Penguins offense makes up for shaky goaltending in wild win over Canucks
Like a lot offices around the United States on the eve of Thanksgiving, the Penguins weren’t quite at their best at the work site Wednesday.
They cut a few corners, slacked off a little and got a bit behind.
But, ultimately, they finished the job before leaving for the night to enjoy a day off.
In a fever dream of a game against the Vancouver Canucks at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins staged a three-goal comeback in the third period to claim a stunning 8-6 victory.
“I felt like we had a pretty strong game tonight,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We were chasing the game for the most of the night, but we felt as though were were playing pretty well. Now, there are some instances in the game where I think we maybe could have or should have defended hard in certain circumstances. But overall, we felt like we had the puck an awful lot. We generated an awful lot of scoring chances.”
A lot of those scoring chances came from the team’s current top line as forward Evgeni Malkin paced the team with five points (two goals, three assists), and linemate Jake Guentzel contributed two goals and two assists. Forward Bryan Rust added a goal and three assists. Even players lower on the depth chart contributed as bottom-six forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Kahun scored vital goals in the third period.
While the wealth was spread around offensively, the Penguins had a wretched time keeping the Canucks from scoring as they allowed six goals on only 22 shots.
Matt Murray started in net but was pulled after 39 minutes, 1 second of action in which he yielded four goals on a mere 14 shots. Tristan Jarry replaced him and recorded the win while giving up two goals on only eight shots.
“You’re just trying to get the win,” Jarry said. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s a team game. You’re not looking at personal stats. That will come as the team does well. Everything about it is about the team and doing what you can for the win.”
The Penguins appeared set to claim an easy win as they raced to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to a goal by Guentzel at the 2:29 mark and a power-play score from Rust at 12:53 mark on goaltender Thatcher Demko.
A goal by forward J.T. Miller, a Coraopolis native, against Murray got Vancouver on the scoreboard at the 16:42 mark.
Three consecutive goals to start the second period by forwards Elias Pettersson (7:17), Jake Virtanen (18:20) and forward Andrew Gaudette (19:01) gave the Canucks a 4-2 lead and prompted the switch from Murray to Jarry.
“When they got the two quick goals at the end of the second period, I just felt like it might the right thing for (Murray) and for our team at the same time,” Sullivan said. “That was the logic in why we made the decision.”
The Penguins appeared to respond to the change when Guentzel scored again only 61 seconds into the third period but quickly dug their hole even deeper by allowing Miller to score on a power play at 2:31, and Gaudette added another goal at 3:06.
Undeterred, the Penguins persisted.
Kahun cleaned up a rebound at 6:16 during a four-on-four sequence, then Malkin boomed a slapper from above the right circle for a power-play score at 7:24 to make it a one-score deficit.
Off the rebound of a one-timer by defenseman John Marino, Aston-Reese tied the score at 10:30 with a wrister.
The Penguins reclaimed the lead for good at 16:54 when Kris Letang took a pass at the top of the right circle and chopped a one-timer behind Demko on the far side.
An empty-net score by Malkin at 19:59 secured the imponderable triumph.
“We fight,” Malkin said. “It’s a crazy game. We lead 2-0 then the second period, (losing), 4-2. We understand, game (is) not over. We understand every goal (is) important. Try to play better every shift. On the power play (in the third period) we had one minute and we scored quickly. It’s a huge goal.
“Great team. We showed how we fight every shift.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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