Kovacevic: Penguins hope they'll pack up, build off one buoyant outcome

Know what?

Let 'em have it. Let 'em enjoy it.

Because, my goodness, they sure soaked up every stoked millisecond of the moment:

And like this, but with the full reaction:

And like this, shot by one of the 18,089 fans packed into the place:

Kris Letang in overtime. Penguins 2, Avalanche 1. Epic celebration. And this on a Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena that'd seemed frighteningly familiar in its flatness for the better part of, oh, 45-50 minutes.

"It was a good feeling," Letang would tell me when I brought up his own over-the-norm skip to leap into Brian Dumoulin's arms. "What can I say?"

No need to say much. It was pretty cool. All of it, even the flipped script. As emotional as any scene anyone could find anywhere for a regular-season anything.

So yeah, let 'em be. Let 'em pack it up for the five-hour charter flight to California, where they'll now face three games on the wrong coast with an infinitely healthier frame of mind than what might've been -- what nearly was -- right here.

To say they needed it, after two months of chaotic inconsistency, after that stomach-turning loss to the tanking Sharks the last time we saw them, after a weeklong bye at the NHL's All-Star break, after Ron Hextall and Mike Sullivan stuck their collective neck out by sticking with the status quo with the lineup on this evening ... man, that'd be an understatement akin to suggesting that Nathan MacKinnon's decent at ice hockey.

They got it done. They might've hit the snooze button several times before finding Sullivan's publicly proclaimed "reset button" that this game was supposed to represent, but they got it done.

And fairly, they didn't complain.

I asked Jason Zucker how that felt:

"You know, we weren't really happy with the first couple periods," he'd reply. "But we were just trying to stay with it, trying to get to our game. That was the biggest thing. Bring that emotion. Bring that game. And we knew we'd have a chance."

This was Bryan Rust at the next stall:

"For us to come out of the break knowing that we had to be better, to come away with this kind of win against a really good team, I think that's definitely a really good steppingstone. We've got to learn some lessons from this, but consistency is key right now."

Consistent outcomes, of course, are welcome. They're clinging to the East's eighth and final playoff position at 25-16-9, technically tied with the surging Islanders at 59 points apiece, with the Sabres and Panthers three points behind. And now they're about to deal with the Ducks, Kings and Sharks, all in their own element and time zone, followed by two with the Islanders, one with the Devils.

So, before long, the performance will have to match even a positive outcome. And that'll mean skating on all cylinders for more than a quarter of a given game, which has been Sullivan's emphasis to the players these past three days since emerging from the break. He's citing the current surroundings in the standings. He's stressing that two points now count just as much as those in April. And he's hoping, within that, that all concerned will realize there's one way to succeed: Win the puck -- then keep the puck -- over all 200x85 of ice.

Much like the finish here, one that just might contribute some confidence to the cause.

"Our most meaningful hockey is in front of us, and, and we've got to get excited about it," Sullivan would say. "It's also going to be our hardest hockey."

Let 'em remember to pack a toothbrush, if only to further flash those smiles.

JUSTIN BERL / GETTY

Evgeni Malkin excitedly skates through referee Carter Sandlak after Bryan Rust's tying goal in the third period.

• If grading celebrations, Evgeni Malkin still took the gold with a beast-mode special, nearly bulldozing referee Carter Sandlak behind the Colorado net after setting up Rust's tying goal with 3:38 left in regulation:

That line was the Penguins' best all night, and everything about that goal was earned.

I mentioned to Sullivan that his undying pleas for more play in what he calls "the dirty areas" might finally have been heeded, as both goals arose from chaotic activity around Pavel Francouz's crease.

"All kinds of mayhem," was what Sullivan termed it. "I think think it's part of the evolution of the game. It's hard to score goals from the perimeter. So many goals in this league are scored just by getting inside the dots, going to the net, getting to the blue paint, making the goaltender's sightlines difficult so that he can't control rebounds ... and then having numbers in that area to try to take advantage of it. Both of those goals were perfect examples."

If there's one specific facet out of all from this night that the Penguins' players should prioritize as a carryover, it's painfully evident in this heat map:

NATURAL STAT TRICK

That's where more of them need to be. They don't all need to be Patric Hornqvist, but they also can't all be ... well, everyone on this current third line of Jeff Carter between Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen. It's like those three are paid by the cumulative distance they can steer clear of the opponents' slot.

• Bizarre night, by the way, for Carter. But I've got a theory, and I elaborate on that in the mandatory Freeze Frame reading for the day.

• Superlative showing for Casey DeSmith, his side's star with 41 saves. Taylor Haase has that.

• And he still wasn't even half as good as MacKinnon, who scored a gorgeous goal, clanged two pucks off pipes, registered a mindblowing 19 shot attempts and, just for fun, owned the ice every time over the boards.

What a hockey player. Best one to pass through this city this winter.

I asked Josh Archibald about chasing No. 29 around:

"They've got some high-powered guys, but especially him," Archibald replied of MacKinnon. "He can trick you one way, then go the other."

• Sullivan reserved some of his highest praise for Archibald, back after 18 games lost to injury, in comparing him favorably to Zucker in the context of intangible impact: "He's another one of those guys who's capable of giving us that juice."

• Jared Bednar, the Avalanche's coach, unsurprisingly had no problem with his team's body of work: "I liked our game tonight. I thought we checked hard. I thought we were dangerous on the offensive side. I thought their goalie had a really good night and/or we didn't shoot the puck well, missing the net on a few opportunities. And I thought we did a nice job defending, even on their push in the third period. Frankie misplayed that one coming to the net."

Meaning Rust's goal.

"The difference in the hockey game at the end of the day was that we didn't capitalize on the power play in overtime."

• Can't argue that. But the Penguins had plenty to do with it, limiting Colorado's biggest guns -- MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin -- to a single official shot on DeSmith, plus a MacKinnon wrister off the left post.

"Our PK was awesome," Letang would say.

• Major ups on that overtime PK to Ryan Poehling, who, at the tail end of that kill, had the presence of mind -- and speed -- to skate the puck all the way behind the Colorado net to ensure the Avalanche's tired power-play guys were the ones stuck on the ice for the minus. Dude's crazy smart.

• Letang's overtime goal, scored 3:36 into the extra session, was his second in four games. And his career total of 32 overtime points surpassed the Sharks' Erik Karlsson for most by a defenseman in NHL history. Neater yet, he became the third player in franchise history to score in OT in consecutive wins, joining Aleksey Morozov (March 19-21, 2004) and Phil Kessel (Oct. 24-26, 2017).

• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage, as ever. I'll be boarding a plane to the West Coast for a ton more.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Kris Letang, Penguins D
2. Casey DeSmith, Penguins G
3. Nate MacKinnon, Avalanche, C

THE INJURIES

• Tristan Jarry, goaltender, has an upper-body injury and has resumed skating.

• Jan Rutta, defenseman, has an upper-body injury and has resumed skating.

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
Ryan Poehling-Teddy Blueger-Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel

And for Bednar's Avalanche:

Artturi Lehkonen-Nate MacKinnon-Valeri Nichushkin
Evan Rodrigues-J.T. Compher-Mikko Rantanen
Denis Malgin-Alex Newhook-Matt Nieto
Andrew Cogliano-Logan O'Connor

Devon Toews-Cale Makar
Bowen Byram-Samuel Girard
Brad Hunt-Erik Johnson
Kurtis MacDermid

THE SCHEDULE

The practice that'd been scheduled for Wednesday in Cranberry, Pa., was canceled after this game. Now, the team will spend today flying to the West Coast for a three-game trip through California. First game will be Friday night against the Ducks in Anaheim, Calif. Danny Shirey and I will double-team the entire trip.

THE MULTIMEDIA 

THE CONTENT

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