Struggling start blossoms into Guentzel shootout beauty, deep breath

It wasn't pretty, and it didn't get decided until the fourth round of a shootout, but the Penguins are in the win column for the first time in the 2020-21 season after a 4-3 victory over the Capitals in the home opener at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Aside from Evan Rodrigues' goal 19 seconds into the game, the Penguins weren't happy with their start. But they responded, made adjustments, and battled back, culminating in a Jake Guentzel shootout goal to seal the win:

"I don't think we had the start we wanted, and that's something we need to address obviously, especially in these early games," Mike Sullivan said after the win. "But I loved the response of our team. I thought our guys played hard in the second and third against a really good team."

The gameflow chart that shows the changes in shot-attempt differential paints a pretty accurate picture of the game, with the Penguins digging themselves back up out of a hole and getting back into the game after the first period:

"We weren't happy with the start whatsoever," Marcus Pettersson said. "We weren't hard to play against. We didn't hold on to pucks."

The Capitals capitalized on the Penguins' struggle to possess the puck and took the lead with goals from Nic Dowd and Alex Ovechkin in the span of 2:20. The defensive struggles were clear on the Ovechkin goal, with John Marino and Pettersson both shouldering some of the blame:

"I think (Tom) Wilson came up the middle, pressuring Johnny," Pettersson said. "I don't think he heard me trying to talk to him, and they kind of capitalized. I think Sid lost his stick on a slash in the O-zone that created a bit of havoc, I tried to play long body, it hit my stick, and it came right to him."

After being outshot 12-8 and trailing where it counts, 2-1, in the first period, the Penguins outshot the Capitals 11-3 and tied the game back up at three apiece in the second.

Colton Sceviour scored an early goal off of the in-net cam to tie the game 2:10 into the middle frame:

After Nicklas Backstrom regained the Capitals' lead with a power play goal midway through the second, Pettersson tied it back up with a rocket of a shot:

"It was a bullet," Sullivan said of the tying goal.

"The second period, I wasn't real happy with," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said of the momentum swing. "There's things that we're doing with the puck that aren't going to lead to us being and staying in the offensive zone."

One of the adjustments the Penguins made that led to the Capitals having a hard time in the offensive zone was switching up the defense pairings. The game started with Pettersson and Marino on the second pairing, and Juuso Riikola and Chad Ruhwedel on the third pairing, with Riikola taking the spot of an injured Mike Matheson. After the Pettersson-Marino pairing struggled with miscommunications and missed plays like with the Ovechkin goal, Riikola was moved to the second pairing with Marino, and Pettersson was paired with Ruhwedel. 

"We felt, out of necessity, in order to get a spark for our blue line, that we had to move some guys around," Sullivan said when I asked about the mid-game adjustment. "That was why the decision was made there. We had some guys that we thought were playing pretty well, we had others back there that we thought we needed more from, and so that weighed in to that part of the decision."

"I thought it went well," Pettersson said of the switch. "Sometimes you've got to change things up, find different partners. I don't think me and Johnny had a particularly good start, so change was good. I think that was a wakeup call on the back end. We certainly played a lot harder and better from there. ... We played a lot quicker with the puck, especially when it went out in the neutral zone. We didn't allow them to get set and pressure us."

That includes Ruhwedel, one of the league's best seventh defensemen, putting pressure on and neutralizing one of the league's biggest offensive threats:

A major factor in the Penguins' win was also the play of Casey DeSmith, getting the nod over Tristan Jarry, his first NHL start since March 2019. DeSmith made 20 saves on 23 shots, including an Ovechkin near-goal in the final seconds of overtime, and went perfect in the four rounds of the shootout to earn the win.

"I thought he made some big saves, especially in the shootout," Sullivan said of DeSmith. "He was real solid in the shootout, he made some big saves for us. That's what our expectations are of our goaltenders. When you get the timely save, it gives your team a better chance to win. He did that for us today."

"The only thing I could really focus on was getting a win," DeSmith said. "The first period, they got two on me, so I'm just happy I could battle back the rest of the game. The team played great the second two periods, even better in overtime."

As players said after Saturday's practice, each individual game this season is more meaningful than ever, with a shortened season and each game coming against a division rival. Especially in a division as competitive as the Penguins' East Division, each win has the potential to be a difference-maker in the playoff race by the end of the season.

"Every win you get against your division, it means that they're not getting points," Guentzel said Saturday.

The Penguins secured their first two points with this win, and at least in the latter half of the game, looked like a team that has the potential to have the results go in their favor more often than not over the course of this weird season.

"To get two points, I think, is important for our team," Sullivan said after the win. "I was happy for our players. I think that should give them a boost of confidence."

More observations and notes from the win:

• Saturday was the final day of Kasperi Kapanen's COVID protocol, and he was permitted to rejoin team activities on Sunday. He didn't play in the game, but he did skate before the game, presumably with the taxi squad. Sullivan wouldn't say whether Kapanen would be in the lineup Tuesday.

"We're not sure whether or not Kappy's going to play in the next game," Sullivan said. "We're going to see how he practices tomorrow, and then we'll make decisions accordingly."

• Matheson was not a healthy scratch, Sullivan said after the game. Matheson sustained an unspecified upper-body injury in the second game against the Flyers and is now out "longer-term," which is surprising given that Matheson practiced on Saturday.

• Sullivan said that going with DeSmith over Jarry gives Jarry "an opportunity to reset his mindset, get a couple of workouts with (goaltending coach Mike Buckley)."

• Nashville, Carolina, Winnipeg, and Seattle had scouts in the building for the game. Seattle's scout was new Kraken assistant general manager and former Penguins associate general manager Jason Botterill. You can never read too much into these lists, but it's worth noting that Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said Saturday that he believes the Penguins are "one of the teams who's very interested" in Jets right wing Jack Roslovic, who is seeking a trade out of Winnipeg. The Jets were reportedly seeking a top-four, left-handed defenseman in exchange for Roslovic over the offseason.

• There were a couple of COVID-related changes around the arena for the game. The lower bowl is tarped off. Jeff Jimerson didn't sing the anthem live — they instead played a video of Jimerson singing from 2019 before the game. There was a constant, low fake-crowd noise pumped in, with the occasional chant or horn mixed in with it. With Mike Lange opting out of the start of the season until vaccines become available, Phil Bourque and Josh Getzoff were in the newly-enclosed radio booth. One thing that didn't change is that 85-year-old Eddie Johnston was still in attendance in the Penguins' management's booth. You can't keep that guy away from the game.

• The PPG logo stickers on the helmet that so many people complained about when they were revealed were modified. Instead of a blue base with white lettering, they're now a more subtle black base with white lettering. It's the little things.

• "Party Hard," the goal song from 2015-19, is back as the goal song after going on hiatus in favor of House of Pain's "Jump Around" during the 2019-20 season. 

• Only Brian Dumoulin and Jason Zucker go helmetless now during warmups. Teddy Blueger, who went without a helmet during warmups all last season, is now Team Helmet. Will have to remember to ask about the reason for the change next time we get to talk to Blueger. Hard-hitting stuff.

• Brandon Tanev led both teams with nine hits. The Capitals outhit the Penguins overall, 46-33.

• The Penguins got hit with their third too-many-men penalty in as many games. This one wasn't as egregious, though. The puck hit Dumoulin as he was climbing on the bench, which made him count as one of the active skaters on the ice, giving the Penguins six total. This one wasn't as bad as the two from the first two games of the season, but someone should probably dig into the record books to see what the record is for the most games with a too-many-men penalty to start the season, because it's a little ridiculous.

• Justin Schultz, one of several former Penguins now on the Capitals, received his tribute video. It began with a clip of what was surely a prank orchestrated by Marc-Andre Fleury following the trade from Edmonton:

There was no crowd to give him an ovation in his return, but he got polite stick taps from the Penguins' bench.

• The three stars were Guentzel (shootout winner), Pettersson (game-tying goal), and Ovechkin (Capitals' second goal), but DeSmith was chosen by Sidney Crosby as the first recipient of this year's Team MVP award, a helmet:

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• NHL scoreboard

THE INJURIES

• Zach Aston-Reese is still recovering from the left shoulder surgery he underwent in August and has been skating with the taxi squad for several days.

• Zach Trotman underwent right knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Jan. 14 and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks

• Mike Matheson is out "longer term" with an upper-body injury sustained on Jan. 15.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Jared McCann-Mark Jankowski-Brandon Tanev
Sam Lafferty-Teddy Blueger-Colton Sceviour

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Juuso Riikola-Chad Ruhwedel

And for Laviolette's Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson
Daniel Sprong-Lars Eller-Richard Panik
Carl Hagelin-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway

Dmitry Orlov-John Carlson
Brenden Dillon-Justin Schultz
Zdeno Chara-Nick Jensen

THE SCHEDULE

Monday was originally scheduled to be an off day but the Penguins will now practice in Cranberry at 11 a.m.; I'll cover that one. Dejan will cover Game 2 of the series against the Capitals Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., and then Wednesday is now an off day.

THE CONTENT

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