PITTSBURGH — Monday night in Vegas, in their final game of their season-long six-game road trip, it looked as if the Penguins were about to deliver their third straight dud.
They had gotten worked over by the Los Angeles Kings and needed third-string goalie Louis Domingue to steal a game in San Jose. Then they had a shaky first period in Vegas before scoring three goals in the third to salvage a win.
“We got our [stuff] together,” Jeff Carter proclaimed after with a chuckle.
Did they, though? That certainly didn’t appear to be the case Thursday when they came way too close to coughing up a four-goal lead against the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena. They held on, 6-4, to win their third game in a row.
As far as three-game winning streaks go, this one feels far from exultant.
The Penguins had a 5-1 lead after two periods despite the Senators having a decisive advantage in shots, odd-man rushes and shots from the slot. Tristan Jarry was keeping the puck out despite looking off-kilter on a few occasions.
But everything came unglued in the third period. The Senators scored two quick goals. Jarry needed to stop Alex Formenton on a penalty shot. And then Josh Norris, left alone in front of Jarry, got the visitors within a goal with 11:58 left.
Eventually, Jake Guentzel’s empty-netter allowed the Penguins to exhale.
In their last game, Monday’s 5-3 win in Vegas, the Penguins fell behind 3-0 in the opening period before roaring back. This time, they grabbed the early lead. Dominik Simon, Evgeni Malkin and Mike Matheson scored to put them up, 3-1.
Simon, interestingly, was in the lineup over Zach Aston-Reese, who was activated from the COVID-19 list Thursday and was on the ice for warmups. Simon dug the puck out of the defender’s skates and fired a shot past Anton Forsberg’s glove.
Moments later, Brian Boyle, another who got the nod over Aston-Reese, dropped the gloves with Austin Watson. The big guy got stick taps after that scrap.
Was Aston-Reese simply not ready physically? He said after Wednesday’s practice that he felt good, having not experienced COVID-19 symptoms this time around. Or do Simon and Boyle really have the inside track on playing time? This could be a situation to monitor as coach Mike Sullivan looks for his optimal lineup.
After Jarry let a rebound leak out after an unobstructed shot from 24 feet out, resulting in a follow-up goal by Drake Batherson, Malkin poked in a loose puck at the other end to make it 2-1. The crowd roared when he scored his first game at PPG Paints Arena this season. Malkin returned from injury last week.
Former Penguins prospect Filip Gustavsson replaced Forsberg after Forsberg gave up another goal that was waved off because the Penguins were offside. Matheson welcomed Gustavsson to the game by charging in to score on a rebound.
Those three goals, two of them quite grimy, masked what was a mediocre period for the Penguins overall. Their passing was far from crisp, their transition defense far too loose and they gave up 22 shots, including 13 from the slot, per Sportlogiq. All of those things continued trends from the end of their road trip.
Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal in the second period. It was a jailbreak as the Penguins entered the offensive zone then Crosby finished off Bryan Rust’s pass. Kris Letang picked up an assist to push his point streak to nine games.
Matheson sniped his second goal of the game to make it 5-1 after 40 minutes.
Beyond his two goals, which upped his season total to five, Matheson added an assist and still had another relatively uneventful night in his defensive end.
Last season, Matheson was often all over the place — sometimes good, sometimes bad. Partnered with the understated Chad Ruhwedel on the third pair the past two months, he has played a steadier game. Thursday’s win was his ninth straight game with an expected goals percentage above 50, per Natural Stat Trick.
The Senators kept coming in the third and finished with 25 shots from the slot. But thankfully, the Penguins scored five goals on 33 shots against Forsberg and Gustavsson, giving them the cushion they needed to escape with a win.
When the week began, the expectation was that Matt Murray would be between the pipes for the Senators on Thursday. But in his first game back in Pittsburgh, he had to sit up in the press box. He was sidelined with a non-COVID-19 illness.
Watching a video tribute for him on the PPG Paints Arena Jumbotron, the two-time Cup-winner patted his heart and waved to all the fans chanting his name.
The Penguins will play the second half of a back-to-back Friday in Columbus.
