Musings: Penguins Rally for Overtime Win in Columbus

The Penguins got their first overtime win of the season on Friday in Columbus, beating the Sabres 4-3 at Nationwide Arena after battling back from a 3-1 deficit.

“I think it's just, we all know we got to be better,” Bryan Rust said of the second intermission message. “Some people get angry about it. Some people get calm about it. Everybody's got their own approach to kind of get them fired up and ready for the third period, knowing that we had to be better.”

Kris Letang scored in overtime, Sidney Crosby tallied twice, and Rust got on the board. Tristan Jarry won his second game in a row since returning from a seven-game absence for a lower-body injury.

Columbus pressed hard early, but the Penguins ended up striking first with a goal from the captain just over six minutes in, his team-leading 14^th of the season. With just over six minutes left, the Blue Jackets evened the score with a rebound goal from Sean Monahan.

Pittsburgh’s power play, which entered the game ranked first in the NHL, gave up a shorthanded goal early in the middle frame. Columbus built on its lead with a late tally from Zach Werenski, shortly after Bryan Rust went to the locker room after going into the post while attempting his patented power move.

Rust was back to start the third period, and promptly scored a huge goal on the first shift to give the Penguins life. The winger has now scored in two straight after going pointless for five, with his goal in Wednesday’s win over Buffalo coming a shift after the Sabres scored.

That night, Rust said, “I didn't kind of like my game for a little bit there. I think the last few games, I've been moving my feet a little bit more, creating some more chances, getting a little bit more confidence. So, I think to be able to see that one go in was nice for me.”

That was followed up with a highlight-reel goal from the captain to tie the game. Tommy Novak banked the puck off the boards to Crosby, who found a way to get it on his blade before burying it. Letang had some great analysis of the sequence:

“I mean, it's just like... at this pace that he realized that pass was not going to be on. Like, sometimes we see him trying to catch the puck with the skate. And he realized that puck’s going to bounce ahead of him, so he reads it and he doesn't lose stride. It's just like, some guys can process the game at a certain speed. Obviously, he's probably the only one that does that.”

Novak then factored in on the game-winner after some tremendous work by Evgeni Malkin along the wall.

“Great battle by Geno, he had to fight off a couple guys,” Letang said. “And just worked a give-and-go with Novy, and we got the goal.

Here’s what Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse had to say after the game.

The game was probably a little sloppier than what you have would have hoped. But how proud are you of way the guys battled back in the third period, and how good does it feel to get over those post-regulation lows?

Yeah, the third period was great. I mean, just the start of it, the way you come out there, just to try to turn the momentum for us to start that period. Especially after the way the second ended. So obviously, that was a huge shift, huge goal. Thought we had some good follow-up for it. Sid’s goal there was massive, obviously. But I also thought we had just more time there where we're starting to put multiple shifts together. And then in regards to overtime, if you go back to our last overtime, I thought we did a lot of really good things. And so, we carried that over into this one, obviously. We got the opportunity, we executed, and great to get that first overtime win.

Bryan Rust goes down at the end of the second, comes out and scores that goal to start the third. Just what can you say about what you've seen from him in terms of his leadership and just the way he can step up when the team needs it?

He's going to give everything he has every single night, every shift. You look at just how important he is for this team in terms of the usage all situations. He's a part of all of it. And yeah, I think when the team needs a big play, or on the offensive side, a big moment, he's obviously a guy that can deliver. So, great game by him, by his line there tonight.

What was wrong in the second period, and then what changed in the third?

I think in the second, there was a lot that was off. Just in terms of our puck pressure, it wasn't there. There’s one man when we need to get the second guy up. I think the battle level... the second period, there was a lot of things that were missing there from our game. Third period, I thought we got back to some of the things that have worked for us. So, it's great to get the win. I think as we continue to move forward, though, you're never gonna have a perfect game. But I do think that there's things, you look at those first two periods, we have to clean up moving forward.

I think the big takeaway here for tonight is there's going to be games you're playing well, and you're down. The ability there to just stay with it, to know that it's another time, it's another situation that we now own, knowing that you can go into a third period in a situation like we started the period and come out there with a win. Great to get the overtime win. Again, I think we really built off that last one. I think we're doing the right things. I think the last two games, our overtimes have looked vastly different from previous ones in the year. So, it's another situation there that we own that moving forward, and we just got to continue to take steps there in the overall game.

Kevin Hayes just called Tristan Jarry the backbone of this team right now. How impressed have you been with the way he's able to come back in here after three weeks away and just be so solid?

Yeah, it's another outstanding game there for him. We'll go back and look at some of the ways things developed, but he had to make some huge saves there, even late in the game. And so, he came up big again, which was great to see. He's had some time off, but he put in the work, too. Credit to him just making sure he was putting in that work there in terms of practices that we've had leading up for his return to play. And obviously, a great first two games for him.

What did you think of Kevin Hayes with Sidney Crosby tonight?

I thought he did a good job. I thought the line was going. They get that one early, and that was big for us, because just the I don't know what it was, five minutes, I felt like we were flat. And so, to be able to go out there and for the line as a whole there to come up with the goal, I thought he had some good moments there in the offensive zone, some good puck pressures when we were getting on it to disrupt the play. So, I think anytime you have a first game where the lines are a little bit different, it might take a little bit of time to get going. But I thought there was definitely some good moments there.