After Penguins built a 3-1 lead in the third period of their matchup with Columbus on Saturday at Nationwide Arena, the second half of a home-and-home, the Blue Jackets responded nine seconds later.
“The shift after their goal, we gotta be more dialed in. Obviously, that gave them a lot of life,” Bryan Rust said.
Just 2:39 after that, Zach Werenski got the tying tally on a nice individual effort to force overtime – and Columbus went on to win in a shootout, 4-3.
“We just had a hard time grabbing momentum (back),” said Sidney Crosby, who was then asked why the Penguins have struggled in 3-on-3 overtime this season.
“I don't know. I mean, maybe we haven't been able to regroup. A lot of those times we've given up leads,” the captain said. “So, maybe the team that's gotten back in the game has kind of rode that momentum into overtime. We haven't done a good enough job in overtime, I think, the whole year. But obviously, it's a big point tonight.”
Alex Nedeljkovic was incredible during that part of the game, with one particularly excellent save to keep play going. The Ohio native finished with 39 stops on the night in the Pittsburgh goaltender’s fourth straight start, getting at least a point for the third straight game after back-to-back wins versus Carolina and Columbus.
"He was huge. Nothing was on him. I think us as a group in front of him, we gave away momentum,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “Squirted away pucks and didn't really make plays with it, we kind of made no plays on it, and it allowed them to boil over us."
Before the game turned in the final frame, Crosby felt like the teams traded momentum, with each club carrying play at different points.
Nedeljkovic had a pretty busy start as the Penguins struggled to get their legs under them in the opening minutes of play, and was up to the challenge.
The only puck that got past came on a shorthanded odd-man rush, where Nedeljkovic had made the initial save before some contact helped prevent him from getting into position. The Penguins challenged for interference, but the goal stood.
"Well, the blue paint is the goalie's domain. And so, we felt like when a player goes into the blue paint on his own volition without getting pushed there, then there's a possible goalie interference,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “But your guess is as good as mine. If anybody can figure out goalie interference, we're all ears."
The Penguins did find some life from there, turning an 11-3 deficit in shots to a 13-11 deficit to end the period. They had another lull in the second before Drew O’Connor came up with a big tally.
Then, in the final minute, Sullivan loaded up with Rust, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, and Kris Letang. The decision worked, with the Penguins working the puck around beautifully and Rust finishing off the sequence. It looked as though Pittsburgh was on the power play.
After a great save from Elvis Merzlikins that required a review to ensure the puck didn’t cross the line, Rickard Rakell was able to get one past him at the 8:59 mark of the final frame before the night started unraveling from there.
In terms of what the Penguins can learn from that third period, Sullivan kept it simple and said they’ve got to defend hard. Pettersson said they’ve got to do a better job of staying aggressive but playing smart at the same time.
“I think too many times this year when we gave up leads, we're kind of giving momentum away and just allow them to play with the puck,” he said. “They're going to get looks. This league's too good to just give the puck away and let teams come at you.”
The Penguins continue their four-game road trip against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
