Comeback Kids
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OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
In a shortened season featuring exclusively intra-divisional play, every point matters. So in that sense, the Penguins are pleased that they've been able to recover from deficits in each of their last three games - twice against Washington and then tonight against New York - for six huge points.
"What I really admire about our group is they find ways," Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. "We stick to it, we stay with it, we scratch and claw and compete and and find ways. That has to be part of the identity of this group. We know it's not always going to go the right way out there. We've got to respond to the adversities during the course of a game in the appropriate manner."
But when asked what it says about their team that they have to keep battling back in games, McCann and Letang had virtually the same answer.
"That we don't have great starts, to be honest," both players said.
And the Penguins realize that if they keep playing with fire, they're going to get burned.
"It's not ideal," Letang said. "We don't want to get used to that. We want to break that streak. It's a fast-paced game out there. We have to get to our game as soon as the puck drops and we have to keep it for 60 minutes. We'll take the points, but we have to learn from those."
While the Penguins were on the right side of the score after the first period - taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission - the Rangers outshot them 11-7 and forced Jarry to come up with some tremendous saves, including a breakaway stop on Ryan Strome.
And things really fell apart in the second, where the Rangers scored three goals - including two in a 24-second span - to take a 3-1 lead and force the Penguins to have to battle back yet again. The Rangers are a young, fast team that is explosive offensively and can make teams pay for their mistakes, and that's exactly what they did tonight - capitalizing on a couple of defensive miscues similar to the ones the Penguins gave up in their season-opening series against Philadelphia. It also didn't help that the Penguins took a couple of penalties right in a row.
Fortunately, the Penguins were able to regroup and play a solid third period, managing to get the equalizer and then finding a way to win. Moving forward, the Penguins know it's about finding a way to put together a full 60 minutes of hockey.
"That's something we've had conversations with the players about," Sullivan said. "But I thought we played hard after that stretch in the second period."
OTHER THOUGHTS, MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
* Pierre-Olivier Joseph was terrific in his NHL debut tonight. The 21-year-old defenseman earned the primary assist on the tying goal that forced overtime and just played an overall solid game.
I thought he was exactly as advertised, with his smooth skating and puck-moving ability on display. Joseph moved his feet and used his reach when retrieving pucks, and made smart, simple plays to start the breakout. Overall, I thought he did a good job of keeping it simple and not trying to do too much.
"It's been a rollercoaster today," Joseph said. "A lot of emotions. The guys have been great with me in the room. I felt like I was part of the team, first game and all. I'm just happy it's behind me now."
Read the full story on Joseph's debut here
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* The guys were thrilled for Joseph to make his debut, and they were also thrilled for Jarry to earn his first win of the season, mobbing him at the conclusion of the shootout.
"It was huge," McCann said. "Tristan works hard every single day. He's never hard on anybody. He just plays his game. He's a guy that we can really stand in front of and know he's going to make that big save for us. Moving forward, we've got to do a better job playing in front of him."
After he was in goal for the two straight losses to Philadelphia to open the season, the Penguins went to Casey DeSmith for the Washington series to give Jarry a chance to reset and refocus with goalie coach Mike Buckley.
"It was just getting back to basics for me," Jarry said. "I wanted to get better every day in practice and then just work on things to improve my game, to make sure I was staying sharp and that I was better tonight than in the previous two games."
And Jarry certainly was.
"I thought he had a great game tonight," Sullivan said. "He made a lot of timely saves for us. He was big in the shootout. I thought he responded really well."
* McCann scored his first goal since Jan. 14, 2020. It was a weird one, but he'll take it.
With the Penguins on a power play in the second period, McCann had the puck at the goal line and put it towards the net. Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren tried to play it out of danger, but instead, he somehow managed to sweep it past his own goalie.
"I was trying to hit Johnny (Marino) back door," McCann said. "Lucky that guy just kind of put it in for me, so it was good to get it off the back."
The first unit over the boards in that particular instance was a mishmash of personnel, as McCann was joined by Marino, Kris Letang, Evan Rodrigues and Kasperi Kapanen. They got the job done to ensure that the Penguins have scored at least one power-play goal in four of their last five games.
* Kapanen again started the game on the fourth line with Rodrigues and Teddy Blueger as the coaching staff tries to ease him in and put him in a position to succeed. But as Sullivan said before the game, they anticipate him playing on the top-six more and more, and he got some shifts with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. They had one particularly strong shift where they spent a ton of time in the offensive zone.
Kapanen also made a great play to help set up Blueger's equalizer, using his speed to gain the zone and create some space for himself before dishing off to Joseph. He banked a pass off the back boards to Blueger, who has been so clutch in the last two games, scoring a 3-on-5 shorty on Tuesday against Washington.
* Rust ended up with 10 shots, establishing a new career high. He also extended his point streak to four games, where he's piled up a goal and three assists over that span.
