Sidney Crosby scores winner as Penguins bounce back with wild victory over Minnesota

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ power play has decided a lot of games for them this season.

And the bulk of those decisions have been emphatically negative.

Largely sputtering with the man advantage through the first third of the season, the Penguins have directed countless man-hours among their players and staff toward getting what should be a dangerous unit pointed in the right direction.

And that course correction has unfolded over the past week.

In an entertaining, but imperfect, 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena on Monday, the Penguins scored two power-play goals, including the game-winning score in the third period, on five opportunities.

That success continued a surge for the power play, which has found the net in three of the past four games dating to a 4-2 home win against the Arizona Coyotes on Dec. 12. During that span, they’ve gone 6 for 17 (35.2%).

It represents a stark contrast from the franchise-worst 13-game skid without a power-play score they endured before that win against the Coyotes.

“It feels good,” said Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, who scored the winning goal Monday. “It’s something that we’ve been working on. It’s been a focal point for a while. … Special teams are always big. Hopefully, it’s a big confidence boost the way it’s been going for us.”

Overall, things were not going good for the Penguins entering Monday. Roughly 48 hours earlier, they were slashed and burned by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 7-0 road loss on Saturday, their worst defeat of the season.

“No one likes to go through that experience we went through in Toronto,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s a humbling experience for all of us. I was pleased that we responded the right way.”

The Penguins’ second line opened that response when it opened the scoring 7:39 into regulation with forward Reilly Smith’s eighth goal of the season.

Pursuing a puck dumped in behind his own net, Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski was unable to handle it cleanly due to a forecheck by Penguins rookie forward Valtteri Puustinen, who jabbed the puck to the right of the cage. Following up on the sequence, Smith corralled the puck on his forehand, cut to the front of the crease and swung to his backhand, lifting a shot over the glove of sluggish goaltender Filip Gustavsson. Puustinen and Pettersson had assists.

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel found his 14th goal during a power-play sequence 36 seconds into the second frame.

Taking a pass at the right point of the offensive zone, Crosby slid the puck to the left point, where Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson stroked a one-timer to the far side. Stationed just above the top of the crease, Guentzel allowed the puck to glance off his stick and deflect over Gustavsson’s glove. Karlsson and Crosby claimed assists.

The Penguins went up by a field goal at 3:34 of the second via forward Evgeni Malkin’s 11th goal of the season and his first in eight games.

Off a slick deflection pass in the neutral zone by Pettersson, Puustinen gained the offensive zone on the right wing, generating a two-on-one rush with Malkin against Goligoski. Taking the puck deep below the right hashmark, Puustinen dished a forehand pass to the opposite circle, where Malkin chipped in an easy forehand shot. Assists were purveyed to Puustinen and Pettersson.

For Puustinen, his two assists represented the first multi-point game of his young career. He has primarily been stationed on Malkin’s line since he was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Dec. 8.

“He’s (a) fun guy and (a) really good player,” Puustinen said of Malkin. “I like playing with him.”

The Penguins’ reconfigured defense — all three pairings were altered from Saturday’s loss — was unable to hold that lead, however. Forward Ryan Hartman’s eighth goal got the visitors on the scoreboard at 15:05 of the second period.

Pushing play deep on the left wing of the offensive zone, Wild rookie defenseman Brock Faber spun off a check from Karlsson and flung a forehand shot toward the cage. Defenseman John Ludvig tracked back to the cage to defend Wild forward Marcus Johansson but had the puck strike off of his right skate and deflect to the right circle, where Hartman scooped it in and lifted an easy wrister by the glove of goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic on the near side. Faber and Johansson tallied assists.

Defenseman Jake Middleton’s fifth goal pulled the Wild within one score at 17:30 of the middle frame.

After Wild linemates Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov won a puck battle in the right corner of the offensive zone against Pettersson and Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, Kaprizov sent a short-area backhand pass to the right circle for Wild forward Matt Boldy. Muscling his way past Guentzel above the crease, Boldy tried to flip the puck from his backhand to his forehand but lost possession, only to inadvertently distribute the puck to Middleton sneaking in from the left circle. Accepting the puck, Middleton scored past a scrambling Nedeljkovic. Assists were credited to Boldy and Kaprizov.

Things were tied 3-3 at 5:33 into the third period when forward Vinni Lettieri scored his third goal.

Taking a pass at the left point of the Penguins’ zone, Wild defenseman John Merrill lobbed a wrister toward the cage. Parked directly in front of Nedeljkovic and largely unimpeded, Lettieri deflected the puck with his stick over the goaltender’s blocker on the near side. Merrill and defensive partner Daemon Hunt had assists.

The Penguins reclaimed a lead when Crosby scored his 18th goal on a power-play sequence 47 seconds later.

Off the right half wall of the offensive zone, Malkin slid the puck to Guentzel positioned low to the right of the cage. From there, Guentzel forced a pass to Puustinen on the far side of the crease, but the puck pinballed off of Faber’s stick, Eriksson Ek’s right skate, Eriksson Ek’s stick and finally Faber’s left skate before Crosby, with remarkable concentration, buried a forehand shot under Gustavsson’s left leg. Assists went to Guentzel and Malkin.

“He’s done that for, what, 18 years?” Karlsson said of Crosby, a 19-year veteran for those counting. “I don’t think that it’s a surprise. … He’s a gamer. He always has been. He’s shown that he’s continuing to be that. That’s what this team has relied on for so long. That’s what we still rely on. … He’s definitely the best.”

The Penguins’ other special teams unit was at its best on Monday as well. The penalty kill, which had given up goals in three consecutive games, blanked the Wild on all three of that team’s power-play opportunities.

That squad was buoyed by the returns of forward Noel Acciari and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, each of whom had been sidelined for several weeks due to undisclosed injuries.

Acciari led the game with 3:20 of short-handed ice time while Ruhwedel posted an ample 2:18 on the penalty kill.

“They both played really well, in particular the penalty kill,” Sullivan said. “Those guys were missed when we didn’t have them. They made a significant difference being part of the kill for so many reasons. They play a really important role for our team. They’re hard to play against. They play a simple game and they play a straight-ahead game. We can play them against anybody. We have a lot of faith and trust in those guys because they defend hard. They had a solid game.”

Nedeljkovic was solid as he stopped 24 of 27 shots and improved his record to 4-2-1.

This outcome was largely due to a vastly improved power play for the Penguins as of late.

“We’re just playing a little bit more instead of (over) thinking,” Crosby said. “We knew once we get a couple, that would start to happen. That’s pretty natural. It’s tough when you go that long without scoring, it’s kind of human nature to squeeze the stick a bit.

“Now, we’re playing a little bit (better), which is nice.”

Notes:

• Prior to the game, the Penguins activated Acciari and Rakell from regular and long-term injured reserve, respectively.

• In his first game since Nov. 19, Rakell was primarily deployed on the top line and logged 14:45 of ice time on 20 shifts and had two shots on three attempts.

• Crosby (1,535 points) surpassed former linemate Mark Recchi (1,533) for 13th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Pettersson (101 points) surpassed forward Blair Chapman (99) for 92nd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Pettersson’s first assist was the 100th of his career, including his time with the Anaheim Ducks.

• The Wild remain one of two active franchises the Penguins have never shut out. The Seattle Kraken is the other.

• After being placed on waivers Monday afternoon, Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea was a healthy scratch along with forward Vinnie Hinostroza and defenseman P.O Joseph.