Penguins survive Predators' rally in 6-4 victory

When Bryan Rust was asked about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 6-4 victory that almost turned into a loss Saturday night, he was as accurate without a stick in his hands as he has been holding one on the ice.

The question: “Was that a good win, a bad win or it doesn’t matter?”

“I don’t think it matters,” Rust said, “but it definitely wasn’t the best win.”

Yet the Penguins will take the two points from the Nashville Predators, enjoy Sunday’s day off and try to figure out how a 3-0 first-period lead turned into a 4-4 tie with 11 minutes, 4 seconds left in the game.

“We took our foot off the gas, and they pushed back really hard,” Rust said.

Added Patric Hornqvist, who played his first game since Nov. 30 after recovering from a knee injury: “We played hard for the first 30 (minutes), and they played good the last 30. But we came up big, and that’s all that matters.”

The keys to the victory were three power-play goals in four tries by the Penguins, Matt Murray’s 44 saves in only his third game this month and Jake Guentzel’s winner with 63 seconds left.

The puck crossed the goal line as Guentzel was tucking it into the left corner, but even he wasn’t sure. NHL replay review was needed to confirm it.

“I couldn’t see it (cross the line),” Guentzel said of his 19th goal of the season. “When I saw Hornqvist celebrate, I was just thinking one of us scored, at least.”

That was the Penguins’ third power-play goal. Kris Letang and Alex Galchenyuk scored earlier.

Coach Mike Sullivan was encouraged his first unit took his orders and started putting more shots on the net, especially from the top of the power play.

“We try to encourage them to simplify,” he said. “We create opportunities off it (shots from the top).

“Letang happens to score on it tonight (in the first period), but even if he doesn’t score and the goalie makes the save, it gives us an opportunity for the next play.”

Guentzel, who also had two assists, was one of five Penguins who contributed multiple points. Rust scored twice — he now has 16 goals in 24 games — and added two assists. Evgeni Malkin had three assists, Juuso Riikola two and Galchenyuk had a goal and an assist.

Galchenyuk was slumping earlier this season, but he scored goals on back-to-back nights Friday and Saturday and has four with nine assists.

“He cares so much,” Sullivan said. “When Alex was going through a bit of a struggle early on, it really wasn’t from a lack of effort or a lack of care or a lack of want-to.

“It was just a struggle for him. We tried to encourage him to stay with it. We all believe he’s a better player than he’s shown to this point. We’re just trying to help him get there.”

The Predators started putting pressure on the Penguins after they fell behind 3-0 in the first period. The goals chased Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros nine minutes into the game in favor of Pekka Rinne. On Friday night in the Penguins’ 5-2 victory in Nashville, the roles were reversed when Rinne surrendered three goals in the first period and was replaced by Saros.

Murray, who recently has accepted a reserve role behind Tristan Jarry, didn’t need any help, even while the Predators were putting 48 shots on goal, 38 after the first period. He kept the score tied in the third period when it looked like the Predators would take a lead.

“I thought Matt did a great job when Nashville pushed in the third period in particular,” Sullivan said. “It’s always a dangerous lead when you get up three goals that early in the game because there’s so much hockey left. As a coaching staff, you’re trying to preach vigilance and staying on your toes and trying to work for the next goal.

“It’s almost like you’re fighting human nature that your team doesn’t exhale and when it happens you get on your heels. I give our players a lot of credit. We win the game. It wasn’t the prettiest win.

“We found a way to win. I liked our resilience and resolve. We didn’t crumble.”