CALGARY, Alberta _ On the night the injury bug took another bite out of the Pittsburgh Penguins' defense corps and Evgeni Malkin scored his 400th career goal, rookie defenseman John Marino continued to prove the trade that brought him to the Penguins was a heist.
Acquired this offseason for only a sixth-round pick, Marino has continued to climb his way up the depth chart. He made the NHL club out of camp without playing a single game in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Quickly, he earned regular playing time on the third pairing. And now, with Brian Dumoulin injured, he has ascended to the top pairing. So, yeah, not a bad return for a sixth-round pick.
Tuesday, the player who has made a meteoric rise up the depth chart buried a shot that began to change the trajectory of the game. During the Penguins' 4-1 victory at the Scotiabank Saddledome, Marino scored his fourth goal. Bryan Rust flicked one past Calgary Flames goalie Cam Talbot less than a minute and a half later. And goaltender Tristan Jarry made 33 saves _ including 16 in the first period alone _ for yet another stellar backstopping performance.
Pittsburgh improved to 20-10-4.
The Penguins defense entered the game already short-handed. Brian Dumoulin's rehab from ankle surgery is expected to keep him out at least through January. The blue line took another blow when Justin Schultz collided knee-to-knee with one of the Flames players. He would eventually head down the tunnel to the dressing room in the first period. He did not return.
That put the Penguins in a difficult position defensively, as they rotated the remaining five healthy players. For Marino, who had been preparing this week to flip to his off side on the pairing with Kris Letang, he was able to play on his natural right side.
It added injury to what was already a lopsided first period of hockey. The Penguins chose to ride the hot hand when they started goalie Jarry at Calgary on Tuesday night, marking his seventh start in nine games and fourth in a row.
And why not? He's climbed near the top of the NHL leaderboard in goals-against average and save percentage over the last six weeks.
Early on, the Penguins made him prove why he's racked up those stats. The Flames harassed the Penguins with what felt like nonstop pressure early on. Calgary outshot the road team, 17-6, and forced Pittsburgh into 10 giveaways. More than just the quantity of shots, the quality of shots also made Jarry's life challenging for the first 20. According to Natural Stat Trick, six of those Calgary shots in the first period were of the high-danger variety.
Johnny Geaudrea finally cracked through with just under four minutes remaining in the first period. As the Flames entered the Penguins' offensive zone, Marcus Pettersson stumbled and fell down while he was skating backwards. By the time he could pop back to his skates, Geudrea was sitting on the door step, waiting for the perfect cross-ice pass from Tobias Rieder.
As the Penguins have done several times this season, they were able to successfully flip the momentum in the second. Marino was able to return to his natural right side after the Schultz injury. It paid off.
Just as Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie's penalty expired and he stepped out of the box, Marino walked in from the blue line to the right circle and buried a shot top shelf. As he continues to gain more experiences and comfortability in the NHL, Marino's slowly taking more advantage of the offensive latitude that the Penguins give their players.
He tallied just one point in his first 12 games. The last 20, he has four goals and nine assists for 13 points.
That tied the score at 1 with 7:47 left in the second period. Just one minute and 22 second later, Rust gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead. He flicked a harmless-looking shot on net. Talbot was handcuffed and the Flames, after playing so well for the first 25-plus minutes, were suddenly trailing.
Malkin earned his 400th on an empty netter with just 1:58 remaining.
The Penguins will continue their Western Canada road trip with back-to-back games at Edmonton on Friday night and Vancouver on Saturday before coming home for the Christmas break.
