Pregame Yegor Chinakhov draws into the Penguin lineup for the first time. Arturs Silovs rotates back into the crease, otherwise all is as it has been lately with the lines for the home team. Visiting Detroit has the following lines for the night, backup goalie Cam Talbot is in net for the back-half of their […]
Pregame
Yegor Chinakhov draws into the Penguin lineup for the first time. Arturs Silovs rotates back into the crease, otherwise all is as it has been lately with the lines for the home team.
Visiting Detroit has the following lines for the night, backup goalie Cam Talbot is in net for the back-half of their second game in as many days.
First period
It only takes 20 seconds for the first Pittsburgh penalty of the year, it’s Sidney Crosby for a tripping call. The Pens kill it off, Crosby atones for his infraction by blasting in a beautiful slapshot from long range on the Pens’ first power play of the night soon after. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell are in front of the net, blocking Talbot’s view with a pair of Red Wings in the path as well. Crosby fires it in. 1-0 Pens.
About a minute and a half later, Crosby strikes out of the blue. Brutal Ben Chiarot’s outlet attempt is off the mark and goes right to the Pittsburgh captain, who then quickly puts away his second goal of 2026 in just 5:46 of game-time. Smiles all around for this start.
Pittsburgh begins a parade to the penalty box, Brett Kulak gets racked up on a questionable offensive zone penalty, later Parker Wotherspoon goes for roughing on an even more questionable play. The Pens managed to kill those off, but then there’s nothing questionable about Tommy Novak accidentally putting his stick across Patrick Kane’s face and drawing a lot of blood. Detroit has a very good power play, after getting all this practice in early they finally are able to convert. Veteran James van Riemsdyk redirects a shot from in tight, not much hope for Silovs on that one. 2-1 game.
Almost as much of the first period is played with a Detroit power play (9:27) as it is at normal 5-on-5 (10:17). Some of that was unavoidable but the Pens can’t be taking 10 minutes worth of PIMs in a single period and had to work their way out of that.
Second period
Bad luck strikes for Silovs, he goes behind the net to play a dump in, but the puck hits a joint and goes to the front of the unguarded net. Silovs can’t recover in time, Andrew Copp has what could be the easiest goal of his career. 2-2 game, 0:50 seconds in.
The Penguins get more and more upset with the officiating, given that the refs are opting not to call a lot in the second period – when Detroit was able to get away with a lot of little things that Pittsburgh was getting send to the box for in the first. The broadcast captures Bryan Rust on the bench, and I’m no expert lip reader but the f-word was clearing getting used. Fast forward a little, the refs send Rust to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct, he went too far for them.
Late in that power play the refs finally can’t avoid making just the second penalty call on Detroit when Lucas Raymond grabs a hold of a Penguin stick. The crowd is heated too, rising to mock cheer the officials for remembering that they’re allowed to penalize more than one team. Pittsburgh can’t convert on their power play.
Not much flow in this game, not a smooth one for the Penguins who are making enough forced and unforced errors to keep this one tied after 40 minutes.
Third period
Pittsburgh and Detroit both get chances at third period power plays in the first half of the third, neither break the tie.
Another brutal bounce, this time when Dylan Larkin’s shot attempt goes off Erik Karlsson’s stick, which breaks and somehow the puck trickles right to Mason Raymond. Raymond is able to steer it in. But wait, the Pens’ crack video staff instantly saw that Emmitt Finnie brought himself over the blueline before the puck, it’s a quick review and the Red Wings do not have the go-ahead goal with 7:12 after all.
It’s Pittsburgh who pulls ahead, their fourth line puts together yet another high-pressure shift in the offensive zone, hounding pucks and swarming around. Blake Lizotte gets the better of Jack Johnson, err the Jack Johnson looking Ben Chiarot and the puck trickles in. Pens up 3-2.
The Penguins being the Penguins, they were not yet out of the woods. Jack St. Ivany lifts the puck over the glass and is off for delay of game. The Red Wings buckle down and, fittingly, the Pens look a little awkward and disoriented. Erik Karlsson and Parker Wotherspoon run into each other, neither can get back and then Noel Acciari just kinda falls. The Red Wings have a hand in making them look like the Three Stooges out there, tough one to give up late.
Off to overtime. Really after all the twists and turns of this game, I don’t have a problem with that. Both of these teams deserve a point in the standings for tonight.
Overtime
The game has been crazy and OT is much of the same. Both teams trade odd-man rushes up and down the ice, it’s the Pens who take the last shot. Crosby finds Kris Letang and his shot goes off the iron and into the net to end the game.
Some thoughts
- First things first, 1,200th game for Kris Letang tonight. Seems like it’s always a milestone for someone these days, it’s pretty rare and worth noting when a defender plays that many games with the same franchise. Coming through at the end with the OT GWG is a nice way to cap it off on a year where there have been more tough moments than positive highlights for Letang.
- On that note, Karlsson gets to 900 career points in the ninth-fastest fashion for blueliners after an assist tonight.
- If you’re a goaltender: tend the goal. Silovs made some bad luck for himself leaving the net open. It’s not every day a bad bounce like that happens but it never looks good when it does. In that instance the Penguin defenders didn’t truly need the goalie to stop and settle the puck. Knowing when to go back there situationally might be the takeaway there.
- Luckily for him that ended up being a high-profile mistake that was made up for in the end. Moneypuck had the Red Wings with a total of 6.6 expected goals, Silovs was able to tighten up and finish with a win. He had to earn that one.
- As advertised and expected, Chinakhov has some wheels on him and when he shoots the puck there’s definitely some heat on it. He only had one morning skate and not even a full practice with his new team before today’s game, some time and adjustment period will be needed.
- It’s futile to complain about the refereeing without just sounding like whining. Sometimes the officiating is going to be acceptable, sometimes it will be annoying. The Pens definitely had a case that the way the game was being called in the first period was not the same as it was in the second. That said, you can’t have a team leader like Rust keep digging by venting on the refs and taking a penalty himself. Emotions run hot but a player owes it to the team not to get out of control. To Rust’s credit, he was arguably the best and most active guy out there for the Pens from that point on. Players know when they get carried away and make a bad mistake that they owe it back.
- Video review teams are so good, if they challenge for offsides you can just about bet your bottom dollar that they were able to identify someone a smidge ahead of the play. It’s clinical at this point, that group came up huge for the Pens in the third period.
- Big time game for Crosby with the three points, he ended up punching through but you had to love the nights for the second and fourth lines too. They were all over the place and had firm control of the puck. It’s a wonder they didn’t get more than Lizotte’s late-game goal that ended up almost
It was a fun game, also a very clunky game at times with calls, missed calls, disallowed goals, a couple of late goals and an OT finish that truly could have gone either way. It ended up going the Pens’ way, but Detroit won’t have to wait long for a measure of revenge. Both teams see each other in 38 hours from the time at writing on Saturday afternoon.
Category: General Sports
