The third period of Saturday’s game against Calgary at Scotiabank Saddledome started great for Pittsburgh, as Jeff Carter deflected in a shot from Ryan Graves to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead less than three minutes in. But after that, everything went wrong.
The Flames scored three unanswered goals – two within 32 seconds to tie the game, and the dagger with less than a minute to go in regulation – to come away with a 4-3 win.
It felt like a playoff loss in the Penguins locker room after the game, as they desperately need points if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive – and the group surrendered two crucial ones.
“It’s a tough feeling right now,” Lars Eller said. “We’re just disappointed. It hurts when you play a really good 40-something minutes, and it should’ve been two points in the bag for us. And somehow, we managed to give them two points.”
As Head Coach Mike Sullivan put it, the Penguins beat themselves.
“We just beat ourselves in a number of different ways. We had complete control of the game, played a really good game up until that point, and we just made some egregious mistakes,” Sullivan said. “It's hard to recover from.”
Kris Letang took ownership for his part in Calgary’s comeback, starting when Nazem Kadri powered around the Penguins defenseman and scored a highlight-reel tally to bring the Flames within one.
“I mean, it started with me,” Letang said. “I made a mistake on 1-on-1, should not let that happen, and it gave them momentum.”
After Blake Coleman tied it shortly after, the Penguins had an opportunity to get back in front after receiving a power play with 2:59 remaining. But Eller got called for high sticking seven seconds in, so they were shorthanded for seven seconds after the teams played 4-on-4.
As Graves regrouped in his own end during that abbreviated Calgary power play, giving the puck to Letang on the wall, Yegor Sharangovich stole the puck and buried his second of the night.
“I just got the puck and somebody was jumping me. I think they were getting a 5-on-4, so I didn’t see the pass,” Letang said.
It was just a tough period for Letang, who’s been so terrific all season long. As he said afterward, “it sucks,” but he and the rest of the team have to get back at it on Sunday as they play the second half of a back-to-back in Edmonton.
“We got to keep fighting,” Sullivan said. “We missed an opportunity tonight. I'm sure nobody feels good about it right now. None of us do. But we got to find a way to get up tomorrow morning and re-energize and reinvest and get ready for the next one.”
Alex Nedeljkovic will likely start after Tristan Jarry got the nod for this one. Before Carter’s goal, Eller tallied on the power play in the first period, while Jonathan Gruden got the first goal of his NHL career to open the scoring.
“It feels good. It's been a long time coming, a lot of ups and downs along the way,” said the 23-year-old forward, who’s spent the majority of the last four seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League after being acquired from Ottawa in 2020.
“A lot of people helped me get to this point. So, want to thank them. That was an exciting feeling… maybe not the prettiest goal. Probably feel a bit better with two points, but can enjoy it in a couple of days.”
The play began with Evgeni Malkin battling for possession at the blue line by Calgary’s bench. He lost his footing, and Flames forward Andrei Kuzmenko tried pushing the puck back to his defensemen. That’s when Gruden came swooping in and grabbed it.
“I just kind of hopped on the ice and it kind of squirted away from their defenseman. I had legs fresh off the bench. Just kind of threw it on net and it went in,” he said.
Gruden slotted back into the lineup tonight for Jesse Puljujarvi. It marked his sixth NHL game of the season.
“I thought he played well,” Sullivan said. “He competes hard. He's physical, blocked shots. He's a gritty player. I thought he competed hard for us.”
