point for defenseman Cale Makar who unleashed an angry one-timer. Avalanche forward Matt Calvert was positioned to the right of the crease and reached his stick out in front of Murray, tipping the puck past Murray’s left shoulder for his 11th goal. Makar and Burakowsky collected assists.

During a wild overtime period in which each team had ample chances, the Penguins claimed victory at the 3:19 mark. After the Penguins forward Brandon Tanev played the puck from the Avalanche’s right corner all the way to Murray to allow a line change, which in overtime, is at the far side of the defensive zone, Marino controlled the puck behind the Penguins’ cage and fed a pass to the right dot for Blueger. Blueger turned and ramped it up ice on the left wing into the Avalanche’s zone. Pulling up on Colorado’s right dot, Blueger distributed the puck to the center slot for forward Jared McCann. Using Erik Johnson as a screen, McCann snapped off a wrister through Francouz’s five hole to win the game. It was McCann’s 12th goal. Assists went to Blueger and Marino.

This entire overtime period is worth watching:

Statistically speaking

• The Avalanche had a 31-30 edge in shots.

• MacKinnon led the game with six shots.

• Blueger led the Penguins with five shots.

• Girard led the game with 25:17 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Letang led the game with 24:37 of ice time on 34 shifts.

• The Avalanche controlled faceoffs, 33-23 (59 percent).

• Landeskog led the game with three blocked shots.

• Forward Andrew Agozzino, defenseman Juuso Riikola and Pettersson each led the game with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Rust (151 points) surpassed forward Matt Cooke and defenseman Ryan Whitney (150 each) for 59th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

This was the Penguins’ first overtime win against the Avalanche since a 3-2 victory at home on Oct. 16. Forward Brandon Tanev scored to give the Penguins a win. That was like a decade ago.

• Girard appeared in his 200th career game.

Randomly speaking

•Kahun finished with three assists. In the three full games he’s played on a line with Malkin and Rust, Kahun has five points (one goal, four assists).

• Malkin took another penalty, a slashing minor at 14:09 of the first period which led to MacKinnon’s goal. He now has penalties in eight of his past nine games. He had taken penalties in only five of his first 23 games.

Malkin is not dabbing his toes into his return with that “being penalty-prone” thing. He’s cannonballing it.

• Francouz was the second right-catching (AKA: silly sider) goaltender the Penguins have faced this season. The other was New Jersey’s Louis Domingue who had 17:30 of mop-up duty of a 4-1 home win by the Penguins on Nov. 22.

• The Avalanche’s television broadcasters - who … let’s say … aren’t the most objective observers of the sport - regularly criticized the state of the ice throughout the game. They even suggested Landeskog’s fluky goal was a byproduct of the ice’s quality. It’s safe to say, the surface wasn’t optimal for the skilled puck-handlers on each squad.

Publicly speaking

• Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was happy with how Murray bounced back after that fluky goal:

“He responded real well. He had a solid game. Obviously, that fluke goal is a tough one but I really like how he responded to it. He didn’t let it get him down. He just stayed in the moment. He made some big saves in the third period for us.”

• Murray explained what happened on the goal:

“That’s a tough read. I can’t really expect that kind of bounce and I’m just trying to get out and play, settle it down so our (defensemen) can make a play and it bounces sideways on me. I just brushed it off as quickly as I could.”

• Sullivan outlined what the mood was like after allowing that crazy goal:

“The chatter on the bench after it happened was great. Patric Hornqvist in particular really took some leadership there on the bench when it happened. They were all talking that, hey, it happens. We’ve got to forget about it. That’s hockey. Let’s just drop the puck and keep playing. The other thing … some of our other coaches shared with me is that (the players) waited for Matt and made sure they gave him a tap on the pads and encouraged him. That’s an indication of the type of team that we’re becoming.”

• Sullivan on Kahun’s success with Malkin and Rust:

“It doesn’t surprise me. The reason we put him there is because we think he can make plays and that’s what he does. He has good offensive instincts, he can score himself. But he sees the ice real well. He can play in real tight space. For a guy that’s not overly big, he plays with a lot of courage. He’s real elusive in tight space. He’s quick. He helps those guys. He’s a good playmaker.”

• Sullivan spoke about his team’s improved success in overtime:

“It’s attention to detail. When you don’t have the puck, you have to defend. Like I tell the guys all the time, hope is not a strategy. We can’t hope that we’re going to win a puck battle. We have to make sure we defend and we’re diligent in limiting our opponent’s opportunities. I give the players credit. They are committed to playing without the puck when we don’t have it. Sometimes in overtime, you don’t have it for a while because it’s hard to get it back. We talk a lot about strategies offensively and defensively. In that three-on-three overtime, I think the guys are committed to playing the game the right way, and they’re playing together as a group of three out there.

“One of the details I’ll share with you that we talk a lot about is just trying to out-change the opponent. If we can do that, it gives us a better chance because we can keep fresh people on the ice. They have the ability to recover and react when the puck turns over, either way, offensively or defensively. … The guys are doing a good job with the line changes. They’re not staying out there too long.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

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