SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Few people knew precisely what to expect from Louis Domingue when he made his Penguins debut Saturday night.
After all, he hadn't face a shot in the NHL all season, and hadn't won a game at this level since Jan. 12, 2020.
Domingue insists that he did, though.
Of course, he couldn't have known the granular details, like how he would face 41 shots and stop 40 of them, but Domingue said the evening played out pretty much the way he anticipated it would.
"It was how I visualized it," he said. "It was a long time coming. Ever since camp, I was prepared for this moment. I saw an opportunity, and either you take it or you don't."
Domingue not only took his opportunity, but put it in a chokehold, earning recognition as the No. 1 star in a 2-1 victory against the Sharks at SAP Center.
"He was phenomenal from the start," Jake Guentzel said. "I don't think we're in the game without him."
Perhaps the only thing Domingue couldn't stop Saturday was speculation that his performance enhanced the chances of him supplanting Casey DeSmith as Tristan Jarry's backup, although he insisted that he does not believe he is in competition with DeSmith.
"Not at all," Domingue said. "We all like each other. We all push each other. I'm just here to give a break to (Jarry) and whatever happens, happens. But I'm certainly not thinking about any battle with any goaltender at all.
"I'm definitely not trying to steal anyone's job. I'm just trying to do mine."
It's not realistic to expect Domingue to perform at such a rarefied level -- maintaining a save percentage of .976 is a bit much to ask of any goaltender -- but there is no way to overstate the role he played in shaping this outcome.
"He deserves all the credit for getting us two points," Sidney Crosby said. "He played unbelievable all the way through and gave us a chance to hang around."
Domingue's work during regulation guaranteed the Penguins a point; a stellar sequence early in overtime got them a second one.
Fifteen seconds into the extra period, there was a faceoff in the Penguins' end, so Mike Sullivan had defensemen Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin accompany Crosby.
When the Penguins got control of the puck, Dumoulin went to the bench and was replaced by Guentzel. Crosby pulled in a long lead pass from Letang and broke into the San Jose end with Guentzel, moving down the right side before cutting across the ice.
Sharks defenseman Brent Burns chased Crosby into the left circle, while Guentzel went to the front of the net and got position on San Jose forward Timo Meier.
Crosby slid a pass by goalie Adin Hill and into the crease, where Guentzel tapped it across the goal line 37 seconds into overtime.
"Obviously, just a great play by Sid to find me," Guentzel said.
While Guentzel ended up scoring the goal that secured the Penguins' victory, he could have tilted the game in San Jose's favor late in the second period, when he was assessed. double-minor for high-sticking Jonathan Dahlen.
That gave the Sharks four minutes to try to manufacture the goal that would would have broken a 1-1 tie.
They failed.
"That's a huge kill," Crosby said.
But it wasn't the last one the Penguins would need, as defenseman Marcus Pettersson picked up minors at 9:58 and 14:36 of the third.
"We relied on (the penalty-killers) a lot," Sullivan said. "We leaned on them a fair amount in the third, and I thought those guys did a terrific job."
The work of Domingue and the penalty-killers papered over a surprisingly poor performance by the Penguins for most of the opening 40 minutes.
"The first two periods weren't nearly as good as what we feel we're capable of," Sullivan said. "We didn't play the type of game we're capable of in the first 40 minutes."
These Penguins have earned a reputation for responding to a subpar showing -- and that's a charitable way to describe their play during a 6-2 defeat in Los Angeles 48 hours earlier -- with a focused and energetic effort.
Not this time. Not even close.
Not for the better part of the first two periods, anyway.
"We have pretty good bounce-back capabilities," Crosby said. "We've proven that over the years, that after a bad game we turn the page and we're better in the next one. That didn't happen tonight."
Indeed, before they got their game somewhat in synch during the third period, the Penguins appeared to be slipping into a midseason malaise after a mostly impressive three-plus months.
"We have to be better than we have been the last couple of games," Crosby said.
The Penguins have allowed 86 shots during the past six regulation periods, evidence of how much time they've been spending in the defensive zone.
"This last couple of games is probably the first time we've hit a little bit of a bump in the road, as far as just living up to our own standard and living up to what the expectations are within our room," Sullivan said. "It's important that we figure that out together."
Until that happens, goaltending of the caliber that Domingue provided just might allow them to pick up some points that they wouldn't necessarily be getting on merit.
"He let us hang around in a game we didn't play very well in, especially the first two periods," Crosby said.
Sometime soon, management will have to decide how long it wants Domingue to hang around. He certainly seems to like the idea of being here.
"It's a privilege to be on this team," Domingue said. "It's a privilege to be in this organization."
The question now is exactly where he fits into it for the rest of this season.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Letang, who scored the Penguins' first goal on a close-range backhander after an inspired rush down the right side, isn't going to win the Norris Trophy this season.
For the first time in a long time, he isn't even being mentioned in many Norris conversations.
Maybe not any, for that matter.
And it really doesn't really matter, because Cale Makar probably can go ahead and clear space on his mantle for the trophy now, unless Adam Fox somehow finds a way to claim it for the second season in a row.
But know this about Letang: He is playing perhaps the most consistent, responsible two-way hockey of his career. His decision-making has been excellent, his execution efficient.
It's not going to win him a trophy, but it does make his team's chances of competing for one of its own a little more realistic.
• Early in the second period, Sharks forward Matt Nieto aggressively tried to push a puck past Domingue and ended up shoving the puck, as well as Domingue, into the net. Play had been blown dead, so there was no goal, but there was an angry reaction by Mike Matheson, who flattened Nieto. It was a welcome show of toughness by a defense corps that would benefit from a little more physicality.
• Crosby's assist on Guentzel's game-winner was his first point in four games, and spared him from going four (or more) games without a point for just the fourth time in his career.
• Brock McGinn, who sat out the previous three games after testing positive for COVID-19 in Dallas last Saturday, had a solid first game back. In addition to doing some quality penalty-killing, he recorded three shots and four hits in 16 minutes, 46 seconds of ice time.
• Kasperi Kapanen, who started the game on a line with Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Carter, dropped down to the No. 3 unit, with Teddy Blueger and McGinn. Radim Zohorna, who had been on Blueger's line, moved into Kapanen's spot with Malkin and Carter, with Carter moving from the left side to the right.
• The Penguins' victory assured they will do no worse than break even on this six-game trip, their longest of the season. They have victories in Philadelphia, Anaheim and San Jose and losses in Dallas and Los Angeles and they head into the finale Monday in Las Vegas.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at SAP Center:
1. Louis Domingue, Penguins
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
3. Adin Hill, Sharks
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Jason Zucker has missed the past seven games and is listed as week-to-week because of an unspecified lower-body injury. He has resumed on-ice workouts and wore a regular black jersey in the Penguins' game-day skate.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan's lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Evan Rodrigues
Jeff Carter-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Radim Zohorna-Teddy Blueger-Brock McGinn
Drew O'Connor-Brian Boyle-Dominik Simon
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Mike Matheson-Chad Ruhwedel
And for Bob Boughner's Sharks:
Timo Meier-Tomas Hertl-Rudolfs Balcers
Noah Gregor-Logan Couture-Jonathan Dahlen
Andrew Cogliano-Nick Bonino-Matt Nieto
Jeffrey Viel-Jasper Weatherby-Adam Raska
Mario Ferraro-Brent Burns
Jaycob Megna-Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic-Ryan Merkley
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are scheduled to practice at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern before closing out their road trip Monday against the Golden Knights.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.