The Penguins hosted one of the NHL’s hottest teams on Monday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena, with Seattle winning nine in a row (behind only Edmonton’s 10). Pittsburgh rose to the challenge their opponent presented, ending the Kraken's streak with a 3-0 shutout victory.
“They're a really good team. They've won a lot of games recently,” said Tristan Jarry, who made 22 saves for his fifth shutout of the year. “I think that was just our game plan coming in, make sure that we keep the chances to a minimum, make sure we keep the rushes to a minimum, and I think we did a really good job of that tonight. I think it really helps our game when we’re doing that.”
Sidney Crosby scored twice and Drew O’Connor also got on the board as the Penguins improved to 10-3-3 in their last 16 games.
The Penguins wanted to have a better start and put themselves in a better spot after battling back from early deficits in their last two games against Carolina (Jan. 13) and Vancouver (Jan. 11), both overtime setbacks. They succeeded in that regard with a low-event opening frame.
“I'm sure the coaching staff really likes low-event games," Bryan Rust said with a smile. "But that's how you're going to need to win games here through the last half of the year.”
The Penguins then came out flying to start the second, with O’Connor’s goal – his sixth of the season and third in the last six games – coming just 49 seconds in on a tremendous no-look pass from his linemate Rust. “We just made a really good play to go up the ice. Geno made a really nice play to me and I was able to kind of look over my shoulder and see Drew coming, and I was able to make that play," Rust said.
It’s been quite the breakout season for O’Connor, his fourth in the organization since signing as a college free agent out of Dartmouth. He’s earned the promotion into the top-six on a line with Rust and Evgeni Malkin, with his confidence building along with his play.
“Any player, when they're feeling good and feeling confident, they're gonna be on their toes, making plays, they're gonna be in the other team's face,” Rust said. “I think you've seen that a lot out of him this year.”
The captain buried his 25th of the season on a pass from Kris Letang to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead in the first 3:38 of play. The Penguins kept pushing from there, holding the Kraken to just one shot in the first half of the second. Seattle did respond a bit as the period went along, but Jarry was there when needed.
After the Penguins came up with a big penalty kill to start the final frame, they continued their solid play through to the final buzzer, with Crosby getting an empty-netter, his 26th of the year, to cap off the victory. Rickard Rakell assisted on both of the captain's goals to give him five points (2G-3A) in his last six games.
“I just liked our intent,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “I just thought our intentions were in the right place, and when we play the game that way, it's collective effort, it's a team game. Everybody understands what their role is, and you play it. When our intentions are in the right place, and (we have the) willingness to play the game a certain way, I think we can be hard to play against. I thought we were tonight.
“This is a team that has had tremendous success here over the last month. They’ve beat a lot of really good teams. They have a lot of balance through their lineup. I thought we played a complete game.”
Jarry waved a Terrible Towel while coming out as the game’s No. 1 star, after puck drop got moved from 6:00 PM to 1:00 PM in response to the Steelers Wild Card Round game against the Buffalo Bills, scheduled for 4:30 PM.
“We’re all going home pretty quick here,” Jarry grinned. “Obviously we all love the Steelers and we’re all rooting for them, so it’s going to be an exciting game.”
