Kovacevic: One gorgeous goal, one ghastly finish, one confounding mess

Yes, he meant to do that.

Because, when it comes to the greatest of the great, they almost always meant to do that awesome thing they just did.

Hey, bear with me here. Before I get to anything else, let's all behold Bryan Rust's goal that was so singularly spectacular, front to finish, all four touches over all 200 feet of ice, that it doesn't deserve to be buried within the Penguins' surreal 7-6 survival over the Devils on this Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena:

Setting aside the superlative middle breakout by Kris Letang and Jake Guentzel, the latter on a simple touch to the right boards for Crosby, what happens next is what's most remarkable. Because Crosby not only recognizes Rust erupting up the left wing -- that's a neutral-zone staple now in the Mike Sullivan system -- but also that the Devils' Damon Severson is dangerously flat-footed at center red.

Don't think Sid knew all that?

Don't think he meant it?

OK, hang on, watch this:

Check out Sid's eyes. Chin up. Entire body set like a tripod to engineer precisely the pass he made. Banked off the far boards. And with authority. Not at all intended to be directly received by Rust but, instead, in full flight once he's by Severson. Which he does all the way down at the New Jersey left dot.

I mean ... wow.

I asked Rust about this shortly afterward, because I just had to know if he'd known that he should let that puck zip by him.

"Uh, yeah," he replied. "Sid and I and the guys talk about that, where, when you see it coming hard behind you, and you get a good angle, just keep your feet moving, keep your speed up, and hope the bounce is right."

Initially suppressing a smile but not for long, he'd then add, "Sid's geometry was pretty good there."

No doubt. And that, my friends, is what should've been all the buzz after this one.

Not this absurdity:

Nor this:

I mean ... double-wow.

If I hadn't seen that third period, I wouldn't have believed it. But there it was: Six New Jersey goals. Five Tristan Jarry saves. Multiple lapses, mostly by Jarry but a couple doozies by Letang. A massive mess unlike any other, maybe, in the franchise's half-century history.

And as stunning as that was, it was somehow outdone in scope, I thought, by Mike Sullivan's reaction afterward. No, not his visible storming down the runway once the final horn sounded but, rather, this reaction to my question that opened his postgame media session:

"I’ve never been through an experience like that, so it’s not an easy one to react to," the man spoke at the beginning there. "I’m not sure I have a valid answer for you."

Had no answer for me. Even when he kept going in apparent search of one.

"And that's what I told the players," he continued. "For me, obviously, not a lot went right for us. We certainly know that. We’ve got to be a whole lot better in a lot of areas to close out games and not put ourselves in those types of positions. I just told the players that it’s something I’m going to try to digest and see what we can take from it. Fortunately, we were still able to win the game."

He paused a final time.

"But I don't know how to react to give you a valid answer, quite honestly."

I mean ... triple-wow.

If he doesn't have one, then I sure don't, either. But I'm at least at liberty to give it more of a public shot, if only because he's anything but the type to rip individual players in public.

Start with Letang, because, to be blunt, it felt like all this began with his infantile interference penalty near the end of the second period when he chased down the Devils' Miles Wood and pulled him to the ice in response to another New Jersey player, Nate Bastian, hitting him hard -- but clean -- earlier in that shift.

It was an embarrassing scene in every way. Either get the correct guy or, better yet, accept the clean check. But don't go seeking out a ticket to the box just because it's a six-goal lead.

Still, it wasn't as bad as this:

The Penguins could've kept adding, but for Letang handing Yegor Sharangovich this short-handed break and, in turn, Jarry handing Sharangovich an even more short side on which to shoot. Even though Sharangovich had already been shoved to where he couldn't aim anywhere else.

Ee-yuck. Look at Jarry backpedal up there. Shades of January.

That only worsened. The Devils would pop one, two, three more, all eminently stoppable, to pull within 7-5.

The corona-capacity crowd of 4,672 fell stone silent, but this evidently didn't move Jarry in the slightest. Because, with less than a minute left, he actually attempted this:

I mean ... quadruple-kajillion wow.

That's exactly what it looks like: Even after all that'd just occurred, he tried to glove that first dump for the purpose of aiming for the open net at the far end.

Really. Watch his stick hand. It's the dead giveaway.

And as hockey justice would have it, he then failed to stop the Devils' ensuing dump around behind the net, then was used like a billiards wall for Andreas Johnsson's goal to make it 7-6 with 41 ticks left.

It's inconceivable that anyone could've out-selfish-ed Letang on this night, but Jarry came out way on top in this category. Sure, other goaltenders try this -- Marc-Andre Fleury's had fun with it for years -- but this wasn't the time, wasn't the place. As the kids say, read the room.

Embarrassing as Letang's scene was, this was miles beyond that.

By all rights, Jarry should've lost.

By all rights, the Penguins should've lost.

That they didn't lose offers some legit consolation -- "We did get the two points," as Evan Rodrigues assessed -- but there's serious cause for concern, in particular, I'd think, with Jarry. And I hate to say that, since his performance from February onward has ranged from solid to sensational. But I'm having a hard time seeing this episode as anything less than a meltdown.

And I might have company.

This might be unfair parsing, but I couldn't help but pluck from Brian Dumoulin's postgame remarks that "the Devils scored on most of their chances" in the third. And this might be equally unfair, but I can't help but feel that Sullivan's reluctance to offer much about this near-collapse was that he wasn't sure what he'd just witnessed from the player at the one position hockey coaches are always most reluctant to criticize.

Asked afterward if he'd communicated with Jarry, Sullivan replied, "I haven't spoken with Tristan."

Asked if he had any worries about Jarry's work in the third or if he had any thoughts of pulling him in that time, Sullivan replied, "No and no," at which point the session ended.

Hm. Not sure what to make of that.

Here's guessing it'll be a lot easier to interpret once a goaltender's named for Thursday night, also against the Devils.