Penguins/Panthers Recap: Rust scores twice, but Florida comes back to beat Pittsburgh in shootout

The Pens play pretty well, but those Panthers are just a little bit better than them and end up getting the result in a 4-3 shootout win on Sunday

Pregame

Connor Timmins gets another new partner for tonight, Tristan Jarry back in the net.

The home Panthers have the following line and lineup.

First period

The Penguins start out pretty well to the tune of a 7-2 edge in shots but don’t come close to scoring. And just like that, they give up the first goal. Bryan Rusts loses the puck along the wall with some help from Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart collects it in space and makes the Pens pay. 1-0 FLA.

Pittsburgh gets the game’s first power play but it takes a big Jarry save to set them up for success. Rust gets a goal back for the team by receiving a sharp pass from Erik Karlsson and making a deke to get to the backhand and lift one by Sergei Bobrovsky for the power play answer. 1-1.

in the last minute before intermission Rust and Sidney Crosby hook up on a tremendous goal. Rust cuts in towards the net and Crosby sauces a pass to him. With a leaning, one-handed effort Rust is able to get a touch on the puck to send it to the top of the net. Wow, one of the best looking goals of the year for the team here. 2-1 lead.

Shots end up 16-4 Pittsburgh. Really impressive start, it’s a shame and a wonder they’re only up 2-1 on the scoreboard for how dominant they were in the first 20 minutes.

Second period

Jarry is active early having to make a couple of toe saves in different sequences to flipper away pucks.

The Pens draw a second power play when Kevin Hayes gets hooked. They find a second power play goal when Rust sets up Evgeni Malkin to hammed home. 3-1 Pittsburgh lead.

Soon after the Pens take their first penalty and it leads to Florida scoring on their own power play. Reinhart skates in by Ryan Graves and Kris Letang and then finds a way to slip a low shot through Jarry that has enough velocity to slide into the net. 3-2 game.

Jarry makes a nice play to move the puck towards the Panthers’ bench during an extra sloppy shift change by them to grant the Penguins another power play. Unlike the first two this one doesn’t amount to much.

Shots overall are 23-17 PIT. Still just a one goal game but the game has shrunk to 20 minutes.

Third period

Florida starts to get it in gear, Timmins takes a penalty and the Panthers are buzzing, but they can’t beat Jarry to score on their man advantage.

With Pittsburgh only having two shots on goal foe the first 15 minutes, it feels like just a matter of time before Florida can tie it. And they do, Anton Lundell on a cross-ice pass takes advantage of Jarry having to move laterally. 3-3 game with 5:32 to go.

The Pens make it to the end of regulation tied thanks mostly to their goalie holding them into the game.

Overtime

Crosby-Rust-Karlsson start it out for the Pens, Crosby wins the faceoff and Pittsburgh takes the all-important possession of the puck. After stalling for a while they lose the puck.

Florida regroups and gets the personnel they want out there but they also cough it up. For some reason Blake Lizotte eventually ends up on the ice and he takes OT’s first shot at almost exactly the mid-way point of 2:32 to go, Bobrovsky makes the save.

Malkin wins the second faceoff of OT but the Pens turn it over. FLA gets a 3-on-1 rush but can’t score.

Rakell sends a lead pass for Crosby and the Pens have a 2-on-1. Now it’s exciting, Crosby’s pass to Letang doesn’t work, Florida gets a rush out of it for themselves but Jarry makes a save.

Phil Tomasino and Lizotte push for a last minute goal but can’t beat Bobrovsky.

Shootout

Sasha Barkov gets the first chance, he moves in with a lot of speed, makes a sweet deke to the backhand and glides it in. 1-0 shootout FLA

Rakell gets the chance to answer, comes in slow and dekes to the forehand but Bobrovsky is able to kick the leg out and stop it.

—

Lundell is up next, he dekes to the backhand but Jarry sticks with him and makes a big save.

Crosby goes for the Pens. He winds down the ice slowly, tries for a shot but Bob has the answer. Still 1-0 FLA in shootout after two rounds.

—

Reinhart gets the chance to win the game but his shot rings off the post.

It’s do or die for Bryan Rust, he dekes Bobrovsky down to his belly but the sprawling goalie finds a way to keep the puck out of the net. Panthers win.

Some thoughts

• Rust is heating up (3G+2A over the two weekend games). The first goal was a nice display of skill but that second goal was the tangible results of what playing with Crosby and knowing the timing and exactly what to do and then having the hand-eye coordination to pull it off. Beautiful stuff, that one will go on the year-end highlight reels.
• By virtue of adding two assists in the first period Crosby only needs two more points in the final 10 games of the season to clinch his 20th point-per-game season. Going out on a limb, I say he does it.
• Karlsson made a really nice pass to get his 40th assist of the season, becoming the 13th defender in the NHL to get to that mark this season. 6th place has 43, so with a strong finish he could end up a little more statistically successful this season than you might think from only looking at social media and the internet.
• The Panthers might have been showing some signs of playing in DC yesterday and then traveling back to Florida. Started out extremely flat but were able to get their legs under them and more energy as today’s game went along.
• The Pens in the end just couldn’t do much in the third. Sometimes it’s said they go into a shell but that isn’t completely accurate. Usually the other team just takes control and doesn’t allow a team like Pittsburgh to do much with it when it gets to crunch time.
• Malkin is finally back on the top power play group, long a “Some thoughts” pet peeve and not a moment too soon. Top dogs went two for three with two quick goals. Putting Hayes there over Malkin always seemed an unnecessarily complication, fixing it was overdue but predictably a good idea.
• Jarry 2.0 is up to a 4-1-1 record and save percentage well above .920. What a wild ride it’s been and still as a strong as ever with his recent run of play. He couldn’t stop a beach ball early in the season and now it’s taking perfect efforts on breakdowns to get anything by him. Go figure.
• It’s been a tough go lately to watch Kris Letang recede away from being a dominant top pair defenseman as age effects hit but tonight was a vintage performance. 26:40 played, 9 shot attempts (5 on net), 3 hits, 2 blocked shots and several smart little plays all around the ice. That was the kind of performance that used to be the norm for him but hasn’t been around in a while. Turned back the clocks tonight though looking like his old self and not just being old.
• Graves only played 11 minutes and my goodness it looked like he was only concerned about defending the corner of the rink when Reinhart walked right past him to the unprotected middle of the ice. In fairness, Graves had an ill-timed sweep check attempt at the exact wrong moment and ended up looking bad as a result but that type of play and result is pretty much the whole issue right now. Positioning isn’t right, gap is awful, stick is ineffective and the results are what they are. It was mentioned on the broadcast tonight that Ryan Shea is close to coming back from injury, that’s a good thing because the team could use putting Graves back in the press box as a healthy scratch.

The Pens get a few days in the sunshine and meet the Lightning in Tampa on Tuesday for their next game.