Nearing the midway point of overtime on Sunday in Columbus, Erik Karlsson set up Sidney Crosby for the winning goal to complete one heck of a comeback.
The Penguins ended up with a 5-4 victory after going down 4-1 early in the second. They have five wins in a row for the first time since November 4-14, 2023.
“It was a great pass. Great poise. I think to have that poise at that point in the game at the blue line, it's not easy. Put it right on my stick,” said Crosby, who had just come onto the ice following a line change.
“So, it was a big play from him, and obviously a lot of big plays that led up to us coming back into it. Whether it was guys drawing penalties or big goals... I think we hung in there. I think it was a great test, and we found a way.”
Rickard Rakell tied the game with 13.7 seconds to go, while Tommy Novak, Noel Acciari and Ville Koivunen also scored.
“It's a great response by us,” goaltender Arturs Silovs said. “Guys are flying, we're shooting, producing a lot of shots. Started to win a lot of offensive position, getting the changes and outworking them, and get rewarded.”
The Penguins got off to a good start, fueled by a strong shift from Koviunen. He slotted back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch yesterday, replacing fellow rookie Rutger McGroarty for this contest, and found his second goal of the season just under two minutes into play.
“Feels really good, of course,” Koivunen said. “Like, get things going right away.”
The Blue Jackets went on to find two goals in a 27-second span to turn their early deficit into a 2-1 lead. The first came off a deflection, and the second was a rebound off a quick transition up the ice. Columbus capped off the period with a third goal, with Blue Jackets and Team USA defenseman Zach Werenski setting up a nice play.
“We got away from it there for the back half of the first period,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “I thought we didn’t do a good enough job there just kind of trying to stop the momentum over on their side.”
Werenski then got his 15th of the season less than a minute into the second period as part of a somewhat shaky start for the Penguins. But they settled in afterward, with Noel Acciari finally breaking through on Pittsburgh’s 20th shot of the period to make it 4-2 with just over three minutes to go. That fourth line with Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar has been fantastic for the Penguins when all three players are healthy.
“I can't think of a game where they haven't brought that type of a game, whether it's in the D-zone blocking shots or in the offensive zone generating chances or on the forecheck,” Muse said. “I mean, I can't say it enough, how much that line means this team and how well they’ve done.”
Rakell said that felt like the biggest turning point of the game.
“That goal by Cookie at the end of the second period gave us hope coming into the third,” he said.
Early in the final frame, the Penguins built on that momentum after the NHL’s No. 3 power play heading into the game converted a penalty drawn by Yegor Chinakov. The forward faced his former team, who drafted him in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft, for the first time in his career after being acquired by Pittsburgh on Dec. 29.
It wasn’t the prettiest power play, but the second unit got the job done. Tommy Novak sniped a rocket from the slot to get the Penguins within one. Silovs made sure to keep it there with some good saves before the coaching staff pulled him for the extra attacker.
The group of six that went over the boards – Crosby, Rakell, Bryan Rust, Anthony Mantha, Kris Letang and Karlsson – strung together a lot of O-zone time, and it seemed inevitable that they would score. Mantha set up Rakell for his second in as many games right before the final buzzer. The Penguins went into overtime with 41 shots.
“It felt great,” Rakell said. “We were pushing throughout the whole period there, and we felt like we were close so many times. But their goalie (Jet Greaves) played a really good game for them, and didn't make it easy for us. But everybody on our team did such a good job tonight.”
This marked Pittsburgh’s 41st game of the season, which means they are officially in the second half of the season. They put together a 20-12-9 record through the first half. That has them one point ahead of Washington for the first Wild Card playoff spot, and just four points out of first place in the Metropolitan Division, as part of an extremely tight race in the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins started the year on an 8-2-2 run before going through a more inconsistent stretch, where they struggled in games that went past regulation, but were still picking up wins.
December was a tough month, as the Penguins had trouble holding onto leads. But they regrouped during the holiday break, and have strung together some excellent hockey the last few games.
“I think I just like our whole team game,” Rakell said. “Everybody knows that they're very important part of us having success, and when everybody is doing their job every night, I think it gives us a good chance to win.”
