The P ittsburgh Penguins melted under the weight of a four-game road trip and the swarm of the desperate Toronto Maple Leafs Monday, losing a three-goal lead in the third period and the game. A few days later, the Penguins appeared headed for a sequel Thursday against the Washington Capitals .
But before Washington could hang the movie posters and promote the trailers, the Penguins took control of the game in the third period for a 5-3 win.
Make no mistake, the prospect of blowing another large lead in consecutive games hit home with the Penguins. They talked about it after the second period. It wasn't fear, it was anger.
"We knew that couldn't happen again; we weren't going to let it," Bryan Rust told PHN. "We had to get back to playing aggressive."
The unlikeliest hero joined the most likely heroes Thursday. The stalwarts lit the lamp as Sidney Crosby scored a pair of first-period goals, and Rust scored the winner.
Rust also had some tongue-in-cheek comments.
"Unfortunately, we had some experience with (giving up a three-goal lead) rather recently," Rust deadpanned before looking around the media scrum to see who got the joke. "But I think being able to come in here after the second and regroup a little, and say 'hey, we've got to be a whole lot better,' (was important).
"Our puck management needed to be a whole lot better. I thought we were a lot better in the third."
But fourth-liner Connor Dewar flashed offensive chops and shifty moves with the puck on a shorthanded sequence that were befitting a top-line player. Dewar's first shorthanded offensive thrust was nullified by a possible Tom Wilson slash. After dancing around a defender near the blue line, Dewar made a beeline for the net, but before he could shoot it, his stick broke in the middle.
Moments later, Dewar kept his dancing shoes tied as he cut from the right wall to the slot and whipped a wrister past Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren … except Dewar hit the post. The hockey gods eventually smiled upon the scrappy fourth-liner as he scored the empty-netter to seal the come-from-ahead win.
But that shorthanded shift in the middle of the period was THE galvanizing moment that removed any doubts about the outcome.
And it helped save the team from what could have been an absolutely disastrous loss that would have invited a lot of doubt, accompanied by nervous soul-searching. Instead of questioning the legitimacy of an 8-4-2 start, Dewar refired the Penguins' engine.
"It's huge. Those little plays, those little effort plays, they might not always show on the score sheet, or they may not always have visual proof, but the team notices and the bench notices, and we get excited about that stuff," said Rust. "And I think that right there, I think it gave our team a little bit of life too."
There are plenty of forks in the road each season. A bounce here sends a team spiraling. A bounce there is confidence injected straight into a team's veins. After a clunker Saturday and a collapse Saturday, the season teetered.
Crosby, Rust, and … and Dewar provided the moments to course correct. A potentially ugly locker room was instead a confident one.
The first period was near-perfect hockey. Passes were tape-to-tape, and defensive responsibilities were covered with enthusiasm.
The Penguins took what Washington was willing to give. The Penguins played on the rush, to a point, but were willing to chip-and-chase quite a bit, too. Washington yielded the blue line, but stacked the interior, confronting the Penguins at pressure points on the mid-wall and high slot.
So, the Penguins moved the puck to the right spots and got after the puck. The score was 2-0, though they were a pair of power-play goals from one of the league's best units (both by Crosby), and the shots were an appropriate 16-7.
The Penguins' energy level sagged in the second period, probably emboldened by a three-goal lead.
But, cmon. It's the Penguins vs. the Capitals. It's still Steelers-Ravens, it's Yankees-Red Sox, it's Taylor Swift vs. another cutaway at a Chiefs game. It was a bit foolish for the Penguins to exhale so early in the game. And they should have been a little more wary following Monday's nosedive.
Washington's first goal was a direct result of relaxed play. Philip Tomasino had a few strong shifts earlier in the second period, but after a couple of botched clears by the Penguins' top line, Tomasino casually waited for a puck on the yellow in the defensive zone before lazily tapping it off the wall, but not out of the zone. Dylan Strome raced over to pressure him, then raced to the net … without Tomasino guarding him. Whoops.
3-1.
A few minutes later, the Penguins' fourth line didn't track back well. Dewar turned the wrong way, missing Washington defenseman Rasmus Sandin , who had acres of space and precious seconds of time to come to the circle to beat Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs .
3-2.
Newly recalled defenseman Ryan Graves broke his man-to-man coverage responsibility ( Tom Wilson ) to chase a puck and player that Rust was already on (Dylan Strome). Call it learning the new system? Graves' chase freed Wilson, who was wide open to bury an easy rebound near the net.
3-3.
Lesson learned. The Penguins again raised their intensity, and those easy-going plays became passes with urgency again. They began to hold onto pucks as they pressured Washington. And the Penguins took care of their zone with more care and diligence.
The Penguins' fourth line is showing itself to be a valuable asset at both ends of the rink, and the team was largely better than Washington. The Penguins were a bit quicker and forced Washington into a few penalties, which is bad news for Penguins opponents this season.
"I thought the power play was great tonight, obviously," said coach Dan Muse. "I thought the special teams were outstanding, both sides of them.
Can't blow a three-goal lead and get an A. But in the first and third periods, they were really … really good. Far better than this team was every thought capable of being. Some fans will call their start a hot streak or unsustainable because of shooting percentages, but the offensive precision and the chances they're creating by getting off the wall and getting to the net.
It's easy to have a high shooting percentage when the shot needs only to travel a few feet over a sprawled goalie.
Just a brilliant game by the defenseman. He was on point. His passes set up forwards for the next level in the offensive zone and unleashed forwards with space. He was back in the defensive zone, too.
His power play work continues to look more like a 10-year veteran than a rookie too young to remember Super Bad or The Hangover.
His pass to Crosby on the first goal was pure. His play on the wing at even strength was solid.
"You can see he's comfortable out there. He's really he's doing a very good job (on the power play) in terms of just getting to the right areas in anticipation of (the puck) being there," said Muse. "I just thought the crispness of his play–it just seemed like every pass that he was making was it was quick, it was on the tape."
That's Connor "Mario" Dewar to you and me. That fourth line, even without Noel Acciari , showed spunk and was the Penguins' spark plug. Pay special attention to how hard he and Blake Lizotte are playing.
The fourth line is really pushing to create some offensive zone time. Dewar had four shots on goal, one blocked, and three misses.
Ryan Graves played his first NHL game of the season, and outside of that gaffe that yielded the tying goal–which was a mistake of aggression, not carelessness–he was solid.
So, too, was Connor Clifton , who "only" had four hits, but stayed within himself. Clifton's big problem this season has been trying to do too much and make too many hits, and the result has been too many mistakes. He, too, was solid.
Philip Tomasino would get a passing grade. Noting his brutal shift that sparked the Washington comeback, he also helped create a few scoring chances for Ville Koivunen , who had several good looks at Lindgren.
Koivunen flexed his stick over his knees and hunched over in frustration after being a heartbeat slow with the shot in the third period. Believe it or not, Koivunen is still looking for his first NHL goal.
Kris Letang and Ryan Shea were pretty good. Each jumped into the play and each covered for the other. That's becoming quite a nice pairing for Muse and staff.
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