Musings: Penguins Stick With It For Gutsy Comeback Win

Pittsburgh’s 5-4 overtime win on Sunday against Boston was as gutsy as it gets. The Penguins rallied from going down 3-0 in the second period to get a much-needed victory as they battle for playoff positioning.

Before tonight, the last time the Penguins recorded a three-goal comeback without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in their lineup, regular season or playoffs, was Feb. 10, 2001.

Egor Chinakhov got the comeback started, which was followed up with a goal from Connor Dewar. Anthony Mantha then tallied twice, tying the score on both occasions, and Tommy Novak got the winner. Arturs Silovs has now earned points in 11 of his last 14 outings between the pipes.

“It's just belief that, if we keep playing, we're going to have a chance,” Novak said. “All four lines contribute, and we roll them all. It just speaks to the amount of good players we have in here, too, and just how we can come wave after wave.”

Going into the game, the Penguins – who have been without the injured Crosby since returning from the Olympic break – had been winless in their last three.

The rough stretch started with mustering just one goal in a loss to the Bruins on the road. Then, they had an emotional setback to the Sabres, with Malkin getting suspended for five games. Yesterday, they fell in a shootout to their rival Philadelphia, with their record in those situations going to 1-9.

“You wake up this morning, and nobody’s really feeling good about the game last night, but you also recognize that you can’t change it. There’s a new day ahead,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “Got a new opportunity in front of us.”

But the Penguins weren’t able to attack it the way they wanted to, at least, not in the first 40 minutes. They entered the first intermission down 1-0 after Boston scored on their first power play of the game with seconds remaining on a penalty to Chinakhov.

In the middle frame, the Penguins put together some better stretches. Particularly during 4-on-4 play, after Kris Letang and Michael Eyssimont got roughing minors. They had about three Grade-A chances, but couldn’t get one to fall. Pavel Zacha then found his second of the night, and David Pastrnak capitalized on a misplayed puck behind the net to put Boston up 3-0.

But Pittsburgh’s power play came up with a timely goal during 1:38 minutes of 5-on-3 time. Chinakhov used his world-class shot to put home a feed from Rickard Rakell with less than five minutes to play in the period. It was a big response from that personnel after not converting a 4-on-3 power play in overtime against the Flyers.

“Credit to the guys on the ice, give some credit there to (assistant coach Todd Nelson), too, to get those guys prepared,” Muse said. “Because we weren't happy with how we went last night. Got a new opportunity there today, the guys executed. Ended up being a big goal.”

The Penguins had a lot of life from there, buzzing around for the remainder of the frame, The vibes were high in the locker room during that second intermission despite knowing they had 1:56 remaining on a penalty to Ilya Solovyov to begin the third.

“We came in here between the second and third, and we just knew it was going to feel good. We said it in here,” Mantha said. “The guys had a big kill to start the third period. Everyone played really good in the third.”

Dewar is an integral part of Pittsburgh’s penalty kill, which ranks second in the NHL and first since the holiday break. After helping to get the job done, he scored a goal scorer’s goal on a no-look backhand off a fantastic pass from Ryan Shea.

“I had a bunch of time. (Dewar) pointed his stick down the ice and his other two linemates changed. He was already behind their (defenseman),” Shea said. “So, it actually ended up being a good bounce and he made an unbelievable play. And looking a lot better than me just dumping the puck down the ice.”

Just 33 seconds later, Mantha tied the game with a beautiful breakaway goal.

“He’s obviously been huge for us,” Erik Karlsson said. “He shows up at the right time. [Smiles] The big boy can move when he wants to.”

At that point, the Bruins used their timeout. Shortly after, Zacha completed a hat trick. The building went quiet, but only for a little while. Just two minutes later, Mantha got his 23^rd of the season. The goal felt good mentally, but maybe not so much physically.

“[Parker Wotherspoon] got me right in the stomach,” Mantha laughed. “So, there's some better ones than others, but it's in the back of the net.”

Wotherspoon was given two minutes for high sticking after that, but the Penguins once again came up with a big kill. Silovs was rock solid. He said after the game there was a rollercoaster of emotions for him after that Pastrnak goal. “Not the best goal to give up on the third one behind the net,” Silovs said.

But as Mantha said, “he's had our back all year. It was our time to kind of get him back. Mistakes happen. When it’s a goalie, it’s just more flagrant than when it's a player. We got his back like he has ours.”

Once regulation ended, it took Novak all of 17 seconds to pot the winner.

"It was just a lot of chaos, honestly,” Novak said. “Good little pick from Karl there, and the puck popped to me. Right place, right time, kind of an open net. Being able to come back there is really big. And then the overtime struggles, it's nice to finally get one to go."