Penguins seethe over non-call in overtime loss to Hurricanes

Bryan Rust largely sat silently in his locker stall Tuesday night.

Still wearing roughly half of his equipment, the Pittsburgh Penguins winger appeared to be still processing and ruminating over what had happened to him roughly five minutes earlier.

He didn’t have much to say about the matter.

And for a justifiable reason.

“I’d rather not get fined,” a despondent Rust said. “So, I’m just not going to talk about that.”

Rust’s frustration came in how his team — to say nothing of himself, literally — fell in overtime at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, at PPG Paints Arena.

Midway through the overtime period, Rust skated with the puck into the Hurricanes’ zone then backtracked towards his bench to allow his team a line change. Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis followed Rust and hit him from behind into the boards.

As Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry shoved Jarvis in retaliation, Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce claimed the loose puck and generated a two-on-none rush into the Penguins’ zone with forward Andrei Svechnikov.

Crossing the offensive blue line, Pesce fed the puck to Svechnikov, who lifted his right leg and then faked a wrister in the left circle before dishing a pass back to Pesce. From the right of the crease, Pesce elevated a forehand shot to claim his second goal of the season at the 2:20 mark.

Referees Trevor Hanson and Steve Kozari were not available to explain their decision to not call an infraction as the NHL — unlike more transparent sporting federations such as the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball — does not allow its in-game officials to speak publicly or issue statements to a pool reporter about controversial calls.

The Penguins weren’t overly verbose on the subject themselves for fear of running afoul of the NHL’s off-ice officials, who seem to punish what might be considered demeaning language of officials far more consistently than what most would consider boarding.

“That (on-ice) reaction was real because it was a dangerous hit,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said curtly. “So, I disagreed with the call.”

It would be hard to agree that the Penguins did enough — independent of Rust’s mishap at the bench — to earn a victory in this contest.

While they offered a valiant effort to even get the game to overtime, they had several malfunctions throughout the course of regulation that led to the result.

“A point is good,” forward Jason Zucker said. “But it’s not enough. We have to be better.”

Namely, a flat-lined power play that was 0 for 2 on Tuesday and failed to score for the sixth consecutive game is in need of immediate betterment.

Their hopes on the power play — to say nothing of just about every other aspect of their game plan — were hampered by the absence of All-Star defenseman Kris Letang. He was scratched due to an undisclosed illness.

The five players who composed the team’s top power-play unit Tuesday — Rust and Petry as well as forwards Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin — were largely stagnant during their shifts with the man advantage and did not generate a single power-play shot.

Even the Penguins’ penalty killers, who blanked both Hurricanes power-play opportunities they faced, managed to generate a single shot by forward Brock McGinn during the second period.

“Any time you don’t score on the power play and you don’t have sustained (offensive) zone time, it’s not what you want,” Rust said. “We’re a step off right now. We have to find it. We have to find it quick.”

The Penguins quickly opened the scoring when Crosby claimed his 12th goal only 4:34 into regulation.

From the high slot of his own zone, Penguins rookie defenseman P.O Joseph snapped a stretch pass up the left wing to Guentzel at the far blue line. Gaining the offensive zone, Guentzel drew in Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns then flicked a pass to Crosby driving down the slot. Deadening the puck with his right skate, Crosby attacked on a mini-breakaway and whacked a forehand shot that clunked in under rookie goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov’s glove and into the cage. Guentzel and Joseph earned assists.

Things were tied 1-1 at 5:45 of the second period. From the right point, Pesce boomed a one-timer towards a mound of humanity amassed near the Penguins’ crease. Goaltender Tristan Jarry made the initial save with his right leg but allowed a rebound to the left of the crease. Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin was unable to tie up Hurricanes forward Martin Necas, who cleaned up the puck with a forehand shot for his 12th goal. Pesce and forward Sebastian Aho earned assists.

A faux pas by Jarry led to the Hurricanes’ second goal late in the second period at the 17:38 mark.

Following a neutral zone turnover by Penguins forward Josh Archibald, Aho gained the offensive zone on the right wing with speed, pulled up in the right circle and lifted a wrister. The puck appeared to be going wide on the near side and was knocked down by Jarry’s glove. After Jarry failed to corral the rebound, Svechnikov darted in from the slot past Archibald, claimed possession and swooped behind the cage before tucking in a backhand wraparound shot for his 14th goal past a scrambling Jarry. Assists went to Aho and former Penguins forward Stefan Noesen.

Last minute — literally — heroics by Guentzel tied the score at 19:02 of the third period after the Penguins pulled Jarry for an extra attacker. Taking a pass at the right point, Petry surveyed for a shooting lane and chucked a wrister toward the cage. Establishing position just above the crease, Guentzel was able to redirect the puck with the heel of his stick past Kochetkov’s glove on the near side for his 11th goal. Petry and Crosby had assists.

“First off, I’m looking at the guy coming out to block the shot,” Petry said. “And then I’m looking at guys in front. We had bodies there. They had bodies. So I don’t think the goalie’s going to be able to see the puck so just delivering it so, whether it’s a tip or shot on net, we can generate something down low.”

The way this game ended largely generated nothing but confusion and acerbity — even if largely unstated — by the Penguins.

“I thought when I was jumping in the pile there that it was going to be a penalty,” Petry said. “To me, it looked like it was. I don’t know. Obviously, they saw it differently.”

Notes:

• Forward Kasperi Kapanen (seven games) and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel (six games) each returned to the lineup after prolonged stretches as healthy scratches. Kapanen logged 12:55 of ice time on 19 shifts (including 51 seconds on the power play) and recorded three shots on three attempts. Ruhwedel clocked 13:37 of ice time on 19 shifts and recorded two shots on two attempts.

• In Kapanen’s place, forward Danton Heinen was a healthy scratch and missed his first game of the season.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill has now been unblemished in eight consecutive games. They have killed 19 of 19 opposing power-play opportunities over that span.

• Guentzel (362 points) surpassed forward Mike Bullard (360) for 17th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• The Penguins’ last overtime loss to the Hurricanes was a 3-2 road setback March 4. Svechnikov scored the winning goal in that contest.

• The listed attendance for Tuesday’s game was 15,942, the Penguins’ lowest home figure for the season. Capacity for hockey at PPG Paints Arena is 18,187.

Their last sellout was against the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 5 (18,302).

• Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook appeared in his 500th career game.

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