TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Coyotes' fourth goal in their 5-2 win over the Penguins on Monday night at Mullett Arena might have been rock bottom on the season.
The visitors were trailing, 3-2, in the third period after getting earlier goals from Lars Eller and Sidney Crosby, and the game was still very much in reach, They were short-handed, with Jansen Harkins in the box for a hooking minor. They caught a break early in the penalty-kill when Jason Zucker hooked Bryan Rust and got a delayed call for it.
Mike Sullivan put Tristan Jarry on the bench for the extra attacker, giving each team five skaters. The Penguins, in an effort to make that incoming power play last as long as possible, were trying to kill time off the clock while Harkins sat in the box.
If the Coyotes were to touch the puck, play would be blown dead, and Zucker would head to the box. So, having Jarry on the bench shouldn't be risky. For that to backfire, the Penguins would have to put it in their own net.
Kind of like this:
Well that wasn't supposed to happen 😬 pic.twitter.com/3JrbVEmZPM
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 23, 2024
Kris Letang had the puck in the Penguins' end and was being pressured by Coyotes forward Clayton Keller. He tried dropping it back to Evgeni Malkin, who was in front of the net. Malkin either wasn't expecting the puck to come to him, or he was and just mishandled it and tipped it into the Pittsburgh goal.
Other Penguins players on the ice threw their arms up or their head back in frustration, and Letang appeared to mouth "Oh, my God."
Officially that gets credited as a power play empty-net goal -- not a goal against on Jarry. And since Lawson Crouse was the last Coyote to touch it -- despite not even being on the ice when the puck went in the net -- it's his goal:
The goal made history, too. The Coyotes had three power plays in the game and the Penguins' penalty-killers held them without a single shot on goal on the power play in the game -- that own-goal doesn't count as a shot on goal. This was the first time in NHL history that a team scored a power play goal without getting a single power play shot in a game.
Malkin, obviously, isn't crazy about speaking to reporters. He makes that clear on a regular basis. He's been a no-show after almost every single win this season in the locker room, but habitually makes himself available to speak after horrendous losses -- including games where he had a bad showing himself -- and gives long, thoughtful answers when he does. That didn't happen tonight. I approached Malkin first, and he shook his head and said "No" before walking off. That's uncharacteristic for him, and seemed to speak to how frustrated he was by the goal.
Letang made himself available to answer for what happened and took ownership for the goal ... sort of.
"Well, if you look at it, my pass was going into the corner," Letang said. "It was not going in the net. But I should know better. I should not go backward when there's no goalie, I guess. ... I guess I'll learn from it."
Sullivan attributed the goal to a lack of a "heightened awareness" that there's no goalie in the net.
"We've got to try to avoid making plays in that area," Sullivan said. "I think if we have a heightened awareness, then we don't fall victim of a bad bounce."
Asked how he thought the team responded after that happened, Sullivan said, "Not good enough."
Momentum swung the Coyotes' direction after that goal and it didn't swing back. That was the nail in the coffin on the game, and Nick Bjugstad's goal just under three minutes later capped it off. I asked Jake Guentzel if that own-goal was just deflating for the team.
"Yeah," Guentzel said. "I don't know how many times you're going to see that in your lifetime. It just happens. It's just an honest mistake and you move on."
The loss was the Penguins' second in a row after Saturday's 3-2 loss in Las Vegas. It was a disappointing road trip and seemingly a step back after a stretch that saw the Penguins go 10-3-3 in their last 16 games before the trip.
"It doesn't feel good," Letang said of the latest loss. "I don't think we came in with the right attitude to take the momentum of the game on our side and apply pressure. We let them play. They have tons of skill. Eventually they make you pay."
Sullivan said that the team is disappointed with their last four periods of play -- this game and then the third-period collapse against the Golden Knights. But he said that "discouraged" isn't a word that should enter their locker room. Rather, they need to just be more determined.
"We've got to dust ourselves off and get back in the fight," Sullivan said. "It wasn't our best, it didn't go our way. We've got a lot of hockey in front of us. And so we've got to figure out how we're going to get our best."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mullett Arena:
1. Jason Zucker, Coyotes LW
2. Connor Ingram, Coyotes G
3. Nick Bjugstad, Coyotes C
THE IN-GAME INJURIES
• Penguins: None
• Coyotes: None
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Colin White - Lars Eller - Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Ryan Graves - Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Andre Tourigny's Coyotes:
Matias Maccelli - Nick Bjugstad - Clayton Keller
Jason Zucker - Alex Kerfoot - Lawson Crouse
Michael Carcone - Jack McBain - Liam O'Brien
Logan Cooley - Dylan Guenther
J.J. Moser - Sean Durzi
Travis Dermott - Matt Dumba
Juuso Valimaki - Michael Kesselring
Josh Brown
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins stayed the night in Arizona and flew back to Pittsburgh Tuesday morning. They'll be back to work for practice Wednesday at the Lemieux Complex. Next game is Friday at home against the Panthers
THE FEED
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