Empty Thoughts: Penguins 5, Kings 4 (SO)

Observations from the Penguins’ 5-4 win against the Kings:

Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin missed Saturday’s meeting at PPG Paints Arena against the Los Angeles Kings due to an undisclosed illness. It was the second consecutive game he was absent for due to the ailment. His time frame for returning to the lineup is anyone’s guess.

Tristan Jarry? It’s anyone’s guess when he’ll relinquish the No. 1 goaltender gig which has all but officially been foisted upon him in recent weeks.

Making 38 saves on 42 shots, Jarry was hardly perfect. There were some flaws in his game. But he did just enough to direct the Penguins to a wild 5-4 victory. And improved his record to 9-5-0 in 14 games this season.

Despite Jarry’s success as of late, coach Mike Sullivan has been hesitant to declare Jarry (or Matt Murray, for that matter) as the top goaltender on the depth chart.

“(Jarry’s) performance had a lot to do with how we’ve utilized him over the last little while,” Sullivan said. “He’s played extremely well. We certainly are weighing those factors when we’re trying to decide to which direction we’re going with the goalies that we have.

“Having said that, Matt had a strong game the last game that he played. Matt’s game is trending the right way. He’s had an opportunity to spend more time with (goaltending coach Mike Buckley). We think that will only help him.

Despite Sullivan’s diplomacy on the matter, the division of labor between the two goaltenders would point towards one being the obvious top choice among management at the moment.

Jarry has started eight of the past 11 games while Murray has been limited to three.

“These last couple of weeks have been beneficial for Matt as well as Tristan,” Sullivan said. “It’s nice to have two goalies like we have that gives us a chance to win and that make timely saves.”

Jarry made quite a few timely saves, especially on Kings all-star forward Anze Kopitar.

First, Jarry denied Kopitar’s forehand shot on a breakaway at 11:28 of the third period to maintain a 3-2 lead with a stout save by his left leg. On the sequence leading to that chance, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang slashed Kopitar sufficiently that officials awarded a penalty shot.

On his mulligan, Kopitar glided in on net, waiting for Jarry to open his five hole just a bit. Sensing opportunity, Kopitar tried to tuck a silky smooth backhand through Jarry’s legs, but the young goaltender was able to clamp down on the puck and keep his team in front.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Then in the shootout, Jarry fended off Kopitar’s wrist shot to complete a goaltending hat trick of sorts. That allowed forward Bryan Rust to score on the ensuing shootout opportunity to put the team in the lead.

“He’s playing really well right now,” Sullivan said. “He’s seeing the puck. He’s tracking the puck. His rebound control is great. He’s seeing it very well for us right now. They had a fair amount quality chances tonight and he made some big saves for us. That’s what he’s done. Our team is competing hard in front of him. But certainly, when we have broke down, he’s been there to make some huge save for us.”

As of late, he’s been there far more than Murray.

What happened

Los Angeles opened the scoring at 13:08 of the first. Off a stretch pass from Kings defenseman Sean Walker, forward Blake Lizotte gained the offensive blue line. Just before being taken out on a stiff shoulder check by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, Lizotte dished a backhand pass to the left wing for forward Adrian Kempe. As Penguins rookie defenseman John Marino was slow to react to Kempe’s rush up the left wing, Kempe created a two-on-none with forward Auston Wagner and fed a pass below the right circle. Wagner finished the sequence by swatting in an uncontested forehand shot past Jarry’s glove hand. It was Wagner’s third goal of the season while Kempe and Lizotte netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins needed all of 19 seconds to respond. Circling around the cage, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev held the puck for several moments before finding a shooting lane in the slot and ripped a wrister past the right leg of goaltender Jonathan Quick. The Kings issued a coach’s challenge citing goaltending interference as Penguins forward Teddy Blueger’s stick was caught under Quick’s right leg and tripped him up. Following a lengthy review, the challenged was upheld and the score was nullified.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 2-0 game at 18:00 of the second. Going deep with the puck, Walker fended off a check from Marino and backhanded a pass into the legs of Kings forward Tyler Toffoli to the right of the crease. As Letang was slow to react, Toffoli was able to settle the puck and lifted a backhander over Jarry’s right shoulder for his eighth goal of the season. Assists went to Walker and forward Sean Luff.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins got on the scoreboard for good 3:31 into the second period. Picking up a loose puck at his own left point, forward Jake Guentzel lugged it up the offensive right wing and gained the offensive zone. Allowing forward Jared McCann to drive the slot, Guentzel fed a cross-ice pass to forward Bryan Rust. Cutting inside Walker, Rust fired a wrister from the left circle past Quick’s right skate for his 11th score this season. Guentzel and Letang collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The game was tied, 2-2, at 17:36 of the second with a rare five-on-three power-play goal for the Penguins. Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz dealt a pass from above the left circle low in the circle to Guentzel. Finding a passing lane under the stick of Kings defenseman Matt Roy, Guentzel distributed the puck between the hashmarks where Rust snapped off a wrister past Quick’s glove hand. Guentzel and Schultz were credited with assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

That score snapped a hideous 0-for-9 skid in five-on-three power-play opportunities for the Penguins dating back to last season.

At 9:26 of the third period, the Penguins took their first lead of the contest. Controlling a puck at the offensive right point, Rust snapped off a shot/pass towards the crease which hit off of the right skate of Roy and deflected on net. Quick made the initial stop but couldn’t prevent a rebound from squirting free behind him in the crease. Blueger crashed in and swatted in the loose puck for his fourth goal of the season. Assists went to Rust and Letang.

(Video courtesy NHL)

They made it a 4-2 game at 11:58 of the third during a four-on-four sequence. McCann fended off Roy in the right corner and skated with the puck to the slot where he fired a wrister on net. Quick made the save with his glove but allowed a rebound. Defenseman Jack Johnson, of all people, was doing a drive-by above the crease and jabbed the rebound quickly past Quick’s glove hand. Assists went to McCann and Guentzel.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Kings would not go away. At 15:00, Kings forward Jeff Carter clapped a big old school slapper from the right half wall. Jarry kicked it out but put a big rebound into the left circle where Kings forward Kyle Clifford was able to corral it at the dot and shuffled a quick wrister past a diving Jarry. Carter and defenseman Drew Doughty netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Things were tied again, 4-4, at 16:23 of the third. After a defensive zone turnover by forward Zach Aston-Reese, Walker corralled the puck at the center point, skated towards the right boards and fed a pass to Toffoli in the slot. Skating past fallen Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, Toffoli made his way to the right circle and attacked the net on his backhand, but lost the puck. Clifford and Toffoli each tried to hack it in as various members of the Penguins tumbled in the crease around or on Jarry. Out of a tornado of confusion, Amadio was able to secure the puck above the crease and lifted a backhander into the vacant net. Walker and Clifford collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

In overtime, the Penguins controlled play as they outshot the Kings, 6-0. They nearly won it at 2:49 of the period when Rust had two chances on a breakaway but couldn’t solve Quick. On the ensuing rebound, Blueger chased down the puck to the left of the cage and whipped a quick shot on net from a bad angle, only to be denied by Quick again.

(Video courtesy NHL)

In the shootout, neither team seemed to be terribly adept. Guentzel missed the net while Letang was denied and McCann hit the cross bar. For the Kings, Amadio and Toffoli missed the net then Kopitar had a wrister snuffed out by Jarry.

Rust got his chance on his first career shootout attempt. He flashed forehand then lifted a backhander over Quick’s blocker.

Kempe had a chance to extend play but failed to even get a shot off and lost the puck on his attempt.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Kings dominated shots, 42-27.

• Rust and Lizotte each led the game with six shots.

• Doughty led the game with 29:57 of ice time on 33 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 27:03 of ice time on 31 shifts.

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

• McCann was 11 for 21 (52 percent).

• Kopitar was 10 for 19 (53 percent).

• Guentzel led the game with three blocked shots.

• Defensemen Kurtis MacDermid, Joakim Ryan, Doughty and Iafallo each led the Kings with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Rust (136 points) surpassed defenseman Zarley Zalapski (135) and forward John Chabot (134) for 65th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• The last penalty shot attempt by the Kings vs. the Penguins was by Marian Gaborik in a 5-3 Kings home victory on Dec. 5, 2015. He was denied by Marc-Andre Fleury.

• The Penguins recorded their first five-on-three power-play goal since Nov. 25, 2017. Forward Sidney Crosby scored that goal in a 5-2 home win against the Lightning. Jarry recorded his first career win in that game.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Randomly speaking

• At the start of the second period, the Guentzel at center experiment was put on hold as he was moved back to the left wing and McCann took over as the top line center with Rust at right wing. Dominik Simon moved from first line left wing to center between Aston-Reese and Kahun. That move seemed to spark the offense, at least for the first line.

• We’ll have more on this for Monday, but Joseph Blandisi played his fourth game in four days. Holy heck. He said he was hoping to sleep in on Sunday morning.

• Rookie forward Sam Lafferty received his first career fighting major at 4:05 of the third. After Lafferty crunched Lizotte into the Penguins’ end boards, Kempe immediately challenged him. Lafferty didn’t hold back as he threw his gloves down like Happy Gilmore and went at it with Kempe. They mostly tugged on each other’s jerseys and landed a few rights before wearing out:

• It was another unproductive night for Alex Galchenyuk. He logged 14:39 of ice time on 24 shifts, including 2:36 on the power play. He had one shot on one attempt and was 0 for 1 on faceoffs. His most notable moment in the game came 35 seconds into the third when he slewfooted Doughty and was given a hooking minor. Management is starting to lose patience with him.

• It was a typical night for Letang. That’s to say there were a few ugly moments mixed in with some brilliant moments. You take the good with the bad with that guy.

• The Penguins are now 12-3-1 against the Western Conference this season.

Publicly speaking

• Jarry explained how he approaches breakaway shots, including penalty shots and shootouts:

“Just staying with him, making sure I’m keeping the puck between my shoulders and trying to do the best to make myself look big and give him nothing to shoot at.”

• Why did Sullivan mix up his top two lines?

“I just didn’t like the first line in the first period. I just thought, ‘Hey, let’s move Jake to the wing.’ Jared had a little jump tonight. So we decided to make that switch and put Jake in his natural position.”

• Rust spoke about what was different with McCann at center:

“He’s just a little bit more comfortable there. Obviously, (Guentzel) is a great player but he’s an unbelievable player on the wing. We were able to get in on their (defense) a little bit more, cause a few more turnovers and get a few more chances.”

• Rust explained his shootout goal:

“That’s been my move since I was little. Kind of lost it a little bit at the blue line. Kind of the ice was brutal but then I regained it and I was able to make the move.”

• Sullivan expressed satisfaction with getting the win despite allowing a two-goal lead in the third to slip away:

“I’m happy with the win. Our guys are playing hard, their competing. You look around the league, it happens a fair amount. Not that we want to have it happen to us fairly often. You have to give (Los Angeles) credit too, they played a hard game as well. We’re competing hard out there, we’re fighting hard. I just like our effort. I thought our reaction to it was great. We didn’t get rattled. We didn’t get on our heels. We just kept playing the game and I thought that was important moving forward.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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