Sully Says: "I Loved Our Mindset"

The Penguins entered tonight's game against the Vegas Golden Knights looking to bounce back from a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. A second period comeback gave the Penguins the momentum they needed to earn a 4-3 win.

Jack Eichel scored the game's first goal four minutes into the first period, giving the Golden Knights an early 1-0 lead. Then, with just over two minutes left, Reilly Smith converted a Vegas man-advantage, bringing the score to 2-0 in favor of the visitors. The tally snapped Pittsburgh's streak of 19 successfully-killed penalties.
After practice on Wednesday, when discussing the absence of Kris Letang, who recently suffered a stroke, Penguins general manager Ron Hextall said, "We got a good team. We got a deep team. We like our defense. So, we feel good about where we're at as a team, and I think the guys will be playing a little bit for Tanger right now, too." In this game, Hextall would be proven correct. Pittsburgh's defense corps held their ground.
It took a while for the Penguins to find their footing offensively, but the second period certainly went their way. Just 2:23 into the second period, Brock McGinn put Pittsburgh on the board. Then, with 6:53 remaining in the middle period, Sidney Crosby was battling along the boards when he stripped the puck from Vegas defender Nicolas Hague and sent it to Jake Guentzel. Guentzel set up a wide-open Rickard Rakell, who scored the equalizer.
The Penguins started the third period on the penalty kill due to a roughing penalty called on Jason Zucker. With the man-advantage, Vegas' Shea Theodore scored to give the Golden Knights another lead.
With 13:25 left in the third, Josh Archibald was called for cross-checking, and Vegas' Mark Stone was called for roughing. It was 4-on-4 action for over 30 seconds before Vegas' Logan Thomas was called for interference, putting Pittsburgh on a 4-on-3 power play. Jake Guentzel lined up the game-tying one-timer off a pass from Evgeni Malkin that whizzed right past the glove of Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson.
The Penguins would then take the lead on a play that started with Brian Dumoulin finding McGinn. From behind the net, he fed a pass over to Kasperi Kapanen, who scored what would stand as the game-winner. Pittsburgh would hold onto that 4-3 lead (thanks in part to a series of late saves by Tristan Jarry) to win the game.
Here is what head coach Mike Sullivan had to say about the Penguins win…
On if the team will have to continue playing like this in Kris Letang's absence:"I thought the guys competed really hard all night, and they didn't get discouraged when you get down a couple of goals early in the game. We just kept playing. There was a lot of the game that we really liked. We thought we were pressuring pucks. We were up in fives. I think when we're at our best, our puck-pursuit game is relentless. And I thought the second period might have been our best, but obviously, we just kept playing the game. There were some lead changes or whatever it may be. But I loved our mindset, just kind of 'next-play' attitude, 'next-shift' attitude. I think when we play that way, we're capable of competing with any team in this league. That was a good hockey team we beat today."
On what he saw from Kasperi Kapanen, who scored the game-winning goal in his second game back after a long stretch as a healthy scratch:"Well, I just think he's trying to play the game the right way. He's trying to leverage his speed as best he can. He was winning puck battles. I thought his wall play was pretty good. A lot of those things add up to winning hockey. And Kappy is so capable in all those aspects. Obviously, we're thrilled for him that he got rewarded tonight on the scoresheet. He had a huge goal for us. We're asking him to go to the net, and he's inside the dots, and he's at the net. And so, we're obviously thrilled that he got rewarded, but I thought he played a solid game. It wasn't just the fact that he scored. I thought his speed was noticeable. It was noticeable off the rush. It was noticeable on the forecheck. And that's what he's capable of."
On the emphasis of having more traffic in front of the net on the power play: "Yeah, I think so. It's hard to score in this league if you don't make the goalie's sight lines difficult. I just think the goaltenders in today's game, they're all really good, and if they see it, they're going to stop it. And a lot of times, even if they don't see it, they make positional saves, but it becomes more difficult to control rebounds when they don't see it. So, it's just an important aspect of generating offense in today's game, whether it's 5-on-5 or on the power play. Obviously, a big part of that power-play goal is the screen in front. Hopefully, the power play will get a boost of confidence from that. These guys are really capable guys, as you know, and we're hoping that they can get some momentum."
On if Brock McGinn's play is sustainable: "I think it is. He's a real good player. He's hungry. He's on the puck. He's going to the net, he's shooting pucks. He's using his body with physical play. He's good on the wall. He's a conscientious defensive player. He's been a big part of the penalty kill, but 5-on-5, I just think he's playing a hungry game. When he does that, he's capable. He's got a good shot. He can go to the net. He's being strong. I don't see any reason why he would slow down. I just think he's capable of playing that game consistently."
On how Tristan Jarry battled through the screens in front of him tonight: "I thought he played hard. He made some big saves down the stretch. Obviously, Vegas pushed there at the end, and I thought Tristan was competing hard. He was fighting hard to find the puck. They've got some size on their team, and they're a pretty good net-front team. So, we knew that was going to be one of our challenges, was to try to control the net front. But in particular, it's a big challenge for Tristan because he's got to be able to fight through the traffic and to find the puck. And I thought he did a really good job that tonight."
On P.O Joseph's performance: "I thought he played really well. He uses his mobility, I think, to skate us out of trouble. I thought he made some really good decisions with the puck coming through the neutral zone. He helped us along the offensive blueline. I just think with each game that he plays, he gets a little bit more poised with the puck. I think the game is slowing down for him. And when it does that, I just think that it allows players to act on their instincts. It might have been P.O's best game. I thought he played a strong game tonight on both sides of the puck."
On the relentlessness of their puck pursuit, and how that manifests beneath the goal line in the offensive zone: "Yeah, I thought it was collective effort. That's the most important thing. We talk a lot about three close in that offensive zone so that we don't allow our teammates to get outnumbered. And a lot of times, that third stick that's in the area - if you're battling for a puck or you're pursuing a defenseman - you've got to try to take their close options away. When the effort is collective like that, and we're up in fives, we can play on top of teams. We can play on top of people. But if you're not, if you're a little bit disconnected and you're not up in fives, you only have two forwards in the battle and you don't have the third guy that's in the vicinity. Or you only got one guy in the battle, and then you allow your linemates to get outnumbered. It's hard to play that type of game. So, I thought tonight might have been one of our better games as of late, just with our collective effort and the collective pursuit game. When we play that way, I think we're really hard to play against because we don't give teams any separation. We're playing on top of teams. And when you play on top of them like that, there's not a whole lot of risk associated with it, because you're on the right side of people and you're on the right side of the puck. But it sure is hard to play against, and I thought tonight we were pretty good at it."