• Mike Sullivan was peculiarly terse on Evgeni Malkin's injury, saying only that he'd reiterate the team's official report that it's an upper-body injury. Wouldn't even divulge when it happened.

• Sullivan wasn't happy at all: "I thought the third period was our best. And we gave up two."

• He really hate the slash call on Blake Lizotte, telling me, "It was a stick lift."

• His assessment of Tristan Jarry: "He can be better." At least some of that, based on the way the issue was broached, was based on Jarry not making a single save in the shootout.

• Jarry had stuff to say, too. Talked about giving up first-shot goals, acknowledging he doesn't want to do that but said of the one tonight, "I'm not sure what I could've done there."

• Brief chat with Rickard Rakell will result in the Drive, I think. Damn, he was good. And yet, he still easily could've had a hat trick, too, if not for Elvis Merzlikins coming up huge on those back-to-back attempts. (Yes, timely, exceedingly athletic saves remain legal in the NHL.)

• Rakell: “It stinks to fight back in this game and then let it go and lose another shootout or overtime. It's been a lot of tight games. We got to find a way to get the two points.”

• You'll never guess what the column's going to be about.