Valiant Penguins fall in shootout against Panthers: Yohe's 10 observations

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SUNRISE, Fla. — Even in defeat, there is something admirable about the Penguins these days.

They outplayed the defending champs most of the evening in Florida and earned a point, only to fall 4-3 in a shootout. Mike Sullivan’s team is now 5-1-1 in its past seven games since getting crushed in Las Vegas on the night of the NHL trade deadline.

“It’s hard to find a lot of fault in how we played,” Rickard Rakell said.

The Penguins dominated the first period and led most of the game. Bryan Rust scored twice in the opening period and later set up Evgeni Malkin’s goal.

“I thought we were terrific in the first period,” said Sullivan, who was pleased with his team’s performance and work ethic.

Only a couple of Ryan Graves misplays led to Florida eventually evening the game.

Sam Reinhart scored twice for the Panthers and Anton Lundell tied the game late in the third period.

Aleksander Barkov was the only man to score in the shootout against Tristan Jarry, who played very well, especially when the Panthers made their patented third-period push.

Ten postgame observations 

• I can’t say much in the way of negativity regarding how the Penguins played. They played hard. They played well. They were playing against a great team. Sometimes, the great team wins.

The Penguins were the better team throughout most of the evening, only struggling in the third period and in the shootout. It was a fairly pleased locker room, all things considered.

Sullivan, I can tell you, is really happy with how hard this team is competing right now. He should be. There is simply no give-up in this team at all. They’re playing their best hockey of the season right now.

• What a game for Rust.

He had a turnover (though it wasn’t all his fault) on Florida’s first goal. Then he started playing out of his mind. First he scored to even the game.

Then he scored a ridiculous goal to give the Penguins the lead.

He was simply a beast all evening and nearly won the game on a couple of occasions.

“He’s a Pittsburgh Penguin, through and through,” Sullivan said.

• Assists on both of Rust’s goals means two points for Crosby, so we could see some history when the Penguins play next in Tampa.

Crosby now has 78 points. When he hits 80, he will have clinched a point-per-game season for the 20th time in his 20-year NHL career, breaking a record he currently shares with Wayne Gretzky.

“It’s just fun to watch the way he’s going at the moment,” Rakell said. “Everything in his game is just so good. He’s flying.”

• We’ve been watching Crosby for two decades, so what I’m about to say should come as no real surprise. But I’ll say it anyway. The captain, 37 years old and knowing full well his team has about a 1 percent chance to qualify for the postseason, outworked the Panthers on just about every shift on Sunday.

Sometimes when I watch games, I like to focus on individual players and just watch their shifts. This wasn’t a night for Noel Acciari or Danton Heinen to receive my full attention; I decided to go with Crosby. His work along the boards was exceptional all night. It always is, of course, but he was just so crisp, getting to nearly every loose puck, using his body to leverage his way to more loose pucks, and just doing Crosby things all over the ice. As I mentioned on Friday, his skating is really something at the moment. Every facet of his game is locked in.

It’s interesting to me that at 37, Crosby seems to be improving as the season elapses. It’s not supposed to work that way. But then, there’s only one of him.

• The Panthers are the best third-period team in hockey when they’re at their best. They just have a way of taking over games physically — flipping a switch, if you will — and they did it in this game.

Yes, the Penguins allowed the game-tying goal. But they withstood it pretty well. Jarry stood tall and the Penguins handled the physical beating about as well as possible. The Panthers are a great team and, simply put, are a handful.

• Graves had a brutal game and appeared to be benched briefly in the second period.

He’s been somewhat better this season in general. (Nothing could be worse than what we saw from him last season.) But this game was a step backward.

• I loved Malkin’s game. His skating is the best it’s been in two years right now. He’s dancing around opponents like the Malkin of old.

• Jarry was locked in. Again.

I give him all the credit in the world. What we are seeing from him is impressive. But what does it all mean for his future? Good question.

• The Panthers aren’t really playing their best hockey, they haven’t had Brad Marchand in the lineup and Matthew Tkachuk’s health is a bit of a mystery moving forward.

I’ll say this, however: someone still has to beat that team in a best-of seven-series. And if those two are healthy and effective, I wouldn’t be terribly interested in facing them. Florida and Tampa Bay are the two best teams in the East. They could meet in the first round, which would be one of the more titanic first round series on paper that I can recall.

I wonder about the Panthers’ fatigue level. When you play the amount of hockey that they’ve played in the past few years, it catches up to you eventually. And there might be signs of fatigue in their game. A fresh and healthy Tkahcuck could change a lot, however. Don’t discount the champs. On paper, they are as scary as ever.

• Up next for the Penguins is their only visit of the season to Amalie Arena, where they will face Jake Guentzel and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Guentzel has 34 goals and 67 points in his first season with the Lightning. He needs six goals in his final 13 games to record his third 40-goal NHL season.

Bigger picture, Guentzel has 261 goals in 588 career NHL games. Also, among qualified players who have played in 35 or more playoff games, he ranks seventh all-time in postseason goals per game, trailing only Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy, Rocket Richard, Cam Neely, Wayne Gretzky and Leon Draisaitl. You may not view Guentzel as a Hall of Fame player. It seems like a reach. On the surface, he’s a wonderful player but not a superstar — but he’s putting together a Hall-of-Fame resume.

He’s only 30 and on a great team. Five more years with this kind of production, and perhaps another Cup or Olympic gold medal, and it’s something we may be talking about. Can he average 30 goals a season for the next five years? If he does that, 500 goals is in reach. What a player.

(Photo of Bryan Rust: Peter Joneleit / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)





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About The Author

Avatar of Silvia Elder
Ronda Baker is a news writer who specializes in arts, automotive, travel, and fashion. She has been writing since she was a child, and her passion for the written word has only grown since then.

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