Penguins Flip the Script in Third Period against Toronto

The third period of Saturday’s game versus Toronto started off like the final frame of last night’s loss to Buffalo, as the Penguins entered it with a lead before getting assessed a penalty they didn’t necessarily agree with.

But this time, they flipped the script. Instead of surrendering a power-play goal and getting deflated, Pittsburgh came up with a crucial kill, and battled hard the rest of the way – coming away with a 3-2 victory.

Erik Karlsson scored what stood as the game-winner at the end of the second period, while Jake Guentzel and Noel Acciari tallied for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 34 saves.

“I think it was the polar opposite from what happened yesterday, which is kind of everything you can ask for, I think, in the situation that we were in today,” Karlsson said. “We stuck with it, got some big goals from some different guys, and we weren’t afraid to go out there and play to win this game instead of being scared of losing it.”

With Bryan Rust missing his third straight game with a lower-body injury that has him listed as day-to-day, Drew O’Connor remained on the top line with Guentzel and Sidney Crosby – and the big forward turned in his best performance yet. After the Leafs opened the scoring 3:59 into play, the Penguins responded just 27 seconds later after O’Connor made a beautiful pass to set up Guentzel for a tap-in into an open net.

“He gets on pucks and creates turnovers,” Crosby said. “He pushes their D back, and you saw it on the goal, he made a great play to find Guentz. So, I think his speed is probably his biggest strength, and that's a factor in a lot of different ways.”

While Toronto went back in front a few minutes later, overall, it was a fast-paced first period that featured both teams flying around and generating a lot on both sides, so the Penguins didn't feel discouraged. Pittsburgh’s struggles on the power play did continue in the second period, as the Leafs took a pair of penalties that overlapped for 21 seconds of 5-on-3 time for the Penguins.

Sullivan has been toying with Pittsburgh’s deployment of power-play personnel in hopes of finding a spark. Tonight’s first unit over the boards was Karlsson, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Reilly Smith, and Alex Nylander, and they weren’t able to generate much.

But when Acciari hit the ice for his first shift following a few minutes on the bench while the power play guys were out, he evened the score with a terrific individual effort that resulted in an unassisted tally.

“Just really good patience,” Crosby said. “He plays so hard, whether it's blocking shots or being physical, finding pucks in and around the net. But that's just a huge goal. Definitely a pretty one.”

Acciari’s line with Matt Nieto and Jeff Carter then factored into Pittsburgh’s next goal which came with less than 30 seconds to go in the middle frame. Carter won the offensive-zone faceoff back to Karlsson, whose one-timer gave the Penguins a lead they would not relinquish.

It certainly took hard work and commitment to hold on, as the talented Leafs pushed for that tying goal. They had a 6-0 edge in shots in the first six minutes after that power play, which ended up being a 15-3 advantage when the final buzzer sounded, but Jarry and his teammates were up to the challenge.

"I think we just defended a little bit harder,” Crosby said. “We probably did a better job at making better decisions that didn't allow them to get odd-man rushes or clean looks. And when they did, Jars made some big saves. But I thought we didn't quite sit back. A team like that that's dangerous, they're going to get looks. But if you can limit them, then you're doing a good job, and I thought we did that for the most part."

Here's what Mike Sullivan had to say after the win. The Penguins have two days between games, as they fly to Nashville to face the Predators on Tuesday.

It seemed like the third period puck management was a cut above, especially compared to last night. Was that something you guys talked about, or was it just kind of organic? “No, we talked about it, and I alluded to it before the game tonight – just about playing a smart game, but not playing a safe game or a cautious game. I think when our team’s at its best, we’re playing on our toes, we're playing on top of teams. In a lot of ways, our best defense is our puck pursuit game on the ice. I don't think our team is at its best when we're retreating and we're allowing teams to come at us. I thought in the third period last night, we just played a little bit more of a cautious game. We had a lot of numbers back, but we didn't dictate the terms the way I think our team is capable. So, we spent more time on our end, and they ended up scoring a couple of goals. I felt we did a much better job just battling and trying to play on our toes and play a little bit more of an in-your-face game. But it always starts with managing the puck. If you're irresponsible with your decisions, especially on the zone entries, and you allow a team like Toronto with the transition game that they have (to get) that kind of easy offense, it's tough to keep off the scoreboard. I think we did a real good job in that regard tonight as well.”

I don’t know if themes for one game matter, but given the way the third period went last night and then given the way that they scored their two goals, I thought the overall response from your team – but specifically, each time Toronto scored – might have made all the difference tonight with your guys’ confidence level. “I was really proud of our guys, after coming off a disappointing loss last night, just with the resilience and staying with it tonight through the whole 60 minutes. We didn't get the first goal tonight, but we were able to dig in and find a way to respond to the goals that got scored against. For me, I think our leadership had a lot to do with that. I was just proud of the group. I just thought in general, the resilience and the resolve was there from the drop of the puck, and in particular, in the third period. I thought we competed hard. But give Toronto credit. They pushed in the third period to try to get the tying goal, and I thought we did a real good job just defending hard.”

What can you say about the night Noel Acciari had beyond the goals? “I thought that was that was probably Cookie’s best game as a Penguin. I just thought he was competitive. I thought his whole line was terrific, and we relied on them a lot. They got some tough matchups in the third period, they got a lot of D-zone starts. They played against (Auston) Matthews’ line a fair amount, they played against (John) Tavares’ line a fair amount, and they got the job done. They competed hard, they don't get a whole lot of offensive zone starts, and they did at the end of the second period. They made the most of it. Carts wins two faceoffs in a row and they get great net traffic, and Karl ends up scoring on it. I thought that line had had a really good game, and I thought Noel probably had his best game as a Pittsburgh Penguin so far.

We saw a few more power play changes tonight. Did you see something you liked, or will we maybe see a few more changes? “We'll see where it goes. That's still a work in progress. We know we're capable of being better in that regard. We're going to work with the players to try to try to find their very best games. So, we're trying to bring some solutions to the table. We've tweaked the personnel groups a little bit. We’ve moved people around positionally. But we understand that that's an area where we've got a real opportunity to grow and get better. I believe we have the talent and the players to get it done, and these guys are going to be difference-makers for us. We just got to stay with it.”

How impressed have you been with Jarry in his last two outings, and how important was it for him to get a close win like this one tonight? “I thought he was terrific in Carolina (a 4-2 loss to the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Nov. 18). He really gave us an opportunity to get points out of that game. He made some huge saves. I thought he was really solid tonight, especially down the stretch. He made some big saves, and that's what it takes to win in this league. It's hard, when you play a team like Toronto that's as talented as they are, they're going to get some chances. I felt we defended hard in front of him, but when we needed a big save, he was there to make it for us. I just thought his composure in the net was great. He was tracking pucks, he was fighting through the screens and his rebound control – just his composure in general – I thought he was locked in there. I think that when he's when he's on top of his game like he was, that rubs off on the group in front of them. I think it gives our whole group a whole other level of confidence.”