While a tough bounce erased Pittsburgh's third-period lead over Calgary, the Penguins still came away with a point in a 4-3 shootout setback on Tuesday at Scotiabank Saddledome, putting forth a much-improved performance.
“Obviously there's opportunity to get better, but I think we were a heck of a lot better than we have been in recent games,” Bryan Rust said. “We didn’t have huge, massive breakdowns like we did in the last three or four games, or whatever it was. So, I think that we're definitely making strides.”
Rust, Rickard Rakell and Noel Acciari scored for Pittsburgh, while Alex Nedeljkovic made 22 saves before facing six Flames in the shootout.
The Penguins goaltender was especially strong early as the Flames tilted the ice in the opening minutes. They built a 7-0 edge in shots, aided by a power play awarded just 46 seconds in. Nedeljkovic allowed his teammates to settle in, and they outshot the Flames 12-3 from there, though Calgary did get on the board first.
Rust evened the score with a power-play tally, but the Penguins couldn’t find another one on the man-advantage the rest of the night, missing their next three opportunities.
“We had that 5-on-5 mentality – go in there and outwork them, get the puck out of the corner – and we score,” Rust said. “I think we needed a little bit more of that. It wasn't there as consistently as we would have liked. I think it needs to be.
“It’s still a work in progress, but I think the intentions are there. I think we're trying to play with a little bit more pace. We're trying to get things going in the right direction.”
Continuing with the special teams theme, the Penguins were shorthanded four times in the opening 40 minutes – twice in the first and twice in the second. They successfully killed off all those penalties, with Acciari saying, “I think we were all on the same page, making sure we were aggressive all together and not giving them time and space to move around.”
The game broke open in the third period, with Rakell getting his fourth goal in eight games – tied with Lars Eller for the team lead – just 2:32 in. The winger had a tough 2023-24 campaign, which got off to a rough start before Rakell suffered an injury, and then it was up and down from there. Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas said Rakell was too good of a player not to bounce back, and so far, so good in that regard.
“I think he's had a really strong start to the season,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think he's making plays. I think he's in really good shape. He's on the puck... I think his pace of play is quicker. I know he altered his training a little bit in the offseason with the help of our strength and conditioning guys, doing a little bit more explosive, speed, dynamic stuff. I think it's paying off for him. I think he's a step faster than he was, just watching the way he is right now. But he's another guy that I think really took the offseason seriously, and he's put himself in a position here to have a good start, and he has.”
After the Flames tied it up, Acciari put the Penguins back in front as part of a terrific, impactful performance from the fourth-line forward. One of his best sequences came when the forward created some energy with a big hit at the offensive blue line after playing a key role in one of the penalty kills. The Penguins capitalized on that momentum by getting their first power play, and Rust converted.
But for as much as Acciari has built his game around being hard to play against and keeping the puck out of his own net, he’s capable of scoring goals, with Sullivan referencing his 20-goal season with Florida a few years back. That’s part of the reason they moved Acciari from center to wing, thinking it might give him more opportunity to generate offense, and he delivered.
“The goal they get was a huge goal for us,” Sullivan said of Acciari and his linemates Kevin Hayes and Cody Glass. “I was happy for them. It was a hardworking shift, and that's the type of momentum I think they're capable of building for our group. It's great to see Cookie score. I think they play an invaluable role for our team.”
Acciari blocked an attempt from the Flames in the final minute, but it ended up dropping right onto the stick of Nazem Kadri, who put it home.
“I got to do a better job of staying on pucks and just bailing us out there,” Nedeljkovic said. “I mean, it wasn't a very difficult shot. It wasn’t a very hard shot or a very well-placed shot. It was just a puck on net, so, not much else to it than that.”
While Nedeljkovic was hard on himself for his overall performance, his teammates and coach had his back.
“He was unbelievable tonight. I thought he was unbelievable in Winnipeg, too,” Acciari said. “There are times we gotta help him. When he’s bailing us out, we gotta bail him out at times. But he’s been unbelievable.”
“I thought he made some huge saves,” Sullivan said. “They had some really high-quality chances against our power play, and he made some big saves for us. That was a key part of the game. I know he's battling in there.”
