PITTSBURGH -- His team had given up a two-goal lead in the third period and he was feeling some fatigue during a long shift in overtime, so Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Matt Hunwick was relieved in more ways than one when he scored.
Hunwick slipped the puck past the right skate of New York Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak 1:29 into the extra session to give the Penguins a 4-3 win Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Hunwick's third goal of the season and first in overtime in his career came after Bryan Rust drove through the crease with the puck. A video review confirmed he did not interfere with Halak.
The play started down the ice.
"I saw one of their guys changing, so it was a chance to create a three-on-two," Hunwick said. "You hope you score there because if I had to go back down the ice and play (defense) again, I'd probably be pretty tired."
Hunwick was on the ice primarily because Justin Schultz, often an overtime choice for Pittsburgh, is hurt, but also because coach Mike Sullivan thought Hunwick deserved to be there.
"He can really skate," Sullivan said. "He's a mobile guy and there's a lot of ice out there. The guys that tend to have foot speed have an advantage. Matt's a guy we can use in that situation because of his mobility."
Pittsburgh's Jake Guentzel scored in the first period, and Jordan Eberle tied it in the second. After Phil Kessel and Riley Sheahan scored 32 seconds apart in the third period for a 3-1 Pittsburgh lead, New York's Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson answered for a 3-3 tie.
Kris Letang added two assists for the Penguins.
"We found a way to get one (point). We battled back in the end," Eberle said. "It was a good road game. Going into the third with a 1-1 game, they make it 3-1 and we battled back. It was a weird game (from) that aspect, but I guess you can salvage a point and be happy about that."
The Penguins (16-11-3) pulled even with the Islanders (16-9-3), who began the night a point ahead of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
Pittsburgh has won five of six overall. It has a five-game home point streak (4-0-1) against the Islanders and is 7-1-1 against them in the past nine meetings at PPG Paints Arena.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is 5-1-0 in his past six appearances after making 23 saves. Halak stopped 28 shots.
Jarry, a rookie filling in for injured No. 1 goaltender Matt Murray, got a close-up look at Pittsburgh's resilience after giving up the two-goal lead.
"In tough times the team comes together that much tighter," he said. "It's something they pride themselves on. They've taken pride in that the last couple years. That's a big thing, and that helps in overtime."
Pittsburgh put the puck in the net at 8:10 of the first, but it was immediately waved off because Guentzel got his glove on the puck, knocking it upward, and when it landed it trickled into the net before he could get his stick on it.
Guentzel got a goal that counted, a power-play version, at 12:17 of the first with a deft backward deflection just above the crease on a Letang slap shot from the right point for a 1-0 lead.
Eberle tied it at 5:53 of the second. As Jarry was trying to corral a loose puck in the crease with his glove, Eberle swooped in and jabbed it over the goal line.
A blast by Kessel from the left dot past Halak's glove at 7:29 of the third gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead and its second power-play goal. Sidney Crosby earned an assist, giving him an 11-game point streak (seven goals, 19 points) against the Islanders.
Sheahan, playing on his 26th birthday, scored his first since Nov. 16 after Halak went far out of his net to play the puck, scrambled back and was out of position when Sheahan roofed a shot for a 3-1 lead at 8:01 of the third.
Barzal swept it past Jarry from the slot at 15:07 of the third, the rookie's eighth goal and 27th point, to make it 3-2.
"That's a big goal," said Nelson, who followed by tying it with Halak pulled with 1:10 to go to send it to overtime. "We had a little bit of a push. We didn't have as many chances as we would like and that was a big-time goal to give us a little bit more momentum. We definitely fed off that. I think after that, we had a few good looks and could've won it there toward the end."
NOTES: Pittsburgh RW Tom Kuhnhackl left in the second period after a collision with teammate Ryan Reaves. There was no update on his status. ... New York C Casey Cizikas was activated from injured reserve and returned after missing four games because of a lower-body injury. ... Pittsburgh D Justin Schultz missed his first game because of a lower-body injury and was placed on IR. Coach Mike Sullivan indicated Schultz's absence could be a couple weeks. ... Pittsburgh D Frank Corrado was recalled from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but did not dress. D Chad Ruhwedel dressed for the first time in four games.
No comments:
Post a Comment