Pregame
The Penguins use the same lineup from yesterday — including in net with Arturs Silovs playing. Taylor Gauthier got the quick call up from Wheeling last minute to serve as backup, Stuart Skinner was unavailable with an upper body injury.
The visiting Panthers are using this lineup, including starting Daniil Tarasov after he mopped up the second half of yesterday’s game.
First period
Pittsburgh strikes first, Tarasov clears the puck to the wall but unfortunately for him it serves as a pass almost straight to Elmer Soderblom. Soderblom accepts the gift and quickly fires it back into the unguarded cage.
Florida is able to even the score after a puck leaks through Silovs. 1-1.
Pittsburgh is able to answer right back 35 seconds later. Sidney Crosby shows off the jets streaking down the left side and scores from distance. 2-1, Pens back in front.
Parker Wotherspoon and Matthew Tkachuk drop the gloves in a fight, Tkachuk picks up an extra minor penalty and the Pens score a back-breaking goal before the end of period to extend their lead to 3-1. Rickard Rakell takes a feed from Crosby and whips it into the net.
Most of this period looked like a continuation from yesterday, a very good thing for the Penguins to keep taking care of business.
Second period
The teams go up and back the ice, in a way going through the motions while still bringing some level of chippiness. Rakell stays red hot and scores another goal late in the period, taking a pass from Evgeni Malkin and adding to the lead to 4-1.
Third period
The Pens tack on another, why not. Crosby makes a spinning backhand pass that isn’t particularly good but Bryan Rust has plenty of time and space to spin around and receive it. Rust then gets to the net and scores. 5-1.
Connor Clifton takes his second penalty of the period and the Panthers make them pay. Carter Verhaeghe makes his stats for the end of the season look a little better with the late goal. 5-2.
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Some thoughts
- The offensive production right now is just electric with 30 goals in the last five games, the first stretch for the franchise since the ‘Score Lords’ days of 1996 with Lemieux, Francis and Jagr. The wild thing about the current run is it’s not star-driven, it’s been incredibly balanced with every line pitching in and consistent contributions from all over the place.
- That being said, the big boys are starting to get it going. Malkin followed up his hat trick yesterday with two assists today. Crosby looked the best he has in a long while since dealing with his dual leg injuries of the last few months. Three-point night, which is great, seeing the captain showcase the skating ability and finishing touch to score from distance was an even better sign.
- Rakell, too, has been unbelievable lately. Go play center? No problem. Rakell has scored 10 goals in the last 10 games, and he has at least one goal in eight of the last 10 games.
- The goalie situation might have just gotten interesting. Skinner was able to serve as backup yesterday but apparently something happened recently that wasn’t allowing him to dress today. The team reportedly didn’t have enough time to physically get Sergei Murashov from Wilkes-Barre to Pittsburgh in time for the 3pm start, so they went somewhat local to bring Taylor Gauthier up from Wheeling to serve as something of a professional EBUG for the day. According to Josh Yohe at The Athletic, Murashov would be coming to Pittsburgh if Skinner is going to miss more time. That’s an area worth watching in the coming days, though since the next game isn’t until Thursday, there is some time to figure things out and see where it goes.
- Interestingly though, Silovs was decent enough today, certainly his best performance in a long while. It’s been well-documented that goalies see a drop off in stats when they’re asked to play two days in a row. But it’s goalies, right? So of course someone like Silovs who has struggled lately actually ends up playing his best game in a while on his second day in a row.
- Great weekend for the Pens to take care of business and win two relatively drama-free games against an eliminated opponent. Pittsburgh’s playoff magic number is down to just 2, and there’s a pretty good chance that the next time they take the ice on Thursday in New Jersey that they will have already officially clinched a playoff berth due to the outside results over the next few days.
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