Crosby's Fight Sparks Penguins, But Jets Hold Strong

In the first shift of the third period of Friday’s game against Winnipeg Sidney Crosby dropped the gloves with Kyle Connor while skating to their respective benches. The two had done some pushing and shoving after a reverse hit on the captain.

While the refs quickly separated the two All-Stars, the short battle got the fans on their feet at PPG Paints Arena and provided the group with some juice after going into the second intermission down 3-0 against the NHL’s best team.

“I think he definitely motivated the whole bench,” Michael Bunting said. “I think that was the best period of the night, was that third. We played with energy. We played fast and straightforward. So, you never want to see Sid fight, obviously. But he definitely brought the energy for us, and that's the leader he is.”

A few minutes later, Bunting scored Pittsburgh’s only goal to get them within two before Connor iced the victory (Winnipeg is now 17-3 on the season) with his team-leading 13^th goal, completing a Gordie Howe hat trick.

“I think it’s obviously frustrating whenever you lose. We can take some positives. They’re a really good team for a reason,” defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. “We responded pretty well. But we just gave them too much time there in the second period to operate.”

Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in his third start in four games after returning from his two-week stint in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Jets capitalized on a defensive miscue less than two minutes into play, but Jarry regrouped and came up with several good saves, including one on Connor – who’s passed the 30-goal mark in six of his seven seasons.

“It's tough going down a goal that early and I think it's just trying to keep battling. Obviously, we don't want to be in that position. It's tough starting a game that way,” Jarry said.

“I think it's more of a mindset, just defending a little bit harder in our zone and making sure we're prepared for the first five minutes. I think it includes all of us, from the goaltender out. I think it's tough when you're starting games down 1-0 early like that. It's hard to come back from that, especially when we play a good team like this."

The Penguins started generating some looks offensively, and finished the period with a strong penalty kill against the NHL’s No. 1 power play. But the Jets once again came out flying, building another big edge in shots, and found another goal. That one came less than one minute in. Meanwhile, the Penguins didn’t start generating anything offensively until about midway through.

“Give them a lot of credit,” Bryan Rust said. “They’re a team (that) works really hard. Good on the forecheck. Got some guys with skill and they’ve always got numbers back. It’s tough when they don’t give you anything when you’ve got to try to work at it.”

As Bunting said, the Penguins could have given up, but didn’t – following the example of the team’s heartbeat, as head coach Mike Sullivan often calls Crosby.

"I think it's just a wakeup call. It's a wakeup call to all of us,” Jarry said. “You see the competitor he is and I think that losing games like this is tough for everyone. I think that we have to play harder. Him doing that is just raw emotion. I think he wants better and I think it comes from everyone."

The Penguins ended up shorthanded on that play, but then went to a power play shortly after. Evgeni Malkin did some tremendous work to come away with the puck after a battle in the corner, finding Rust. He sent it across the slot to Bunting for a tap-in.

But once again, it was too little, too late, as the Penguins couldn’t find two points for the fifth time in six games. They are now 1-3-2 over that span. Sullivan has said he wants the Penguins to be harder to play against, and while there was some progress in that regard, he feels there’s stll another level.

“It’s just something that we’ve got to continue to push the group to engage more physically at both ends of the rink, both in our end and in the offensive zone,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to get into people more on the defensive side and we’ve got to get over pucks on the offensive side so that we can force teams to expend energy defending us.

“Right now, we don’t have nearly enough offensive zone time. And we’re not earning ice down there by hanging on to pucks and forcing them to defend us. If we do, we get more power plays. So, those are areas we’re trying to stress.”