ELMONT, N.Y. — Trailing 2-0 and 3-1 in the second period with a struggling goaltender, the Pittsburgh Penguins avoided the knockout punch before rallying to deliver their own in a game with significant playoff implications, beating the New York Islanders 8-3 at UBS Arena.
Anthony Mantha scored a pair of goals. Rickard Rakell also scored a pair, and Justin Brazeau had a trio of assists.
The heavyweight fight between a pair of teams separated by just one point in the Metro Division as the season races toward its exciting conclusion. The Penguins have just eight games to go and now control their destiny with just a hint of authority.
Coach Dan Muse gave his lines a good shuffle. Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup, but Evgeni Malkin remained out. So, Muse kept his reliable fourth line together (Elmer Soderblom-Connor Dewar-Noel Acciari) and mixed the rest.
He elevated Egor Chinakhov to Sidney Crosby’s line. Made Rickard Rakell the second line center. And dropped Tommy Novak to third line winger.
Was Muse a little apprehensive taking a big swing at his struggling lineup?
“No,” Muse said with a confident shrug.
The turning point of the game came when the Islanders had the Penguins on the ropes. Leading 3-1 with a power play, the Islanders had a chance to put away the Penguins. Instead, Rickard Rakell set in motion his own shorthanded goal at 11:01 of the second period. Instead of 4-1, it was 3-2, and the Penguins scored seven straight goals.
“The PK goal, that’s what clicked.That’s a great way to put it. I think it just brought the momentum back to our side,” said Mantha. “And on top of that, they killed the penalty. That’s exactly what we needed, and our team just went up from there.”
That was the first of seven unanswered goals. Indeed, Muse’s changes bore an orchard’s worth of fruit. Fifteen of the Penguins’ 18 skates had points, and surprisingly, two of the skaters without points were the red-hot Erik Karlsson and always dangerous Egor Chinakhov. The other scoreless Penguins player was defenseman Connor Clifton.
It was a resounding win, and the air in the locker room was filled with the echoes of satisfaction and animated enthusiasm.
For a team that was only 4-4-2 in their last 10 games, the scrappy Penguins rose to the challenge. Even when they faced a dire situation, twice down by two, they pushed.
“And then also, the shorthanded goal was a big turning point. And that’s what you need. There are different ways to create momentum, and sometimes, it’s goals, sometimes it’s just a couple of shifts where we just turn the tide and be playing in their end more,” said Muse. “You never know what it’s going to be. But I have a lot of belief in this group. When we are down, the guys are going to stick with it and find a way to get things back on our side. And that’s what they did here tonight.”
In fact, the Penguins outplayed the Islanders, even when they were down. Their game did not include big flaws or structural breakdowns as it has. There were some shaky moments, but a couple of bounces and some goaltending issues were the reasons the Penguins trailed.
Instead of getting tight, they attacked harder. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Penguins allowed just two high-danger chances over the final 40 minutes. By the end, they had doubled the Islanders 35-17 in scoring chances and obliterated them with high-danger chances, 23-6.
At the end of the scoreless first period, the Penguins had a slim 5-4 high danger advantage.
“For sure (it was a satisfying win), and was a really important game to win,” said goalie Arturs Silovs. “And you know, the guys delivered, even when we were trailing. You know, (they scored) a PK, a huge goal. And (we) just keep going and scoring more goals. I think we never let go after that.”
Penguins Analysis
One Penguins player acknowledged the tactical advantage the team took. The Islanders like to play on the rush, but they do so with something akin to a spread out attack to make defensemen chase and create space.
Monday, the Penguins’ game started simply. In keeping with the boxing metaphors, they jabbed through the first period with simple dump-and-chase hockey. They kept after the Islanders with a good forecheck.
The Penguins didn’t force the rush. They chipped it in, chipped it in, and kept chasing until the game broke in their favor. Exactly how it’s supposed to work.
“I think we realized pretty quickly that most of our looks came from a good forecheck and getting pucks behind their net and spreading them out and winning the net-front match,” said Rakell. “So yeah, that’s where I think it changed for us–to not be too stubborn on the lines and get the pucks deep, and everybody being on the same page.”
The relentless pressure eventually opened the Penguins’ game, and after percolating for the beginning of the second period, they dominated. They began to play on the rush, and it was they who ripped the page out of the Islanders’ playbook and spread out the Islanders, creating wide open spaces for Anthony Mantha to show off some silky mitts, turning Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin inside out a couple of times.
The Penguins attacked, with each line playing to its particular strengths.
Penguins Report Card
Team: A
Among the skaters, there were few weak links, but a coordinated handoff of offensive zone pressure from one line to the next, one Penguins stick to another. Numerous times, the Penguins made line changes while controlling the puck in the offensive zone.
They didn’t crowd Sorokin as one might have predicted. They worked around the Islanders’ scrambled zone defense and used the extra time and space to pick corners and torture the Vezina Trophy candidate.
Arturs Silovs: C
He was not playing well, but after falling behind 3-1, the Penguins allowed just eight more shots over the next 31 minutes.
Silovs was admittedly surprised by Anders Lee’s goal as the puck caromed off the back wall, but he should have reacted better to the original play and gone to the post rather than staying in the middle as the puck skipped wide. He was fooled by Mathew Barzal’s rush and seemed to play for a pass that was instead Barzal snapping it past him.
Sometimes, a goalie bails out the team, and sometimes–like Monday–the team protects the goalie.
Anthony Mantha: A
Actually, he had a bad first period with a couple of turnovers. But then, he dialed in his game and was an offensive force. The puck followed Justin Brazeau, who fed him again … and again.
Justin Brazeau: A
He, too, had a rough first period. He lost too many puck battles and looked out of step. It clicked in the second period. His finesse game shined, and he dished the puck like a playmaking center.
Ben Kindel: Beast Mode
The backbreaking goal was courtesy of Kindel. On the defensive sequence before, he won a battle in the defensive zone and fooled everyone by not backing it around the yellow, or chipping it off the glass. He showed a move this column has never seen before by spraying a bit of snow and skating backwards off the wall, then launching himself on the rush.
Kindel was all over the puck; he charged deep into the zone, took the shots available, and dished the biscuits like Grandma on Sunday afternoon. He had five missed shots and two on net. His assist to Avery Hayes came from a hard shot on Sorokin, gathering the rebound and putting on Hayes’s tape near the crease.
Kris Letang: A
Letang was notable Monday. He was quite good in the defensive zone, making several stops, a few steals, and more disruptions. He had two assists and was a plus-3, despite no shots on goal.
Elmer Soderblom: A+
It’s hard to find a shortcoming in his game. He continues to add physicality to his repertoire, and he has owned the walls.
“He was awesome tonight. I mean, you see, like every game, he’s found a way to make some impact. He’s getting in on the forecheck, being around the net. I mean, he’s just so hard to defend,” Muse said. “It’s everybody he’s played agains. When he gets that puck down low, I don’t know what the answer is in terms of how you defend a guy that size who can hold on to pucks and cut back the way he does, But he’s getting to the net front, you know, obviously the fight too.”
Oh yeah, Soderblom relatively pummeled Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield in a fight.
Dan Muse: A+
The Penguins coach made changes with conviction, and each made sense. Even if they didn’t work, this column planned to praise the lineup construction. By moving Novak from the second line, Muse put the wingers–Mantha and Brazeau–in a greater position to succeed and erased a struggling unit. Rakell centered the pair, and it worked.
Novak has been struggling, and that didn’t stop Monday, but Kindel and Avery Hayes were notable, giving Muse a true top-nine.
Categorized:Penguins Analysis
