Musings: Penguins Extinguish Flames

The Penguins picked up their second win in as many games as they continued along their Seattle/Western Canada road trip, beating Calgary 4-1 on Wednesday at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Linemates Evgeni Malkin, Tommy Novak and Egor Chinakhov all found the back of the net, while Bryan Rust also got on the scoresheet with his 18^th goal of the year.

They are now 3-0-2 in their last five after dropping a weekend back-to-back that included a loss to the Flames.

“Whenever we get a chance to play Calgary, it's always a good battle. They took a couple points in our building not too long ago, so it's nice to get these two points off them here,” goaltender Stuart Skinner said.

Skinner only faced 19 shots, despite the Penguins being without their top two defensemen. Kris Letang was ruled out with an upper-body injury. He is listed as day-to-day. Meanwhile, Erik Karlsson missed his fifth straight game with a lower-body injury, though he is progressing towards a return on this trip.

Skinner said he said a lot of composure from the group of six in front of him: Brett Kulak, Parker Wotherspoon, Jack St. Ivany, Connor Clifton, Ryan Graves, and Ryan Shea.

“I saw a lot of composure,” Skinner said. “Really simple plays. We were able to make some really good passes, just to get in the O-zone. So huge credit to the D in front of me, the blocked shots, the sacrifices in front of me – I mean, all around really solid game by the guys in front.”

Shea stepped onto the first power-play unit for Pittsburgh’s only opportunity of the night, setting up Rickard Rakell for a re-direct chance. Not long after, Malkin tipped Shea’s shot from the blue line to open the scoring 7:49 into play.

In the second period, Chinakhov finished off a tic-tac-toe play with his release.

“I think every one of us kind of wish we had that shot. It's incredible,” Rust said. “And the way he skates, and then the way he gets you the puck, I think he's going to continue to build and continue to get more confidence, and they're just going to get more chemistry and score more goals.”

While the Flames made it a one-goal game in the final seconds of the middle frame, Rust’s line with Rakell and Sidney Crosby scored on their first shift of the third to swing the momentum back.

“We didn't really love our play (in the second), and they scored at the end of the period. We took that to heart, and I think we were just kind of looking to have a response,” Rust said.

The Penguins got back to playing the right way after that, with Novak scoring on a beautiful backhand following a big save from Skinner.

“It was a good outlet pass, and then I tried to look for options on the 3-on-1. Didn’t see much. Took it to my backhand, and luckily it went in,” Novak said.

Here’s what Dan Muse had to say after the game.

You give up the goal at the end of the second, kind of changed the dynamics of the game a little bit. To come right back in less than a minute and score, how much did that change the game? Yeah, no, I thought it was huge. I didn't like our second period. I definitely didn't like the way the second period ended. Slow to come out there. To respond that way, that's what you want to see. And so, huge credit to the guys that were a part of that. And then also, I think there was follow-up from there. It wasn't just that. We had a big kill shortly thereafter, and then I thought contributions from everybody in the third period, all lines going. So yeah, it was big.

What can you say about the second line today with three goals? I feel like they could have had some more. Like, they were on. They were going. Generating some different ways. I thought all three guys, too. It's obviously all three guys scoring a goal, but I thought they were involved in other chances. We’re gonna look back on that and see some good defensive tracks coming back into the zone. So yeah, those guys were really good tonight.

That’s a couple wins in a row against teams that were very defensive against you guys. How do you feel about the overall process of the team in facing them? I think this one in particular, and I agree – you kind of had the last two where there was some similarities. But it's nice to see... we put ourselves in some tough spots last time against Calgary. It's a credit to Calgary in the way they played, and they made it hard there in that game back in Pittsburgh for us. But I thought our guys, we were better with it tonight. It wasn't perfect. There's definitely some things I think we're going to continue to look at, when we're playing against teams like this, that we can continue to clean up. But overall, I thought the intentions were better. And so, that's a good thing. It's a good step there in the right direction, especially when we're playing against teams like this.

You played without your top two defensemen tonight. Can you speak of the depth that your blue line showed, only giving up one goal on 20 shots? Yeah, I thought they did a good job. I think as a team, I didn't like our second period. But I thought that group, they were working. They were working to get back, they were working to do the right things, reading off of each other, working off of each other as well. We’ve said it before, there's times when guys aren't available due to injury or whatever it might be, it's an opportunity for guys to maybe take a little bit more or to be a new situation, and show that you can do it if called on. I thought overall, it was good tonight.

What went into the decision to move Ryan Shea onto the top power-play unit? Just the puck movement. We felt like he's a guy that, in terms of with that group, distributing there, getting it to the flanks. Obviously, there wasn't a lot to go off of there tonight, just the one. Even on that one, though, you saw it. I thought he got more comfortable as that power play went on, and had some opportunities there towards the end of it.