Letang caps productive, 'emotional night' with an overtime cannon

It was just a handful of games ago that the Penguins were struggling to get many contributions from their blue line in terms of effectively transitioning the puck up ice, or at least the variety that led to quality offense. It was only one game, but Kris Letang made those back end transition shortcomings seem like they were eons ago upon his return to the lineup Tuesday night.

Well, the transition part was a big factor, but Letang brought plenty more to the table in the Penguins' 7-6 overtime victory at PPG Paints Arena. There's also the two goals and two assists he produced, one of which served as the overtime-winner. It was the fifth four-point performance of Letang's career and his first since Jan. 27, 2015.

Prior to Tuesday night, Letang had been out of the lineup since suffering a lower-body injury against the Red Wings on Dec. 28. This came only eight games after he had returned from suffering a second stroke. Not long after the late-year injury occurred, Letang's father passed away at age 77. Sidelined with the injury, Letang returned home to Montreal with his family until Jan. 17.

After a few skates with the team, Letang then made his triumphant return to the scene.

"It was kind of surreal, you know?" Letang said after the win. "I didn't know what to think or how it was going to go. These guys supported me for the last month ... It's just great to be back."

It took just a little more than half of the first period for Letang to find his way on the scoresheet, as he flung the puck from the point that was eventually redirected by Rickard Rakell for the Penguins' first goal of the game. To that point, it had really stuck out just how much the Penguins had been missing his moxie.

And then if you'd somehow missed it, Letang slapped everyone in the face with his presence by scoring a vintage Letang goal to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead.

It wasn't so much the shot itself that made it vintage, but the sequence in its entirety:

Those wheels, those edges, that knack for getting to the right spot ... goodness.

Current-day Letang isn't on the same level as his peak, but you can't tell me that play didn't remind you of this next clip, at least a little bit:

Speaking to the first clip, the Penguins simply haven't been getting anything of the sort from guys like Marcus Pettersson, Jan Rutta and Brian Dumoulin, who carried the load in Letang and Jeff Petry's absence. It's just not their game. And that's OK, but it was sorely lacking. The best teams in the league have a defenseman or two who can activate and make plays all over the offensive zone, not just defenders who predominantly chip and chase and aim to make the safe plays.

"It goes without saying, it’s huge to have him back," Danton Heinen said of Letang after the game. "He’s been through a lot. He’s a resilient guy. He’s a big part of this team and this city."

Through the first half of the game or so, the Penguins had been matching up the Pettersson-Petry pairing against the Panthers' top line -- featuring Aleksander Barkov -- every time they hopped over the boards. But as goals were seemingly scored nonstop on both sides throughout, Letang's pairing with Brian Dumoulin was eventually tasked with countering them.

"You just try to adapt to the flow of the game and get back into it," Letang said. "I just wanted to be back out there."

Before the conclusion of regulation, Letang assisted on Evgeni Malkin's power-play tally to put the Penguins ahead, 6-5, before the Panthers eventually tied the game and sent it to overtime. With overtime marking the end of 5-on-5 action, let's take a look at how the Penguins fared during Letang's 20:07 at full-strength:

• 2 goals
• 2 goals against
• 32 shot attempts
• 22 attempts against
• 59.2% share of expected goals

Those numbers were even stronger before the third period began and Letang got a heavier dosage of the Barkov line. Regardless, Letang made his largest mark on the game during overtime.

Once again putting his brilliant skating on display, as he'd done all night, Letang maneuvered his way right to the rack for a glorious chance in the extra frame that wouldn't go:

Right after that, he even served a cross-ice backhand dish to Jake Guentzel that was improbably saved by Alex Lyon. Letang made up for it on the Penguins' power play that came a few moments later.

You really couldn't have written a better script:

"The way he skates, you see the play he made to Guentz there and how he can handle the puck," Sidney Crosby said. "A big part of 3-on-3 is possession, and I think Tanger’s really good at that, both sides of the puck. He helps in every area."

Once it was all said and done, Letang logged 26:28 of ice time, just 24 seconds fewer than Petry for the team-high. Here are some of the individual numbers Letang racked up:

• 2 goals
• 2 assists
• 9 shot attempts
• 6 shots on goal
• 4 hits
• 2 blocked shots

"Couldn’t be happier for Tanger," Mike Sullivan said. "With everything that he’s been through here over the last little while, to come back and have the night that he had — I think that was an emotional night for him, and the whole team, for that matter, because we’re all living through it with him. Everybody was ecstatic to get Tanger back in the lineup, and obviously you see the impact he has on our team."

After every victory, the team hands out a gladiator helmet to one player for their performance in that particular game. The player who last received the gladiator helmet chooses the next recipient, and so on. In a shock to absolutely no one, Letang was picked by Bryan Rust.

"Guys, I just want to say thank you for everything," an emotional Letang said while addressing the team after the game. "It’s been a tough month, and you guys have been awesome."

When speaking with a team executive about Letang Tuesday morning, they shared with me just how much hockey means to Letang, and that they're hopeful the sport continues to help him through his challenges.

It's been a grueling stretch for Letang. The fact that he's even back to playing, let alone doing what he did Tuesday night, is remarkable.