On Saturday, Erik Karlsson had yet another incredible performance as his two goals led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a huge 5-4 shootout victory against the Winnipeg Jets at PPG Paints Arena. Since Feb. 20, he leads the entire NHL in points (20).
“He’s doing so much for us, and it’s not just scoring goals,” Rickard Rakell said. “When he’s confident, he’s one of the best defensemen in our league still. He shows that he can do it all.”
Trailing by one goal with just under eight minutes left in regulation, the Penguins were searching for an answer. Rust, who skated in his 700th NHL game on Saturday, laid a drop pass for Karlsson, who perfectly picked his spot to beat three-time Vezina trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyck.
“There's not too many guys in the league who can do what he does, especially when he's at the top of his game,” Rust said. “He's been a catalyst for us offensively, and he's making really good plays defensively, too. He's helping by being a calming presence, both on the ice and on the bench.”
After Karlsson scored his 10th goal of the season, and 5th goal in the last three games, the Penguins stuck within their structure and didn’t give the Jets anything to work with offensively to close out regulation.
In overtime, Ben Kindel and Evgeni Malkin found themselves on a 2-on-0, but Hellebuyck came up with the key stop. In that same shift, Kris Letang tried to hit Kindel with a back-door pass, but the puck hit the side of the net.
Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey would then take a slashing penalty on Captain Sidney Crosby. While the first unit came close to scoring, they were unable to get one to go in the net.
“I think we had not only the four-on-three, but a couple of really good looks with the right people in place, and we couldn't find a way to put the game away,” Karlsson said. “We had the better chances, but we didn’t (score).”
In the shootout, which has been one of the team’s biggest Achilles heels this season, the Penguins flipped the script. First, Crosby snapped a shot past the glove of Hellebuyck, followed by a save by Arturs Silovs on Gustav Nyquist.
To end the game, Rakell sniped the puck past Hellebuyck and in for the win.
“It’s been on top of everyone’s head that it hasn’t gone great,” Rakell said on shootouts. “But we worked on some shootouts yesterday in practice. And just said that we were just going to try to turn the page and try to go out there with confidence. That’s what we did.”
Although Saturday wasn’t the Penguins’ most complete effort this season, they’ve shown how they’re able to battle through adversity when things do not go their way.
While Egor Chinakhov and Rakell each scored two minutes into the game, the Jets quickly responded with a goal of their own. Head Coach Dan Muse would ultimately challenge the play for goalie interference, as Morgan Barron and Karlsson collided into Silovs.
After an official review, it was deemed that there was no goalie interference on the play.
“It's frustrating, give them, like, an easy goal for no reason,” Silovs said. “But, you know, we battled through, and we managed to win the game."
In the second period, Jets Captain Adam Lowry laid a hit on defenseman Ryan Shea, who was left in discomfort and did not return to the game. Shortly after the hit, Cole Koepke converted on the odd-man rush and scored a short-handed goal to tie the game 2-2.
“Karl was looking for me backdoor,” Rust said. “It hit their guy's stick, and then hit me in the back of the head, and then went in the air. And I think everybody lost it after that. And then, unfortunately, they went down 2-on-1.”
As the second period went along, the team realized that Koepke’s goal deflated their confidence. Looking for a response, the second line and Karlsson delivered with a huge game-tying goal.
“We are scrappy,” Rust said. “And that's been a trademark of this team, is that it may not be the prettiest sometimes, but we're never out of the fight. We never give up.”
In his 700th game, Rust registered two primary assists and now has 16 points (7G-9A) in his last 12 games. For Rust, he now sits 9th all-time in games played and 11th in points in the franchise’s history.
Drafted by the Penguins in 2010, Rust embodies what it means to be a Pittsburgh Penguin through his work ethic, leadership, and respect. During warmups, there was a lot of emotion when he saw his children cheering him along the glass during warmups.
“I don't know what kind of moment it was, but it made me think a little like, 'Holy smokes.' 700 games later, coming from a fresh-out-of-college kid to now a family man,” Rust said. “But it's been one heck of a ride, and hopefully there's hundreds more.”
Even though Winnipeg scored two goals in the third period to give them a 4-3 lead, the Penguins did have a successful coaches challenge for a missed play stoppage via a high stick.
A few minutes after the challenge, Karlsson was able to tie the game.
“Things don't go sometimes your way, but I just think we stick with it, score a huge goal, 4-4, and I think we played excellent in overtime. Then, we finished it," Silovs said.
The Penguins ultimately earned a gutsy, hard-fought two points on Saturday and will quickly look ahead as they face Carolina on Sunday, their third matchup with the Hurricanes in the last two weeks.
“Today, at times, we didn’t play our best hockey, and we gave up a lot of chances,” Karlsson said. “But again, I felt like there wasn’t any panic.”
“We stuck with it, trusted the process, and when you do that, you don’t worry about the circumstantial stuff too much. It usually goes better, and today was an experienced win from us, with not necessarily our best game.”
