Musings: Rollercoaster Finish Results in One Point for Penguins

While the Penguins battled back from a 2-0 deficit to earn one point on Thursday against Utah, the result left a sour taste.

They felt they should have had two points, as Ben Kindel had given the Penguins a 3-2 lead with 22 seconds left in his return to the lineup after a vasovagal episode on the team flight home from Salt Lake City last week.

But West Mifflin native Logan Cooley completed a hat trick with 0.9 seconds on the clock to tie the score and force overtime, where Mikhail Sergachev netted the winner to give Utah a 4-3 victory.

“We need to understand if we lead [by] one goal, it's important [for them] to not score,” Evgeni Malkin said. “Just important [to] stay, and important to play good in D-zone, you know? Not turnovers, like, play right.

“We know how we need to play. We watch lots of video, we work [in] practice, but sometimes we play against good teams. They're, what, first power play in the league? And 6-on-5 is a little bit like a power play, too. They knew what they [were] doing, and again, next time we need to be better, for sure.”

Cooley’s tying goal came off a shot from another Pittsburgh native, Vince Trocheck. Silovs made the initial stop. The puck hit his blocker, deflected up and off his helmet, and into the air. Cooley batted it out of the air just in the nick of time.

“It’s hard to give up, like, less than a second (tying) goal,” Silovs said.

The Penguins felt their netminder deserved so much better, as he was outstanding all night while they were up and down. Cooley scored his first two goals in the first period, giving Utah a 2-0 lead at the intermission.

“I don’t think we were ready to play as a group,” Kris Letang said. “We played them out there (Oct. 19). We know how fast they are, how much skill they have and we kind of let them play their game. They can make you look pretty bad.”

But the Penguins started stacking shifts in the second period, which led to a goal from Erik Karlsson, one of just two defensemen to lead his team in points, along with the Rangers’ Adam Fox.

However, in the third, the Mammoth dictated the terms early on, spending a lot of time in the offensive zone. Silovs made several quality saves, while the Penguins managed just one shot in the first few minutes.

“He was phenomenal. Kept us in it for a long time,” Declan Carlile said. “Could have been a lot worse if he wasn't in there. So, kudos to him. But wanted to get two for him.”

Utah had a chance to build on their momentum even further when their power play – which is actually ranked second in the league – got an opportunity about midway through. Instead, Rickard Rakell scored a shorthanded goal to even the score. It was his second timely tally in as many games, after Rakell tied it late in Saturday’s overtime win against Nashville.

“Amazing for Raks,” Malkin said.

Malkin’s line then went to work as the clock ticked down. All three players – Malkin, Kindel and Egor Chinakhov – were returning from absences of varying lengths. Malkin had missed one game due to illness; Chinakhov had missed four of the last five due to injury; and Kindel had experienced a scary situation when he collapsed 10 minutes into the return trip from Utah after Pittsburgh’s 4-3 loss on Oct. 19.

A vasovagal episode is a brief loss of consciousness that happens when your body overreacts to a trigger, causing a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. Thankfully, the 19-year-old forward received tremendous care and support, and was cleared to return to game action tonight.

"I like Kindel. He have everything. He has nice feet, smart, you know?” Malkin said. “He missed couple games, he's excited [to be] back. I'm excited [to be] back, too, and Chinny... we're all back. Yeah, I think played good. Couple mistakes, high-stakes turnover in the neutral zone in second period. But, again, I'm glad [with] how we played in the third period.”

On Kindel’s goal, he carried the puck into the offensive zone and saucered a backhand to the net as Malkin drove to the blue paint. He battled for the puck, sweeping it into Mammoth goalie Sebastian Cossa’s pad as he fell to the ice. Kindel recovered it and put it over the line.

“I thought he played well,” Muse said. “I thought he was moving well. I thought he was attacking the game, the puck. The line, obviously, they had some looks. A big goal there at the end for them. Just staying right around the net too after the initial shot, which was good to see.”

The Penguins went from pure joy to bitter disappointment, with Muse saying they have a lot to clean up moving forward into Saturday’s matchup with the Canadiens.

“It sucks we couldn’t get the win tonight, but (we’ve) got to just have a quick turnaround here and get ready for Montreal,” Kindel said.