Penguins hold off lowly Coyotes with late score
having his best season as a pro, now with three goals and 14 points in 34 games.
Evgeni Malkin, Carter Rowney and Sidney Crosby (empty-netter) scored the other goals for the Penguins, who improved to 17-14-3 overall and 7-9-2 on the road.
After an off day Sunday, the Penguins wrap up this three-game road trip Monday against the Avalanche in Denver.
The win Saturday showed there’s plenty of fight left in these Penguins.
They entered this one having lost four of five and three in a row. The qualifier there was that they were all by one goal.
Saturday was tense at times, too, but coach Mike Sullivan was encouraged by the demeanor on the Penguins bench.
“It was a different feel behind the bench,” Sullivan said. “It was a good feeling to sense the urgency that our guys had.”
The penalty kill turned in another stellar effort. It killed off both Arizona power plays to improve to 33 for 35 in the past 10 games. That unit now has gone eight games without allowing a power-play goal.
Rowney got things going with the first short-handed goal of his career at 14:38 of the first period.
Bryan Rust started the sequence by stripping the puck from Max Domi and using his speed to transition the other way, sending a nifty feed Rowney’s way.
“Rusty made a good play to break that up,” said Rowney, who didn’t have a shot on goal in his previous five games. “He got some good speed and made a nice play to me.”
Malkin knocked in a rebound to make it 2-0 at 18:58 of the second before Nick Cousins beat Murray from the inner-edge of the left circle at 19:51 of the period.
Domi’s goal came at 9:43 of the third. It could’ve invited a sense of here-we-go-again, but that’s not how the Penguins reacted at all.
Instead, they fought harder.
“I really liked our stick-to-itivness,” Sullivan said. “We just went back to work.”
This one saw the Penguins hold a 31-17 edge in shots on goal and a 72-37 advantage in attempts. It goes without saying that the Penguins controlled play for long stretches.
A really important takeaway could be to remember where that mentality came from.
Sullivan hit hard the idea that he wanted his entire group to simplify its approach, to get more pucks on Coyotes goalie Antti Raanta, to see what might happen.
The Penguins didn’t tune out their coach. They listened. And it worked.
“We wanted to put pucks on net and try to create some offense with those sprays, try and chase down those rebounds,” Rowney said. “We did a good job of getting some pucks to the net and having some traffic.”
Murray stopped 15 of 17 shots. The degree of difficulty wasn’t terribly high. It might’ve been harder for Murray to keep from dozing off or his feet from falling asleep.
Nevertheless, the Penguins No. 1 goaltender appears to be in perfectly fine form after a six-game absence. That also should be seen as encouraging.
“I wouldn’t say tougher, just different,” Murray said of the lack of action. “You just have to keep yourself engaged and be ready for a Grade A chance.”
A final takeaway was Kris Letang. His first period was a bit of a struggle, with three charged giveaways.
Big change after that. Letang wound up with 11 shot attempts in 27:12 and appeared back to his old self after the first 20 minutes.
“I didn’t think he had the best start, but he settled into the game,” Sullivan said. “He simplified his game, and I think that’s when he’s at his best, when he takes what the game gives him and doesn’t force anything that isn’t there.”