The Penguins' 5-4 shootout win Wednesday night over the Blue Jackets was their second at PPG Paints Arena in a week. And it couldn't have been any more different in style or substance.
The fight the home team showed this time came not through fisticuffs, but rather their ability to overcome a trio of two-goal deficits and a highly questionable replay reversal in overtime when Sidney Crosby's apparent game-winner was negated by goaltender interference.
Nevertheless, all concerned persevered, finally winning when Matt Murray stopped this Artemi Panarin backhand attempt in the second round of the shootout:
It was just the third time in 14 games the Penguins have won when trailing after one period.
Afterward, Mike Sullivan called it "a real character win," adding, "It was the most resilient that this group has been all year long. Just a never-say-die attitude, a stick-to-it-iveness."
Hard to argue with that. But much the same could have been said last Thursday in the scrappy 3-2 shootout win over Columbus. All too often, there will be a win that seems to be a turning point, only to see the team fall flat the very next game.
"Hopefully, I think hopefully, we're able to take this, use this to build a nice foundation moving forward of resilience and character," said Ian Cole.
We shall see.
Seventeen years to the day after Mario Lemieux authored the most celebrated comeback in this city's rich sports history, it's doubtful that this game will be remembered two days from now. The next four games are at Carolina, at Detroit, at Philadelphia, then back home against the Hurricanes. All are against opponents that are even with the Penguins or below them in the Eastern Conference standings. An opportunity is there -- dare we say -- for the first winning streak since one of four games Nov. 25-Dec. 4.
"We get another chance to go out there and prove that this wasn't a one-time thing," said Brian Dumoulin. "This can bring us together, but we've got to try to follow it up again Friday."
1. The power play came through when it counted.
Over the past seven games, the Penguins' power play has gone 0 for 15 vs. every team not named Blue Jackets. Against Columbus, they've gone 4 for 9, following this 2-for-4 output. And it wasn't just the percentage. It was when they scored, with both goals coming in the third period.
The power play's been the Pens' only consistent weapon -- 24.6 percent conversion rate -- over the course of the season.
"It was important," Crosby said of the power play. "Five-on-five, we got chances, too, but unfortunately couldn't put them in. But we do get those power plays. You've got to take advantage of them especially trying to get back in games, so we did that."
Most impressively, this happened without Kris Letang, who missed his first game with a lower-body injury, and Justin Schultz. Olli Maatta took over on the No. 1 unit and did a serviceable job. He doesn't have Letang's high-end skill set, but he is accurate from the point, which is paramount. If anything, the Penguins might have been guilty of looking to Maatta too much earlier in the game.
Phil Kessel's goal at 3:34 wasn't anything spectacular, and it was just his second in eight games, but it shows the unbelievable wrist strength he has to rifle the puck under Sergei Bobrovsky's left arm. Also notice that Kessel, off the rush, shot from the left side, not his trademark crow-hop from the right:
Kessel is a pure goal-scorer and doesn't need the perfect angle to score.
Below, Evgeni Malkin's power-play goal at 14:24 won't go viral, either, but it underscores what Sullivan has been preaching about getting shots on goal with bodies in front. Patric Hornqvist -- who else? -- takes away Bobrovsky's vision of Kessel's shot and Malkin is there on the doorstep to put in the rebound:
Malkin now has four goals, two on the power play, in the last five games.
2. This depleted defense corps never took a deep breath.
The Penguins captured a Stanley Cup last spring without Letang, so it's not like they haven't played or don't know how to win without their top defenseman. But on a night when Chad Ruhwedel also went down with an injury in the second period -- Sullivan didn't have an update on either him or forward Bryan Rust -- it meant the corps was stretched even thinner.
The five who finished the game -- Maatta, Dumoulin, Cole, Jamie Olesksiak and Matt Hunwick -- each logged more than 20 minutes. Dumoulin, Letang's usual partner, played a team-high 24:12, almost four minutes more than his average. He started out paired with Hunwick but by game's end it was just a mish-mash, regardless of style or shooting hand.
"Seems like we're all playing with each other," Dumoulin said. "We dealt with it last year. It's something that kind of brought us together as a D corps. Obviously, we'd like to have all those guys in the lineup and playing, but it takes some of these games to kind of bring you together and get comfortable with each other."
There was some good news on the injured defenseman front earlier in the day when Schultz skated by himself before the morning skate. He could return within a week.
3. Finally, some secondary scoring.
When Sullivan says the Penguins need to be a tougher team to play against, he doesn't just mean more physicality or blocking a shot. But as long as teams can hone in on shutting down Crosby and Malkin, they aren't a tough team to beat. It's imperative that the supporting cast makes the most of matchups and opportunities.
Conor Sheary and Jake Guentzel did just that.
Both are skilled players, both can skate, and both need to step up or at least be more consistent.
Sheary's goal was his 10th of the season, but his first since Dec. 5. He has two goals in his past 17 games. Guentzel's equalizer with 1:40 remaining in regulation was his 13th, but his first since Dec. 1, a span of 10 games.
On his goal at 5:57 of the second, after a nice chip from Rust to get by Sonny Milano, Sheary showed good burst down the right side and found a lane through Seth Jones. Sheary's shot appears to have hit Jones on the way, but it fooled Sergei Bobrovsky on the blocker side:
On a team that has underachieved this season, Sheary has been the poster child. While playing mostly top-six minutes, he has scored six of his 10 goals in October.
4. Was this is it for Cole?
Columbus' power play is the NHL's worst, clicking at a measly 12.2 percent. But when Guentzel went to the box to serve two minutes for high-sticking at 1:37 of overtime, it set the stage for a rare 4-on-3 power play. And given the amount of ice that opens up, even the Blue Jackets' power play is threatening.
The Penguins not only killed the penalty, but didn't allow a shot.
Carter Rowney won all three defensive-zone faceoffs he took, while Cole and Tom Kuhnhackl each had key blocks.
"I think we did a great job of bouncing back and getting the job done on the kill and, obviously, getting the job done in the shootout," Cole said. "There was some potential there, multiple times in that game to lose control of the game or lose hold of it. We were able to grab hold of it and were able to get two points out of it which was huge for us."
Whether it was Cole's swan song in Pittsburgh remains to be seen. The NHL's holiday roster freeze expired about two hours after Wednesday's game. Cole, who has been in and out of Sullivan's doghouse, has been widely rumored to be on the move.
5. What's the point in instant replay?
If you don't know what constitutes a catch in football, you're not alone. But you also might not know what goaltender interference is in hockey, either, after watching Wednesday's game.
The goalie interference call against Dumoulin that negated Crosby's apparent game-winner in OT is baffling:
After Bobrovsky made the initial stop on Dumoulin with a pokecheck, he lost his stick in Dumoulin's feet. Dumoulin went after his rebound but lost control of the puck, which fortuitously bounced out to Crosby for the winner ... except it wasn't. The goal was reviewed in Toronto and ruled to be interference on Dumoulin.
After watching this a dozen times, I still don't see it. Am I missing something here?
"I think I did everything possible to kind of get out of that situation," Dumoulin said of getting tangled with Bobrovsky. "Obviously, they thought different."
Predictably, so too did John Tortorella, who earlier Wednesday said he didn't like the Penguins.
“It happened so quickly, but once you saw the replay, I don’t know what in the hell they were arguing about,” Tortorella said. “It was goalie interference. We had a chance ... we didn’t get it done.”
Despite that call, Crosby said he still has faith in instant replay.
"It's all in how you see it, interpret it," the captain said. "I thought it was going to stand. It didn't. Nothing you can do about it now, but glad we got the two points."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Blue Jackets, PPG Paints Arena, Dec. 27, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS