Pens @ NY Rangers 5-4 OT - Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Evgeni Malkin finished off a four-point game by scoring off a turnover 58 seconds into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-4 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Malkin also had three assists.
Sidney Crosby got the game into overtime by scoring a 6-on-5 goal at 19:04 of the third period. Phil Kessel, Carl Hagelin and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the Penguins, who had a 2-0 lead after the first period but had to score game-tying goals late in both the second and third periods. The Penguins (4-2-1) won their second straight game and their fourth in their past five. The Rangers (1-5-1) had their losing streak extended to four games (0-3-1).
"We kind of had some ups and downs in the game," Crosby said. "Started off good, lose the lead, give it up there late and then climb our way back. Those games don't happen every night but it's a good test when they happen and we responded the right way."
Crosby scored the tying goal by banking in a shot off Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist from behind the goal line. He had to wait until Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk touched the puck before he could play it because it came to him on a hand pass from Hornqvist. Had Shattenkirk waited for the Penguins to touch the puck instead of trying to play it himself, the whistle would have blown.
"I knew," Crosby said. "I don't think [Shattenkirk] saw it because the way he was positioned. [Hornqvist] had his back to him, so I don't think he saw that he gloved it. I needed to wait until he touched it. Fortunately, he didn't hit it too far away."Left wing Michael Grabner gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead by scoring off a give-and-go on a 2-on-1 rush with center David Desharnais at 8:00 of the third period. The Rangers also had the lead and momentum in the second period after getting goals from Desharnais, J.T. Miller and Pavel Buchnevich in a span of 2:30. They then had a two-man advantage for 1:58, but not only did they fail to score, forward Chris Kreider's offensive zone cross checking penalty negated the final 14 seconds of the two-man advantage. Hornqvist scored on the ensuing power play at 18:01 of the second.
"It's really frustrating, disappointing, hard to accept," Lundqvist said. "I thought we battled back really well in this game, played a strong game. We played against a really good team and we made it tough for them at times. A lot of good things. To sit here and not come up with the two points with the way we played down the stretch, it hurts."
* Crosby's goal was a combination of intelligence, skill and luck. He smartly waited until Shattenkirk touched the puck to avoid the whistle for a hand pass from Hornqvist. He figured there would be players going to the net so he shot it in front. The puck bounced off Lundqvist and went in.
* With the game tied at 3-3 in the third period, Penguins goalie Matt Murray got his pad on Rick Nash's backhand shot while falling down in the slot. The puck popped up, hit off the right post and came back out. Rangers center Mika Zibanejad got a piece of it off the rebound, but Murray stopped that too and covered it up at 5:42.* Malkin's winner came after Kessel knocked down Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh's pass by the left post. Kessel found Malkin at the right post for a one-timer. "I should be able to make a read there and keep it on the boards instead of trying to go through them," McDonagh said. "A really, really bad hockey play by me."
"What I love about our group is that we stick to it, we just stay with it. It was an ugly win, but it was a win." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta had an assist to match his point total from last season (seven) in just seven games. He had seven points in 55 games last season. … Malkin's goal was his 11th in overtime and tied Mario Lemieux for the most in Penguins history. … Penguins defenseman Ian Cole, who had an assist, played while wearing a full face shield. He missed the previous three games with a facial injury. … The Penguins placed defenseman Matt Hunwick (concussion) on injured reserve and sent defenseman Chris Summers to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
"We kind of had some ups and downs in the game," Crosby said. "Started off good, lose the lead, give it up there late and then climb our way back. Those games don't happen every night but it's a good test when they happen and we responded the right way."
Crosby scored the tying goal by banking in a shot off Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist from behind the goal line. He had to wait until Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk touched the puck before he could play it because it came to him on a hand pass from Hornqvist. Had Shattenkirk waited for the Penguins to touch the puck instead of trying to play it himself, the whistle would have blown.
"I knew," Crosby said. "I don't think [Shattenkirk] saw it because the way he was positioned. [Hornqvist] had his back to him, so I don't think he saw that he gloved it. I needed to wait until he touched it. Fortunately, he didn't hit it too far away."Left wing Michael Grabner gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead by scoring off a give-and-go on a 2-on-1 rush with center David Desharnais at 8:00 of the third period. The Rangers also had the lead and momentum in the second period after getting goals from Desharnais, J.T. Miller and Pavel Buchnevich in a span of 2:30. They then had a two-man advantage for 1:58, but not only did they fail to score, forward Chris Kreider's offensive zone cross checking penalty negated the final 14 seconds of the two-man advantage. Hornqvist scored on the ensuing power play at 18:01 of the second.
"It's really frustrating, disappointing, hard to accept," Lundqvist said. "I thought we battled back really well in this game, played a strong game. We played against a really good team and we made it tough for them at times. A lot of good things. To sit here and not come up with the two points with the way we played down the stretch, it hurts."
* Crosby's goal was a combination of intelligence, skill and luck. He smartly waited until Shattenkirk touched the puck to avoid the whistle for a hand pass from Hornqvist. He figured there would be players going to the net so he shot it in front. The puck bounced off Lundqvist and went in.
* With the game tied at 3-3 in the third period, Penguins goalie Matt Murray got his pad on Rick Nash's backhand shot while falling down in the slot. The puck popped up, hit off the right post and came back out. Rangers center Mika Zibanejad got a piece of it off the rebound, but Murray stopped that too and covered it up at 5:42.* Malkin's winner came after Kessel knocked down Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh's pass by the left post. Kessel found Malkin at the right post for a one-timer. "I should be able to make a read there and keep it on the boards instead of trying to go through them," McDonagh said. "A really, really bad hockey play by me."
"What I love about our group is that we stick to it, we just stay with it. It was an ugly win, but it was a win." -- Penguins coach Mike SullivanPenguins defenseman Olli Maatta had an assist to match his point total from last season (seven) in just seven games. He had seven points in 55 games last season. … Malkin's goal was his 11th in overtime and tied Mario Lemieux for the most in Penguins history. … Penguins defenseman Ian Cole, who had an assist, played while wearing a full face shield. He missed the previous three games with a facial injury. … The Penguins placed defenseman Matt Hunwick (concussion) on injured reserve and sent defenseman Chris Summers to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
Pens @ Florida Panthers 4-3 - Friday, October 20, 2017
Conor Sheary scored with 2:53 left in the third period, the Pittsburgh Penguins' third power-play goal, in a 4-3 victory against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center.
"Our power play when it's going can be really dangerous," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "There's a lot of real good players on it. They see it so well. What I like that they've been doing is they're working. They're not stationary. They're doing all the little things that you can't necessarily quantify in a statistic, but it just helps power plays be effective. As long as they stay in that mindset, they can be a dangerous group."
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby also scored power-play goals, and Carter Rowney scored for Pittsburgh (5-2-1). Phil Kessel had two assists, and Matt Murray made 28 saves. The Penguins were 3-for-4 on the power play, the second time this season they scored three power-play goals. They also did so in a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Oct. 11. Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar scored his first NHL goal, and Jamie McGinn and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers (2-4-0), who have lost three in a row. Roberto Luongo made 33 saves before leaving 4:46 into the third period after an injury to his right thumb when he collided with Sheary. Luongo came up short in his second attempt to move into sole possession of fourth place on the NHL wins list. Luongo is tied with Curtis Joseph at 454. Coach Bob Boughner had no update on Luongo's status after the game.
"It's obviously a tough break," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. "It's tough to see when you see one of your teammates, one of your leaders, a guy like (Luongo gets injured). It's obviously tough to swallow."
With Radim Vrbata off for tripping, Sheary scored when he came in alone on Luongo's replacement, James Reimer, after taking a pass from Olli Maatta in the neutral zone. Sheary made a quick move to his backhand before flipping the puck past Reimer.
"We talked about that before the game, to use the weak side of the ice for the break-in, and I was just flying with a lot of speed and had a breakaway opportunity," Sheary said. "I felt pretty good with the two days off and a good time to recover. I just tried to work hard and use my speed and eventually got a goal there."
Weegar tied it at 3-3 at 9:19 of the third period on a slap shot with traffic in front of Murray.
Pittsburgh trailed 2-0 in the second period but scored three goals to take a 3-2 lead. Malkin scored at 2:14 when he redirected Kessel's shot along the ice from the top of the left circle, and Rowney scored 27 seconds later after a turnover behind the Florida net. Crosby gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 11:12 with his fourth goal in three games. The Panthers scored twice in 1:34 in the first period.McGinn made it 1-0 at 4:15 when he put home a rebound after Vrbata floated a shot on net from outside the blue line. It was the first time in six games this season the Panthers scored first. Barkov made it 2-0 at 5:49 with a wrist shot from a sharp angle that beat Murray over the left shoulder.
* Malkin had two one-timers stopped on the Penguins' second power play before he found himself with the puck to the left of Luongo. This time, he made a pass to the front of the net that Crosby redirected over the goalie's left shoulder.
* With Reimer off for an extra attacker, Florida had three shots in the final 34 seconds. The best scoring chance came with seven seconds left when Barkov got a rebound to the side of the net and quickly pulled the puck to his forehand to shoot. Murray moved to the left in time to stop Barkov's shot.* Malkin flipped the puck from the Pittsburgh zone in the first period and Kessel beat everyone to it inside the Florida blue line for a breakaway. He fired a quick shot that Luongo stopped with his left leg at 16:03.
"It wasn't pretty. They were throwing a lot of pucks to the net and when you get down 2-0, it's not the situation to put yourself in, but we had a lot of time left. We got back to our game pretty quickly and finished up the second half of the first pretty good. That built some confidence." -- Penguins forward Sidney Crosby
Pittsburgh set season highs for shots in a period (22 in the second) and game (48). … Pittsburgh is 9-0-2 in its past 11 games against Florida, including a five-game winning streak that matches its longest in the series. … Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad played a game-high 26:19.
"It's obviously a tough break," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. "It's tough to see when you see one of your teammates, one of your leaders, a guy like (Luongo gets injured). It's obviously tough to swallow."
With Radim Vrbata off for tripping, Sheary scored when he came in alone on Luongo's replacement, James Reimer, after taking a pass from Olli Maatta in the neutral zone. Sheary made a quick move to his backhand before flipping the puck past Reimer.
"We talked about that before the game, to use the weak side of the ice for the break-in, and I was just flying with a lot of speed and had a breakaway opportunity," Sheary said. "I felt pretty good with the two days off and a good time to recover. I just tried to work hard and use my speed and eventually got a goal there."
Weegar tied it at 3-3 at 9:19 of the third period on a slap shot with traffic in front of Murray.
Pittsburgh trailed 2-0 in the second period but scored three goals to take a 3-2 lead. Malkin scored at 2:14 when he redirected Kessel's shot along the ice from the top of the left circle, and Rowney scored 27 seconds later after a turnover behind the Florida net. Crosby gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 11:12 with his fourth goal in three games. The Panthers scored twice in 1:34 in the first period.McGinn made it 1-0 at 4:15 when he put home a rebound after Vrbata floated a shot on net from outside the blue line. It was the first time in six games this season the Panthers scored first. Barkov made it 2-0 at 5:49 with a wrist shot from a sharp angle that beat Murray over the left shoulder.
* Malkin had two one-timers stopped on the Penguins' second power play before he found himself with the puck to the left of Luongo. This time, he made a pass to the front of the net that Crosby redirected over the goalie's left shoulder.
* With Reimer off for an extra attacker, Florida had three shots in the final 34 seconds. The best scoring chance came with seven seconds left when Barkov got a rebound to the side of the net and quickly pulled the puck to his forehand to shoot. Murray moved to the left in time to stop Barkov's shot.* Malkin flipped the puck from the Pittsburgh zone in the first period and Kessel beat everyone to it inside the Florida blue line for a breakaway. He fired a quick shot that Luongo stopped with his left leg at 16:03.
"It wasn't pretty. They were throwing a lot of pucks to the net and when you get down 2-0, it's not the situation to put yourself in, but we had a lot of time left. We got back to our game pretty quickly and finished up the second half of the first pretty good. That built some confidence." -- Penguins forward Sidney CrosbyPittsburgh set season highs for shots in a period (22 in the second) and game (48). … Pittsburgh is 9-0-2 in its past 11 games against Florida, including a five-game winning streak that matches its longest in the series. … Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad played a game-high 26:19.
Pens @ Tampa Bay Lightning 1-7 - Saturday, October 21, 2017
Steven Stamkos had four points to match his NHL career high, and Nikita Kucherov scored two goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 7-1 win against the Penguins at Amalie Arena. Stamkos, Yanni Gourde, Brayden Point, Anton Stralman and Mikhail Sergachev scored for Tampa Bay (7-1-1), and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves. The Lightning have 15 points, tying the best start in their history. They had 15 through nine games in 2003-04 (seven wins, one tie), when they won the Stanley Cup. Stamkos passed Vincent Lecavalier for most power-play goals in Tampa Bay history (113) when he scored off a nifty pass from Vladislav Namestnikov at 14:16 of the first period to make it 2-0.
"I think there's something to be said when your first shift of the game is a power play," said Stamkos, who got the first of his three assists when he set up Kucherov's first goal 1:36 into the game. "You get some touches early, a shot early and get some confidence. Obviously, we score and you start feeling better about yourself."
Kucherov opened the scoring with Penguins center Sidney Crosby in the penalty box after being called for slashing Gourde 57 seconds into the game. After the goal, Crosby was given a 10-minute misconduct for arguing with officials.
Gourde scored with 0.2 seconds remaining in the period to give the Lightning a 3-0 lead.
"It was a tough time to give up a goal in the last second again," said Niemi, who allowed five goals on 34 shots in a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Oct. 12, including one by Victor Hedman with 0.1 seconds left in the first period. "I still felt OK. I think I made a few good saves, but it wasn't close to enough."
Point made it 4-0 30 seconds into the second period when he scored on the rebound of his initial shot. Stralman gave the Lightning a 5-0 lead at 5:58 of the second.
"Right from the start we played the way we want to, especially against a Pittsburgh team that has so much offense," Tampa Bay forward Ryan Callahan said. "Coming into the game we wanted to concentrate on our [defense] and I think we did that and generated opportunities off that."
Guentzel scored on the power play to spoil Vasilevskiy's shutout with 1:42 remaining, making it 7-1.
"We've got to do a better job on these back-to-back games," Crosby said. "I think we've put ourselves in some bad spots in these back-to-backs by being down early and by a lot. It's hard enough in a regular game to get yourself back into it when you're playing good teams."
* Namestnikov took a pass from Kucherov along the goal line to the right of the net, drew Penguins defensemen Olli Maatta and Chad Ruhwedel to him by backing out toward the front of the net, and sent a no-look, backhand feed to Stamkos, who beat Niemi high on the stick side from the bottom of the left face-off circle.* Vasilevskiy reached back to stop Carl Hagelin's shot with his arm just before it crossed the goal line with 24 seconds remaining in the first period following a cross-crease pass by Guentzel.* Gourde scored his buzzer-beating goal from just outside the crease off the rebound of a Braydon Coburn shot. "For me, the key to the game was the Vasilevskiy save (on Hagelin) and then we go down and score," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So it's either 2-1 or 3-0 going into the room."* Stamkos and Kucherov are the first NHL teammates to each have a nine-game point streak to start a season since Doug Weight and Pavol Demitra did it for the St. Louis Blues in 2001-02. … Penguins forward Carter Rowney left the game after he was hit in the hand with a shot early in the first period. Sullivan said he will be evaluated in Pittsburgh.
"Right now we're a flawed hockey team. We've got to shore up a lot of areas. I don't think it has anything to do with back-to-backs. I think it has to do with a mindset and willingness to play the game the right way." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"This was a big game for us. I thought we were a confident group coming off a [2-0 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday]. I think we took advantage of the circumstances of them coming off a back-to-back and getting a couple of early goals helped. I'm just proud of the way we played throughout the whole game." -- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos
Kucherov opened the scoring with Penguins center Sidney Crosby in the penalty box after being called for slashing Gourde 57 seconds into the game. After the goal, Crosby was given a 10-minute misconduct for arguing with officials.
Gourde scored with 0.2 seconds remaining in the period to give the Lightning a 3-0 lead.
"It was a tough time to give up a goal in the last second again," said Niemi, who allowed five goals on 34 shots in a 5-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Oct. 12, including one by Victor Hedman with 0.1 seconds left in the first period. "I still felt OK. I think I made a few good saves, but it wasn't close to enough."
Point made it 4-0 30 seconds into the second period when he scored on the rebound of his initial shot. Stralman gave the Lightning a 5-0 lead at 5:58 of the second.
"Right from the start we played the way we want to, especially against a Pittsburgh team that has so much offense," Tampa Bay forward Ryan Callahan said. "Coming into the game we wanted to concentrate on our [defense] and I think we did that and generated opportunities off that."
Guentzel scored on the power play to spoil Vasilevskiy's shutout with 1:42 remaining, making it 7-1.
"We've got to do a better job on these back-to-back games," Crosby said. "I think we've put ourselves in some bad spots in these back-to-backs by being down early and by a lot. It's hard enough in a regular game to get yourself back into it when you're playing good teams."
* Namestnikov took a pass from Kucherov along the goal line to the right of the net, drew Penguins defensemen Olli Maatta and Chad Ruhwedel to him by backing out toward the front of the net, and sent a no-look, backhand feed to Stamkos, who beat Niemi high on the stick side from the bottom of the left face-off circle.* Vasilevskiy reached back to stop Carl Hagelin's shot with his arm just before it crossed the goal line with 24 seconds remaining in the first period following a cross-crease pass by Guentzel.* Gourde scored his buzzer-beating goal from just outside the crease off the rebound of a Braydon Coburn shot. "For me, the key to the game was the Vasilevskiy save (on Hagelin) and then we go down and score," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So it's either 2-1 or 3-0 going into the room."* Stamkos and Kucherov are the first NHL teammates to each have a nine-game point streak to start a season since Doug Weight and Pavol Demitra did it for the St. Louis Blues in 2001-02. … Penguins forward Carter Rowney left the game after he was hit in the hand with a shot early in the first period. Sullivan said he will be evaluated in Pittsburgh."Right now we're a flawed hockey team. We've got to shore up a lot of areas. I don't think it has anything to do with back-to-backs. I think it has to do with a mindset and willingness to play the game the right way." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"This was a big game for us. I thought we were a confident group coming off a [2-0 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday]. I think we took advantage of the circumstances of them coming off a back-to-back and getting a couple of early goals helped. I'm just proud of the way we played throughout the whole game." -- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos
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