The Penguins trailed at first intermission in each of their first four games to start the season.
In Friday's game, the first game of the two-game series against the Rangers, the Penguins finally led after the first period for the first time this year.
Then on Sunday, the Penguins returned to form and went to the locker room after the first 20 minutes trailing yet again, after Colin Blackwell put the Rangers ahead late in the period.
After an unfortunate injury to Evan Rodrigues midway through the second period, Bryan Rust was elevated to the first line alongside Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel in his absence and helped spark the Penguins to a 3-2 win -- their fourth comeback win in a row, and their first win to come in regulation.
Before tonight, the top line hadn't impressed much at even strength. The trio of Guentzel, Crosby, and Rodrigues had combined for just two even strength goals, one from Crosby and one from Rodrigues.
In the new first line's first shift together, they tied the game, and the play started and ended with Rust.
Rust used his stick to break up a passing attempt by Artemi Panarin, and swatted the loose puck in Crosby's direction before going off to the races and setting himself up for a breakaway. Crosby sent the bouncing puck straight up to Rust, who put it in Igor Shesterkin's five-hole:
"I just tried to take off behind their D," Rust said. "I didn't really need to yell to Sid. Sid's going to make those plays."
The Rangers' Ryan Strome regained the lead with a tap-in after a scrum surrounding the net, and the Penguins trailed at intermission for a second time.
Then, a little over two minutes into the third period, Jared McCann took a tough-angle shot from the left half wall that found its way into the net to tie the game. It was his second goal in as many nights after previously not scoring since last January. This was his first goal of the season though that he actually put into the net himself, unlike the goal the previous game that was accidentally swatted in by Ryan Lindgren.
With the clock ticking down in the final minutes of the third period, the game looked like it was going to be the same story as the previous three home games -- a Penguins comeback that doesn't get settled until overtime or a shootout, allowing their East division opponent to pick up an extra point that might prove crucial in the standings by the end of the season.
Then the first line took another shift with just under two minutes remaining in the game.
Kris Letang carried the puck through the offensive zone and sent it to Guentzel for a one-timer that went through Shesterkin's five-hole. It was Guentzel's 100th career goal, and with only 1:31 left on the clock, it would prove to be the game-winner:
And there was Rust on the winning play, driving to the net, tying up Strome, and providing a screen.
"I saw Tanger about to make a play, Guentzy is coming behind," Rust said. "Just trying to get to the net, create some space behind me for those guys. Guentzy was able to find the soft spot and put it in the net."
I asked Mike Sullivan about the immediate spark Rust seemed to provide for that line.
"They had instant success," Sullivan said. "I think they scored in the very next shift. Those guys have been familiar with one another. Rusty has played with Sid and Jake for a long period of time, he's played with Geno for a long period of time, there aren't too many guys on our team who Rusty hasn't played with. So he's a pretty versatile guy that can play up and down the lineup. I thought he had a strong game tonight, I think his last two games have been his best two."
Rust finished the game tied for the team-lead in shots with three, not a bad follow-up performance to the previous game, in which he set a new career high with 11 shots on goal.
"Rusty's just a really good player overall," Guentzel said. "He's a good 200-foot player, plays with speed. The last couple of games he's been really good. ... It's been fun to watch him the past couple of games."
Sullivan reiterated after Sunday's morning skate that the bigger plan is still to eventually have Kasperi Kapanen get a shot on that top line, but that they're still easing Kapanen into the lineup in multiple ways. Not only is Kapanen still working on getting his conditioning back up to where it needs to be after missing training camp, but Kapanen is also still getting acclimated to the system and the style in which the Penguins want to play, something Sullivan said he senses "is very different than where he's come from" in Toronto.
For now, reuniting Rust with the top line isn't a bad alternative after seeing the immediate impact he made in Sunday's win.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Tristan Jarry picked up his second win in a row with a 26-save performance. He was asked after the game what he thought he was doing differently in these past two games compared to his early starts in Philadelphia.
"Stopping the puck," he said with a laugh. "I think that's a big thing."
Then he gave a real answer.
"I think I'm seeing the puck well," he explained. "Just working with (goaltending coach Mike Buckley) and the coaching staff, watching video, I think that's helped me a lot, that week to reset and get my mind straight. I think that was a big help for these last two games in our homestand. It helped a lot being able to work that week with Buck.
• I honestly have no criticisms of Pierre-Olivier Joseph through two games now. He belongs playing at this level. He's so good at using his long reach to force opponents to the outside areas of his ice, he's such a good skater, and for the second game in a row, he took more shots than any other Penguins defenseman. He took three shots in his debut, and two tonight.
If he keeps playing the way he is, he shouldn't ever see Wilkes-Barre again. I don't know what that means for the rest of the roster when the injured defensemen start getting healthy again, but Mike Matheson shouldn't take Joseph out of the lineup.
• Speaking of Joseph, he abbreviates his name as "P.O" with only one dot. Kind of unusual.
• The John Marino-Cody Ceci pairing isn't great. Ceci, of course, was scratched after the first two games in favor of Chad Ruhwedel. Now that the Penguins' blue line is missing some regulars due to injury, Ceci has a spot again. But on this pairing, both are right-handed, so Marino is forced to play on his off side. Playing Marino on the left side (and with Ceci, who has his own struggles) isn't exactly setting Marino up for success, so I think it would be premature to attribute Marino's rough games as a sophomore slump.
I wonder if it would be better to put Kevin Czuczman in over Ceci, since Czuczman is left-handed and could restore order to the pairings. That way, Marino would be allowed to return to his natural side. And Czuczman isn't that bad of a defensemen either, from watching him in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the last three years. Good puck-moving defenseman, not afraid to move up and join the rush, has a rocket of a shot. He hasn't played in the NHL since 2012-13, but spent some time up in Pittsburgh last season practicing with the team.
• Ruhwedel is a new father after he and his wife Elle welcomed their first child, a son named Brody Hayes Ruhwedel, into the world on Thursday:
Ruhwedel, when asked Sunday about the whirlwind past few days, credited Rust with an assist in the experience.
"I couldn't have done it without Rusty," Ruhwedel said. "He was watching my dogs. Without him it would have been a lot harder."
• The Rangers scratched Jack Johnson on Sunday. He was previously paired with Tony DeAngelo on the third pairing last game.
“Jack was solid for us the first few games, thought he struggled a little bit the other night,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. "We have faith in all seven of our guys, it is going to be that. Guys have to play well to stay in and I just thought it was the right move.”
• Only two teams had scouts in the building: Anaheim and Florida. Often times when there is a pro scout in the building during a normal season, part of what they are doing is just preparing for their own team to play either the Penguins or their opponent. But this year, the Penguins won't have a chance of facing any non-divisional opponents until the playoffs. So it's interesting when non-divisional opponents send their scouts here this year.
• Malkin is nearing some pretty big franchise milestones. Sunday was his 913th career NHL game. He's now three games away from passing Mario Lemieux for second all-time in franchise history. Malkin (1,078) is also one point away from tying Jaromir Jagr (1,079) for third all-time in franchise history, and one game-winning goal (73) away from tying Lemieux (74) for second-most in franchise history.
• I put together a full Spotify playlist of the warmup songs that play at PPG Paints Arena, if you want to click that link and add it to your own library. You can blast the music, turn up your bass as high as it goes, and replicate the experience of being at the games. Bonus points if you can find a way to overpay for a beer and nachos to enjoy while you listen to it.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• NHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
2. Bryan Rust, Penguins
3. Colin Blackwell, Rangers
THE INJURIES
• Forward Zach Aston-Reese is still recovering from the left shoulder surgery he underwent in August and has been skating with the taxi squad since the end of training camp.
• Defenseman Zach Trotman underwent right knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Jan. 14 and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks
• Defenseman Mike Matheson is out "longer term" with an upper-body injury sustained on Jan. 15.
• Defenseman Juuso Riikola is out "longer term" with an upper-body injury sustained on Jan. 19
• Defenseman Marcus Pettersson is "week-to-week" with an upper-body injury sustained on Jan. 19.
• Forward Evan Rodrigues is being evaluated for a lower-body injury sustained on Jan. 25.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues
Jared McCann-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Teddy Blueger-Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Tanev-Mark Jankowski-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
John Marino-Cody Ceci
Pierre-Olivier Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel
And for Quinn's Rangers:
Alexis Lafreniere-Mika Zibanejad-Chris Kreider
Artemi Panarin-Ryan Strome-Pavel Buchnevich
Phil Di Giuseppe-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko
Colin Blackwell-Kevin Rooney-Brett Howden
Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Brendan Smith-Tony DeAngelo
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice at the Lemieux Complex at noon on Monday, then head to Boston for a two-game series with games on Tuesday and Thursday. I'll cover the practice, then Dave will take the Boston trip.
THE CONTENT
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