Musings: Penguins Respond in Win Over Stars

After a discouraging loss in Columbus on Friday, the Penguins bounced back with a 2-1 shootout win over Dallas on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.

“We knew we needed to respond. It’s an emotional game, and so, it is a quick turnaround,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “In one sense, you're excited that you get to be playing again the next night, especially coming off a game that you know there's a lot we knew we could be better at. It shows where this group is at that we can come together and find a way to just dig in and play a better brand of hockey, which is what I thought we did today.”

Arturs Silovs was as solid as it gets between the pipes for Pittsburgh, making several timely saves against one of the league’s perennial contenders to earn his team two points.

“You can just see that engagement level, the compete. That's not a surprise from him,” Muse said. “But I just thought overall, he was just in good spots. And even when there were breakdowns, there was, I think, a calmness for us, just the way he was going about things positionally.”

Shootouts were Pittsburgh’s Achilles heel last year, and they failed to find a goal against the Blue Jackets. But tonight, the Penguins got three goals from Ben Kindel, Sidney Crosby, and Rickard Rakell on Stars netminder Jake Oettinger, who had posted shutouts in his previous two starts.

To top it off, Silovs won the game with a stop on Mikko Rantanen, who was coming off a four-point effort in Dallas’ win over Buffalo on Thursday.

“It's always great to be on the winning side,” Silovs said. “You never want to be on the losing side, and I think it's important to value every game, every period, every minute. And we did it today.”

While the Stars did tie the game with around 30 seconds left to force extra time, overall, this was a much more complete effort. The Penguins started the season strong with a 7-0 win over Philadelphia before squeaking out a 6-5 overtime win over Montreal in their home opener. Since then, Pittsburgh had gone winless in three straight games in disappointing fashion.

“This was way better. I thought we were getting contributions from all four lines, and so that's what you want to see,” Muse said. “Definitely a lot of positives just coming off those last couple of games. For the guys that come in here when they're coming in tired and to put together that effort, for me, an exciting step for us to take.”

Tonight, both teams were sound defensively and did not give up much in terms of high-danger scoring chances. The Penguins thought that they opened the scoring near the end of the first period when Kris Letang jammed a loose puck past Oettinger; however, the goal was called back as Hendrix Lapierre high-sticked the puck earlier in the sequence.

Connor Dewar eventually got the Penguins on the board in the third period when his backhand shot got past Oettinger's right shoulder. Muse had high praise for Dewar and his linemates, Blake Lizotte and Nick Robertson.

“They make it really hard on whoever they're playing against, and they just don't quit,” Muse said. “They just play the game with detail and tenacity. For them to have that impact on the defensive side, and then also contribute offensively, which they had a number of chances – these guys, they're skilled players as well. It was great to see them get rewarded. I thought that line was awesome tonight.”

Now, the Penguins will hit the road for a four-game trip through Chicago, Colorado, Vegas and Utah. They want to build on Saturday’s performance and keep growing as a team.

“There's always going to be moments in the game, but I thought we stuck with it and we kind of built our game in the first period, and then we stayed with it,” Muse said. “There was a lot of positives to take from it. And now we get a day off, and we got to make sure we keep building off of it. But it's definitely a step in the right direction.”

NOTE: After being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 7, defenseman Spencer Stastney made his Penguins debut, replacing Trevor van Riemsdyk, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

“It’s great. On the back end, they made it easy on me,” said Stastney, who was paired with Letang. “And everyone out there was playing a good brand of hockey. It was fun. It was great to be a part of this group and in front of the crowd. It was solid. Nice to get a win.”

The coaching staff didn’t want to throw too much at the 26-year-old, and wanted him to play his game.

“It's a pretty quick turnaround to be going right into a game against a really good team, and I thought he handled himself really well,” Muse said. “He anticipates really well. He puts himself in really good spots. He uses his skating. Those were the things that we thought for him coming in, and I thought he showed those there tonight.”