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'It Felt So Good': Takeaways From Penguins' Comeback Overtime Win Over Predators
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- 'It Felt So Good': Takeaways From Penguins' Comeback Overtime Win Over Predators
On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins put forth their best effort of the season in a 4-0 shutout win over the Florida Panthers , as they were clicking on all cylinders for a full 60 minutes. They hoped that game could help right the ship after a poor road trip that saw four straight losses.
And they certainly delivered in the follow-up performance Saturday.
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The Penguins bested the Nashville Predators , 3-2, on a late comeback goal by Rickard Rakell and a snipe by Ville Koivunen in overtime to give them their second-straight win in what was a great team effort. Goaltender Arturs Silovs started his third straight game and stopped 24 of 26 Nashville shots on goal.
It was good to see Rakell get on the board, especially since it was just his second goal of the season and because he had two breakaway opportunities to score earlier.
"It felt so good," Rakell said. "The amount of looks I had – first off, in this game – my teammates setting me up for all these chances, it definitely feels good to put one in. It felt like that gave us a lot of momentum going into overtime, and it was a great job by Ville to find the back of the net there."
The game started out pretty sloppy and choppy for both teams, with not a ton of time and space to work with, especially in the neutral zone. That said, the Penguins still carried most of the play in the first period, but unfortunately, a floating puck in the goal crease hit Steven Stamkos's stick and went in to give Nashville a 1-0 lead midway through the opening frame.
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But the Penguins had a quick answer in the second.
Just 18 seconds in, Elmer Soderblom picked off a puck from behind the net and forced it to Dewar low in the right circle, and he was able to outwork his opponent and corral the puck to set up a shot and put it past Saros to tie things at 1-1. For a good chunk of the second period, the Penguins were dominating play.
However, a defensive breakdown in coverage led to a second goal by Nashville. After a faceoff win, defenseman Jayden Struble took a pass from Nils Hoglander, and he was left uncovered in the right circle. He picked his spot and blew one by Silovs to restore the Nashville lead.
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Silovs made some big saves at the end of the second and into the third - and the Preds almost got on the board in the final second of the middle frame, but the puck didn't cross the goal line in time - and, in the latter stages of the third period, the Penguins got some legitimate momentum.
During the 6-on-5, the Penguins were cycling the puck in the offensive zone, and Sidney Crosby had the puck in the right circle. He threaded a perfect pass through several sticks over to Rickard Rakell on the left side, and Rakell one-timed it home to tie the game with a minute and six seconds left in regulation.
Then, in overtime, the Penguins pretty much held the puck the entire time. With 1:16 remaining on the clock, Ville Koivunen got the puck in the slot area, and he made a little stutter step move around a defender to give himself prime real estate in the slot. He sniped a shot past the glove side of Saros, and the Penguins went home with a much-deserved two points.
"We get back off that road trip, and everybody is obviously disappointed in the results," head coach Dan Muse said. "We're disappointed in terms of the consistency of play... I look at it as an opportunity for us to, you know, how can we come together? How can we, you know, be able to maybe come out of this thing better than when you go into it?
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"So, you have a stretch of games you don't like, it's a choice: You can feel bad for yourself, you can start to kind of just do your own thing. People can be on their own page or you can come together. We needed to play a better brand of hockey. We still have things to clean up, but I think these last two games have been a step in the right direction."
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Here are some thoughts and takeaways from this one:
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- This was a really chippy game for both teams. Sticks were getting in every lane, offensive zone time wasn't sustained, pucks were jumping off of sticks, and both defenses played a pretty tight game for the most part.
That said, there were portions of this game that the Penguins just took over. And it felt like they were the much better team.
This happened in the first part of the second period. It happened in the latter part of the third period. For portions of the first period. The Penguins outshot the Predators, 37-26, and it felt like it.
There were still a few too many high-danger opportunities against. But, almost every time, Silovs was there to answer the call. Overall, this was a great performance by the Penguins, and it would have been a disappointment if they didn't get at least a point out of it.
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- Speaking of Silovs, this is two really, really good performances from him in a row.
He's played in three straight games, and he seems to be developing a little bit more consistency that has been lacking in the past. There were several huge saves he made in this game to keep the Penguins in it, but one in particular during the second period gave his team a wave of momentum.
The Predators exposed the Penguins on a 2-on-1 opportunity, and Steven Stamkos found Ryan O'Reilly with a wicked dish pass. O'Reilly didn't get all of it, but he, seemingly, got enough — that is, until Silovs went cross-crease right-to-left and made a ridiculous glove save.
Obviously, Sergei Murashov is going to get his fair share of starts, and there's a good chance that, with two young goaltenders, the Penguins are simply going to ride the hot hand. But if Silovs can continue to pile on starts, it will do wonders for his confidence in developing consistency as an NHL starter.
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- During the first period, Crosby was approaching the offensive zone, and the linesman went to signal the play onside. He waved his arm and clotheslined Crosby, knocking him to the ice.
Crosby was fine, but he did step out of the faceoff in place of Blake Lizotte for a brief moment.
- What a pass that was by Crosby on Rakell's tying goal. He managed to make that pass and elude three or four sticks in the process. That was a vintage Crosby play.
And we need to see more of it.
Rakell has been playing much better hockey the past few games and was just snakebitten. Crosby, however, has yet to find his hallmark consistency that has defined his NHL career.
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Tommy Novak has had a nice start to the season, but he's not the right fit for that first line. It needs young, fresh legs. Some speed, or even just some youth, would do.
Throw Avery Hayes or Rutger McGroarty up there. Even Koivunen. Try Robertson again. Because, at five-on-five, the first line is a problem right now. Even though Rakell had some chances, he's a slow skater, and Crosby has lost a step, too.
They could use some forechecking legs on that line and a guy who will crash the net.
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- Soderblom's play down low on Dewar's goal was excellent, and that goal in general was a hard-earned one on both the distribution side of it and the scoring side of it.
I really do think Soderblom makes that fourth line better. The other two guys on it - Dewar and Nick Robertson - certainly have to stay in the lineup as well, but I'm truly not sure who comes out when guys start to get healthy.
- The second line of Koivunen, Hendrix Lapierre, and Hayes was buzzing all night long.
Hayes fit right in on that line in his first NHL action of the season, and one game into the 2026-27 NHL season for him, it's clear as day that this guy is an NHL player. His forechecking is relentless. He drives the net. And, as Muse said later, he's got that "dog on a bone" mentality.
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"Maybe just the experience of getting to know him last year and over the training camp this year, just knowing the type of game that he's capable of playing, that kind of dog on a bone type of game, just hunting pucks and getting in there," Muse said. "But he's also a guy who can find space well offensively."
I think Hayes is the perfect hybrid of Bryan Rust and former Penguin and Stanley Cup champion Max Talbot.
And Koivunen and Lapierre are developing some legitimate chemistry, as was Malkin with them Thursday. I keep saying it, but Koivunen is playing some very good hockey right now. He looks confident with the puck, and his puck protection skills have vastly improved. Some actual NHL runway in the top-six, as well as some confidence, has done wonders for him in recent games.
"I think it's a little bit of both," Koivunen said. "Like, [confidence] in yourself a lot, and I want to make plays with the puck."
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Muse sees the progress Koivunen is making at the NHL level.
"Koivy's playing really good hockey," Muse said. "I think we've seen that from him, you know, for a number of games. I think his game's just continuing to take steps. So, I think, sometimes with guys, too, it's just a matter of getting, you know, the more time that you get, you need those opportunities to be able to stack some things and stack some games. I think you've seen that now with Koivy."
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- This was not a particularly strong game from the top pairing of Spencer Stastney and Erik Karlsson, who actually have been pretty good together in the last couple of games. They were all over the place, as Stastney blew coverage on Struble's goal, and Karlsson blew coverage on the almost-goal at the end of the second.
But the most glaring issue in Saturday's game was the power play. That unit just looks dead in the water right now and, once it finally enters the zone cleanly, just passes along the perimeter and is far too stagnant.
They're missing five regulars on their power play right now, so that's a factor. But, hey, at least Robertson - their co-leader in goals this season with six - got to see some power play time as a result.
- The Penguins have a rare big break in their schedule and do not play until Thursday, when the Utah Mammoth come to Pittsburgh to complete the season series between the teams.
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Given how short training camp was - and given how many injured players the Penguins have - I think these days will do them some good, especially since they will have three full practice days. Evgeni Malkin was out with an illness in this one, Egor Chinakhov is day-to-day, and Bryan Rust, Ben Kindel, and Sam Girard were all put on injured reserve within the last few days, and they're all starters.
But it's hard to deny the way this team plays when some of its best players go down and the young players actually get a look.
At some point, the youth movement is going to need to happen. Hayes belongs in the NHL. So does McGroarty, so does Koivunen, and so does Soderblom. There's a different kind of energy - a fresh energy - around this team with these guys on it, and the bond between them is palpable.
These last two games were a stepping stone. But it will be interesting to see how the Penguins handle decision-making for their roster should they string together some wins with the lineup they have.
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Tough decisions loom. I honestly have no clue what to expect.
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