Empty Thoughts: Penguins 5, Red Wings 1

Observations from the Penguins’ 5-1 win against the Red Wings:

First things first, Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese left the game at 8:46 of the second period because of an undisclosed injury. Coach Mike Sullivan suggested an update might be available on Tuesday as the Penguins have an off day Monday.

Eight days ago, the Penguins gritted out and hung on to dear life to beat the Florida Panthers on the road, 3-2. They did so by basically playing three lines.

Their fourth line that night was composed of Anthony Angello (4:53 of ice time), Sam Lafferty (5:24) and the now departed Alex Galchenyuk (3:02).

After that game, Sullivan was diplomatic about that trio’s play and said, “I’m trying to make decisions behind the bench that I think are going to give us the best chance to win.”

In essence, he didn’t trust that line.

Two days later, Galchenyuk was jettisoned to the Minnesota Wild as part of a trade which brought Jason Zucker to Pittsburgh and in turn, Patric Hornqvist found himself on the fourth line.

On Sunday, that new fourth line, with Hornqvist, Lafferty and Andrew Agozzino, drove the Penguins to a victory against an admittedly wretched Red Wings squad.

“It all depends on how the game goes obviously but we were able to find minutes for them (Sunday),” Sullivan said. “They played extremely well. They had a great start to the game. Obviously, they scored a couple of goals for us. These guys are important players for us. I tell this to the guys all the time, it doesn’t matter whether you play 20 minutes or six minutes. We need everybody on this team to play the right way for us to win. They’re important players for us. These guys play important minutes. (Sunday), we were able to get them a few more minutes which is great. If we can spread the minutes like that, it helps all of us.”

Hornqvist was promoted to the third line following Aston-Reese’s departure. With that uncertain development as well as the potential return of injured forwards Nick Bjugstad (core muscle) and Dominik Kahun (concussion) looming, the makeup of the entire group of forwards could be different by the time the Penguins host the Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

But to see the fourth line contribute, let alone be a difference, is such a refreshing change from eight days ago.

“The biggest thing is we were able to help the team tonight,” Agozzino said. “It doesn’t matter how much we play. As long as we have a positive impact on a win, that’s good for us.”

What happened

The Red Wings opened the scoring at 5:37 of the first period. After Red Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou gained the offensive zone on the right wing then lost the puck, Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula settled it above the right circle and snapped a quick pass to forward Tyler Bertuzzi in the left circle. Bertuzzi one-touched it back to Filppula in the right circle. With goaltender Matt Murray jammed up because of the precision passing, Filppula was able to lift a backhander over Murray’s left leg for his fifth goal of the season. Bertuzzi had the only assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins’ fourth line responded at 7:58 of the first. Stealing a puck off of Red Wings forward Christoffer Ehn, Agozzino backhanded a pass to Lafferty above the crease. Lafferty’s initial shot was denied by goaltender Jimmy Howard. Hornqvist crashed into the crease and forced Red Wings defenseman Mike Green to push the puck into his own cage during a furious goalmouth scramble. Hornqvist was credited with the goal, but a postgame scoring change eventually awarded it to Lafferty for his sixth goal. There were no assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

A power-play goal at 14:35 of the first gave the Penguins their first lead, 2-1. Pushing a puck up the left wing, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby fed a pass above the left circle, where defenseman Kris Letang chopped a slapper that sailed past Howard’s blocker on the near side. Penguins forward Bryan Rust and Hornqvist each screened Howard on the sequence leading to Letang’s 14th goal. Crosby and Hornqvist collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 3-1 game at 2:53 of the second. A clearing attempt out of his own left corner by Red Wings defenseman Gustav Lindstrom was intercepted by Agozzino at the left point. Agozzino took a wild swing at the puck which bounced off the skates of Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader to the left circle where Hornqvist spun and whipped a wrister on the near side past the blocker of Howard, who appeared unprepared for a shot. The only assist was credited to Agozzino.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins began to pour it on at 7:55 of the second. After Penguins forward Dominik Simon stole a puck at the left point to keep it in the offensive zone, Crosby controlled it above the right circle, circled to the right point and fed a pass to defenseman Marcus Pettersson at the left point. Moving toward the left circle, Pettersson distributed the puck back to Crosby above the right circle. With his stick teed up, Crosby blasted a one-timer past the glove of a hapless Howard, who was pulled in favor of Jonathan Bernier. Pettersson and forward Jason Zucker netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The goaltending change did little to slow down the Penguins as Hornqvist scored again at 11:53 of the second. Pushing play up the left wing, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev fought through a check by Red Wings defenseman Madison Bowey, gained the offensive zone and centered a pass to the slot for Hornqvist, creating a breakaway. Approaching the crease, Hornqvist lifted a wrister past Bernier’s glove. Hats littered the ice as, at the time, Hornqvist officially recorded a hat trick. Tanev and forward Teddy Blueger had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 35-28.

• Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin led the game with seven shots.

• Forward Jared McCann led the Penguins with five shots.

• Bowey led the game with 24:38 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 23:15 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• The Red Wings had a 23-22 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).

• Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen was 7 for 11 (64 percent).

• Crosby was 10 for 17 (59 percent).

Historically speaking

• This was the Penguins’ third regular season sweep of three or more games against the Red Wings.

2019-20: 3-0-0

2015-16: 3-0-0

1990-91: 3-0-0

Randomly speaking

• The Penguins’ power play is starting to heat up. It has goals in four consecutive games.

• Marcus Pettersson’s offensive game continues to develop. The chemistry and confidence he displayed in setting up Crosby’s goal was evidence of that.

• The second line of Jared McCann, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust hasn’t exactly lit it up. That trio has been held without a five-on-five point the past three games. And that’s come with two fairly lopsided wins, Sunday against the Red Wings and Friday against the Canadiens, 4-1.

• Rust in particular has gone cold with no goals in six consecutive games. Before this skid, his longest stretch of games without a goal this season was three.

• It would be a stretch to say Murray was tested a great deal against this feeble opponent. But he did nothing to hurt his standing in the competition with Tristan Jarry.

• These Red Wings are bad. And that’s by design. New general manager Steve Yzerman is burning the building down to the ground to rebuild it.

• What in the world has happened to Howard? He was an above average All-Star goaltender earlier in his career. Now, he looks completely broken.

• Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek left the game at 7:24 of the second period after being struck on or near the head by a slapper from Pettersson. There was no word on his status following the game.

Publicly speaking

• Hornqvist on the importance of getting offense from all four lines:

“To go where we want to be, we have to have all four lines going, and all three (defensive) pairs and both goalies. (Sunday) was a good example of that. When we’re all playing well, we outchanged the other team and we outscored them. We were the better team from the drop of the puck. That’s the way we have to be here from now on.”

• Sullivan on how he thought Hornqvist would respond to being used as a fourth-liner when the change was made last week:

“I wasn’t worried about it. Patric and I talked about it. He’s a great teammate, he’s a great person. He just wants to help this team win. Wherever we need him to play, he’s willing to play. I have so much respect for him as a person and what he represents. He’s just a great teammate and he’s the ultimate competitor as we’ve witnessed over the last five-plus years. I was happy for him that he scored a few goals tonight. He was certainly deserving. He played real well.”

• Agozzino on what Hornqvist offers on the fourth line:

“All three of us, we talked about playing a simple game. From there, things expanded for us. That’s what we did. The first period, we had that goal with (Lafferty) obviously. We talked about just getting to the net and chipping in as much as we can.

“To play with a guy like him, he’s so simple to play with because he’s in the right spot. You know in the offensive zone, he’s going to be in and around the net. Sam and I actually talked about if we can get pucks there, he’s going to bang one in for us.”

• Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill suggested his team played better than the score indicated. When asked why he felt that way by a Detroit reporter, Blashill offered this:

“We had chances, we didn’t score. They had chances, they scored. That’s the difference in the game. That’s why. It’s plain as day. I don’t know what the final chances were. I was told we outchanced them by one or two. So that’s why. I have no problem coming in here and telling you when it’s not that way. That wasn’t the case tonight. You all get fooled by the score. I get it. It looks bad. 5-1 on the scoreboard. We got beat bad. But that’s not the way the game went.”

• No word yet if Detroit reporters have been fooled by the league-worst 14-43-4 record Blashill has engineered this season.

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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