Penguins pull off improbable comeback to beat Blue Jackets

Friday’s trade deadline came and went.

A handful of players left the Pittsburgh Penguins while a few new ones arrived.

Danton Heinen was one of the ones who stayed. And he is grateful because he and his teammates feel the Penguins, as currently constructed, can do something profound this spring.

“Around (the deadline), everybody is a little bit on edge, just with the uncertainly and stuff,” the bottom-six winger said. “We’ve got everybody here, we’ve got the team we’re going forward with. We’re excited. We believe in this group. We believe if we get there, we can make something happen.

“It’s a matter of taking care of business now.”

On Tuesday, the Penguins’ business looked to be going bankrupt until a furious charge in the third period allowed them to pull out an improbable 5-4 comeback victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

It marked only the ninth victory in franchise history in which the Penguins rallied from a four-goal deficit.

A four-on-three power-play goal by forward Sidney Crosby, his 28th of the season, at 2 minutes, 45 seconds of the extra period was the difference.

The result was their first victory against a Metropolitan Division opponent since a 3-2 home win against the New York Rangers on Dec. 20, snapping a hideous streak of nine consecutive losses to division rivals (0-6-3).

“We’ll take those two points,” said forward Jason Zucker, who scored twice. “But obviously, we know it wasn’t the most ideal game for us.”

A squalid first period for the Penguins saw the Blue Jackets go up by a field goal, starting with a power-play goal by forward Emil Bemstrom 4:02 into regulation.

With Penguins defenseman Jan Rutta in the penalty box for holding, Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger accepted a pass in the high slot then spun to his right to dish the puck to the left circle, where Bemstrom leaned down and chopped a one-timer that beat goaltender Tristan Jarry’s blocker on the near side for his fifth goal of the season (and first goal in 27 games). Sillinger and rookie forward Kent Johnson had assists.

Another member of the Blue Jackets’ fourth line, Lane Pederson, scored his second goal at 7:54 of the opening period.

Accepting a pass in the right circle of the offensive zone, Rutta attempted a wrister but fanned on the shot and lost possession to rookie Blue Jackets forward Liam Foudy. Hustling up ice, Foudy gained the Penguins’ zone on the left wing and generated what was essentially a two-on-none rush with Bemstrom. As new Penguins defenseman Dmitry Kulikov — in his first game with the club — made a futile attempt to break up the sequence, Foudy fed a pass to the right of the crease for Pederson, who tapped in an easy forehand shot past Jarry’s left skate. Foudy had the lone assist.

The Penguins finally found a way to deny the Blue Jackets’ fourth liners from scoring when they allowed second-liner Patrik Laine to collect his 20th goal at 10:11 of the first.

After Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin lost the puck on the right wall of the offensive zone, Johnson claimed possession and chipped an outlet pass up the near wall to the neutral zone for Blue Jackets forward Jack Roslovic. Entering the offensive zone facing little resistance, Roslovic cut across the front of the crease but did not attempt a shot. Instead, he fed a deft backhand pass to a trailing Laine, who swiped a one-timer from the right circle that toasted the blocker of a beleaguered Jarry. Assists went to Roslovic and Johnson.

Following that display, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan called a timeout to allow his flummoxed team to regroup.

What exactly happened in the first period for the Penguins?

“Absolutely nothing good for us,” quipped Zucker.

While the Blue Jackets had to pull starting goaltender Elvis Merzlikins at the start of the second period due to illness and replace him with backup Michael Hutchinson, things didn’t get better for the hosts when the visitors’ suddenly vaunted fourth line struck again at the 2:37 mark.

Entering the offensive zone on the right wing, Bemstrom whipped a cross-ice pass to Foudy above the left circle. Using Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry as a screen, Foudy charred Jarry’s right shoulder with a wrister on the near side for his third goal. The only assist went to Bemstrom.

That prompted Sullivan to pull Jarry after he made only eight saves on 12 shots. Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith finished the contest, stopping all 15 shots he faced to boost his record to 12-13-4.

Sullivan indicated a lack of sufficient practice time for Jarry — who missed substantial time throughout January and February due to undisclosed injuries — led to his poor performance Tuesday.

“The challenge is, we just haven’t gotten him on the ice enough,” Sullivan said. “He hasn’t been on the ice a whole lot. … Goalies in particular, I think it’s important for them to see (repetitions). They need to see the puck, they need to get repetitions. That’s how their game gets sharp and stays sharp. Tristan is a guy, when he gets repetitions in practice, it carries over to his game. It’s a little bit of that as well.

“Hopefully, we can get him on the ice here a little bit more and get him some repetitions so that he can get into a rhythm. It was a combination. I don’t think Tristan was at his best tonight. But I don’t think we helped him either as a team in front of him.”

Zucker laid down the foundation of the Penguins’ comeback at 10:23 of the middle frame with his 20th goal.

Off a cycle in the Blue Jackets’ left corner, Malkin fed a pass to the front of the slot, where Zucker went forehand to backhand and elevated a shot over a scrambling Hutchinson’s left leg. Malkin and forward Alex Nylander, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, recorded assists.

The Penguins pulled within a pair only 21 seconds into the third period when forward Jake Guentzel scored his 25th goal.

Off a feed from Crosby, Guentzel surged into the offensive zone on the right wing against Blue Jackets defenseman Nick Blankenship and fired a wrister from low in the right circle that slipped under Hutchinson’s left leg on the near side. Crosby and forward Rickard Rakell recorded assists.

The timing of that score was paramount.

“The crowd really got into it,” said DeSmith. “It was awesome that it was like 21 seconds in too. Tons of time left. We know we have the firepower to score. It was great. The crowd backed us the whole way and it was really loud there. Maybe the loudest this season in the third period. It really helped us.”

Zucker helped again with another goal at 3:16 of the third frame.

Under pressure from a forechecking Nylander, Blue Jackets defenseman Adam Boqvist shuffled a bouncing backhand pass from his own left corner to defensive partner Gavin Bayreuther to the right of the net. Unable to truly accept the puck, Bayreuther lost it to an aggressive Malkin, who chopped it away with a backhanded swing. After Hutchinson tapped the puck away with his stick, Malkin reclaimed it and slipped a short area pass to the front of the crease, where Zucker jabbed a forehand shot over Hutchinson’s glove. Malkin had the only assist.

The Blue Jackets called a timeout to stunt the Penguins’ momentum, but that tactic proved to be futile as Heinen scored his sixth goal 43 seconds later.

Pushing play into the offensive zone on the right wing, Crosby pulled up above the circle and left a drop pass for an advancing Rakell. Maneuvering below the circle, Rakell dealt a tight pass to the top of the blue paint, where Heinen tapped in the tying goal. Rakell and Crosby collected assists.

“It was just kind of a three-on-two (rush),” Heinen said. “Sid and (Rakell) made a good play. They did all the work. I just went to the net (with the) stick on the ice. It ended up in the net. Good play by them.”

A power-play opportunity led to the winning score.

Blue Jackets forward Eric Robinson tried to clear a puck out of his own right corner, but it was intercepted by Malkin at the right point. Maneuvering to the high slot, Malkin coolly slid a forehand pass to the right circle, where Crosby clapped a one-timer past a block attempt by former Penguins defenseman Erik Gudbranson and over Hutchinson’s left shoulder on the near side. Malkin had the only assist.

“This team is capable of coming back in games like that,” Sullivan said. “We’ve just got to dig in and work to get the next goal and just try to play the game the right way.”

The Penguins didn’t play the correct way for at least the first 22:37 of regulation on Tuesday.

But they took care of business in the latter portions of this contest, particularly in the third period, to earn a badly needed — albeit highly imperfect — triumph.

“It’s one of those games that you know if you play the right way, you have a chance to come back in the game,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “You don’t want to force it. You don’t want to try to look for offense. You just want to try to play your system.

“Eventually, with the skill and talent that we have, we’ll be able to generate offense.”

Notes:

• The Penguins dressed an irregular lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen as a result of forwards Mikael Granlund (illness) and Bryan Rust (personal matters) being scratched.

That prompted the team to recall Nylander from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday afternoon.

Making his Penguins debut, Nylander opened the contest on the third line but eventually was promoted to the second line, where he helped create each of Zucker’s goals.

Logging 14:56 of ice time on 21 shifts (including 43 seconds on the power play), Nylander recorded an assist, two shots on five attempts and was 0 for 1 on faceoffs.

Sullivan offered an endorsement of what Nylander provided:

“He played a solid game,” Sullivan said. “One of the reasons that we moved up the lines the way we did was we liked what we saw. We thought we’d give him a shot with (Malkin’s) line. He played real well. He’s come a long way. I had a great conversation with (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach J.D. Forrest) this morning. They’ve done a real good job with Alex, and Alex deserves a lot of credit for the growth and development in his game. You can see his playmaking ability and his offensive instincts. He’s a talented player. He’s got real good instincts. He’s starting to round out his game on both sides of the puck. He played a solid game for us tonight.”

• Nylander appeared in his first regular season NHL game in almost three years. His last NHL contest came with the Chicago Blackhawks in a 6-2 home win against the San Jose Sharks. He had a goal and an assist in that game.

• Nylander became the 21st player in franchise history to wear No. 19 in a game of consequence. His predecessors:

Bob Rivard, Jean Pronovost, Dale Tallon, Greg Sheppard, Rick MacLeish, Grant Sasser, Arto Javananien, Willy Lindstrom, Dave McLlwain, Randy Gilhen, Bryan Trottier, Vladimir Vujtek, Rico Fata, Ramzi Abid, Ryan Whitney, Mike Comrie, Jason Williams, Beau Bennett, Derick Brassard, Jared McCann

• Kulikov made his Penguins debut after being acquired via trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

He logged 15:03 of ice time on 21 shifts, including 1:47 on the penalty kill. He also had two shots on three attempts.

• Kulikov became the 18th player in franchise history to wear No. 7 in a game of consequence. His predecessors:

Art Stratton, Lou Angotti, Bryan Hextall, Steve Durbano, Russ Anderson, Rick MacLeish, Ian Turnbull, Rod Buskas, Joe Mullen, Andrew Ference, Kelly Buchberger, Matt Hussey, Michel Ouellet, Mark Eaton, Paul Martin, Matt Cullen, Colton Sceviour

• Rust entered the game as the Penguins’ “iron man” as he had played 107 consecutive regular season games.

Defenseman Brian Dumoulin now assumes that distinction with 86 consecutive games. Rakell is not far behind him with 81 games.

• Malkin (1,212 points) surpassed forwards Bobby Clarke (1,210) and Bernie Nicholls (1,209) for 47th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Serving as a seventh defenseman, Joseph, who did not record a shift beyond the second period, was the Penguins’ lone non-goaltender who failed to record a shot on net.

• The Penguins’ last overtime win against the Blue Jackets was a 1-0 home win on Dec. 12, 2019. Rust scored the winning goal on a power-play opportunity to break up a 0-0 stalemate.

• Heinen has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past nine games. During his preceding 34 games, he only had five assists.

• DeSmith won a game in a relief appearance for the first time in his career.

• The Penguins’ most recent comeback win in which they recovered from a four-goal deficit was a 5-4 shootout road win against the Washington Capitals on Dec. 11, 2006.

This game became famous for the Penguins wearing backward “rally helmets” on the bench during the shootout.

Getty Images

A rookie named Evgeni Malkin was placed on the top line with Crosby and Ryan Malone and scored the tying goal on goaltender Olaf Kolzig 3:20 into the third period.