In a game full of challenges — two literal ones, to be precise — the Pittsburgh Penguins conquered their greatest challenge this season — the shootout — and defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 5-4, on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Shootout goals by forwards Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell were the difference.
It was only the second shootout win for the Penguins this season (2-10).
“Oh, it feels awesome,” Rakell said. “We kind of worked on some shootouts yesterday in practice. And just said that we were just going to try to turn the page and try to go out there with confidence.
“That’s what we did.”
A pair of coach’s challenges — one successful, one unsuccessful — issued by the Penguins dictated the flow of the contest. Their unsuccessful challenge for goaltender interference was the latest entry into a season-long debate over the NHL’s seemingly unspecified definition of the rule.
“I don’t know what they’re looking for,” Penguins rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs said. “What is goalie interference, what’s not goalie interference? … It’s frustrating.
“But we battled through, and we managed to win the game.”
Silovs stopped 21 of 25 shots in regulation and overtime, then did not allow a goal on two shootout attempts as his record improved to 16-9-8.
The victory extracted a bit of a toll, however, as Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea did not finish the game because of an apparent facial injury. Following the contest, there was no substantive update on Shea.
Another defenseman, Erik Karlsson, maintained his recent prolific pace as he scored two goals. Since Feb. 28, Karlsson has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his past 12 games.
“There’s not too many guys in the league who can do what he does, especially when he’s at the top of his game,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “He’s been a catalyst for us.”
The Penguins opened the scoring early with a pair of hiccup-quick goals by forward Egor Chinahkov (his 15th at 1:06 of the first period) and Rakell (his 14th only 56 seconds later).
Disputed circumstances led to the Jets’ getting on the scoreboard when forward Morgan Barron scored his 11th goal after colliding with Karlsson, causing him to crash into Silovs.
The Penguins issued a coach’s challenge on the basis of goaltender interference, but officials found no evidence of malfeasance and the Penguins fell to 0 for 8 on challenges related to goaltender interference this season.
Penguins officials were so exasperated by the outcome that a staffer distributed printed copies of the NHL’s rule book, highlighting the final paragraph of rule 69.1. It states:
“If a defending player has been pushed, shoved or fouled by an attacking player so as to cause the defending player to come into contact with his own goalkeeper, such contact shall be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, and if necessary a penalty assessed to the attacking player and if a goal is scored it would be disallowed.”
The contest was tied at 6:10 of the second period via forward Cole Koepke’s sixth goal, which came while short-handed.
Karlsson reclaimed a lead for the hosts at 15:22 of the second frame with his 10th goal.
After Jets defenseman Neal Pionk struck with his third goal 4:04 into the third period, the Jets appeared to take their first lead of the contest only 31 seconds later when forward Mark Scheifele fired a wrister from the Penguins’ left circle.
But after taking a time out, the Penguins issued another coach’s challenge, claiming the play should have been halted after a puck was played with a high stick earlier on the sequence. A review confirmed those suspicions, euthanizing the goal.
After Jets forward Brad Lambert scored a valid goal at 8:36 of the third frame, his second of the season, Karlsson tied the score again at the 12:45 mark.
Following overtime, the Penguins secured victory in the shootout.
After Chinakhov was denied on the opening attempt, Crosby and Rakell beat goalie Connor Hellebuyck. For the Jets, forward Jonathan Toews hit a post, and Gustav Nyquist was rejected by Silovs.
