Penguins rally for improbable overtime win against Avalanche

For a variety of reasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ home game at PPG Paints Arena against the Colorado Avalanche was a big one.

First, the Avalanche are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Any encounter with the most recent claimant of that chalice is profound.

Second, the Penguins were emerging from their mid-season hibernation, having taken nine days off from their schedule due to their bye week and the NHL’s break for the All-Star Game event this past weekend. It was time to get back to work.

But arguably, the biggest factor for Tuesday’s contest being critical was that there is a dwindling supply of regular season games to stake a sturdy position in the postseason. Only 32 remain, in fact.

“By the nature of having less games to play, I think the importance of having success or the meaning in those games increases,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re going to play meaningful games from now on out.

“We still have control of our own destiny. We still have the ability to influence our pathway moving forward.”

The Penguins moved forward in the right direction on Tuesday as they defeated the Avalanche, 2-1, in overtime. A goal by defenseman Kris Letang — his fifth of the season — at 3:36 of the extra period was the difference.

Even getting to overtime, however, required a bit of luck and a lot of resolve, especially considering the Avalanche had a 29-18 command in shots through the first 40 minutes.

“We didn’t have our best to start,” Penguins forward Jason Zucker said. “It’s usually expected coming out of a break. But they were in the same boat, so there really was no excuse. But we got better as the game went on. The third period, we were good. We started to hold on to pucks a little bit.”

Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith held onto a lot of pucks himself. To be specific, he denied 41 of the 42 shots he saw on Tuesday and boosted his record to 8-10-4.

“Phenomenal,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said of DeSmith. “That’s it. Phenomenal. One word.”

The NHL may have a word or two with Penguins forward Jeff Carter. He struck Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar in the head with his right shoulder at approximately 5:40 of the third period. The superstar defenseman appeared to be dazed after the contact and briefly left the contest but eventually returned and completed the game.

The hit was not penalized but the league could potentially issue supplemental discipline against Carter, who has no history of a suspension or fine in his 18-year career.

A request to speak with Carter following the game was declined by a team spokesperson.

“Pretty blindside,” Makar said to Colorado media. “The (referee) said apparently we ran into each other, but I don’t know how that’s possible. He was coming down the ice.”

After a scoreless opening period, the Avalanche struck first 10:21 into the second frame when forward Nathan MacKinnon, the NHL’s other icon from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, claimed his 14th goal of the season during a four-on-four sequence.

After MacKinnon beat Carter on a draw in the Penguins’ left circle, the Avalanche worked the puck around the perimeter of the offensive zone before MacKinnon regained possession on the right wall. Circumnavigating his way behind the net and curling around through the left circle, MacKinnon released a heavy wrister from the slot that beat DeSmith’s glove. Defensemen Bo Byram and Sam Girard had assists.

The Penguins turned on the accelerators in the third period and controlled the puck for most of the frame, leading the Avalanche in shots, 18-10.

One of those shots did not come off a stick, but it led to the tying goal late in regulation at the 16:22 mark of the third.

Cycling out of the right corner of the offensive zone, Zucker dashed across the slot and momentarily lost the puck, which was poke-checked weakly by goaltender Pavel Francouz, who slid well out of a sound position beyond the realm of his crease. Zucker reclaimed the puck deep on the left wing and whipped a frantic wrister under Francouz’s right leg but wide of the cage on the far side.

Linemate Evgeni Malkin corralled the errant puck behind the cage and slipped a pass past kneeling Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson to Rust, positioned to the left of the blue paint. The puck clunked off of Rust’s left skate then glanced off of Francouz’s right leg before deflecting into the crease. Rust was credited with his 12th goal off assists from Malkin and Zucker.

“I think their (defensemen) thought I was going to cut back, so I was able to kind of cut in there,” Zucker said. “They had a little bit of confusion. (Rust) was coming in for a shot, so I think that created some confusion too. Unfortunately, I kind of lost the puck a bit. But at that point, I was just trying to get it to the net. The goalie was kind of out of whack there. Obviously, (Malkin), he knew the same thing, get it back to the net.”

Zucker offered a perfectly deadpanned assessment of how the wild sequence was concluded.

“’Rusty’, nice shot.”

A would-be goal by Letang only 25 seconds into the overtime period was waved off by referee Carter Sandlack whose call was confirmed by a video review.

After that, things got dicey for the Penguins at the 1:21 mark when Malkin was penalized for tripping Makar.

That granted the Avalanche’s potent power play — it entered the contest ranked eighth in the NHL with a conversion rate of 24.5% — two minutes of mostly open ice during a four-on-three scenario.

But the Penguins penalty killers — in this case, forwards Josh Archibald, Teddy Blueger, Brock McGinn and Ryan Poehling as well as defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Jeff Petry — offered an inspired and stout effort as they limited the Avalanche to three shots on eight attempts during that 120-second span.

Just after the Malkin penalty, the Avalanche called a timeout to get organized. The Penguins took advantage of that stop in play to reinforce some instructions to the penalty killers.

“(Assistant coach) Mike Vellucci grabbed them — he’s responsible for our (penalty kill) — and made them aware of what they were potentially up against,” Sullivan said. “That’s something that’s part of the (scouting meetings) before the game starts. Just reminders on what (Colorado’s power-play players) might be looking for, their positions and where the sticks are, where the threats might be.

“Mike did a great job preparing them, and the guys did a terrific job executing.”

That success almost led directly to Letang’s goal.

After Poehling drove the puck deep into the offensive zone to kill off the final seconds of Malkin’s minor, Francouz denied Penguins forward Sidney Crosby and Malkin on two quality chances during a feverish goalmouth scramble.

Following the rejection of Malkin’s shot, referee Gord Dwyer raised his right arm to signal a delayed penalty against the Avalanche, then Crosby emerged with the rebound, scooted behind the cage and dished a pass to the left circle for Letang. Surveying for a moment, Letang gripped and ripped a near-side wrister past Francouz’s glove to give his team one of its more impressive — though improbable — victories of the season.

Crosby and Malkin had assists.

“Good teams find a way,” DeSmith said. “We’re down one goal, we came out hard (in the third period) and played a lot in their zone, put the pressure on them. Thankfully, we were rewarded.”

Tuesday’s triumph won’t make or break the Penguins’ season. But it was a highly important victory for a variety of reasons.

“For us to come out of the break, knowing that we had to be better to come up with this kind of win against a really good team, it’s definitely a really good stepping stone,” Rust said. “We’ve got to learn some good lessons from this.”

Notes:

• Archibald was activated from long-term injured reserve Tuesday afternoon and returned to the lineup after missing 19 games due to an undisclosed ailment. He logged 9:53 of ice time on 13 shifts and had one shot on one attempt.

• Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen was activated from regular injured reserve before the game and played his first game after being sidelined for five contests due to an undisclosed injury. Clocking 13:08 of ice time on 17 shifts, Kapanen had three shots on five attempts, two blocked shots and even won the only faceoff he took.

• Penguins forwards Danton Heinen, Drew O’Connor and defenseman Mark Friedman were healthy scratches.

• The Penguins’ most recent overtime victory against the Avalanche was a 4-3 road win on Jan. 10, 2020. Forward Jared McCann scored the winning goal on Francouz.

• Prior to the game, a moment of silence was staged in recognition of McKeesport police officer Sean Sluganski, who was shot and killed while in the line of duty on Monday.