PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored in a shootout Sunday to help the Penguins beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2, at PPG Paints Arena. The victory, one of their more improbable ones this season, was its fifth in a row. Pittsburgh has won 16 of its past 18 games.
The Penguins, with tired legs and a few achy bodies after an injury-filled first period, somehow rallied back from two goals down in the third to get it to overtime.
The Penguins got within a goal after a botched Jets breakout then a fortunate bounce off the skate of Kasperi Kapanen. Suddenly, it was a tie game 9 seconds later. Connor Hellebuyck coughed up the puck and Jeff Carter banked one in off of Hellebuyck from the right corner as the goalie scrambled back into his net.
Crosby got the lone goal in the shootout to complete a stunning comeback.
The Penguins were playing for the third time in four days and collectively looked like they could use a nice Sunday afternoon nap. The Jets came out flying and had the Penguins on their heels right away. If not for the brilliance of Tristan Jarry, the Penguins could have found themselves down 5-0 midway through the game.
After Blake Wheeler flipped a backhand behind him a few minutes in, Jarry stopped three breakaways in the first period, and early in the second stretched to make a spectacular left pad save on a 2-on-1. The Penguins allowed 10 odd-man rushes in the first two periods, per Sportlogiq. And, it actually felt like more.
The Penguins had tightened their transition defense up a bit in Friday’s 5-2 victory in Columbus. But that concerning trend continued against the Jets.
Part of the problem was the power play looking completely out of sorts. The Penguins’ zone entries were a mess. Their brightest stars, including Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, were too often cavalier with the puck. And, there seemed to be confusion on a few occasions over which guy was supposed to skate to a certain spot.
Pittsburgh had four power plays during the first two periods and couldn’t convert.
The Jets got one on the power play in the second. Kyle Connor, whom Jarry had robbed a couple of times, beat Jarry on the short side from the left circle.
With Hellebuyck looking as sharp as ever in the Winnipeg crease and the home team lacking juice, that 2-0 deficit felt insurmountable. But Kapanen and Carter would score in quick succession to wake up the PPG Paints Arena crowd.
In overtime, both goalies made big saves. Hellebuyck waited out a dangling Malkin then Jarry turned aside Wheeler after he sneaked behind the defense.
Crosby chipped one off the post with 12 seconds left in the 3-on-3 overtime. But he got the winner in the shootout. Jarry kept all three Jets attempts out.
The goalie punctuated the gutsy win with an emphatic blocker uppercut.
Four Penguins forwards went to the dressing room during the first period.
Teddy Blueger was bloodied badly by a hit to the head from Winnipeg defenseman Brenden Dillon. He spilled so much blood onto the ice that the officials went to an early TV timeout so the ice crew could clean up puddles that were visible from the cheap seats. Dillon was not penalized but could later hear from the NHL.
A few minutes later, Bryan Rust got drilled in the right wrist by a Jake Guentzel shot and headed right down the tunnel to join Blueger in the training room.
Then, in the final minute of the period, Brock McGinn was banged up after an illegal check along the boards by Jets blue-liner Nathan Beaulieu. As McGinn, hunched over, slowly headed toward the bench, Brian Boyle charged to his defense. Naturally, Boyle apparently hurt his hand in that brouhaha with Beaulieu.
When the buzzer sounded to end the first, the Penguins had just nine able bodies on their bench. Hey, at least they were able to properly social distance.
Fortunately for them, Rust, McGinn and Boyle were declared good to go for the start of the second period. Only Blueger was unable to finish the game.
Time will tell if any Penguins are idle Tuesday when Arizona visits Pittsburgh.
Sunday’s game, which had a 1 p.m. ET puck-drop, began a six-game homestand.
Letang played in his 900th career game and had his point streak snapped at 10.
