Tim Benz: California sweep provides some 'whiteout' for Penguins after slow start to season

It’s not like the Pittsburgh Penguins’ California sweep this week erased everything that went wrong for the club on their recent four-game homestand.

But it’s at least a little hockey whiteout.

The Pens headed west, after having dropped three of four games at home in frustrating fashion. They were losers of six of seven overall and in last place in the Metropolitan Division.

Now, though, after Thursday night’s 4-3 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings, the Penguins have won three in a row by also grabbing victories in San Jose and Anaheim. Mike Sullivan’s team will happily take the win streak back to PPG Paints Arena for a Saturday night date with the Buffalo Sabres.

“It’s a huge one for us. It was an ugly win. I don’t think we were at our best. We had moments when I thought we were good. Momentum swings on both sides. But I just thought we kept competing. We didn’t get down when they scored,” Sullivan said. “I thought it was a gutsy effort on our part. I think there was a lot we can take from it on the good side and the not-so-good side. But to come out with a win is huge.”

If it sounds like I’m attempting to polish a rotten apple, to a certain extent, I am. Guilty as charged. There’s no way the Pens’ three-game trip to California could fully erase what the club did to itself with such erratic play early in the season.

The six regulation losses the Pens accumulated to start the year before their Pacific Coast swing represented 12 points they’ll never have a chance to get back. Eight of those points were left on home ice.

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With the franchise’s chances of making it back to the playoffs in a jumbled Eastern Conference already on a razor’s edge to open the season, the lousy start in October is likely going to stick with this team all the way until April.

But at least the trip to California stopped the bleeding.

“To go back home at .500 (6-6-0) right now, after the start we had, as I said (before the trip), I thought we had played better than a record coming out here in a lot of instances. But it’s important to get results,” Sullivan said. “This is huge for our team. I think it’ll be a great confidence booster for us. It’ll be a good momentum boost. I think it’ll be something to build on.”

There is also something to be said for how the Penguins won these three games. They did what every team should do to the beer-league-level Sharks. They beat their brains in by a final score of 10-2. In Anaheim, most in the locker room sounded pleased with the defensive effort and execution against the Ducks in a 2-0 shutout that featured a goalie change after Tristan Jarry’s injury.

Then, on Thursday against the Kings, the Pens blew a 1-0 lead, came back from a 2-1 deficit, blew a 3-2 lead, and won the game in overtime with backup goalie Magnus Hellberg in the net. Bryan Rust got the OT game-winner after he had a goal taken off the board early in the extra session.

“The first one, when I first got it, I thought it was offside. They didn’t blow a whistle. I just kept playing, and the puck went in, and I celebrated like it was a goal,” Rust said. “I wasn’t too surprised when it didn’t count. I was able to get out there right away again and make the most of it. I’m happy that happened.”

BRYAN RUST, OUR OVERTIME HERO! ???? pic.twitter.com/jJtpyPwrN3

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 10, 2023

Later in his postgame comments, Rust summed up things well when he described the week in California as three different wins for the Penguins in three very different ways. Theoretically, that is the kind of road trip that could spur a team to extended success.

It better. Because the Penguins have eight games looming between now and the end of Thanksgiving weekend, with seven against Eastern Conference rivals. The eighth is a home game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 19.

And there’s only so much whiteout an aging team like the Penguins can use before we even get to December.

Listen: Tim Benz and Seth Rorabaugh discuss the Penguins’ perfect road trip and the decision to retire Jaromir Jagr’s No. 68.