Jarry posts his 6th shutout
following the hit.
“Every time you see something like that happen, you want to respond,” Letang said. “You want to score one or a couple big goals for your teammate. You want to make them pay for the action they took on our player.”
Both of the Penguins’ power-play units ensured Acciari’s departure was not in vain.
Letang, who scored the game’s first goal in the opening period on a nifty backhand, again quarterbacked the Penguins’ top power play instead of Erik Karlsson. But it was Karlsson who provided the path for the Penguins’ first power-play goal. He flung a shot on net from the point, and Carter pounced on the rebound for his sixth goal of the season.
Rust soon after had one of the easiest goals of his career. A Sidney Crosby onetimer caromed toward Jake Guentzel, and the winger directed the puck toward the crease. Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck was caught out of position and provided little resistance to Rust getting his 12th goal of the season.
It was a whopping success all around, with both power plays getting goals in just the second full game this season coach Mike Sullivan had Crosby and Evgeni Malkin operate on different units.
“Sometimes you just need change,” Guentzel said. “And when it’s not going well, change is inevitable. So, for us, it’s a little bit of a wake-up call for us to move the puck a little quicker and just get shots on net.”
The Penguins had five power-play slot shots on net, per Sportlogiq. They were willing to fire, and in two instances had a physical player at the net in Carter and Rust.
On the other end, the Penguins were stout defensively as Tristan Jarry earned his league-leading sixth shutout of the season with 23 saves. While Jarry wasn’t challenged terribly much all evening, he rose to the occasion in the third period, the only one the Jets out-shot the Penguins.
“I thought he made a couple of sneaky good saves,” Sullivan said. “There were a couple of slot deflections that he gobbled up pretty good.”
Ice chips
• Jesse Puljujarvi made his Penguins debut, skating in his first NHL game since May 7 of last season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Puljujarvi played 13 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after returning from double hip surgery. Sullivan commended Puljujarvi’s work on the forecheck.
• Reilly Smith was in the starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 11. The winger had been sidelined due to a left arm injury. He skated on Malkin’s line.
• John Ludvig was activated from long-term injured reserve earlier in the day, but was a healthy scratch. Colin White was the Penguins’ other scratch.
• Tuesday marked Sullivan’s 800th career game as an NHL coach. Only Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper has been in charge of his team for longer than Sullivan. In NHL history, just 10 coaches have racked up more wins than Sullivan (430) in their first 800 games behind the bench.
• The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) announced it will be coming to Pittsburgh for a game. Two teams, PWHL Toronto and PWHL Montreal, will square off at 12:30 p.m. March 17 at PPG Paints Arena ahead of a PenguinsRed Wings game that evening.
• With Letang’s first-period goal, he reached the 30point plateau for the 14th time in his career. He is the 21st defenseman in NHL history to put together 14 or more 30-point seasons.
• Guentzel became the 20th player in Penguins history to skate in 500 career games. Guentzel has the sixth-most goals (219) in team history for a player through their first 500 games.
Stat n’ at
7 – The Penguins have netted multiple power- play goals in a game seven times this season. After Tuesday night, they are 6-1-0 in those games.
They said it
“If we’re going to ultimately make the playoffs and give ourselves an opportunity to contend for a Stanley Cup,” Sullivan said. “Then we have to bring a certain level of urgency to our game now. We can’t let any opportunity slip by.”
Coming up
The Penguins will practice in Cranberry the next two days. Then, it’s off to Minnesota to square off against the Wild on Friday.