NHL - Penguins - Round Up - March 23-31, 2017

Penguins @ Ottawa Senators 1-2 SO - Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Ottawa Senators moved within one point of first place in the Atlantic Division with a 2-1 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canadian Tire Centre. Mike Condon made 34 saves, and Mike Hoffman scored in the third period to help the Senators (41-24-8) win a second straight game. They trail the Montreal Canadiens, who lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1. Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan scored in the shootout for Ottawa, which has a game in hand on Montreal and visits the Canadiens on Saturday. Nick Bonino scored a power-play goal, and Matt Murray made 29 saves for the Penguins (46-17-10), who had won three straight games. Pittsburgh is two points behind the Washington Capitals for first place in the Metropolitan Division, Eastern Conference and NHL. Washington defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in a shootout. Hoffman tied the game 1-1 at 9:43 on the power play with Matt Cullen in the penalty box.

Bonino made it 1-0 at 9:21 of the second period with a shot that went in off the crossbar over Condon's right shoulder. The goal came during the first penalty of a double minor for high-sticking on Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Senators defenseman Marc Methot, who plays on the top pair with Erik Karlsson, left with a finger injury he sustained when he was hit on the hands by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby in the first period. The Penguins played without eight regulars.

* Hoffman took a pass from Turris at the left point and scored with a wrist shot over Murray's right shoulder.

* Condon made a lunging save with his right arm to deny the Penguins at 2:20 of overtime. Derick Brassard got his stick on a shot by Chris Kunitz deflecting it back toward Condon.

"It was [Derick] who originally got his stick on it to kind of slow it down and it gave me that extra half second to extend an arm," Condon said. "I was lucky to get it on the blocker there and thankfully it went over the net."

* Condon stopped Crosby's shot in the shootout to give the Senators the win.

* Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau won 14 of 20 faceoffs against Crosby.

* With the Senators down to five defensemen after Methot was injured, Dion Phaneuf played 28:29 and Cody Ceci played 28:42. That was the most Phaneuf has played in a game this season and the second-most for Ceci. ... The Senators won 65 percent of faceoffs.

"We had a fair amount of chances, we just didn't convert. I thought our guys played hard. It wasn't a case of not establishing zone time or some opportunities at the net. I thought we had some quality chances. We just didn't convert." Mike Sullivan
"I was just trying to get his stick and I think I caught his finger judging by his reaction and their reaction. I've gotten those before. They don't feel good."
"I think we've been pretty resilient. We've had to play a lot of games here lately with a lot of guys in different positions, different roles, and they've come in and done a great job. I think we're trying to rally around that adversity a bit and find ways to get points. It was a good hockey game tonight, we got a point, but we have to find [a way] to win those close ones." Crosby said.

NY Islanders @ Penguins 4-3 SO - Friday, March 24, 2017

mThe New York Islanders are tied for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a shootout at PPG Paints Arena. Jaroslav Halak, playing his first NHL game since Dec. 29, made 37 saves and two in the shootout for the Islanders (35-26-12), who are tied with the Boston Bruins and one point ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning with one game in hand on each. Halak was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Thursday. The Penguins (46-17-11) moved one point behind the Washington Capitals and two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals and Blue Jackets each have one game in hand on the Penguins. Anthony Beauvillier and John Tavares scored in the shootout for the Islanders. Halak allowed Sidney Crosby to score in the second round, but stopped Phil Kessel in the first and Nick Bonino in the third. The Penguins had a shot on goal reviewed with 1:59 left in overtime but it was ruled Halak successfully kept the puck from crossing the goal line. Pittsburgh forward Matt Cullen tied it 3-3 with 6:10 remaining in the third period. Cameron Gaunce gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 1:54 of the second period. It was his second goal in 28 NHL games; he last scored on Feb. 16, 2011. Brock Nelson tied it 1-1 at 4:48, and Anders Lee put New York ahead 2-1 at 9:18. Crosby tied it 2-2 with his NHL-leading 42nd goal at 13:41 before Casey Cizikas gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead with five seconds left.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 43 saves for Pittsburgh.

* Gaunce carried the puck into the Islanders crease and shot off Halak's pads. The rebound slid to Cullen, who scored his 11th goal of the season.

* Halak kept the Penguins from winning in overtime with his reviewed save after Bryan Rust charged to the net and Cullen shot into the crease. Halak smothered the puck while spinning on the goal line to keep it from crossing.

* Tavares stripped Chad Ruhwedel of the puck in the Penguins zone before passing through Ian Cole to Cizikas drifting toward the crease. Cizikas tapped a shot past Fleury for his eighth goal of the season.

* Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan played 22:54, blocked four shots and had three hits.

* Islanders forward Nikolay Kulemin played 4:42 before leaving with an undisclosed injury that isn't expected to be long-term. "I think it's relatively good news," Weight said. "That to me makes me cringe. … I'm hoping he can play tomorrow, but if not, I hope it's not too long. He's a real part of our engine." … The Islanders are 18-9-4 since Weight was promoted to coach on Jan. 17. … Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin (upper body) missed a fifth consecutive game. Sullivan said Malkin has continued to rehab and is making progress. … Pittsburgh forward Scott Wilson (lower body) did not play. … Tavares had two assists to reach 301 in his NHL career. ... Halak was waived by New York before being assigned to Bridgeport. It was his first NHL win since Dec. 27.

"I thought we fought hard. This was a tough game. The Islanders are a good team. They were playing really well. It was a challenging back-to-back. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game and that's exactly what it was." Mike Sullivan said.
"Always frustrating to lose in the shootout. We get a point out of this, but I don't know. I like to win in the shootout." Marc-Andre Fleury.

Philadelphia Flyers @ Penguins 6-2 - Sunday, March 26, 2017

The Philadelphia Flyers climbed closer to the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 at PPG Paints Arena. Philadelphia (35-32-8) is six points behind the Boston Bruins. The Flyers and Bruins each have seven games remaining. Pittsburgh (46-18-11) remained tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have one game in hand, for second place in the Metropolitan Division. They're each three points behind the Washington Capitals. The Penguins lost in regulation at home for the fifth time in 38 games this season (29-5-4). They lost each of their three games in the past four days (0-1-2). Steve Mason made 25 saves for the Flyers. Jordan Weal, Valtteri Filppula Dale Weise and Jakub Voracek scored four straight goals after Matt Cullen gave Pittsburgh an early lead with a power-play goal at 4:31 of the first period. Weal tied it 1-1 with 54.4 seconds remaining. Weal turned away from Oskar Sundqvist in the neutral zone, darted to the left circle and shot over Ian Cole's stick blade and under Matt Murray's glove. Filppula gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead with his ninth goal of the season at 12:49 of the second period.

The goal was upheld after Pittsburgh challenged for goaltender interference. Weise made it 3-1 at 1:11 of the third period and Voracek made it 4-1 at 8:41 before Patric Hornqvist cut it to 4-2 at 13:36. Radko Gudas extended the lead to 5-2 with an empty-net goal at 17:31, and Gostisbehere made it 6-2 at 18:58. Murray made 27 saves. He has allowed at least four goals in four of his past seven starts. Penguins forward Conor Sheary left after playing 3:56 in the first period. Forward Tom Kuhnhackl took his place at left wing alongside center Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust for the remainder of the first before Chris Kunitz took over to start the second period. Sullivan said Sheary is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

* Filppula battled Cole near the Penguins crease before Weal spun and shot off the inside of Nick Bonino's right skate. With Murray scrambling in his crease, Filppula shot under him.

* Before Cullen made it 1-0, Mason kept Sheary from scoring the opening goal earlier in the first period. Phil Kessel redirected a pass through the Philadelphia crease to Bonino, who tipped it wide of the left post before Sheary took a point-blank shot that Mason absorbed and froze at 3:41.

* Cullen passed to Hornqvist at the top of the right circle, where Hornqvist attempted a shot but was shoved from behind. Cullen recovered the puck and shot through Mason, with it settling in the crease before the 40-year-old forward charged to tap it in for his 12th goal of the season and second in two games.

* Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald had a quietly effective game Sunday. He led the Flyers with four blocks and added five hits in 20:36.

* Flyers forward Nick Cousins missed a sixth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. … Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin also missed a sixth consecutive game with an upper-body injury sustained against the Calgary Flames on March 13. He did not skate before Pittsburgh's morning skate Sunday, which Sullivan said was part of the rehab process.

"It's [the goalie rotation between Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury] like any other position. Performance is always the dictator."
"The reality is every team in the League is playing the same schedule. It's not just us." Mike Sullivan said.
"They had the momentum pretty much the entire game. For a lot of the time they were really swarming in our end zone. … Just one of those games that we didn't get the bounces and things didn't go our way." Murray said.

Penguins @ NY Rangers 4-3 SO - Friday, March 31, 2017

The Pittsburgh Penguins moved closer to second place in the Metropolitan Division and ended a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 shootout win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Penguins (47-19-11) are one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, who lost 3-1 at the Chicago Blackhawks. Crosby and Phil Kessel scored in the shootout. The Rangers, who tied the game on Chris Kreider's 6-on-5 goal with 12 seconds left, didn't score a shootout goal. Crosby scored his NHL-leading 43rd goal of the season and had an assist on Jake Guentzel's goal. Crosby has 84 points, seven behind Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid for the League lead. Bryan Rust scored, and Matt Murray made 30 saves for Pittsburgh, which lost its previous two games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks by a combined 11-3.

The Rangers (46-26-6) fell behind 3-1 in the third period and lost their eighth straight home game (0-5-3). They haven't won here since Feb. 19. New York is seven points behind Pittsburgh for third place in the division with four games remaining. The Washington Capitals lead the Blue Jackets by four points for first place. The Capitals lost to the Coyotes 6-3 on Friday. Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves, and Nick Holden and Rick Nash scored for New York. Rust gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead at 6:46 of the third period. Nash made it 3-2 at 8:50. The Penguins took a 2-0 lead on goals by Crosby and Guentzel in the first 10:46 of the second. Guentzel scored 39 seconds into the period. Crosby swung from the left point down to the right post and got a cross-slot pass from Kessel. Crosby found Guentzel at the left post for a tap-in. Crosby scored with a hard-angled shot that banked into the net off of Lundqvist. Holden scored a power-play goal with 27 seconds left in the second to make it 2-1.

* Conor Sheary found Crosby behind the net. Crosby backed out of the trapezoid but was behind the goal line when he shot the puck off the back of Lundqvist's mask and into the net.
"He was shooting for my head," Lundqvist said. "It hit my head and I can't really stop it with my head. ... He surprised me. Not a lot of guys think of shooting at your head from there but he did, so give him credit."

* The Rangers had a 2-on-0 late in overtime with Kevin Klein and Michael Grabner. Klein moved the puck to Grabner, but Murray came across the crease, right to left, and made a glove save.

"I just wanted to make up for that third [goal]," Murray said. "I just wanted to stop that one really bad."
* Kreider's goal gave the Rangers one point. He scored on the second rebound after Holden's shot from the point. Murray stopped J.T. Miller on the first rebound.

* The Penguins didn't score on their three power plays but moved the puck well, generated chances and gained momentum from each one. Guentzel's goal came two seconds after their first power play expired.

* Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh missed the game with an undisclosed injury. He is day to day. ... Rangers rookie forward Jimmy Vesey was a healthy scratch for the first time.

"It's a game of inches, and especially with the lead we had and the way we were playing it didn't feel like we were giving them much, but they get a couple chances and they capitalize on it. They're a good team and we'll have to learn from it, but it's nice to get a win finally."
"We've done some good things over the course of the year and played through a lot of different guys being out, so, yeah, it'd be nice to have that home-ice advantage [in the Eastern Conference First Round] and make it meaningful. Hopefully we can keep going here. It's going to be a tight race."

"It's just that desperation level. It's getting ready for playoff hockey and hopefully a win like this can kind of solidify the way we need to play and build on that toward the end of the year here."

"There's just a little bit of room there and sometimes if you get a piece of him you get a chance and it goes in. Most times it doesn't. Fortunately it went in tonight." Sidney Crosby said.