Penguins nip Islanders
net. Bryan Rust threw the puck toward Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak, and Hunwick punched home the rebound.
“We just created a little bit of chaos and Hunny did a good job burying it,” said Sheahan, who was on the ice at the time.
Hunwick struggled a bit to remember his previous 3on-3 overtime goal.
“Maybe preseason a year ago,” Hunwick said. “Regular season, probably never.”
Hunwick’s goal, though, might have only been the second-most unlikely of the night for the Penguins.
Sheahan scored midway through the third to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead. It was his second goal of the season, but the first that came against an actual goalie — his other goal was an empty-netter Nov. 16.
“Empty-netters are nice, but it’s not the way you picture your first one,” Sheahan said. “To get one tonight definitely felt good.”
It was a bit of a goalscorer’s goal, too. Yes, Halak was out of position as Sheahan made his move to the front of the net, but he still picked the upper-left corner and put it in such a spot where, even had Halak played it perfectly, Sheahan still would’ve had a chance to score.
It’s no secret the Penguins are at their best when the third line can provide a scoring punch, something that has been lacking for most of the season. Sheahan, Bryan Rust and Carl Hagelin have found some chemistry of late, though, and Sullivan was optimistic this recent spurt of offense from Sheahan can translate to somethingbigger.
“I think hopefully with scoring tonight, he’s picked up a couple of assists as of late, we’re hoping that it will build his confidence and he can go from there,” Sullivan said. “We certainly think he’s capable, and we’ve really liked his overall game. We’re hoping some of the points that he’s picked up here over the last couple of weeks will help him.”
If Sheahan gets going offensively, it could go a long way toward the Penguins turning back into the relentless offensive team they’ve been for much of the past two-plus seasons.
“It’s huge,” said Jake Guentzel, who put the Penguins up, 1-0, in the first with his 13th goal of the season.
“When you have scoring up and down your lineup, it helps us and gives us momentum. To see those guys get some goals, it’s really nice to see.”
Sheahan’s goal came immediately on the heels of Phil Kessel’s 14th of the season — an absolute snipe from the left circle on the power play — and the Penguins seemed ready to cruise to a win.
The last five minutes, though, were not ideal, and they were the reason the Penguins needed Hunwick’s heroics in overtime.
The Islanders scored twice in the last 4:53 to tie the score and force the extra session. The Penguins struggled to clear the puck, and allowed the Islanders to pin them deep in their end zone and get chance after chance on Tristan Jarry, who finished with 23 saves.
But when you get the winner in overtime, it’s a whole lot easier to look back on that collapse as a learning experience, rather than a missed opportunity.
“When you’re up two with five minutes to go, we have to be able to close those game out,” Hunwick said. “We’re going to be in that situation a lot this year. But with that being said, you just take a deep breath, you go out and you work for the next one.”
And you never know where that next one might come from.