Penguins erase New York mess with 'most complete' effort
Justin K Aller / Getty
Bryan Rust celebrates his first-period goal Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
"What a difference a day makes," was what Mike Sullivan told his players in the locker room following the Penguins' 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Just 24 hours before in New York, Sullivan was as aggravated as ever after the 4-2 loss to the Rangers, a score that doesn't quite reflect just how poorly the visitors played. Sullivan called that "the worst game we've played in ... a month, maybe." He bemoaned puck management. Odd-man rushes. A lack of physicality. All things he had stressed going into that game.
Sullivan said Friday that the Penguins' "intentions" needed to change coming into this game. They did, and so did the result.
"We were a different team tonight from the drop of the puck," Sullivan said. "It might have been the most complete game that we've played all year, from start to finish, and a lot of it was just the right intentions, a willingness and a commitment to play the game the right way, and doing the mundane or the ordinary things really well, consistently, shift in and shift out."
Rickard Rakell found the scoresheet first, tipping in a Matt Grzelcyk power-play point shot. If there was any real "lapse" in this game, it's what happened less than two minutes later -- the Penguins couldn't clear the net-front, and Mitch Marner quickly capitalized to erase the lead. But Bryan Rust regained the lead later in the first, after Sidney Crosby utilized the carom from the end boards to get the puck to Rust off a rush. William Nylander tied the game in the second with a well-placed bomb of a one-timer on a power play.
Michael Bunting scored a go-ahead goal in the third on the power play:
And instead of getting passive as they had in the past, the Penguins kept pushing. They outshot the Maple Leafs, 13-10, in the third, and two hard-fought, short-handed empty-netters from Blake Lizotte and Kris Letang iced it.
It was a complete game. The Penguins did well to hold the Maple Leafs to just five high-danger shots, they matched Toronto's physicality, and they made good decisions with the puck, with their nine giveaways paling against the opponent's 20.
"Everyone is buying in," Rakell said. "When we're coming down in the last period with a lead, we're more comfortable playing there and helping each other instead of giving the puck back to the other team to keep coming at us. We're staying in structure and playing hard and making it difficult for the teams to score goals."
It has to be mentioned that this was another example of the Penguins being able to hang with the NHL's top teams. The Maple Leafs are second in the Atlantic Division, and could have leapfrogged the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers with a win tonight. They were hot, too, at 10-3 in their past 13 games.
"We really feel like we came together a lot today," Pettersson said. "(The Leafs) work their ass off too. Their defensive game has been really good all year. So to be able to to win a game like that is a great feeling. I think we learned a lot about ourselves tonight."
The Penguins appear to have learned a lot of late. They can beat teams like the Maple Leafs, like the Canucks or Panthers or Bruins or Flames ... if they play the right way. If they get comfortable after a win streak and sit back, results like the one in New York will happen.
That loss could be seen as a setback. But one could also look at the response here and see that it reinforced the importance of not letting that commitment slip.
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Taylor Haase
6:44 am - 12.08.2024PPG Paints ArenaPenguins erase New York mess with 'most complete' effort
Justin K Aller / Getty
Bryan Rust celebrates his first-period goal Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
"What a difference a day makes," was what Mike Sullivan told his players in the locker room following the Penguins' 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Just 24 hours before in New York, Sullivan was as aggravated as ever after the 4-2 loss to the Rangers, a score that doesn't quite reflect just how poorly the visitors played. Sullivan called that "the worst game we've played in ... a month, maybe." He bemoaned puck management. Odd-man rushes. A lack of physicality. All things he had stressed going into that game.
Sullivan said Friday that the Penguins' "intentions" needed to change coming into this game. They did, and so did the result.
"We were a different team tonight from the drop of the puck," Sullivan said. "It might have been the most complete game that we've played all year, from start to finish, and a lot of it was just the right intentions, a willingness and a commitment to play the game the right way, and doing the mundane or the ordinary things really well, consistently, shift in and shift out."
Rickard Rakell found the scoresheet first, tipping in a Matt Grzelcyk power-play point shot. If there was any real "lapse" in this game, it's what happened less than two minutes later -- the Penguins couldn't clear the net-front, and Mitch Marner quickly capitalized to erase the lead. But Bryan Rust regained the lead later in the first, after Sidney Crosby utilized the carom from the end boards to get the puck to Rust off a rush. William Nylander tied the game in the second with a well-placed bomb of a one-timer on a power play.
Michael Bunting scored a go-ahead goal in the third on the power play:
And instead of getting passive as they had in the past, the Penguins kept pushing. They outshot the Maple Leafs, 13-10, in the third, and two hard-fought, short-handed empty-netters from Blake Lizotte and Kris Letang iced it.
It was a complete game. The Penguins did well to hold the Maple Leafs to just five high-danger shots, they matched Toronto's physicality, and they made good decisions with the puck, with their nine giveaways paling against the opponent's 20.
"Everyone is buying in," Rakell said. "When we're coming down in the last period with a lead, we're more comfortable playing there and helping each other instead of giving the puck back to the other team to keep coming at us. We're staying in structure and playing hard and making it difficult for the teams to score goals."
It has to be mentioned that this was another example of the Penguins being able to hang with the NHL's top teams. The Maple Leafs are second in the Atlantic Division, and could have leapfrogged the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers with a win tonight. They were hot, too, at 10-3 in their past 13 games.
"We really feel like we came together a lot today," Pettersson said. "(The Leafs) work their ass off too. Their defensive game has been really good all year. So to be able to to win a game like that is a great feeling. I think we learned a lot about ourselves tonight."
The Penguins appear to have learned a lot of late. They can beat teams like the Maple Leafs, like the Canucks or Panthers or Bruins or Flames ... if they play the right way. If they get comfortable after a win streak and sit back, results like the one in New York will happen.
That loss could be seen as a setback. But one could also look at the response here and see that it reinforced the importance of not letting that commitment slip.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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