MONTREAL -- The Penguins had mustered only 12 shots on goal through two periods of play on Saturday night against the Canadiens at the Bell Centre here in Montreal, but they still managed to take a 2-1 lead into the third period.
Not quite to the degree we saw at times during their recent seven-game losing streak, but the Penguins once again failed to close out a game in the final period, ultimately falling 5-4 in overtime.
Just 49 seconds into the third period, budding star Cole Caufield tied the game with a long-distance wrist shot that got through Tristan Jarry:
Marcus Pettersson has been the Penguins' best defenseman all season, but this was one of his low-lights so far. He did a nice job of bodying Kirby Dach off the puck in the corner, but just seconds later allowed Dach to get in behind him on the doorstep, providing just enough hinderance to keep Jarry from making the save.
The Penguins unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference, but took only two and a half minutes to take the lead right back thanks to a heavy against-the-grain backhander from Evgeni Malkin:
The goal was Malkin's seventh of the season, giving him 16 points in 15 games, tying Sidney Crosby for the team-lead.
Not even a minute later, though, Nick Suzuki evened the score to make it a 3-3 game, and it was quite a porous defensive showing from the Penguins:
Where do you start with that sequence? Crosby blowing the zone entirely? Bryan Rust in no man's land? Kris Letang getting throw into the spin cycle?
It was a bit of a broken play and things happened in a hurry, but that's not exactly what you'd hope to see from your first line and No. 1 defenseman with a lead in the final period, especially after hanging onto leads was a massive issue during your losing streak.
"Maybe from time-to-time we were a little bit out of sync, but we just have to find a way to work through that, and when there’s tough times, we got to make sure we’re helping each other first," Rickard Rakell said after the game.
But that sequence more so appeared as if each Penguins skater out on the ice was hoping for anyone else to do the work to retain possession. That's not helping each other first.
10 minutes of game-time then passed before the Penguins regained the lead. During 3-on-3 action, Jeff Carter won a defensive-zone faceoff to himself, then raced the puck up the right side of the ice before completing a sweet cross-ice dish to Brock McGinn for his third goal in as many games:
Even though time was winding down on regulation, everyone in the building knew this one was far from over despite the Penguins taking a 4-3 lead.
Nobody had much time to think about it anyway, as Sean Monahan's power-play tally knotted the score again just 40 seconds after McGinn's goal:
That is stinky, stinky, stinky work from Brian Dumoulin and Jan Rutta, minimizing much of the success the Penguins' penalty-kill has found in recent games after an awful start to the season.
"I don’t know if we had the urgency that we did last night and I think we got to do a better job when we have the lead," McGinn said. "Someway, somehow, we got to come up with that kill there and not let them back in the game."
The Penguins didn't have the same urgency as they did when they clamped down on the Maple Leafs during the third period on Friday. Although, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, third game in four days, on the road, it's at least understandable. But that doesn't make it an excuse.
Playing against a youth-filled Canadiens team, the Penguins' not-so-young legs stuck out as the game wore on.
"The play with a lot of confidence and they’re a fast team, they’re good off the rush," Rakell said. "Maybe we let them have the puck a little bit too much and they just kept coming and coming. It’s hard to defend that way."
63 seconds into overtime, the Canadiens raced down the ice as Dach slipped a cross-ice feed to Mike Hoffman for the game-winner:
"I just didn’t think we were as good tonight. We weren’t as good all night long. We had our moments," Mike Sullivan said. "The first-half of the second period, we really started to establish the game, and then we took that first penalty the second-half of the second period, we were on our heels most of the period. … We got to find a way to push through that and try to get the momentum back, but I don’t even know how to react to the third period with the way it went with some of the calls and — I don’t even know how to react to it."
Regardless of external factors, the Penguins didn't do enough to help themselves when push came to shove.
"Obviously we got some timely goals and that helped us, but I think we were in the D-zone a lot tonight," Jarry said. "They were putting a lot of pressure on us, they were getting pucks down low and putting pucks in the net."
As frustrating as it might be to have a winnable game slip away -- especially when you didn't have your best night -- Sullivan and the Penguins are doing their best to roll forward with a positive mindset, the same "in-the-now" mindset that helped pull them out of their recent skid.
"Anytime you get five out of six points out of three games on the road, I think most coaches would probably take that," Sullivan said. "When it’s there for you to get six, it’s a little disappointing. We knew this was gonna be a tough game for us coming into it. Just logistically, it’s one of those games where you know it’s going to be a tough one. And give Montreal credit, they played really well."
GETTY
Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell celebrate Rakell's second-period goal on Saturday in Montreal.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Rakell scored his sixth goal of the season during the second period on a marvelous deflection from the slot:
Just as important as the deflection was how Rakell flashed across Jake Allen's sightline just as the initial shot from Pettersson was coming through. Rakell continues to help the Penguins in so many different aspects, and it was nice to see him get on the board after a rough game for him in Toronto the night before.
• It was quite amusing how the Habs faithful booed Jeff Petry every time he came anywhere near the puck. He opened the scoring for the Penguins with his third goal of the season, much to the chagrin of the Bell Centre:
• Petry's goal came on the power play, but the struggles of the Penguins' No. 1 unit remain very real. Per historian Bob Grove, Crosby has no power-play goals in his last 27 games, Letang has none in his last 30, Rust has one in his last 29, Malkin has one in his last 13, and Jake Guentzel has one in his last nine. Something's gotta give.
• Crosby stunk out loud in this game, at least for his standards. There were several instances in which he uncharacteristically passed to no one or put the puck in a dangerous spot. There were also several instances in which he punted on prime shooting opportunities to instead force passes that weren't there. He did attempt four shots during the game, but only one of them was on target. This comes just a day after he failed to register a shot on goal in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.
• Crosby hasn't looked quite right for some time now. Dating back to Oct. 25 in Calgary, Crosby has just two goals and three assists in his last nine games. He was held without a point in five of those games. I'm not going to sit here and play the blame game and suggest Crosby had much of anything to do with the Penguins falling in overtime in this one, but it's hard not to think that the Penguins would've emerged victorious if he were playing at a level much closer to what we saw the first couple weeks of the season.
He is 35, after all, and lulls like these are likely to become more common as time goes on. Still, I have no doubt in my mind he'll get out of his funk sooner rather than later.
• I know I started the bullets section with Zucker for the game story against the Maple Leafs, but his performance on Saturday earned him another prominent mention here. He picked up three assists and had three shots on goal in just over 13 minutes of ice-time. The three-point night gives him 13 points in 13 games this season. That's four fewer points than he had last season ... in 28 fewer games. I suspect he won't produce at a point-per-game pace the remainder of the season, but the energy he brings and the work he does on the forecheck, in the corners and along the wall has been so, so valuable.
"Well, it’s huge," Sullivan told me of Zucker's start to the season. "He’s such an important player for us because it solidifies the top-six. … I think it makes us a whole lot harder to play against."
• I whipped up a quick breakdown of Zucker's glorious scoring chance in the first period for tonight's Freeze Frame feature. You can check that out here.
• Jarry did surrender five goals, but he made some big and timely saves in the final two periods to keep the Penguins in it when they were a bit of a mess. His best save was on Suzuki during some 3-on-3 action in the third period to prevent the Canadiens from taking the lead:
• After the game, Jarry admitted that he has been dealing with some physical issues that have affected his performance, all but confirming why Casey DeSmith got the start Wednesday night in Washington. Sullivan was asked if those issues are something that necessitates monitoring his playing-time, at least in the short term, to which he replied, "No."
• Rust has zero points in his previous five games and just three points in his last 12 games. He continues to get significantly more ice-time than Rakell because ...? Rust has always been a streaky player. He'll turn it around, but it's blatantly obvious just by watching him that he's going through a rough patch. That's totally fine, but how much longer will that be acceptable on the first line? Rust's struggles don't absolve Crosby from his lack of recent production, but as I've said who knows how many times now, the Penguins' top-six is more balanced and effective when Rust plays with Malkin and Rakell plays with Crosby. What's the hurt in making the switch now? Sure, the Malkin line has been playing pretty well recently, but they're still not at the level they were at early in the season with Rust on the right wing when they were one of the best lines in hockey.
• McGinn was one of the Penguins' best players -- again -- in this one. It's great to see him turning a corner after a slow start, but he simply can't be the only bottom-sixer on this team who scores goals.
• Speaking of the bottom-six, Danton Heinen is awesome and does a lot of the unappreciated things that lead to success, but he's gone 10 games in a row without a goal and has seen his shot volume fall off a cliff. The assertiveness and confidence we saw from him early on has been sorely lacking of late. He was the only Penguins forward who didn't attempt a shot in this one.
• Letang led all Penguins skaters with eight shot attempts, but only two of them were on target. It's great to see him shooting more, but missing the net has been the story for him all season.
• Kasperi Kapanen drew back into the lineup because Filip Hallander is dealing with an illness. Not even trying to be funny, he went out for a shift in the third period and I had completely forgotten that he was playing. He attempted two shots (one on goal) in 7:19 of ice-time.
• Guentzel led the Penguins in hits with three, while Petry led the team in blocks with four.
• I've basically refused to eat hot dogs for years because they give me the heebie jeebies for some reason, but everyone kept telling me I had to try the Bell Centre press box hot dogs, so I caved and had two of them. I wouldn't say I'm back on the hot dog wagon, but I will admit they were probably the best hot dogs I've ever had. I didn't like them quite as much as Bob Errey, though, as he told us to cut him off from having any more of them during the first intermission.
• It was an incredible experience and a privilege to go on this road trip to Toronto and Montreal. Thank you so much, as always, for reading and making it possible.
DANNY SHIREY / DKPS
Bell Centre in Montreal.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at the Bell Centre:
1. Nick Suzuki, Canadiens C
2. Jason Zucker, Penguins LW
3. Mike Hoffman, Canadiens LW
THE INJURIES
• Forward Teddy Blueger remains on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury that he suffered during training camp. He is eligible to be activated at any time, but the Penguins will need to make corresponding roster moves to accommodate his $2.2 million cap hit.
• P.O Joseph was injured Wednesday night against the Capitals. He left the game early and did not return. He was a full participant during the Penguins' morning skate on Friday, but did not suit up for the game. Before the game on Saturday, Sullivan said Joseph is dealing with a nagging lower-body injury. He missed his second consecutive game.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan's lines and defense pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Danton Heinen
Kasperi Kapanen - Ryan Poehling - Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Jeff Petry
Chad Ruhwedel - Jan Rutta
And for Martin St. Louis' Canadiens:
Cole Caufield - Nick Suzuki - Kirby Dach
Mike Hoffman - Christian Dvorak - Brendan Gallagher
Evgenii Dadonov - Sean Monahan - Josh Anderson
Jonathan Drouin - Jake Evans - Joel Armia
Kaiden Guhle - David Savard
Joel Edmundson - Arber Xhekaj
Jordan Harris - Jonathan Kovacevic
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are headed back to Pittsburgh. They have the day off on Sunday, then they'll be back on the ice for practice on Monday, 11 a.m. at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
