Now that’s more like it.
Two nights after turning in one of their worst efforts of the season, certainly one of the sloppiest, the Penguins reversed engines and throttled the Flyers, 5-1, in a key Metro matchup. In Philly no less.
Heroes for the black-and-gold were many. Sans the “Rustache,” Bryan Rust paced the attack with a goal and two assists. Sidney Crosby netted two goals. Kevin Hayes and Tommy Novak one apiece. Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson each chipped in with two helpers.
Perhaps the best, or at least the most important performance came between the pipes. In top form, Tristan Jarry stopped 28 of 29 shots and never allowed the Flyers to gather steam.
Crosby got the Pens off and running at 9:18 of the first period, snapping a made-to-order rebound past Philly netminder Dan Vladar.
The Pens were humming until they got into a peck of penalty trouble early in the second period. With Karlsson already in the sin bin, Connor Clifton flattened Matvei Michkov at the side of our net and was whistled for interference.
Tyson Foerster scored seconds before the two-man advantage was set to expire…but hold the phone. Kris Letang took a careless high-sticking penalty just as the red light flashed to put us down by two men for another 47 seconds. Mercifully, Jarry and the penalty killers, most notably Blake Lizotte, held the fort, allowing us to dodge a very large bullet.
When Rodrigo Abols took the inevitable even-up penalty at 7:50 of the frame, Sid made ‘em pay on the power play, courtesy of a gorgeous backhand feed from Rust.
From that juncture on, our guys never looked back. Rusty smoked Vladar, again on the power play, with a wrister at 15:52 to make it 3-1. Novak struck on the power play at 13:52 of the third period to pad our lead. Hayes closed out the scoring against his ex-mates two minutes later with a backhander on a breakaway.
Puckpourri
The Pens shot high glove side on Vladar, and it paid off handsomely.
As anticipated, Rutger McGroarty slotted next to fellow rookies Ben Kindel and Ville Koivunen and was quite noticeable, unleashing two shots on goal and dishing out three hits. The “Kid Line” combined for five shots on goal and topped the Pens’ units with an Expected Goals for Percentage of 70.30.
I also loved the work Boko Imama did in his NHL season debut…and the fact that coach Dan Muse didn’t shy away from using him. The heavyweight forward delivered three hits and two shots on goal in 9:39 of ice time while making himself a menace on the forecheck. Boko nearly scored in the final minute, ringing one off the post.
I really like the physicality that he and Clifton, inserted on the third defense pairing in place of Matt Dumba, provide. To a man, the Pens seemed more chippy and feisty with those two in the lineup.
Parker Wotherspoon’s stretch pass to set up Hayes was a thing of beauty. He, too, sticks his nose in and makes life difficult for opposing forwards.
With Jarry taking charge between the pipes, does that put the kybosh on a potential trade? The latest rumor to float my way, totally unsubstantiated, has us dealing him and Ryan Graves to the Oilers for Darnell Nurse.
Hayes seems to be fitting in well next to Sid and Rusty. Still, it’ll only help our cause to get Rickard Rakell and Justin Brazeau back, hale and hearty.
With the victory, the Pens (13-7-5) move into a fourth-place tie in the Metro with Philly. At the present, we occupy the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Up next, a clash with the Lightning and old friend Jake Guentzel in Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
Did I mention the Pens are 10-5-2 going back to last season with Imama in the lineup?