Pregame
The Penguins don’t make many changes from how they finished up last game, with the lone exception being in net where it’s a Sergei Murashov start on day one of the back-to-back.
The hosting Blue Jackets match up against the secon youngest goalie in the league with the current oldest, Cam Talbot.
First period
Pittsburgh gets the first power play 1:37 into the game and it’s not very good. Bryan Rust goes to the penalty
box before it ends, though it didn’t look like they were anywhere close to scoring anyways.
A bit later, the Penguins get a second power play, and again all momentum goes out the window. Not too long after it ends, Columbus is able to get in for the offensive zone and get to work. Eventually Pittsburgh’s defensive structure breaks down, Kaeden Korczak floats into space high in the zone and no sticks are in the lane through the middle of the ice. That’s bad news when Zach Werenski is out there, the reigning Norris winner makes a great pass to Damon Severson, who has snuck deep into the action and one-times a quick shot by Murashov. 1-0 CBJ.
Kris Letang heads to the penalty box towards the end of the period.
Not much to talk about here, Pittsburgh follows up a four-shot first period last game with only three shots in the first tonight. Columbus racks up 12.
Second period
The Pens kill off the rest of the carryover penalty, though they don’t have any more luck controlling the puck. Columbus keeps possession most the time and piles up the shots, taking almost 10 minutes again for Pittsburgh to register a shot on goal.
With all this pressure, it feels like only a matter of time before the lead is extended and sure enough Columbus scores again on their 26th shot of the night (the Pens are stuck at six, none of them really all that threatening either). Egor Chinakhov bumps a pass back to Korczak, who might have had a chance to do something with it, if not for the relentless CBJ pressure. The puck is turnover over. Mathieu Olivier sees traffic in front and snaps a low shot that Murashov can’t pick up in time. 2-0.
Things are looking really bleak on this night, Bryan Rust steps up and makes something happen. Boy, does he ever. Rust powers into the net again down the left side of the ice, then pulls the puck back and slams it home. Werenski has the best view in the house to watch it happen. 2-1
Total shots are 30-10, shot attempts are 64-23. The Pens don’t really deserve to only be down by one, fortunately for them deserve got nothin’ to do with it.
Third period
The Penguins show a few signs of life and for once get to capitalize on their opponent touching a puck to them, instead of the other way around. Malkin and Crosby are close to the net, CBJ bats the puck away but Erik Karlsson holds at the blueline. Karlsson loads up the clapper, it might have hit Rakell, it definitely hit Malkin’s stick and goes in. Unbelievably, this game is tied at 2-2.
Columbus takes a timeout to stop the momentum and review as a staff to potentially challenge it for goalie interference, they decide against it.
The Pens play their best hockey of the night in the third. Koivunen goes to the box for an iffy tripping call with 4:07 left to play. Don’t see the refs call that every day. PK comes through at the critical moment.
Overtime
Back and forth action, the Crosby-Rust-Letang trio nearly win it for Pittsburgh, then play goes the other way and Murashov bails out the Pens.
Most 3v3’s can be boring and tactical, this one was a lot of fun with action at both ends of the ice. No one can find a goal though.
Shootout
Kent Johnson goes first, he goes slow, fancy deke and a quick shot from in tight beats Murashov with speed.
Rakell is up for the Pens. He tries to get Talbot to bite, he doesn’t. Save.
—
Conor Garland is up for CBJ, Murashov stays with him and makes the save.
Chinakhov meets his former team with a SO turn, he shoots wide of the net.
—
Charlie Coyle can score ‘n win, but he can’t beat Murashov.
Kindel has to score to keep the game alive, he can’t.
Some thoughts
- You never know what will happen in the ‘rest vs. rust’ outcome when a team has almost a week off like Columbus did coming into this game. Sometimes they’re not so sharp, others they look well-rested and itching to play. Obviously it was 100% in the latter tonight. Shots at one point in the second period were 24-3. The Pens barely could touch the puck and looked about 75% the speed of the Blue Jacket players up to that point. One team was playing their fourth game in seven days and it showed, the other team had a week to prepare and try to get a loss out of their system. It didn’t take long to figure out which one was which.
- Next up: Murashov. Wow, what a game. He didn’t have a second to let up mentally, he always had to be on. That’s impressive. Great night for him. 43 saves on 45 shots, the second SO stop on Coyle might have been his best of the whole night. Really impressive stuff from the yong netminder.
- In the first period it took the Penguins over 10 minutes of game action to get a shot on goal. It took nearly as long in the second period as well, at one point going 17 minutes between the first and second to record a shot. Can’t live like that for very long. Luckily they scored on their first shot of the third period that was 3:19 in.
- The shot domination is one thing, it’s the lack of cohesion that’s the bigger issue. The Penguins are struggling to make the simple plays right now. Common, standard passes. Moving at pace. Getting to loose pucks. Absence of a forecheck. They were not having these issues the first five periods of the season against Philadelphia and Montreal, yet since then have had some very, very ugly moments and long stretches of disjointed play. They’re not ‘playing connected’ as the buzzwords go. That’s troubling for any number of reasons, not the least that it makes them into a tough watch for most of the night. Luckily they sorted it out enough by the third period and the goalie held them in it that far.
- A developing theory: watch the first Pittsburgh power play of the game if it happens at 0-0. They don’t even need to outright score a goal, but if they are bad to the point the other team gets some rushes up the ice and/or shots, the team is at major risk of a shutdown and uphill battle. That happened in this one.
- Too many similarities to the last game: barely any shots in the first period, looking like it could have been a potential blowout, Rust makes his classic move coming off the left wing to score to bring the Pens within a goal, team falters in third period anyways. Yeah, yeah, we’ve seen this one, move onto the next.
- Ville Koivunen is starting to draw the ire of opponents after the whistle. Didn’t notice that much last season in the NHL. Happened *all the time* in the AHL, where the other team goes after him for being an annoyance. Definitely a good sign he’s more engaged and more effective to start looking like his AHL self a little more in the NHL.
- Hendrix Lapierre played 12:03. Box score says he had one giveaway and one takeaway, no shot attempts, no hits, no blocked shots, not out there for a goal for or against. Can’t really remember a single instance of noticing him on the ice, good or bad, aside from noticing him simply skating out there a couple of times. That’s not meant as a compliment.
- One thing I can’t stop noticing these days is Connor Dewar having the opportunity to get himself out of trouble and completely failing to follow through. Dewar ended up with a 2:03 shift in the second period of being trapped for an extended time. He had the puck on his stick, enough time and space to clear it and couldn’t get it out, while on the penalty kill so there was no risk of an icing stoppage. Occasionally it can happen to anyone but it’s haunting Dewar time and again these last few games. When normally solid and reliable players like that are having major problems it just goes to show how much
- That Korczak is a wanderer in his own end. Might be by design if they’re working in more man concepts or encouraging him to read the play and use his instincts (though I haven’t noticed any other defenders following that lead) but from seeing him for a few games now, he could probably stand to mind the fort a little more and not end up roaming so much.
- Getting one point in the standings when down 2-0 and looking as bad as the Pens looked in the first half of this game is pretty decent. Seeing Murashov play so well is even more encouraging. Would be nice if the team didn’t require a superhuman effort from the goalie every now and then.
Right back at it tomrrow, then a couple days off are coming up. This team looks like they can use it.
