A little more than two weeks into his tenure as Pittsburgh Penguins general manager, Ron Hextall has seen a lot he likes with his new team.
But he does have one notable critique.
“I’d like to see a little bit more consistency out of our group,” Hextall said via video conference. “It’s a tough season right now with so many games and so few days. But it’s something that you’ve got to battle every night. We can raise our level a little bit, our consistency level.”
The Penguins were far from consistent during Saturday’s road game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
Thankfully for them, they were a little lucky and very determined.
Getting two goals through improbable means, including one in overtime, the Penguins were able to pull out a 4-3 comeback victory.
It marked the sixth time this season the Penguins were able to rebound from a deficit in the third period to claim a win.
“I guess it’s kind of playing with fire a little bit,” forward Bryan Rust said. “But it shows our team’s character and our team’s resilience. … Whether we’re down one, two, three goals, I don’t think it really matters. We’re just going to go over the boards, work hard and try to climb back in games.”
The Islanders jumped to a two-goal lead thanks to a power-play goal by forward Brock Nelson, his sixth of the season, at 18:40 of the first period then an even-strength goal by forward Mathew Barzal, his eighth, at 1:34 of the second period.
Shortly after that, good fortune intervened on the Penguins’ behalf. On a power play, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby got his seventh goal at 2:17 of the second when he chopped a half-slapper from the right circle. It was a fairly mundane shot, but given that Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov had somehow slipped and slid out of the crease on the sequence, Crosby didn’t need pinpoint accuracy to convert.
The Penguins also found success on the occasions Varlamov remained in the blue paint. Only 26 seconds later, defenseman Kris Letang whacked a one-timer from the right circle past Varlamov’s blocker on the far side for his third goal.
At 14:51 of the second, the Islanders reclaimed a lead, 3-2, when forward Josh Bailey finished off a strong passing sequence in the offensive zone for his second goal.
The Penguins persisted and tied the game again, 3-3, only 18 seconds into the third period when forward Jared McCann, back in the lineup after being sidelined for seven games due to an undisclosed injury, buried a wrister on a breakaway.
“It was a great goal,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s got such a great release. His release is deceptive. It’s hard for goaltenders to pick up the puck off of his stick because of his release.
“He’s a dangerous player offensively when he gets the puck. In the good ice, he’s a guy that can bury pucks.”
Of course, it’s easy to bury pucks when the opposition helps you.
After several back-and-forth sequences in the topsy-turvy realm of overtime, Letang scored again at 4:34 to claim victory. Driving the puck from behind his own blue line to the offensive zone, Letang fired a pedestrian wrister from the slot that deflected off the stick of Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau and fluttered past Varlamov’s blocker.
“I came in with a lot of speed,” Letang said. “I didn’t feel too much support. I didn’t want to (pull) up or try to go one-on-one. So I just tried to put it on net. Luckily, it hits the defensemen’s stick and trickled into the net.”
Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 24 saves on 27 shots to improve his record to 7-6-1 as his teammates continued to find ways to scrape out wins late in games.
“Our players are getting the job done,” Sullivan said. “They’re committed to playing the game a certain way in overtime and we’ve had success as a result.”
Note: According to Sullivan, forward Mark Jankowski was scratched due to an undisclosed injury.
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports
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