DeSmith on season's first victory: 'Mentally, that was big for me' taken in Seattle (Penguins)

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Casey DeSmith and Marcus Pettersson defend the Kraken's Jared McCann in the third period Monday night in Seattle.

SEATTLE -- This was the game that the Penguins wanted from Casey DeSmith.

It was the game that DeSmith needed from himself.

OK, so it wasn't the most spectacular performance of his career, but when a goalie is 0-3-1 and struggling to earn playing time, simply being sound is a significant step forward. And DeSmith took one of those Monday night. He wasn't perfect in the Penguins' 6-1 victory against the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena -- after all, one of Seattle's 29 shots made it past him -- but he did manage to turn aside just about everything sent his way.

"Mentally, that was big for me, to go out there and get a solid win," he said.

DeSmith's best save, interestingly enough, might have come on a sequence that didn't result in a shot. Which was fortunate, because it likely would have ended in a Seattle goal if there had been one.

The Penguins were leading, 3-1, late in the second period, trying to hold off a resurgent Kraken squad that had recovered nicely after Philipp Grubauer allowed three goals on the Penguins' first four shots, earning him a quick trip to the distant end of the bench.

But Seattle had been revived when Jordan Eberle -- remember him, from the Islanders and Oilers? -- tapped in a feed from Alex Wennberg at 3:43 of the second, and was looking to slice the Penguins' lead to one when Morgan Geekie tried to feed a pass to Jared McCann at the left side of the Penguins net during a three-on-two.

Had the puck reached McCann, he would have been able to steer it into an open net. But it never got to him, because DeSmith used his stick to deflect the pass high into the air and out of play:

"I kind of slid to (Geekie) and I saw (McCann), back-door," DeSmith said. "Just kind of out of habit, I had my stick out there. Just kind of laid it out there and it was in the right spot, thankfully."

Pretty much the way DeSmith was throughout the game. Although he wasn't tested severely all that often, anytime the Penguins needed a save -- or, say, for an odd-man rush by the Kraken to be short-circuited by a well-placed stick blade -- he came through.

"I thought (DeSmith) was really good," Mike Sullivan said. "He made some timely saves for us, especially early in the game."

It helped him, of course, that Jeff Carter, Sidney Crosby and Danton Heinen put pucks past Grubauer during the first 5:07 of play. The value of giving a goalie who's gone through a crisis of confidence a little margin for error can't be overstated.

"It takes a little bit of the pressure off," DeSmith said.

So does having a teammate like Jake Guentzel, who had two goals and an assist. He might have been the Penguins' best player, and he teamed with Crosby and Evan Rodrigues to have a pretty productive evening.

Nonetheless, the second line, with Carter between Jason Zucker and Heinen, likely was their most consistently effective unit.

"I thought we had a pretty strong game, overall," Carter said. "(Heinen and Zucker) were real solid on the walls in our own end, getting pucks out, and then when we got in the offensive zone, they were puck hounds. They were on it all night, turning pucks over. It created a lot of opportunities for us."

That line's members accounted for three goals -- two by Carter, one by Heinen -- and three assists, as Heinen again burnished his credentials as a legitimate top-six winger.

He capitalized on one of those opportunities when he beat Grubauer from the top of the right circle just over five minutes into the opening period, an early exclamation point on a strong two-way game.

"He's a smart player," Sullivan said. "He's got good offensive instincts. He's pretty good on the forecheck. He skates well and he has finishing ability. ... He's played consistently well to this point. When we put him with (Carter and Zucker), I think he really helped the line."

The guy who played alongside Heinen agrees.

"He's played up and down the lineup, and with everybody, but his game never really seems to change," Carter said, adding that "he's just an easy guy to play with. He's kind of similar to me, in the sense that he's straight lines, north-south, get pucks to the net. There's not a lot that's fancy there."

The Penguins' early-game outburst squeezed some of the life out of what has been one of the most raucous, supportive crowds in the NHL. This town hasn't just embraced the Kraken; it has the team in a bearhug, and isn't letting go,

"We knew how good the atmosphere would be, just from seeing other games and hearing about it," Crosby said. "Being able to get the lead early, I think (the fans) still stuck behind their team and supported them, but I think it just takes the pressure off a bit when you're playing in a building like this and you're able to get a lead like that."

The crowd, like the home tea, gradually regained its equilibrium, and both parties were building momentum until the Penguins got goals 23 seconds apart by Guentzel and Carter late in the second period, not long after DeSmith had broken up the pass Geekie was sending to McCann.

"To get a couple late, that was a huge momentum swing," Crosby said.

Being down, 5-1, after 40 minutes effectively deflated the Kraken, and Guentzel rubbed it in at 8:29 of the third, when he stopped a cross-ice feed from Rodrigues with his left skate, then swiped the puck past goalie Joey Daccord on the far side from inside the right circle.

Guentzel has a 13-game scoring streak, the longest active one in the NHL, and has five goals in the past two games while playing well all over the ice.

"He's just doing everything so well, finding different ways," Crosby said. "Whether it's going to the net ... you see his second goal tonight, that sho was just perfect. He's doing it all."

Guentzel is a big part of the reason the Penguins did better than break even during their four-game Western swing. And while their next game will be in Washington Friday, five of the six after that will be at PPG Paints Arena.

"We've played a lot of hockey lately, a lot of travel," Carter said. "There were moments in this trip when we didn't have our best. We'll take this trip at 2-1-1 and get back home and try to rack some more up before Christmas."

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MORE FROM THE GAME

• Guentzel has set a team record by getting a point in each of the Penguins' first 12 road games. That also is tied for the third-longest such streak in NHL history.

• The Penguins set a franchise record by holding their opponent without a power-play goal for the 11th game in a row. They have killed 26 consecutive penalties, including the only opportunity the Kraken had.

• Carter acknowledged that losing focus and intensity is a danger when a team builds the kind of early lead the Penguins had. "There's obviously still a lot of hockey left," he said. "You get up a couple, and there's kind of a tendency to sit back and it sounds bad, but maybe think it's going to be an easy one when it really isn't. They pushed hard after that."

• The Penguins had lost their previous two games when facing an expansion team for the first time, with defeats by Vegas and Minnesota. They are 13-3, with one tie, all-time against true expansion clubs.

• Although his left winger has been getting most of the attention lately, Crosby is now working on a six-game scoring streak, with 11 points during that span. While he might not be all the way back from his wrist surgery, he's getting close. "The chances have been there the last six or seven," he said. "Before they started going in, there were a lot of chances. Obviously, (Guentzel and Rodrigues) are doing some great things out there, making some plays." 

Kris Letang assisted on Carter's second goal, leaving him one point shy of becoming the 43rd defenseman in NHL history to record 600 career points. He will be the seventh active defenseman to reach that milestone, and has more points that all but five other players -- Crosby, Anze Kopitar, Paul Stastny, T.J. Oshie and Keith Yandle -- who were members of his 2005 draft class.

• Referee Eric Furlatt did not return for the start of the second period, leaving Peter MacDougall as the lone ref for the final 40 minutes. There was no immediate explanation for Furlatt's departure.

Kasperi Kapanen, who does not have a point in the past four games, was dropped from the third line to the fourth during the third period. He accounted for one of the Penguins' 31 shots in 15 minutes, 21 seconds of ice time. 

• Because of the distance between Seattle and Pittsburgh, the Penguins deviated from their usual routine and did not travel immediately after the game. They are scheduled to fly home during the day Tuesday.

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The Penguins celebrate victory after the final horn Monday night in Seattle.

THE ESSENTIALS

Boxscore
 Live file
Scoreboard
• 
Standings
• 
Statistics

THE THREE STARS

As selected at Climate Pledge Arena:

1. Danton Heinen, Penguins
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
3. Jeff Carter, Penguins

THE HIGHLIGHTS

"      "

THE INJURIES

Evgeni Malkin is recovering from offseason knee surgery. He participated in an optional game-day skate Monday.

Bryan Rust has missed the past five games and is on injured-reserve because of an unspecified lower-body injury. He is listed as "week-to-week" and did not accompany the team on the four-game Western road trip that ended in Seattle.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan's lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues
Jason Zucker-Jeff Carter-Danton Heinen
Brock McGinn-Teddy Blueger-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Drew O'Connor-Dominik Simon

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Mike Matheson-Chad Ruhwedel

And for Dave Hakstol's Kraken:

Jordan Eberle-Yanni Gourde-Jaden Schwartz
Marcus Johansson-Alex Wennberg-Mason Appleton
Jared McCann-Morgan Geekie-Brandon Tanev

Ryan Donato-Riley Sheahan-Joonas Donskoi

Vincent Dunn-Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksian-Carson Soucy
Will Borgen-Jeremy Lauzon

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins are scheduled to have a travel day Tuesday before practicing Wednesday, noon, at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. Their next game is Friday night in Washington.

THE CONTENT

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