Kovacevic: Never, ever underestimate Kris Letang's own legacy here

Ten days earlier, Kris Letang had been KO'd by COVID-19. And not exactly the kind one has difficulty diagnosing.

"Pretty much all the symptoms," he was recalling earlier in the week. "Congestion, headaches, pressure in the forehead, coughing, lost taste and smell, body aches, a lot of pain in the lower back ... stuff like that."

Ten minutes earlier, he'd come up with his own KO:

And yeah, that'd eventually be deemed the 3-2 overtime winner between the Penguins and Flyers on this Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena, albeit after a replay review confirmed that his breathtaking rush and backhand wrap had, indeed, squirted inside the pipe past Carter Hart's left leg pad at 1:54.

Visual evidence of that, too:

It was a beautiful scene on a bunch of levels, not least of which was that the unhealthiest homestand in franchise history still had the Penguins missing Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel ... heck, I'm probably forgetting a half-dozen others ... and then, on top of all that, they found out in the afternoon that Mike Sullivan became the latest to be hit with the virus.

As Todd Reirden, the assistant bumped up to be head coach, worded it with some emotion afterward: "I'm really proud that the players played as hard as they did for us tonight."

Yep. No doubt.

And for me, that applies doubly to that Letang rush up there. Beginning in the Pittsburgh zone, in the way that Letang's offense always has throughout his decade and a half here, he pounced on the puck in the circle even though the Flyers' Claude Giroux had cleaned Jeff Carter on the draw. A palpable spring to his step from that instant, he strode across center red, dished to his left for Carter, followed with every aim of getting the drop pass that ensued, tried one shot that caromed off Cam Atkinson, collected the puck behind the Philadelphia net and whirled around to the other post.

As if this were the first shift of the evening, not the one that'd cap his game-high 28:55 of ice time.

As if this hadn't been preceded by a virus that'd kept him off skates until Monday.

As if, I mean, come on ...

I asked him, in essence, what the heck that final rush was all about:

"The last four days, after I got all my screening, I tried to stay on the ice as much as I could," he'd respond. "Just to get the feel back. Ten days without skating ... it's a long time."

Especially for someone fell out of the womb wearing blades.

"So I tried to get as much skating in as I could the last four days. But you know ... I'm a little tired. As expected."

OK, let me be the one to say this out loud: He doesn't sound so hot, does he?

The raspy voice, the low intonation ... I'm not about to play doctor here, but I've been around Letang his whole career and hadn't seen or heard him like this.

"He's obviously a phenomenal athlete and in tremendous shape," Reirden would say on the subject of Letang's health two hours before faceoff. "But that being said, this virus affects people differently. The fact that he was symptomatic is something we're going to monitor during the game, and see how he does."

He did all right. Despite being anchored to Mike Matheson, whose defense at times suggested he might be an enemy operative, he pretty much broken even on five-on-five shots attempted while on the ice, 26 for the Penguins and 27 for the Flyers. He also registered four shots on goal, nine total attempts, two hits, a takeaway and a blocked shot.

As ever, though, it's his largely intangible control of the rink that was most worth appreciating.

Couple examples I'd intended to share in this column even before his OT goal:

Don't skip this video, or we can never again be friends.

Letang makes four touches on the puck here, all in different situations, all effortless, all pristine. No one who'd be reading this deep into a hockey column needs me to break them down. They deliver in all three zones, and they result in a quality scoring chance in the Philadelphia end.

That friendship threat applies to this clip, too:

But on this one, I'll offer a bit of play-by-play: It begins with Letang backhand-billiarding the puck to Matheson for a simple clear. Once the Flyers regain the Pittsburgh zone, Letang sets up in the low slot. But unlike most defensemen filling the middle, even for an instant, he comes with no leash. So when Atkinson starts fishing for the puck above the left circle, Letang smartly senses danger and never lets him settle. Atkinson's forced to chip down the left boards for Derick Brassard. Letang now goes to Brassard and easily gains body position on Brassard -- not the first to do so in this building, by the way -- then peels away for yet another backhand feed for Matheson and a clear.

A handful of touches on this one, too. Equally pristine.

Oh, and yet another quality scoring chance in the Philadelphia end.

Brooks Orpik had told me many years ago that, anytime a younger Letang got himself in trouble, everyone would remind him that all his offense, all his points began in the back. It's when he's at his best. Kinda like a certain Game 6 played in San Jose five years ago, before which Sullivan admonished him that morning with two clear words: 'Just defend.'

Not everyone notices these things. Be certain his coaches and teammates do.

"That was a really impressive effort by Kris," Reirden would say. "Certainly, we're a little bit short-handed back there to begin with, and then he was going into the game at not quite 100%. So we were happy to have him in the lineup, and we were going to take it as it went in terms of minutes. And I thought he was outstanding. And then, obviously, it's great to see him get rewarded there with a huge overtime winner for us."

"Tanger does it all for us," Jake Guentzel would say. "Doesn't look like he missed a beat. He's a leader and a guy we can count on in all situations."

I could go on, but I'll cut it short by repeating this: Letang's the greatest defenseman in franchise history.

I've been writing that for years, including back when it wasn't popular. Now, it's not even interesting. When it comes to playing that position in Pittsburgh, no one touches him for Stanley Cup rings won here, achievement, longevity, and I'll always feel the need to make special mention of his courage. Because the number of professional athletes our city's known who've pushed through a stroke, a hole in the heart, neck surgery, multiple concussions and so much more ... that's singular.

As with Crosby, Malkin and other transformational talents to have passed through here, never take this one for granted.

• That up there is the hard proof.

I give a lot of grief to the NHL in general, but that's a quality replay review. I'd find only the above angle as being definitive -- bearing in mind the non-call on the ice meant the default position is a no-goal -- to show that the puck crossed all the way over the goal line, and good on Toronto for having had the patience to uncover it.

"I knew it was close," Letang recalled. "I didn't know 100% if the puck crossed the goal line. In the scrum, I told the ref right away, 'You should check it.' I think it was on the screen, too, so people started cheering."

One guy sure did:

• For the record, no one with the Flyers complained about the call, on or off the ice. Not Alain Vigneault and not his players.

“Two good teams, hard-fought game," Hart would say when asked about the finish. "Bounce doesn’t go our way at the end. That’s hockey.”

In fact, Vigneault, who's had his share of dust-ups with the Penguins over the years, offered this: “They’ve found a way to get real solid depth, even when they’re missing a key element, and that’s been throughout the Crosby and Malkin era. When one’s missing, the other one seems to be taking the slack. And now they’re both missing, and the team’s picking up the slack.”

• Second-best player on either side was Tristan Jarry with 36 saves, several of them point-blank beauties.

Vigneault chimed in on this, too: "Their goalie had some big saves he had to make. That's part of today's game. You need great goaltending. We're getting some, and they got some."

Sorry, I know it's a lot easier to just hate them.

• How about Jake's celebration at scoring his first goal in seven games?

I couldn't help but ask if that was more about relief than anything else.

"Yeah, I mean, just kind of a fluky goal," he replied, referring to mostly fanning on that snapper. "You go on those streaks, and that's what it takes. Find the back of the net. Definitely felt nice. Hopefully, then can keep coming now."

It was deserved. That's three games in a row he's created plenty of offense, for himself and others.

• And then there's Kasperi Kapanen, who had far better looks but still couldn't find No. 1. His advanced analytics continue to be terrific -- he was on the ice at five-on-five for 10 high-danger chances for the Penguins, two for the Flyers -- but this isn't Dominik Simon. He needs to score.

I'd love to say they're coming, but I'm not sure they are. Not until he solves whatever's causing him to fumble every other pass that comes his way and then, in turn, to muff far too many shots.

• No, it's not too soon to start looking at the standings:

I know, right?

The way the Metro's shaping up, beginning with the way the Hurricanes never lose -- and how convincing they've been -- we're likely looking at Carolina and three other openings for the playoffs. Now, look at the rest of those teams, notably the Islanders, who haven't played many games but have reached the league semis the past two years. And the Rangers. And the Capitals.

Every point this group can somehow salvage while missing all these pivotal players will count just as much in April as it does now.

• To complete the thought from above regarding Matheson: The mistakes he makes, including the casual giveaway behind the Pittsburgh net that led directly to Philadelphia's tying goal by Scott Laughton with 2:52 left ... man, that just can't happen. That's indefensible.

It's also strange. This is a seriously smart individual, and he's anything but lazy. He just lapses out like that.

• My only other complaint was the Penguins' penalty-killers collapsing their own box on the Flyers' first goal. Brian Boyle, in particular, retreated so far he might as well have been wearing a mask.

One positive: That unit did the polar opposite when needing a late kill in the third.

Another: They're still No. 1 in the NHL with a 90.9% success rate.

"We gave up one, and we stopped it there," Reirden replied when I brought up the early passivity. "Our guys have been great. We worked very hard on that through the summer, and it's paying off now."

• Speaking of Boyle, as wonderful as the Hockey Fights Cancer cause has become, it hits differently when the ice is shared by two survivors in Boyle and the Flyers' Oskar Lindblom.

That damned disease is the real archrival.

• Thanks for reading, as always.