Penguins pull out late heroics to beat Ducks in overtime

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-3 overtime home win against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday was far from perfect.

When you give up a lead in the late stages of the third period to one of the worst teams in the NHL and need to stage a desperate comeback in the final seconds of regulation in order to even force overtime, you’re not even close to the gravitational pull of perfect.

But it was a win.

And the Penguins haven’t had many of those as of late.

In fact, this was only their third victory in their past 11 games (3-6-2).

They’ll take it no matter how many warts and carbuncles it might have.

“Big win,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “We’re in a dogfight right now. It’s not pretty all the time. I give us credit for coming back that way. A lot of times, when it’s been going against you, you can kind of let your shoulders down a bit. But I think we responded the right way.”

That response came after the Penguins surrendered two goals within the final 8:44 of regulation to fall behind, 3-2.

With goaltender Casey DeSmith pulled for an extra attacker, a late push led to forward Bryan Rust scoring the tying goal during the final minute of regulation.

And that set the stage for forward Jake Guentzel’s winning goal within the first minute of overtime.

“It’s a huge win for us, especially with the way it evolved,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We had a lot of chances throughout the course of the game. The puck, we couldn’t seem to find the back of the net. Then, when they scored (late) — given the circumstances contextually with what our team has been through here the last little while — in a lot of instances, that could really deflate a team.

“But I never sensed that on the bench. Our leadership was terrific. There was a lot of talk about getting it done and responding the right way. And I thought we did.”

The Penguins’ second line opened the scoring 4:16 into regulation.

Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Penguins forward Jason Zucker — who celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday — forced a pass attempt to the slot that was blocked by the stick of Ducks defenseman John Klingberg. Zucker claimed the rebound on the end boards, swooped around the cage and tucked in a forehand wraparound past the left skate of goaltender John Gibson, a native of Whitehall. Linemates Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell — playing in his first game against his former team since being traded to the Penguins on Feb. 21, 2022 — had assists.

The Ducks responded with a power-play goal by forward Adam Henrique at 17:50 of the first period.

Taking a pass above the right circle of the offensive zone, Ducks forward Troy Terry moved into the circle and lifted a wrister on net. DeSmith made the initial save and kicked out a rebound to his right. Ducks rookie forward Mason McTavish beat Penguins forward Brock McGinn to the puck below the left circle and fired a quick wrister on net. DeSmith rejected that shot as well but allowed another rebound free in the crease that Henrique cleaned up with an easy forehand shot for his 14th goal. Assists went to McTavish and Terry.

Another score from the second line restored a lead for the Penguins, 2-1, at 8:46 of the second period thanks to a frantic goalmouth scramble that resulted in Malkin’s 15th goal.

From near the center point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Ty Smith whacked a one-timer that was denied by Gibson. On the ensuing rebound, Rakell was denied by Gibson on a backhander then Ducks defenseman Simon Benoit blocked subsequent wristers by Zucker and Rakell. Malkin was perched to the right of the cage and jabbed the bouncing puck under the glove of a desperate Gibson with a forehand shot to complete the furious sequence. Rakell and Zucker registered assists.

The Ducks got a second power-play goal to tie the game 2-2 at 11:16 of the third period. After gaining the offensive zone on at the center point, Ducks forward Trevor Zegras offloaded the puck to Klingberg on the right wing. From inside the right dot, Klingberg toasted DeSmith’s glove on the near side with a wrister for his sixth goal. Zegras and Terry tallied assists.

The Ducks took their first lead, 3-2, at 15:40 of the third. After Zucker lost possession of the puck at the left point of the Penguins’ zone, Zegras claimed it and slid a pass to forward Ryan Strome who slinked his way deep up the left wing. Allowing a passing lane to develop, Strome dished it back to Zegras in the high slot. With Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel laying down in the slot and covering his face, Zegras pumped a rising rister from just above the hashmarks past DeSmith’s blocker for his 14th goal. The only assist went to Strome.

The Penguins forced overtime when Rust scored his 10th goal at 19:35 of the third.

Working with an extra attacker, Pettersson was deep in the Ducks’ right corner and corralled a rebound then tapped a backhand pass to Rakell behind the cage. From there, Rakell one-touched another backhand pass to the right of the crease, where Guentzel fended off Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler and forward Sam Carrick then distributed his own backhand pass to the left circle, where Rust leaned down and fired a wrister under Gibson’s blocker on the near side. Guentzel and Rakell recorded assists.

In overtime, Guentzel needed all of 33 seconds to claim victory, albeit with a little bit of help from the Ducks.

After stripping Penguins forward Sidney Crosby of the puck in Anaheim’s zone, Zegras generated his own breakaway from behind his own blue line. Chugging up the right wing, he attacked the net but instead of shooting, he made an ill-advised drop pass to a trailing Fowler, who did not appear to expect to receive the puck and failed to accept it.

That miscue led to a breakout for the Penguins as Guentzel and Crosby led a two-on-one rush against Strome. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Crosby dished the puck to the left wing for Guentzel, who completed the sequence by firing a wrister past Gibson’s blocker on the near side for his 18th goal. Crosby had the only assist.

“I saw Strome there backdoor,” DeSmith said of the Ducks’ failure to capitalize on their scoring chance in overtime. “I didn’t think (Zegras) was going to give it to him, then he tried. I don’t think Strome thought he was going to give it to him either. Got lucky there. Thankfully, (Guentzel) buried on the other end for us.”

DeSmith made 26 saves on 29 shots to boost his record to 6-9-2.

The Penguins got a boost by simply getting the victory, even if it came with blemishes against an inferior opponent.

Wins of any stripe have been a rarity as of late.

“Every win is important,” DeSmith said. “Every point is important at this point (of the season) for us. It was really good for our confidence to pull that one out there. That would have been pretty deflating. We’re desperate for every point now. We have a lot of guys stepping up.”

Notes:

• Jan Rutta was a somewhat surprising scratch due to an undisclosed injury. Sullivan labeled him as “day to day.”

He participated in the morning skate and even worked on the top defensive pairing with Pettersson.

This marked the first game Rutta has missed this season. That leaves Brian Dumoulin as the Penguins’ only defenseman who has played in all 43 games in 2022-23.

• This was the Penguins’ first overtime win against the Ducks/Mighty Ducks franchise. Their only other win against Anaheim beyond the bounds of regulation was a 3-2 shootout road win, March 7, 2014.

• Crosby (1,458 points) surpassed forward Teemu Selanne (1,457) for 17th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Ron Hextall recorded his 100th win as general manager of the Penguins.

• Penguins rookie forward Jonathan Gruden made his NHL debut. Primarily serving as a fourth-line center, Gruden logged 7:02 of ice time on 10 shifts and had one shot attempt. He was also 1 for 5 (20%) on faceoffs.

• Gruden became the ninth player in franchise history to wear No. 45 for the Penguins. His predecessors:

Mike Needham, Glen Mulvenna, Peter Ferraro, Martin Sonnenberg, Rob Scuderi, Arron Asham, Adam Payerl, Josh Archibald

• The 45 shots the Penguins recorded Monday was their third-highest total of the season.

They previously tallied 53 shots in a 6-2 home win against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 13 and 47 shots in a 4-3 home win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 1.

• Penguins defenseman Taylor Fedun and forward Danton Heinen were each healthy scratches.

• Gibson continues to largely struggle in his hometown. In seven career games at PPG Paints Arena, he has a 2-4-1 record, a 3.27 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage and one shutout.