Snap Shots: Pens 2, Preds 1 (SO)

Thoughts, musings, and observations from the Pens' 2-1 shootout win against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena.

* What a relief.
Although the Predators tied the game 1-1 with 3:01 left in regulation, the Penguins were able to make sure they came away with two points, which hadn't been the case in either of their previous two games. As Sidney Crosby acquiesced with a grin after the game, they have had a lot of practice in this scenario.
"We've learned to move by it quick," Crosby said. "Three minutes left, there's still a lot of time left in the game. Sometimes those have happened with 20 seconds left and different scenarios. We've just tried to stay positive and move by it and try to finish hard."
Finally breaking through to get the result is significant because it shows some impressive resilience. The Penguins could have gotten down on themselves and started gripping their sticks. Instead, they remained confident and just hung in there. It's one of those things where going through that kind of adversity really has made them stronger.
"You need to go through those situations in order to learn from them," Crosby said. "It's better to learn from a win. I think even with the times that we've had that happen, we've learned from it."
Overall, it was another solid effort from the Pens in yet another tight game, which is par for the course at this time of the year.

"I know sometimes you guys like to use the term that we blew a lead. It's one to nothing," Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said. "There's scoring chances at both ends. Sometimes a chance is going to go in your net. You've just got to keep playing and react and respond the right way. That's what we told our guys. We're playing well here. Just keep playing. The other team has good players too. They make good plays. They're trying to win also. That's the nature of the game at this time of year. We've just got to make sure we have a certain resilience to our mindset that we react the right way to those situations and I thought our guys did a great job."
* There are certain teams that Matt Murray thrives against. The Preds are one of them.
Murray entered tonight with three straight shutouts against Nashville, dating back to Game 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. They finally snapped their scoreless sequence late in the third period, ending it at 263:25, but certainly could have ended it sooner if it weren't for his heroics throughout the game.
Murray came up with a number of clutch and timely saves, particularly during a couple of crazy scrambles in the third period. At one point, he was joined by a number of his teammates in the crease as they battled to keep the puck out of the net.
It was particularly good to see Murray get rewarded for his play, which overall, has been really strong for a long time now.
"I think he's playing terrific," Sullivan said. "He's made some big saves. He's so calm and confident in there. He looks so big in the net. I think the goaltending position, that resilience, it applies to that position more than any. He has that. He has that attribute instinctively. He's playing really well for us right now."
* Sullivan reunited Bryan Rust with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel in Pittsburgh's last game, a 3-2 shootout loss to Carolina on Tuesday. He stuck with that configuration for tonight, saying that Rust has played a fair amount with those guys and has had a lot of success with them.
They picked up where they left off in that regard tonight, as that trio was the Pens' best line all night long. Their chemistry together was clearly evident with how they read and reacted off each other while working the puck in the offensive zone.
After knocking on the door for a while, they finally kicked it down in the second period with Rust tallying the Pens' only regulation goal.
"I thought it was great," Rust said of his line's play. "I was about to break my stick over the boards when I didn't get one there after the first period (laughs). I think I had like four or five chances there. But we stuck with it. I think we were working well together. We were skating, we were getting to the open space and we were good to get one there and I thought we could have gotten a few more."