The Penguins ended their winning streak against Arizona on Sunday and then traveled to Montreal to support Kris Letang at his father’s funeral. It was stretch of doing the right things. Last night, things looked like they were heading back the other way. The Penguins found themselves in a 3-0 hole to the Vancouver Canucks in the first eight minutes of the game. The Canucks scored three times on their first seven shots. It could have easily been a throwaway game. The team could have been resigned to another loss. Instead, they finished the period tied 3-3 on goals from Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Jason Zucker.
The comeback started with one of the more underutilized weapons on the team, the Malkin one-timer on the power play.
More of these, please. pic.twitter.com/aBaRd9jdaf
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 11, 2023
Pittsburgh deployed another potent weapon for their second goal. We had a #SidDownLow sighting
A perfect pass from Dumo and a quick redirect from the captain.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 11, 2023
You love to see it. pic.twitter.com/zb0pXXKqwF
Closing out the first period comeback was somewhat of a rarity. A Penguins faceoff play goal isn’t super uncommon. Overall as a team Pittsburgh does a nice job on set plays. These plays usually involve Sidney Crosby. This time it was a clean win by Evgeni Malkin with Jason Zucker filling the Jake Guentzel role.
We've got some knuckle puck action from Jason Zucker! 👠pic.twitter.com/FjTESZCiT0
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 11, 2023
It was an impressive show of character for the team to bounce back the way they did this period. I’ve been around teams where there’s been extended losing streaks and it is very easy to fall into the “here we go again… mentality and shut down. Unsurprisingly, the two leading the way were Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.
Fourth goal was a good example of a feisty forecheck leading to quick hit transition. Jan Rutta did a great job not letting the Canucks player get up the ice and Malkin had an awesome job timing his attack to strip the puck. The rest was just a text book 2v1 play leading to Malkin’s second goal.
MALKAMANIA IN THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Qx4kq6Boib
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 11, 2023
Rakell finished off the five pack of goals near the net front on the power play on a rebound.
RAKELL GIVES THE PENGUINS THEIR SECOND POWER-PLAY GOAL OF THE GAME! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/EgsC1tkZz6
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 11, 2023
All five goals were a different way of scoring. We have a power play one-timer, sustained even-strength zone time, a face off play, a goal in transition, and a rebound goal. It was a diversified attack leading to the Penguins five goals and ultimate victory. It wasn’t quite Mario’s five goals five different ways, but still not bad.
The victory keeps the Penguins in the thick of things for the playoffs. They are currently in the second wild card position at 48 points. The Islanders are one point back, but have played two more games.
The Penguins can catch their breath the next few days. They don’t play again until Friday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets. They should be feeling good about themselves with the things they did this week. A nice change of fortune from what had been going on. It’s the kind of week this team really needed and they got. It is something to build off of.
Thanks for reading!