There is a lot to dissect about the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-6 win over the Florida Panthers.
The Pittsburgh Penguins came away from last night's game with two pivotal points in the standings. Unfortunately, the game was prefaced by the foreboding absence of Tristan Jarry from pregame warmups.
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan updated the goaltender's status after the wild win, sharing that Jarry missed the game due to an upper-body injury. In his place, Casey DeSmith turned in one of his worst performances of the season, allowing six goals on 39 shots.
DeSmith has struggled in January since taking over for Jarry in the opening period of the Winter Classic on January 2nd. His -2.50 goals saved above expected since January 1st ranks 55th among NHL goaltenders.
Luckily for the Penguins, the rest of the team came to play as the fourth line combined for seven points, including goals from Danton Heinen and Drew O'Connor. Heinen's goal ends a 34-game goalless drought.
The man of the hour was Kris Letang. In his first game since December 28th, Letang scored four points (2G - 2A), including the game-winning powerplay goal in Overtime. His performance over 26:29 of ice time was a firm declaration that he is back and ready to go on a run with this Penguins team.
There are a lot of forgettable games that happen at this point in the season, but last night wasn't one of them.
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