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Penguins rally vs. Canucks in wild 14-goal game

By Adam GretzNov 27, 2019, 11:23 PM EST
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PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins 8-6 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night was a result they absolutely deserved.

It was also a minor miracle that they were actually able to pull it off.

They were the better team for most of the game only to find themselves trailing by three goals with 15 minutes to play in the third period, mostly due to one of starting goalie Matt Murray‘s worst performances of the season (and a tough luck goal against backup Tristan Jarry after he came on in relief). It was at that point that they rallied for five consecutive goals as part of a six-goal third period to win their third game in a row and extend their current points streak to six games.

Let’s take a look at some of the madness.

1. At one point a win seemed nearly impossible for the Penguins. The Penguins opened the game by scoring two goals in the first 12 minutes and were holding a 12-0 edge on the shot chart. The crazy thing? The game itself was probably even more one-sided than those numbers indicated. It was total domination. But the Canucks found a way to turn the tide in their favor, took advantage of another off night from Murray, and scored six goals in just under 30 minutes of game-time to somehow hold a three-goal lead with 15 minutes to play in regulation.

They were also set to go on a power play at that point after Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was whistled for delay of game. That should have been game over.

According to the hockey analytics site Moneypuck, the Penguins had only a 1.5 percent chance of winning the game at that exact moment.

But after a J.T. Miller hooking penalty negated the power play, the Penguins started their rally with a Dominik Kahun goal at four-on-four which was then followed just 68 seconds later by an Evgeni Malkin power play goal to bring the Penguins to within one.

Just three minutes after that, Zach-Aston Reese scored his fourth goal of the season to tie the game, which was followed by a Kris Letang goal with under four minutes to play to regain the lead for the Penguins. Vancouver made a desperation offside challenge hoping to have the goal overturned, but the call was upheld. Coach Travis Green admitted after the game they weren’t very optimistic about the challenge but felt they had to take the chance.

Malkin added an empty-net goal with less than a second to play, capping off another dominant night for him and his line.

“As I said to the players after the game we love the resilience this group shows,” said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan. “It’s just a never say die attitude regardless of what the score is or the challenge is in front of us. We just go out and play.”

The frustrating thing for the Canucks is they were not only in a position to win, but they received offensive contributions from players beyond their top duo (Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser) and were still unable to finish it.

“It’s unfortunate,” said coach Travis Green. “This could have been one of our best wins of the year.”

2. The Penguins need to get Matt Murray right. This is the one big concern for the Penguins right now. The biggest reason they even needed that late rally was because of the continued struggles of their starting goalie. Wednesday’s game was the sixth time in his past eight appearances that Murray finished with a save percentage under .900, and the seventh time in that stretch he was at .905 or lower.

His 10 save on 14 shot performance on Wednesday lowered his season save percentage to just .901 in 19 appearances. That is simply not good enough. With the way Jarry has performed in his limited work this season he has absolutely earned more starts in the short-term. They have the defense to win. Now they just need to get the goaltending.

3. Evgeni Malkin is back. The big wild card this season for the Penguins was always going to be Malkin’s ability to bounce-back from what was by his own admission a down year.

He is back, and he is dominating.

With Sidney Crosby sidelined due to injury, Malkin has taken the center spot on the top line between Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust, a trio that has been taking over games for the past month. That trio combined for five of the Penguins’ eight goals against the Canucks and has been a complete nightmare for opposing defenses to try and slow down since they were put together.

He finished with five points (his first five-point game since 2012) and is now up to 19 points in 14 games. They have the depth, and now they have one of their best players playing close to his highest level.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

How the Penguins have become one of NHL’s best defensive teams

By Adam GretzNov 26, 2019, 5:26 PM EST
3 Comments

It is starting to look like Jim Rutherford was right.

Not long after his Pittsburgh Penguins were swept out of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he defiantly proclaimed that the defense he had assembled was probably the best one his team had since he arrived in Pittsburgh. It seemed to be a rather dubious claim not only because of how the Penguins performed for much of the season (including the playoffs), but because he had also been the general manager for a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion in Pittsburgh.

But nearly two months into the 2019-20 season the Penguins have been one of the league’s stingiest teams defensively and that play is one of the biggest reasons they have been able to overcome a seemingly unending list of injuries to keep piling up points.

Just look at the defensive performance so far this season compared to the same date a year ago, as well as their final numbers from the 2018-19 season.

All numbers via Natural Stat Trick. The numbers in parenthesis are their league-wide rank.

They also boast one of the league’s best penalty killing units, not only in terms of success rate, but also in their ability to also limit shots and chances against.

The Penguins always had one elite defense pair in Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin but everything after that was always a question.

So what all has changed?

The arrival of John Marino and development of Marcus Pettersson. One thing that should be pointed out about Rutherford’s “best defense” comment is that there have been some personnel changes on the blue line since then that helped the team get back closer to the winning identity it had lost. Erik Gudbranson and Olli Maatta were traded, while the team also made the under-the-radar acquisition of John Marino from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a sixth-round pick.

From the moment they acquired Marino, the Penguins seemed enamored with his potential. After watching him play for the past month-and-a-half it is not hard to see why. He has been a game-changer on the blue line and in his first pro season has already become a 20-minute per night player and has yet to look out of place. He brings some much-needed youth, mobility, and playmaking to a defense that badly needed all three.

Combine his presence with a full season of Marcus Pettersson (acquired in December of last year for Daniel Sprong) and suddenly the Penguins have two young, mobile defenders that can help drive play for what is currently a dirt cheap price against the salary cap. And both have the potential to continue getting better.

The forwards are helping more. One of the common themes throughout the Penguins’ offseason was that they needed to play “the right way,” and that the defensive deficiencies last season weren’t just about the defensemen themselves. They also needed more help from their forwards. They are getting that this season, and it’s not just because the returning players are playing smarter. The offseason additions of Brandon Tanev and Dominik Kahun, as well as getting a full season out of trade deadline acquisition Jared McCann, have brought three more fast, defensively responsible forwards to the lineup, and all are making significant contributions in every phase of the game.

Tanev’s signing drew harsh criticism (including from me) due to the term on the contract but so far he has proven to be everything the Penguins said he would be — a menace due to his speed and an always frustrating player for opponents to go up against. Combined with the arrival of young players Teddy Blueger and Sam Lafferty the Penguins injected a ton of speed, youth, and fresh blood into a lineup that the rest of the league had not only caught up to, but seemingly passed by the previous two years. With Phil Kessel and Arizona and Sidney Crosby currently sidelined the Penguins may not be as explosive offensively, but they are making up for that with their ability to shut teams down.

Better usage and a better identity. Mike Sullivan is turning in a Jack Adams level coaching performance this season and has pushed all of the right buttons so far. He has the team buying into how they need to play, they are back to play fast, and the personnel usage is far better (trusting Marino and Pettersson in big spots; playing Jack Johnson in the third-pairing/PK role he is best suited for).

Rutherford received his fair share of criticism the past couple of years (including from, again, me) and much of it was deserved. The team became too obsessed with “push-back” and getting more physical instead of getting faster and better. There was a constant revolving door of player transactions that made it seem like they didn’t really have a plan. Tom Wilson took up residence in their front office and seemed to drive every decision.

One of the most positive things anyone around Pittsburgh could always say about Rutherford is he is quick to admit his mistakes and move on. He definitely did that by making the team faster and getting it back to what it does best. It may not have been the most direct route, but for the first time in two years the Penguins have the look of the team that was winning Stanley Cups instead of the one that was getting swept in the first round. Better late than never.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

The Buzzer: Goalies shine as Jarry, Nilsson earn wins

By Sean LeahyNov 22, 2019, 10:07 PM EST
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Three Stars

1. Tristan Jarry, Penguins

The Penguins won for only the second time in their last six games with a 4-1 victory over the Devils. Jarry earned his third win of the season with a 36-save performance to help extend Pittsburgh’s point streak to four games. They now have points in seven of their last eight games.The netminder has allowed two or fewer goals in five of his six games this season, and in four of his five starts.

2. Thomas Chabot, Senators

The defenseman opened the scoring and helped close it out with a secondary assist on Anthony Duclair‘s power play goal during 4-1 win over the Rangers. Chabot now has four points in his last four games and 14 on the season. Duclair, who also had a goal and an assist, has six point in his last four games. Jean-Gabriel Pageau chipped in a pair of helpers to give him 19 points in 23 games.

3. Anders Nilsson, Senators

Nilsson was solid in goal making 30 stops during the win. He’s won three in a row and the Senators have won six of the last seven games he’s started. Ottawa has won seven of their last nine.

Highlights of the Night

• Dominik Kahun with the goal of the night. After some sweet deking, he went backhand shelf on Mackenzie Blackwood:

• Congrats to Senators rookie Logan Brown for scoring his first NHL goal:

• Well done, Senators:

Stat of the Night

Scores
Penguins 4, Devils 1
Senators 4, Rangers 1

The Buzzer: Eichel scores 4; Milestones for Stamkos, Coach Q

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By Adam GretzNov 17, 2019, 1:44 AM EST
3 Comments

Three Stars

1. Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres. Entering play on Saturday the Sabres had lost seven of eight, were riding a six-game losing streak, and needed something to go their way to get things back on track. Their captain came to the rescue in a big way. Eichel scored four goals and provided all of the offense for the Sabres in a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. It was the 10th four-goal game in Sabres franchise history and the first since Thomas Vanek did it during the 2009-10 season. It is already the the fourth four-goal game in the NHL this season, joining David Pastrnak, Anthony Mantha, and James Neal.

2. Derek Grant, Anaheim Ducks. Sometimes you need an unlikely hero to step up and the Ducks got that on Saturday when Grant scored three goals for his first career hat trick in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. The win snapped what had been a nine-game point streak for the Blues, as well as a five-game losing streak for the Ducks. Entering Saturday Grant had scored just two goals on the season and only 18 in 228 career games.

3. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche. The absence of linemates Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog has not slowed down MacKinnon one bit. He took over on Saturday night with two goals — including the overtime winner — and an assist in a 5-4 win for the Avalanche. His overtime goal was a highlight reel tally that helped the Avalanche secure the two points after allowing a two-goal lead to disappear in the final three minutes of regulation. He is now up to 29 points in his first 20 games this season and has three three-point games over the past five. Rookie defenseman Cale Makar also deserves some attention for his four-point game.

Two big milestones

Stamkos scores 400th goal. It came in a losing effort, but Steven Stamkos scored the 400th goal of his career on Saturday. It is a great accomplishment for one of the best goal-scorers of this era, and it also produces a pretty big “what if” question — how many goals would he have today had he not missed so many games in his peak seasons to significant injuries and a lockout? The only active player to hit the 400 goal mark in fewer games than Stamkos is Alex Ovechkin.

Quenneville wins 900th regular season game. Thanks to the Florida Panthers’ 4-3 win over the New York Rangers, Joel Quenneville became only the second coach in NHL history to record 900 regular season wins. Scotty Bowman is the only other coach to hit that number.

Other notable performances from Saturday

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins extended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ losing streak to five games in a dominant win. Evgeni Malkin and Dominik Kahun were the offensive stars for the Penguins as they dominated a Maple Leafs team that continues to look completely lost. Read all about this game here.
  • The Dallas Stars received big contributions from Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn as they overcame a two-goal third period deficit to beat the Edmonton Oilers in overtime. Read about how Seguin and Benn were difference-makers here.
  • Arizona Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped all 38 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season. He also nearly sparked a goalie fight by slamming Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk to the ice. Read all about that game right here.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks no doubt remembered Pekka Rinne talking about what an “easy” game he had the first time he faced them this season. His night on Saturday was even easier because he only made it through half the game before being benched in a 7-2 rout. Alex Nylander scored two goals for the Blackhawks in the win.
  • Evgenii Dadonov scored two goals for the Panthers in their 4-3 win over the Rangers.
  • Andrei Svechnikov continued his strong sophomore season with an overtime winner for the Carolina Hurricanes. He is now up to nine goals this season.
  • Big win for the Winnipeg Jets against the Tampa Bay Lightning to improve to 8-3-1 in their past 12 games and remain surprisingly competitive in the NHL’s Central Division.
  • Here come the Sharks. Their 4-3 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings improved their winning streak to six games.

Highlights of the Night

The New York Islanders’ point streak hit 14 games on Saturday (13-0-1) thanks to an incredible rally that saw them overcome a 3-0 deficit against the Philadelphia Flyers. Mathew Barzal scored the shootout winner and it was an absolute beauty of a goal.

The best shootout goal of the night, though, belonged to Washington Capitals forward Jakub Vrana for this Datsyuk-ian dangle to beat Jaroslav Halak in the fifth round of the shootout against the Boston Bruins. The Capitals won to improve to 14-3-4 on the season. That is the best record in the NHL.

We told you MacKinnon’s overtime winner was incredible, and here it is.

Blooper of the Night

It probably has to be that bizarre disallowed goal in Montreal where Phillip Danault, capping off a chaotic scramble around the goal line. Read all about it here.

Factoids

  • Jonathan Huberdeau now has more assists than any player in Panthers history. [NHL PR]
  • Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are the third set of teammates in the past 30 years to have at least 40 points through their team’s first 22 games of the season. [NHL PR]
  • Los Angeles Kings forward Jeff Carter skated in his 1,000th career game on Saturday, making him the 11th player from the 2003 draft class to reach that milestone. The only other draft class with that many was the 1979 draft class. The Kings were 4-3 winners over the Vegas Golden Knights on Carter’s big day. [NHL PR]

Scores

Carolina Hurricanes 4, Minnesota Wild 3 (OT)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Vegas Golden Knights 3
Dallas Star 5, Edmonton Oilers 4 (OT)
Arizona Coyotes 3, Calgary Flames 0
Winnipeg Jets 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 3
Washington Capitals 3, Boston Bruins 2 (SO)
Buffalo Sabres 4, Ottawa Senators 2
New Jersey Devils 4, Montreal Canadiens 3 (OT)
Florida Panthers 4, New York Rangers 3
New York Islanders, Philadelphia 3 (SO)
Pittsburgh Penguins 6, Toronto Maple Leafs 1
Anaheim Ducks 4, St. Louis Blues 1
Chicago Blackhawks 7, Nashville Predators 2
Colorado Avalanche 5, Vancouver Canucks 4 (OT)
San Jose Sharks 4, Detroit Red Wings 3 (SO)

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

The Buzzer: Big night for stars like Crosby, Ovechkin (also Dallas Stars)

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By James O'BrienOct 30, 2019, 2:20 AM EDT
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Three Stars

1. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Ovechkin provided some potential bulletin board material for the Maple Leafs before the game, but instead he essentially called his shot.

The star sniper generated two goals (including the overtime-winner) and two assists, firing 10 shots on goal. He now has 11 goals and 18 points in 14 games to start the 2019-20 season strong. Oh yeah, he also logged a ridiculous 12:38 TOI on the power play on Tuesday, part of a wild game that included a couple controversial Tom Wilson hits.

Ovi wasn’t the only player who had a strong night in that one. John Carlson scored two goals to reach 23 points. Auston Matthews wasn’t far behind Ovechkin with two goals and one assist. Nicklas Backstrom collected three assists.

2. Alexander Radulov, Dallas Stars

Dallas came into Tuesday’s game against the Wild with a -10 goal differential in the third period of games. They brought that down to a more respectable -5 on Tuesday as part of a thunderous comeback. Late in the second, the Wild went up 3-0, only for the Stars to score six unanswered goals to stun Minnesota 6-3.

Radulov began that rally with Dallas’ first goal, and ended up generating a hat trick plus an assist. He simply wouldn’t be denied, firing 10 SOG. If this was about Minnesota sitting on a lead in any way, Dallas showed that it’s probably not the best way to put them away.

Ovechkin gets the slight nod because Radulov’s third goal came on an empty-netter. Radulov’s second was the GWG, so they had clinchers in common on Tuesday.

3. Nick Bonino, Nashville Predators

The Predators scored three goals on Tuesday, and Bonino generated all of them for a natural hat trick. No Bones about it, that’s an impressive night.

(Sorry … ish.)

Other players like Sidney Crosby deserve a mention (more on that in a moment), but a natural hatty is really something. Considering that Bonino and Crosby were teammates, and Bonino’s goals came from the “dirty areas” of the ice, so 87 probably wouldn’t be so unhappy.

Bonino wasn’t far from the other top two in SOG, either, with nine on his way to that hat trick. This continues a strong start to 2019-20 for Bonino, who now has 10 points in 12 games.

Honorable mentions

  • Crosby and the Penguins absolutely feasted on an overmatched Flyers team, and that meant filling up the scoresheet. Crosby scored a goal and two assists for three points, matched by Dominik Simon and Dominik Kahun. Bonus points to Kahun, who managed his goal and two assists in just 8:49 TOI.
  • Again, Matthews and Backstrom had three-point nights of their own.
  • Rocco Grimaldi got assists on all three of Bonino’s goal. Bones and Grimaldi sounds like it could be a buddy cop show. Just a lot to like, folks.
  • Josh Mahura of the Ducks collected three assists as the Ducks won a high-scoring game against the Jets 7-4. Mahura’s the second Ducks rookie to generate three points in a game, and notched quite a few other milestones.

Highlight of the Night

How could it be anything but Andrei Svechnikov scoring a lacrosse-style goal? More on that here.

Another Storm Surge

A Halloween-themed one. Maybe they’d be called nerds instead of jerks this time, to get a candy theme going?

Factoids

  • Cam Fowler scored his 61st goal, passing Scott Niedermayer for the most of any defenseman in Ducks history.
  • Ovechkin finished the night with 669 career regular-season goals. According to NHL PR, that puts Ovechkin ahead of Luc Robitaille for most as a player listed as a LW. He’s also now ranked 12th all-time in goals scored, in general. Depending upon how his season goes, Ovechkin could really climb the ranks in 2019-20, or soon after.

8. Mark Messier – 694
9. Steve Yzerman – 692
10. Mario Lemieux – 690
11. Teemu Selanne – 684
12. Ovechkin – 669

  • Ovechkin’s teammate Carlson scored two goals to finish the night with 23 points on the season, and in October. Only one defenseman’s had a better October in NHL history: Al MacInnis in 1990, according to NHL PR.
  • The Red Wings ended an eight-game losing streak by beating the Oilers.

Scores

BOS 5 – SJS 1
WSH 4 – TOR 3 (OT)
PIT 7 – PHI 1
CAR 2 – CGY 1
NYR 4 – TBL 1
DET 3 – EDM 1
NSH 3 – CHI 0
DAL 6 – MIN 3
ANA 7 – WPG 4

MORE:
• Pro Hockey Talk’s Stanley Cup picks.
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.