“I mean, we weren’t generating much,” Crosby said on the lead-up to Rust’s goal. “It didn’t feel like we had put too many shifts together back-to-back. I just think to get that goal after all of that, I thought it gave us a good boost, gave us some juice.”
Rust’s tally did, in fact, give the Penguins some much-needed life heading into the third period, as the team came out of the second intermission with energy. Early in the period, Erik Karlsson’s shot from the point was redirected on goal, and Evgeni Malkin was there to make sure the puck crossed the goal line to tie the game 2-2.
“It’s almost never that one team controls the game all the time,” Murashov said. “The third period was really good. I really appreciate all of the efforts from the guys, because we basically came back because of their attitude, hard work. It’s always about momentum.”
Forcing overtime, both teams came close on a number of occasions to end the game. Crosby found himself all alone on Talbot, but was denied on a backhand five-hole attempt. Murashov then came up with a stellar blocker save on Matthew Knies, and then an even better save on Werenski with 18 seconds left in overtime.
“Life gives you experience, and you need to just embrace it,” Murashov said. “Overtime is always different. It’s a different vibration and different energy. The same with shootouts. All I needed was (to) rise above and give them a chance. It was just one shot at a time. Stay present as always. This is how we can get through that.”
In the shootout, Talbot stopped Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, and Ben Kindel, while Kent Johnson scored the lone goal to give the Blue Jackets the victory.
Although the Penguins found some life and got to their game in the third period and in overtime, the team knows that they need to start putting together a full 60-minute effort moving forward.
“I still think there are still areas that we can get better with,” Crosby said. “Obviously, our starts, and not getting behind like that. I thought that we battled hard, and Sergei gave us a chance. We kept pushing and had our looks in overtime. It’s just one of those ones where you get the point and move on to the next one.”
Here’s what Head Coach Dan Muse had to say after the game:
In Washington the other night, puck management was probably the biggest problem in the first two periods. What was your biggest concern tonight? There were too many loose pucks we weren't getting to. I thought the races, and I thought when we were getting the puck, we didn’t work. We were almost too spread out at times. We weren't in spots there where we’d be able to work the puck up the ice together. (Columbus) pressured hard. You knew that coming in, you're not going to have a lot of time. If you get isolated on an island by yourself, it becomes difficult. When we were getting pucks out of the zone, they were getting it a lot of times and coming right back at us.
What can you say about how Sergei held you guys in the game? He played really well. I mean, some huge saves. He did his part. I thought we found our game more in the third period, but you can't just play for 20 minutes. I think once Rusty scored that goal, we built momentum off of it and we carried it into the third period, but again, when you're not generating, and you're spending as much time defending as we did there for the first almost two periods, it becomes difficult to get yourself back to where you want to be.
What did you think about the effort that the team came out with in the 1st period? I think the third period we got to our game. I think in the first period, and again, even until Rusty's goal, I just thought that we were losing too many of the races. Sometimes we just weren't getting there. They were coming up with more pucks than we were, and so it becomes difficult to play that way. The start's got to be better. It’s an area that obviously we gotta find our game quicker than we have been.
How did you decide on the three players you sent out in the shootout? You go a little bit. I mean, we have an order. We have a number of guys, and there's other guys too that didn't go today that are gonna be in that mix. I think you go off of some of what we've seen in practices. You go a little bit off of what you've seen from last year. They're not the only three guys that can be going in that situation. We have other guys that I feel like are more than capable, and that will be going in the future as well.
You’re able to get a point – does it allow you to breathe a little bit easier after that game? No. I mean the guys battled back to get that point. But at the same time, I feel like we just left too much of that game on the table. I didn't like a number of things in terms of our connection, our races for the majority of the first two periods. You're going to walk away, good to get the point, but you're disappointed in the overall game and what I know we're capable of.
