The Pittsburgh Penguins just keep on rolling.
And, even by the skin of their teeth, they just keep on winning, too.
On Sunday, the Penguins narrowly defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, to close out their perfect four-game Western road trip. It is their third time this season stringing together at least four straight wins, and the win gave them solid standing at second place in the Metropolitan Division with 63 points - four points ahead of the third-place New York Islanders and six points back of the divison-leading Carolina Hurricanes.
The victory may not have been as comfortable as the previous three, but they still came away with it - and that's in large part thanks to their netminder, Stuart Skinner, who was magnificent late in the game and stopped 30 of 32 Vancouver shots on goal.
The game got off to a bit of a wild start, as there was a disallowed goal for each team in the first period. The first was when Egor Chinakhov appeared to pick up the loose change and score at the net-front, but the play was deemed offside. The second was an apparent Canucks goal by Connor Garland that was deemed goaltender interference on the ice, as ex-Penguin Teddy Blueger interfered with Skinner.
But the Penguins took over a bit when the second period began. Five and a half minutes into the middle frame, Evgeni Malkin took a feed from Tommy Novak off the rush and put it home at the goal mouth to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead. Later in the period - and in front of 192 family members and friends - hometown kid Ben Kindel finished a perfect shot-pass by Ryan Shea to put Pittsburgh ahead by two.
Then, with a little more than two and half minutes remaining in the second, Justin Brazeau made a high-level play at the offensive blue line to sneak the puck past Canucks' young defenseman Zeev Buium and feed it to a breaking Kindel in the slot, who one-timed a rocket past Vancouver goaltender Kevin Lankinen and broke the goal camera in the process to make it 3-0.
But, despite the Penguins building a nice lead in the second period, Vancouver swung the momentum in a big way during the third.
After some sustained pressure, Jake DeBrusk finally got Vancouver on the scoresheet six and a half minutes into the third. The score remained 3-1 until six minutes remained in regulation, and that's when Blueger tipped a shot by Liam Ohgren to bring the Canucks to within one.
And the pressure didn't subside for the rest of regulation. The Canucks kept coming, but Skinner answered the bell every time - even channeling his inner "Marc-Andre Fleury-against-Nicklas Lidstrom-in-2009" to dive to his right and make a game-saving stop with 50 seconds left.
He was also able to shut the door in the game's waning seconds - when Vancouver had multiple shots on goal right around the net-front - to send the Penguins home with the win and a perfect eight points on their road trip.
Here are some thoughts and takeaways from this key 3-2 win:
- Of course, every win from here on out for the Penguins - and for any team - is an important one. Every lost point counts and is to the benefit of every team trying to chase you in the standings.
But it goes without saying that getting all eight points on this Western swing, especially when that's never to be expected, was as huge as it was pleasantly surprising.
The fact that the Penguins trail the Hurricanes by only six points with a game in hand is pretty crazy, especially when taking into account the eight-game losing streak in December and how hot the Hurricanes have been, too, as they are 7-1-2 in their last 10. Keeping pace with that team is no small thing, especially since that team is a Stanley Cup contender year in and year out.
But, perhaps, the even bigger deal is that the Penguins have created some separation between themselves and the Metro playoff contenders below them. The Isles are four points back. The Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals are each six points back, and the Penguins have two games in hand on the Caps.
Again, every win is important. But getting all eight points on this road trip is massive, especially since every NHL team is going to be shaking off some rust after the Olympic break. Padding points now is crucial when you consider the gauntlet the Penguins have in the month of March.
- On a relatively quiet night for the first line - which hasn't been the case recently - the middle-six really stepped up once again.
We're used to seeing it from Malkin, Novak, and Chinakhov at this point. But it sure is nice to see the third line develop some chemistry and get going in these last few games.
Anthony Mantha has five points in his last four games. Brazeau four in his last four. Kindel has just the two goals in his last five, but he was still doing other things to help generate, even if he wasn't showing up on the scoresheet.
The Penguins are a four-line team, and that makes them dangerous.
- Speaking of Kindel, good for him.
It has been a whirlwind season for the 18-year old, and it was nice to see him have himself a game in front of a lot of supporters. 192 people showing up for one person is pretty unreal, and Kindel delivered in front of all of them as close to his hometown Coquitlam as he can get.
Oh, and by the way, Kindel is the first Penguins' rookie since Jake Guentzel in 2016-17 to register a double-digit total in goals. He now has 10 goals and 22 points in 48 games.
- Skinner has been unreal for the Penguins. In his last eight starts, he is 7-1-0 with a 1.63 goals-against average and .934 save percentage.
I don't expect him to maintain those numbers, of course, and nobody else should, either. He will come back down to earth a little bit eventually, and he may even hit a rough patch. He has been known to do that throughout his career.
But I think there is something to the "change of scenery" thing here. Skinner is more confident, more relaxed, and more poised, and it shows in his body language and positioning on the ice.
If he can continue this tear - or even give the Penguins slightly above average goaltending - they should have no problems making the postseason.
- I don't think it was a particularly strong night for the Penguins' defense, as good as it has been lately. I didn't like Kris Letang's play on Vancouver's first goal, and as a whole, the back end gave up far too many golden opportunities in this one.
That said, this game was a blip on the radar in comparison to recent performances. The Penguins are still giving up a few too many chances, but they've been much better as of late. So, hopefully, they revert back to what they were doing during the first three games of this road trip in these last five games before the break.
- To be fair, however, the Penguins did play most of the game with five defensemen, as Jack St. Ivany exited early with what was later specified as an upper-body injury. He did not return.
If St. Ivany is out for any length of time, that would be terribly unfortunate, as he has looked much better in this last handful of games. And he hasn't had the best injury luck in the past year and a half, either.
- At the end of regulation, Bryan Rust had a bit of a nasty check to the head of Canucks forward Brock Boeser.
I do expect expect disciplinary action, to be honest. We'll see what happens.
- And, about that break.
Starting Thursday at home against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Penguins will play five games in eight days. The first three of those games are against teams outside the playoff picture in Chicago, the New York Rangers, and the Ottawa Senators. And after that? They have the Islanders and the Buffalo Sabres, two teams either chasing them in the division or jostling for wild card positioning.
Just like this Western trip was, these next five games are extremely important. The Penguins can't afford to let points slip away, especially in two games that are, essentially, four-point games.
And just like they did on this trip, they need to beat the teams they should beat. At minimum, the Penguins - realistically - need at least three out of five. But they should get four out of five.
In any case, the schedule in March is rough, and it's chock-full of contenders. They need to bank every point they possibly can before the three-week hiatus.
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