OVERALL ASSESSMENT
This was a tale of two games for the Penguins, as Rodrigues so succinctly put it. Carolina was the better team in the first half, getting out to a 2-0 lead, and Pittsburgh was the better team in the second half. Sullivan said he loved the fight from his group as they battled to get back into it, tying the score at 2-2 and then cutting it to 4-3 in the final minute-plus.
"I thought we competed hard," Sullivan said. "There were a lot good things to take from this game as well. The fight down the stretch, I thought was impressive from our standpoint. This team's never out of it."
The first half was certainly not Pittsburgh's greatest, with Sullivan saying they have to do a better job of being hard to play against, explaining that the Penguins need to focus on their execution when they have the puck, and their attention to detail when they don't.
"I thought in a few instances we lost some structure there on the D side, and on the offensive side, we just didn't execute in certain instances," Sullivan said. "As a result, we fed their transition game."
And while the Canes did manage to convert twice, it could have been worse if not for the play of Jarry, as the Penguins netminder stood on his head during that span to keep his team within striking distance as this aggressive Carolina team came exactly as advertised.
"You can't say enough good things about him this year. He's just been incredible for us," Rodrigues said of Jarry. "They have two to three breakaways in the first, a couple more in the second. He's just been standing on his head for us. We didn't get a comeback for him today, but he's been keeping us in games all year long. As a whole team, we're extremely happy for him."
Jarry's play allowed Pittsburgh's top line to even the score going into the second intermission, as the Penguins started to tilt the ice halfway through the middle frame. They scored twice in the final minutes, as Rust struck first with 5:17 remaining while Crosby tallied with 2:01 left.
But the Canes scored just nine seconds into the third period - exactly as they had done to open the second - to take a lead they would not relinquish. Sullivan called those opening faceoffs critical moments in the game that help teams as far as momentum and traction.
"They happened two different ways," Sullivan said. "In the second period, we're on defense because we lose the faceoff, it's lack of attention to detail. And the third period, we win the face off, it's lack of execution. I know we're capable of being better in both instances. We weren't tonight, and that's a learning opportunity for us."
But overall, there was still a lot to like in that second half - and Rust said if they play that way consistently, they'll give themselves a good chance to have the type of finish they would like to have going into playoffs.
"With the exception of that first nine seconds of the third, I think we were on our toes," Rust said. "We were playing in their face. We were playing our game. We were playing fast and hard and against teams like that and against all the other good teams in the league, I think that's the way you gotta play, and you gotta play that way consistently."
