PITTSBURGH — Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry triumphantly hopped up from his crease and emphatically punched his stick out after stopping the Florida Panthers' Anton Lundel's shootout attempt.
Maybe it was part celebration. Maybe part relief.
The netminder had entered the game with an abysmal record in shootouts this season. He had turned away just three of the 10 attempts he faced this season and admitted just days ago he needed to be better when the game got pushed past regulation.
But, in a fast-paced game full of odd-man rushes and high-quality scoring chances, Jarry’s ability to stop three of four shootout attempts was just one of several ways trends were bucked on the way to a somewhat surprising win.
At least on paper, the matchup could have been a mismatch.
The Penguins entered Thursday in the Metro Division basement after losing five of their previous six games. They were playing without their captain (Sidney Crosby), their coach (Mike Sullivan) and arguably their most invaluable defenseman (Brian Dumoulin), all of whom are in the COVID-19 protocol. Halfway through the first period they’d lose another blueliner, when Marcus Pettersson left the game after absorbing a high hit from Owen Tippett.
On the flip side, Florida rode into Pittsburgh as a juggernaut. The Panthers stood atop the entire NHL standings, racking up a league-high 21 points and 10 wins in their first 13 games. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was playing every bit like a Vezina Trophy candidate, with a sparkling .948 save percentage that led all goalies with at least four or more outings. And a deep, speedy roster featured seven players with double-digit points.
Yet, as has been the story often in this strange small-sample size season, what the game looked like on paper was very different than the result on the ice.
Jeff Carter’s shootout goal stood up as the game winner and Jarry finished with 36 saves to earn the game’s No. 1 star.
The Penguins jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 13:37 mark in the first period thanks to all-star defenseman Kris Letang doing Kris Letang things. The freelancing playmaker vacated the blue line and skated all the way to the goal line. His nifty backhander pass set up Teddy Blueger for his third goal of the season.
However, less than two minutes later, the Panthers found the equalizer. As the Panthers raced ahead in transition, defenseman Mike Matheson got caught up ice trying to hold the puck in on the offensive blue line. Then, winger Brock McGinn got turned around in the neutral zone trying to lay a hit on Anton Lundell. That created a 2-on-1 opportunity for Lundell to set up Frank Vatrano for the equalizer.
Throughout the game, both teams seemed content to trade chances and odd-man rushes. One second-period sequence in particular summed it up and set the stage for the Penguins. Kasperi Kapanen raced ahead for a breakaway chance on one end. The Panthers turned it around and raced ahead on a 4-on-2 of their own. The play ping-ponged back the other way, as Jason Zucker found Evan Rodrigues, who burned Bobrovsky on a partial breakaway to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead with just over two minutes left in the second period.
However, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov reshaped the game when he tied the score at 2 just 2:30 into the third. The Penguins lost track of him as he hovered alone in the high slot. Carter Verhaeghe found Barkov, who beat Jarry on his glove side.
With 4:45 left in regulation, the Panthers briefly appeared to have scored what could have been the game-winning goal when Anthony Duclair slammed home a back-door pass. However, Reirden challenged the play. Upon review, the puck clearly exited the zone before Florida pulled it back in to create the offside opportunity.
Special teams provided a significant subplot that reinforced early-season trends. The Penguins entered Thursday night with the NHL’s best penalty kill (92.3%) and the fourth-worst power play (10.8%). Both stats will continue along their current trajectories in regulation, as the Penguins were unable to convert on three power play chances but successfully snuffed out all three Panthers chances.
The Penguins penalty kill faced one final test in overtime. With 1:31 left in the 3-on-3 segment, Guentzel plowed over Bobrovsky and got sent to the box. The PK remained perfect to extend the game to a shootout.
The Penguins will be back in action on Saturday in Ottawa to kick off a stretch in which 11 of the next 14 games will be on the road.
