Penguins 'bend but don't break,' set stage for Carter's OT knockout

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- This game could have easily gotten out of hand for the Penguins early.

They have had a few exceptionally awful periods over the course of this season, and their first period Friday night at KeyBank Center had to rate near the top of that list. But they managed to escape unscathed on the scoreboard, rebounded after intermission, regained their assertiveness and rallied for a 4-3 overtime win over the Sabres on a Jeff Carter goal.

The Sabres outshot the Penguins 13-6 in the first period, and that's not even an accurate reflection of how dominant the Sabres were. The Penguins had one exceptionally strong power play opportunity late in the period that didn't result in any goals, but beyond that, the Sabres were in total command. They outshot the Penguins, 13-4, and produced 10 of the 12 scoring chances.

Still, as lackluster as the 18 skaters looked, the goaltender couldn't have looked much sharper.

"I think I was just trying to keep the puck in front of me and try and make as many saves as possible, I think just so we can catch ourselves and kind of get the momentum back." Tristan Jarry recalled of that period. "I think that's all I could really do, is try my best stop to everything and hope that the guys get their feet under him and we were able to switch momentum."

Jarry's teammates appreciated that effort, and he was fittingly the recipient of the postgame MVP helmet:

"They had a lot of real good looks," Carter told me of the first period. "I think Jars has been really solid for us here the last little while. He's seeing pucks and making the saves when we're under siege a little bit, and it's a big boost for us. It was tonight."

Play was much more evenly matched in the second. Jake Guentzel opened the scoring with a power-play goal, finally capitalizing on the man-advantage after two earlier strong power plays that didn't result in any goals:

Asked what changed for the Penguins after the first, Carter said "Well, we started checking."

"You look at their team this year, they're a really high-scoring team," Carter said. "They transition really well. If you give them opportunities to do that, they're going to make you pay. As the game went on, we found our game."

Mike Sullivan said that his team just got "more assertive" after the first 20 minutes.

"It just seemed like in first period, we didn't do anything very crisp or clean," Sullivan said. "Our handles and our execution just weren't there. When that happens, sometimes you chase them a little bit. I thought we chased in the first. To our players' credit, I thought we settled down."

Goals in the final two minutes from Victor Olofsson and Jeff Skinner gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at second intermission, however.

An early third-period goal from Rickard Rakell tied the game back up, then Brock McGinn put the Penguins back in the lead with 3:30 left in regulation:

Evgeni Malkin took a hooking penalty, and the Sabres pulled goaltender Craig Anderson in favor of the extra attacker for a 6-on-4 advantage. Kyle Okposo tied the game with 90 seconds left on the clock, a goal that would eventually force overtime.

A match penalty on Skinner for cross-checking Guentzel late in regulation put the Penguins on the power play to start overtime, and Carter capitalized 96 seconds into the extra frame to cap off a crazy, back-and-forth game:

Carter was asked what went through his head when he had the puck on his stick in the slot like that in overtime.

"Put it in the net? I don't know what else there is to think," he said with a grin. "I honestly didn't see it come through the D's legs there and it just hit my skate and sat nicely for me. It was a really nice play by Ricky."

When the Penguins were on their seven-game losing streak at the end of October and start of November, a bad period like the Penguins had in the first here would have did them in. They had periods like that during that run that they just weren't able to rebound from. For the Penguins to be so outmatched in the first period and then be able to pause, regroup and recover, it shows what kind of corner this team has turned.

"I think it's a sign of a good team when you can bend but don't break," Sullivan said. "I didn't think we had a great start, obviously. I thought Tristan made some key saves for us. I also thought we defended hard even though we didn't have the puck, but we just didn't have the puck. I thought as the game went on, we got better. I thought in the third period we were the better team."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Crosby did something very Crosby-like in the third period. That play is the subject of my Freeze Frame.

• Skinner got a quick phone call after the game to let him know that he has a hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Saturday. His cross-check on Guentzel -- right in the mouth, apparently -- earned him a match penalty and automatic ejection. Guentzel and Skinner exchanged some whacks just before the cross-check and got into a little tussle, with both getting called for slashing minors, as well. Guentzel was bleeding and went to the locker room but came back out to sit in the penalty box for the start of overtime.

"You don't want to see those kinds of plays in our game," Carter said of the cross-check. "It's tough to watch, but Jake's tough. He was back and ready to go. So we'll take the power play."

• I wrote in the skate report about how shutting down Tage Thompson would be key. He was most frequently matched against the third line of Carter, Kasperi Kapanen and McGinn, and the Penguins held him to just one primary assist, the one on Skinner's second-period goal. Thompson's eight shot attempts led the Sabres, and three registered as shots on goal. When he was on the ice at five-on-five things were actually pretty even, with the Sabres recording 10 shots on goal and allowing seven. One reason Thompson wasn't much more dangerous was his 2-for-16 night in the faceoff circle. Hard to get shots off when you don't have the puck.

• Remember when the Penguins seemingly went 84 years without a power play goal? They went 2-for-5 on the man advantage in this win and have scored power play goals in four consecutive games, going 6-for-18 (33.33%) in that span.

"Ultimately, you've put the puck in the net and execute," Crosby said of the power play. "When you're able to do that it feels good. So hopefully that can build some confidence, some momentum. It's going to be the difference in games."

• There were a lot of Penguins fans here, as always. Loud cheers for Crosby in the starting lineup and after goals, and a couple of "JARRY! JARRY" chants after some big saves.

• The Sabres wanted to wear their Reverse Retro jerseys in this game. They're white, so the Penguins needed to wear dark uniforms, and wore their normal home jerseys. Given that this is a home-and-home with back-to-back games, the Penguins will wear their white jerseys on Saturday and the Sabres will wear their home jerseys so the Penguins don't have to wear the same set of gear two nights in a row.

• P.O Joseph had a bunch of friends make the drive down from Montreal to see him in this game. They're driving the rest of the way to Pittsburgh tomorrow to see him there, too, so keep an eye out for a crowd of guys in Reverse Retro Joseph jerseys if you're at the game. I saw Joseph go out to the stands after the game to see his buddies and they all went absolutely wild for him. Pretty cool.

PENGUINS

P.O Joseph's cheering section.

• Malkin's third-period penalty brought him up to 1,028 career penalty minutes, now 20 minutes behind Kevin Stevens for the franchise record. The record is all the more impressive when you remember that Stevens' numbers are beefed up with a lot of fighting majors. Malkin had to do it the hard way, with two-minute stick infractions.

• Press-box snack update: This place gets a B+. There's popcorn and a fountain soda machine like most arenas. The brownies here might just be a top-5 press-box snack in the league, and there were little baby corn dogs at first intermission, then sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies at second intermission. A lot of people seem to be into the pizza logs that were out at the beginning too but they're just alright, I think.

• I have to share this note from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton game on this same night: Wilkes-Barre took down the Cleveland Monsters 8-1 and Drew O'Connor had two goals and three assists. He has nine points in his last two games. His friend (and former Nailer) Alex Rauter runs the Jersey Pro League that O'Connor plays in during the summers, I'm amused by the tweets I get from Rauter hyping up his friend after O'Connor's big games:

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at KeyBank Center:

1. Jeff Carter, Penguins C
2. Casey Mittelstadt, Sabres RW
3. Rickard Rakell, Penguins RW

THE INJURIES

• Defenseman Kris Letang remained sidelined after suffering a stroke on Nov. 28. He resumed practicing with the team in a full capacity on Thursday and took part in Friday's optional morning skate but has not yet been cleared to play.

• Forward Ryan Poehling missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed upper-body injury. He was cleared for contact ahead of Friday's morning skate.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Danton Heinen - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin - Jeff Petry
Marcus Pettersson - Jan Rutta
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel

And for Don Granato's Sabres

Jeff Skinner - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka - Dylan Cozens - Jack Quinn
Victor Olofsson - Tyson Jost - Casey Mittelstadt
Zemgus Girgensons - Peyton Krebs - Kyle Okposo

Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson - Casey Fitzgerald

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins head back to Pittsburgh and will take on the Sabres at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday. There won't be a morning skate because of the back-to-back, so Sullivan will meet with reporters for the pregame update at 5 p.m.

THE CONTENT

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