Crosby’s OT goal beats Red Wings
Escape against NHL’s worst team
DETROIT — The Penguins have plowed through myriad obstacles while posting one of the NHL’s best records since the start of December. They’ve marched on without important players. They’ve dug out of deep deficits. They’ve shrugged off unfortunate breaks. And they’ve stared down formidable opponents.
During this torrid stretch, they also have been remarkably consistent on a game-to-game basis. They hadn’t had two sluggish games in a row. That changed Friday against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. One night after they were outclassed in a clash of two of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, they barely beat the league’s worst team. It took a power-play goal in overtime from Sidney Crosby to eke out a 2-1 win. But a win is a win, and the Penguins still have not lost consecutive games since late November.
“We didn’t like the way we played [Thursday] night,” Bryan Rust said, referencing their 4-1 loss against the Bruins in Boston. “We got outworked. And then to be able to come back here tonight, work hard in a tough situation, was big for us.”
The Red Wings entered Friday with just 12 wins and were last in the NHL in scoring and goals against. The light at the end of the tunnel this summer could be Alexis Lafreniere, the Rimouski star expected to be drafted first overall.
The Red Wings weren’t the “tough” opponent. Their travel schedule was.
After taking a physical and metaphorical pounding at TD Garden on Thursday, the Penguins and dozens of dads didn’t land in Detroit until around 2 a.m. Friday. The 7:30 p.m. start time bought them a little bit of time. But they still looked sleepy, showing fatigue toward the end of a stretch of 11 games in 20 days.
“This game was a hard game physically. It was a tough travel night. We got in extremely late. And those are never easy starts,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Our players did a good job. They managed the game properly. They didn’t force things that weren’t there. We had some opportunities in the first. I thought we were fine.”
After an uneventful first period, the Red Wings scored on a power play to take a 1-0 lead 3:29 into the second period. With Givani Smith posted up just outside the crease, Filip Zadina’s shot from the point made it through Matt Murray.
The Penguins started to show signs of life in the second period, especially near its end. It carried over into the third, and their power play put them over the top.
Early in that period, they patiently picked apart the Red Wings with simple passes. Evgeni Malkin slipped the final one through a crease in Detroit’s penalty-kill alignment to Rust, who beat Howard gloveside for his 20th of the season.
This is the first 20-goal season for Rust, a 27-year-old Michigan native.
With the Penguins looking to shed salary this summer, Rust’s name came up in trade rumors. He tuned out the chatter and grinded away, working to become a more consistent offensive player. He missed the first three weeks of the season with an injury but has arguably played at an All-Star level ever since.
“He’s really playing well right now,” Sullivan said. “You’ve got to give Rusty so much credit for the work that he’s put in. But his mindset is where it should be. He’s hungry. He’s confident. And he’s playing the best hockey, I think, since I’ve been coaching him — and that’s quite a while now.”
In overtime, the Penguins converted on another power play, this one 4-on-3. Malkin aimed a slap shot toward the stick of Crosby, who steered it past Howard to give the Penguins a win and a happy ending to their annual “Dad’s Trip.”
“I just put my stick on the ice, and Geno put it right on my blade,” he said.
After going 0 for 3 in Boston, the Penguins went 2 for 4 on the power play against the Red Wings. They’re 4 for 11 in three games with Crosby back in the lineup
“They made great decisions with the puck. They made great plays. Both goals they got were great goals,” Sullivan said. “I think it’s just a matter of guys being locked in and executing. I think that’s what it boiled down to.”
Crosby totaled three goals and three assists in his first three games back from sports hernia surgery. Friday was the team’s third game in the past four nights. The captain logged more than 20 minutes of ice time in each game of this back-to-back.
“It’s very impressive. It’s hard for guys to come back off of injuries. Usually, there’s an adjustment process of getting used to the timing and intensity of the NHL game,” Sullivan said. “I just think that the fact that he’s been able to have the impact that he’s had in the first few games is amazing.”
With 28 saves, Murray had another solid performance in goal, making it four in a row for the disposed starting goalie. The Penguins were pretty sound defensively, limiting the number of high-danger chances he had to shut down. He tracked the puck well and held his ground on a few scrambles in front.
“He was awesome tonight,” Rust said. “He made some really big saves for us at key times. They pushed hard and had some moments in the game where he stood tall and made some big saves, and I think that gave everyone else life.”
The Penguins now have eight wins in their past 10 road games.