Musings: "Everyone Showed Up" for Big Divisional Win

These Penguins really are something special. The latest, greatest evidence of that came on Monday at UBS Arena.

In their biggest game of the year, Pittsburgh battled back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits on the road to earn an 8-3 statement win against the Islanders.

“I think it just shows how strong we are,” Elmer Soderblom said. “We’re a resilient team. We never give up. We keep working no matter what. So, even if we're down a couple goals, we just keep going. And I think that's a really big strength and advantage we have.”

Pittsburgh leapfrogged the Islanders into second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins now have 90 points and a game in hand on New York, who has 89 points.

“It was a very important game for us, for our team, and I think everyone showed up,” Anthony Mantha said.

Everyone in the Penguins traveling party, from Sidney Crosby to Joe Zak, was truly locked in for this one. While Evgeni Malkin missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, the captain returned to the lineup after being sidelined for Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury.

Egor Chinakhov moved alongside Crosby and Bryan Rust to start this game, one of a handful of changes that the Penguins coaching staff made to the forward lines. “We just felt like that was going to be the best thing here for tonight,” Head Coach Dan Muse said.

That trio had some strong shifts in the first period, with Pittsburgh’s best chance coming when Chinakhov created a 2-on-0 rush with Crosby, who rang one off the crossbar. Overall, both teams had looks during a scoreless first before the game broke wide open in the second.

Pittsburgh’s penalty kill, which has spent most of the season at or near the top of the league, has been struggling as of late. And their woes continued tonight, with Anders Lee finding a goal from his usual spot at the netfront. The Penguins did put together a terrific response shift, but the Islanders quickly went the other way and took a 2-0 lead just 1:27 minutes later.

“At the start of the period, we got away from the things that I liked in the first a little bit,” Muse said. “Just giving them some of the chances that we gave, just time and space, numbers. But I mean, we've been in situations when we've been down before, and have a lot of belief in this group that we could kind of settle things down and put together some shifts where momentum could start to come our way.”

The one line that didn’t see any changes – Connor Dewar centering Elmer Soderblom and Noel Acciari – put together a monster shift. It was capped off with a goal from Soderblom, who is so difficult to handle down low with his size and reach.

But Pittsburgh’s one-goal deficit quickly went back to two, with Islanders trade deadline acquisition Brayden Schenn making it 3-1. Not long after, the Islanders went back to the power play.

It could have been a deflating moment for Pittsburgh, considering their recent fortunes in that area of the game. Instead, Rickard Rakell went over the boards and scored the first shorthanded goal of his career after re-directing a beautiful pass from Rust.

“The shorthanded goal was a big turning point there,” Muse said.

It was the first of seven unanswered tallies for the Penguins.

“I think we just stayed patient, just playing our game, and then the goals started coming,” Soderblom said. “Feel like we never really stressed about it. We just kept cool and stuck to our game, and we know the result is going to come.”

Mantha played a huge role in that. First, he called for a pass from Crosby below the goal line and worked the puck down to Ryan Shea, who sniped a shot past Ilya Sorokin to tie the score.

Mantha then scored a pair of pretty goals – one forehand-backhand-fivehole on a breakaway, and another using his size and reach to tuck the puck around Sorokin – to put Pittsburgh up 5-3 after 40 minutes. He is now just one away from reaching 30 goals for the first time. Only Crosby (39 goals) and Malkin (33 goals) have gotten more goals for the Penguins in their first season with the team.

“He’s been showing it all year,” Muse said. “Just great poise, great hands. He's got that long reach, too, so it's hard to defend.”

Speaking with SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Dan Potash during the second intermission, Shea said, “I think we’re going to have our best period here (in the third).” He said the Penguins couldn’t let their collective foot off the gas like they had in the past. And they kept the pedal to the metal, finding three more goals and chasing Sorokin from the net after he allowed a season-high seven. A rare occurrence, as Sorokin is making a case for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie.

“I thought we managed that third period pretty well, but still were able to keep playing,” Muse said. “Scoring some goals, not just totally, you know, trying to defend. I never want to do that. I want to keep playing the game no matter what, and I thought the guys did a pretty good job with that.”

So, to recap a few things:

*Mantha and Rakell scored twice.

*Avery Hayes also got in the goal column after slotting back into the lineup (with fellow rookies Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen being scratched).

*Rust recorded the final tally.

*Soderblom was an assist short of a Gordie Howe hat trick, after Scott Mayfield challenged him to a fight in the third period. Soderblom won, and kept the Islanders from getting any momentum out of it.

*Justin Brazeau had three helpers.

*Arturs Silovs shut the door after that tough start to the second to get the win.

And last, but certainly not least...

*With two assists, Sidney Crosby became just the eighth player in NHL history to record 1,100 assists, and the second to do so with one franchise after Ray Bourque in Boston. Crosby also passed Mark Messier and Marcel Dionne for the third-most multipoint games in NHL history with 513.

He is now two points shy from passing his idol Steve Yzerman on the NHL’s all-time scoring list, with the Penguins hosting the Red Wings on Tuesday night.

“Tomorrow is coming quick, and Detroit is hungry for points, also, and we’re going to have to play the exact same way,” Mantha said.