SUNRISE, Fla. -- Feb. 11, 2019. That was the last time Kris Letang scored a short-handed goal.
That is, until Thursday night in the Penguins' 4-2 victory over the Panthers here at FLA Live Arena.
The Penguins found themselves down a man and trailing by a goal early in the second period. Not typically the situation you see defensemen activating from the bottom of the circle in their own end, but hey, if it works, it works:
Were Bryan Rust and Letang shot out of a cannon there or what?
"It’s just a great play by Rusty," Letang said after the game. "Obviously, his speed is tough to handle for other teams and I just tried to get open."
Rust raced into the zone at a slight angle to prevent the defender from dictating which route he'd take. He's the one calling the shots here. It's so much better than his attack angle, though.
Remember how Phil Kessel used to do that little hop wrist shot where he'd transfer all of his weight from his outside leg to his inside leg, essentially landing on top of his stick to create downward force as he fired away? Rust made every indication that he was going for the same move, but he threw his own twist into the mix.
Instead of firing upon landing on his inside leg, Rust hesitated and faked the shot with a smooth leg kick, all while the puck was primed for action in his hip pocket. Once the defender began to close the gap, Rust flicked the puck to his backhand and then sent a cross-ice dish not directly to Letang, but to the area he was crashing in on.
Once Letang got there, all he had to do was put it upstairs.
"The power play’s collapsing low and they’re trying to get at the net," Letang said when asked what sparked him to join the rush. "You get fortunate bounces and it kind of opens up a hole."
Take a look at the positioning of each Panthers skater when Ryan Poehling chucked the puck out of the zone. One of them was pressuring Poehling, one of them was behind everyone and below the goal line, one of them was out of the play completely on the far side of the ice, and one of them was supporting the forecheck pressure from the middle of the ice. That means only one skater was back.
Letang pounced on the opportunity to catch them napping, and Rust did a brilliant job of setting him up.
