GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Even the NHL's top-ranked penalty-kill could only keep a good power play down for so long.
Make that the second-unit power play.
The Penguins scored two of their three goals with the man-advantage in Friday night's 3-2 win, including Phil Kessel's game-winner on a 4-on-3 with 51 seconds remaining in overtime:
We'll dive into Kessel's goal a little more in Drive to the Net, but it was somehow fitting that this odd game in the desert would be decided on special teams.
There was no shortage of penalties, particularly early and particularly against the Penguins. But they were able to weather that storm relatively unscathed. Arizona took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Clayton Keller's power-play goal at 12:51.
But after watching Matt Murray take some physical punishment and, in jeopardy of losing their third in a row, the Penguins that emerged from the dressing room to start the second period were plenty ticked off. And it showed.
They took out their pent-up frustrations by turning in what Murray called the Penguins' "best period" of the season. Statistically, he might have a point. The Penguins dominated the Coyotes, 75-25, in Corsi For percentage advantage and had 14 chances for to just two against and none of the high-danger variety.
With Conor Garland off for interference, it was on the Penguins' third power-play opportunity that they finally cashed in. Except it wasn't the unit of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Kris Letang and Kessel -- still a formidable quintet sans Patric Hornqvist -- that struck first.
With 12 seconds remaining on Garland's penalty, Juuso Riikola ripped a 54-foot slap shot from the top of the point to tie, 1-1:
Poor Darcy Kuemper never saw the shot coming with Tanner Pearson camped out in front providing the screen and it's doubtful whether Kuemper would have stopped it even if he did see it.
"It was a bomb. It was a bomb," Mike Sullivan said, stopping to repeat himself. "He can really shoot the puck."
Sullivan said he noticed the velocity on Riikola's shot in training camp. And, nope, this one on Friday wasn't in a preseason game filled with the future Rochester Amerks. This was against the Coyotes and their vaunted PK, which had scored 12 short-handed goals, had been successful 88.2 percent of the time this season and hadn't yielded a power play goal in seven of their last eight games.
Riikola had been a healthy scratch the previous three games during this Western road trip and he might be again when Justin Schultz returns, which could be as soon as the Penguins return from the All-Star break later this month. But the 24-year-old Finn has certainly given the organization something to think about.
"That's why we got him involved on the second power play: To get pucks on the net, to get pucks through," Sullivan was beaming. "Not only can he shoot it, he's willing to shoot it. I think that's important. We can establish so much when we establish that shot on the top of the power play and Juuso's willing to do that."
As impressive as the shot was though, it was the work that led to it that was just as important.
Though he's polarizing and his future in Pittsburgh is obviously uncertain, the play was set up by the work of Derick Brassard along with his third-line linemates Dominik Simon and Pearson. Simon, who hasn't played center since coming to North America, was cleaned out on a faceoff by Derek Stepan but it was Brassard who bailed him out. The center intercepted Niklas Hjalmarsson's D-to-D pass behind the net to keep the puck in the zone. Brassard worked the puck to Simon, who eventually fed Marcus Pettersson, who in turn fed Riikola for his second of the season and second in his last six games.
Typically, second power-play units might get the final 15 or 30 seconds but, as the Penguins saw again Friday night, they can be just as effective.
"It's huge," Brassard was saying. "The first unit has been one of the best the last five years. For us, when we have the chance to go we have to take advantage of it. We came up big. It's rewarding for us. We have reps in practice but we don't get a lot of reps in games. But when we do get chances, we want to try and make a difference."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. Phil Kessel
Penguins right winger
Mr. Overtime. Make it 10 career OT goals for Kessel.
2. Matt Murray
Penguins goaltender
Stopped 30 of 32 shots, including a huge save on Alex Galchenyuk in OT, to improve to 10-1 since returning.
3. Jake Guentzel
Penguins left winger
Now has 24 goals in 47 games and is on pace to become the first Penguins winger to score 40-plus since James Neal in 2011-12.
THE INJURIES
• Hornqvist, right winger, missed his fourth straight game with a concussion but hasn't been ruled out of tonight's game in Las Vegas.
• Justin Schultz, defenseman, is out after suffering a fractured leg on Oct. 13. He has been skating on his own and appears close to joining a full team practice
• Zach Aston-Reese, right winger, is out indefinitely with a broken left hand, but he did skate again Friday in sweats.
THE GOOD
No one can accuse Guentzel of becoming complacent after signing his five-year, $30 million contract extension. In the 11 games since Dec. 27, he has scored nine goals, including this one at 5:38 of the second period that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead:
Actually, there was quite a few remarkable things about Guentzel's goal. First, he gets his own rebound, pulls it to his backhand and then waits out Kuemper before chipping in a no-angle shot. Second, of Guentzel's 24 goals, it was just the fifth -- and second in a row -- that didn't come on a Crosby assist. As good as Crosby is, Guentzel is a "helluva player," as Rick Tocchet was saying earlier Friday.
Actually, Guentzel was only on the ice with Matt Cullen and Garrett Wilson because Joe Blandisi went for an early line change.
THE BAD
The only problem with the Penguins' "best period" was that they failed to give themselves a bigger cushion. As dominant as they were in the fancy stats, they took just a 2-1 lead into the third period.
After the Coyotes thought they had tied up the game on Richard Panik's goal, which was reversed on a blatant goalie interference call on Oliver Ekman-Larsson at 16:19 of the third, Arizona tied it for real with just 5:26 remaining when Derek Stepan put in the rebound of a Hjalmarsson point shot.
Letang simply got caught in no-man's land. He was looking at Hjalmarsson as if he were going to go down for a block but he failed to pick up Stepan, who was all alone at the right side of the net.
Credit the Coyotes for stealing the point but that one mistake nearly cost the Penguins dearly.
THE PLAY
Kessel's winner is my Drive to the Net.
THE BAD
You won't find the names of Tim Peel or Tom Chmielewski anywhere near the game's three stars but the referees certainly injected themselves into a slow-moving first-period. In the opening 20 minutes, there were 20 faceoffs along with a combined six penalties.
Four of those penalties went against the Penguins, two of them at 11:23 when Brian Dumoulin was whistled for hooking Mario Kempe. After Murray -- who had been knocked earlier by Jakob Chychrun -- froze the puck, he apparently voiced his frustration with getting hit. Murray didn't go to the box to feel shame, Blandisi did that for him, but Murray was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty:
"I got hit a couple times, felt the need to stand up for myself, say something," Murray said. "I crossed the line. I felt bad. Hurt our team. I apologized to everyone for that. Just let emotions get the best of me there."
In addition to his teammates, who ended up having to kill off what turned out to be just :56 of 5-on3, Murray said he apologized to Peel. Of course, Murray refused to tell what he actually said. Murray also refused to say whether he felt the Coyotes had targeted him for abuse. But he did say he wouldn't mind playing Saturday night against Marc-Andre Fleury and the Knights. Stay tuned for that one.
Anyway, it was just the third penalty called against Murray in his career and the second this season. His previous infractions were for tripping and delay of game.
"Players are emotional sometime," Sullivan said. "Matt's competing out there. It's the nature of the game."
THE OTHER SIDE
Few people know better how good the Penguins can be when they're on top of their game than Rick Tocchet. As Arizona's coach, he's never beaten them as Pittsburgh completed the season series sweep for the second straight year.
"They have star players over there," Tocchet was saying. "We had a chance to win it in overtime, a couple of chances there. I think Alex had a net there. I'm happy with it. Whether it's a point or not, I liked their effort."
Thanks in part of Stepan and Darcy Kuemper, who made 32 saves in his first loss in five starts, the Coyotes were able to steal a point. They are now 4-1-2 in their last seven games and are still within striking distance in the Western Conference.
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are back in action tonight to take on the Golden Knights in Las Vegas at 10:08 p.m. to wrap up their 12-day, five-game road trip. Following their bye week and the All-Star break, the Penguins won’t return to action until Jan. 28 when they host the Devils at PPG Paints Arena.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.
