The Rundown:
The opening ten minutes of the contest belonged to the netminders, as Metropolitan Division All-Star Tristan Jarry, and Antti Raanta, making his first start in 12 days, were crucial in keeping things scoreless.
While the first 20 minutes felt as if there could have been a combined five goals, the only skater to successfully find the back of the net was Jesperi Kotkaniemi, concluding a remarkable shift for his 11th goal of the season. Kotkaniemi, who was playing on the fourth line in the middle Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis after Vincent Trocheck (upper-body injury) was cleared to play, put home a second effort in the slot after a loose puck wound up in the slot behind Martinook.
Taking their 1-0 lead into the second, the Canes quickly moved that to 2-0 just nine seconds into the middle frame. Jordan Staal crashed the net on the opening sequence, getting a puck to go off of his leg and behind Jarry for his second goal in four games.
It was the start of a sequence in which Carolina would jump all over Pittsburgh, putting 11 shots on in the opening seven minutes of the second period, after only getting 12 on in the opening 20 minutes. However, after the first media timeout of the second, the Penguins took control of the game, storming back to tie the game over the next 13 minutes of play.
Heading into the third 2-2, the Canes then got to work quickly again, scoring nine seconds in for a second consecutive frame. Jesper Fast became the seventh member of the roster to reach double-digit goals this season, striking on a feed from Nino Niederreiter.
