You really can’t overstate how important Sunday night’s game at PPG Paints Arena was for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The night before, the Penguins lost in yet another shootout, continuing one of the NHL’s most inexplicable patterns as they failed to earn the second point in a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia.
That same night, the New York Islanders leafrogged them in the standings with a 2-1 overtime win out west in San Jose. Columbus, picking up a point with an overtime loss to Utah, kept themselves within striking distance of Pittsburgh’s spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Trying to earn some ground back wasn’t going to be easy. Hosting Boston for the second half of a back-to-back (and their second puck drop in less than 24 hours), the Penguins had to bounce back in a hurry.
They had to do it with an even more depleted lineup. With Sidney Crosby still out from his Olympic injury and Evgeni Malkin serving the second of his five-game stick-swinging suspension, the Penguins were dealt another blow with the absence of Justin Brazeau, who was labeled day-to-day and did not partake in Sunday’s game.
Pittsburgh’s injuries and their exhaustion was certainly evident early.
Boston was the dominant team for the first half of this game. The Penguins looked sleepy, like they were constantly just a step behind the Bruins on the ice. Kris Letang, the only active member of the big three right now, came out of the gate playing with some fire early on. But his play didn’t exactly translate to the rest of the club early on.
And the Bruins took advantage of the Penguins while they were in a lull. Pavel Zacha scored his first of three goals Sunday night in the first period on a Boston power play. All things considered, Pittsburgh was lucky to get out of that first frame only down one.
In the second, the Bruins poured it on even more.
Zacha tallied his second of the game a little under nine minutes in, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead. A few minutes later, goaltender Arturs Silovs had a pretty regrettable moment when he tried to play the puck behind his own net.
Instead of making the helpful play, Silovs dished up a perfect serving directly to Mr. Pasta hinmself, David Pastrnak to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. The air was starting to come out of the building.
But here’s where the Penguins deserve some pretty serious credit. Things could have gotten out of hand right then and there. Silovs is struggling, he just did whatever the hell that was behind the net, the Bruins are dominating play, and Boston is locking things down.
But when they finally got one chance to get back into this game, they took it.
Boston’s Jonathan Aspirot was called for tripping, and less than 30 seconds later, his teammate Hampus Lindholm joined him in the box via a tripping call. If there was any time for the Penguins to try and climb back into this game, this 5-on-3 was it.
Look, there’s a decent amount to worry about surrounding this team right now. But, Egor Chinakov is not one of them, and he was the one who rifled it past Joonas Korpisalo to put the Penguins on the board.
It gave the team (and the arena( some juice, enough to help fend off the Bruins and take a 3-1 deficit into the second intermission.
Dan Muse better hope he wrote down whatever he said to the team during that break, because it worked like a charm. Just over six minutes in, Connor Dewar did his best Crosby impression when he chased down a puck, turned, and fired a backhand no-look shot from the near the face-off dot over the shoulder of Korpisalo. Thirty-three seconds later, Ben Kindel found a streaking Anthony Mantha for a breakaway goal that put the game in a tie.
The momentum was all on the home team’s side, until… a defensive breakdown in front of the net left the dangerous Zacha alone in space, and he potted his third of the game to the display of a few hats tricking down from the stands. Midway through the third, the Bruins had turned the tide again back in their favor.
It was another point where it looked like perhaps this was it for the Penguins, like they had run out of gas. But they found a way to respond. Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon manned the blue line, and as the latter whipped one towards the net, Mantha was there to pick up the loose change. On pace for a career year at age 31, Mantha had tied it up for the second time this period.
From there, the Penguins were looking to simply park the bus. As the minutes ticked away, Pittsburgh seemed more and more content to at least get one point and try their luck in overtime.
They got their wish. Honestly, with the way things started in this game, getting one point could be considered a miracle. But the Penguins desperately needed two. They needed someone to be a hero. Or maybe three guys to be the hero.
Just 17 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime, Tommy Novak called game, burying it for a 5-4 overtime win.
Each player on the ice for the Penguins played a massive role in this game-winner. Chinakov makes an incredible one-man effort to drive towards the net, make a play, re-gain control of the puck, and flick it over to the goal-scorer.
Novak is able to position himself perfectly, timing exactly when to jump in and rush towards the net for the goal. And Karlsson does a perfect job of, well, maybe setting a pick play…or maybe just “accidentally” bumping into Pastrnak before the goal.
But no matter what you want to call it, that was the kind of third period and overtime that might define the season. For a decimated Penguin lineup, they more than made up for their absences with heart and character.
This was a gutsy, desperate win. This was the first three-goal comeback win in Penguins history without Crosby or Malkin since Febrary 10th, 2001. They truly needed to do the improbable.
If the Penguins can hold onto a playoff spot and get a ticket to the dance we’re going to look back on this game as a catalyst for it. They could have folded after 3-0, they could have rolled over after 4-3, and they could have ran out of gas in overtime. But with an all-hands-on-deck approach, they found a way.
You really can’t overstate how important of a win this was.
Fifth Avenue Sports 
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