SUNRISE, Fla. — How the Penguins tamed the Florida Panthers during a 4-2 victory on Thursday at FLA Live Arena felt familiar. Stellar goaltending. A potent power play and stout special teams. Outplaying the opponent in the final period.
But there was a potentially worrisome development, as coach Mike Sullivan's team stretched its season-long winning streak to seven games: After he was credited for scoring a third-period goal at 8:05, Evgeni Malkin went down in a heap and was helped to the Penguins dressing room in obvious pain.
Malkin absorbed the brunt of a Sidney Crosby point shot on the right leg, seemingly above the knee that he had surgically repaired in September 2021 and below where his pants might've lessened the blow.
Fresh off scoring with 35 seconds left Monday to down Dallas and averaging a point per game prior to Thursday, Malkin did not take another shift, and no additional information was available on his condition.
The goal became hugely important, too, as Sam Reinhart scored at 10:14 of the third period to make it a 3-2 game.
Had it not been for the apparent Malkin injury, Thursday's game easily could have been about the dominant and acrobatic play of Tristan Jarry, who had been riding one heck of a heater: 9-0-1 with a .941 save percentage over his last 10 starts, plus leading NHL netminders in wins since Nov. 12 with nine.
The save to circle came early in the second period, as Jarry robbed Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov from point-blank range, the first of many terrific stops in the period for the Penguins netminder.
Next came the intersection of strength and weakness. The Panthers power play began the night without a goal in four consecutive games, going 0 for 13 in that time. The Penguins penalty kill, meanwhile, has been the NHL’s best outfit since Teddy Blueger returned on Nov. 15, clicking at 92.1%.
Go figure, the Penguins did themselves one better with their third short-handed goal of the season, tying the game at 1 when Kris Letang finished a two-on-one rush with Bryan Rust at 4:17 of the second period.
Ryan Poehling chipped the puck out. Rust used his speed, and Letang finished nicely for the fifth short-handed goal of his career, most all-time among Penguins defensemen and second when looking at active blueliners across the NHL.
Brock McGinn enjoyed a couple of terrific chances on the same shift a short while later. Jake Guentzel skated to the bench shaking his head following a mis-executed two-on-one. But the Penguins didn’t have to bemoan missed opportunities for long.
On a power play later in the middle period, Malkin launched a wrister from the point, and Guentzel carefully angled his skate to redirect the puck into the net. After some griping from the home bench, officials determined it was not a distinct kicking motion, allowing the goal to count.
The sequence had to please Guentzel, who earlier missed a power-play opportunity on the doorstep. Letang made the play possible with a terrific keep-in. But none of that was as visually pleasing as Jarry’s acrobatics.
If the stop on Barkov wasn’t enough, he later robbed Brandon Montour on a backhand chance. Only that wasn’t his most acrobatic stop. That was probably a sprawling stop moving from his right to left, somehow maneuvering his pad in the appropriate place to deny Sam Bennett.
“What was that, an upside-down praying mantis?” analyst Phil Bourque wondered on the radio broadcast.
Might’ve been. Might’ve also been Jarry stealing the show, which he very much did with a few more saves during a dominant period, those coming on Aleksi Heponiemi and Nick Cousins, the goal prevention giving Pittsburgh’s offense time to catch up and erase Florida’s early advantage.
On an extended possession made possible by Florida corralling a couple of rebounds, left wing Ryan Lomberg gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead with his goal at 5:30 of the opening period.
Stationed to the right of the cage, Lomberg was in perfect position when Jarry stopped Eric Staal’s shot. With Jan Rutta a little late closing out, Lomberg turned and whacked the puck past Jarry’s glove for an easy goal.
But thanks to a short-handed tally and a pair of man-advantage markers — Pittsburgh is now 10 for 27 (37%) on the power play over the past seven games — the Penguins left the building smiling, at least as much as they could while surely worrying over Malkin's status.
Ice chips
— Danton Heinen, a healthy scratch in five of the past seven, drew into the lineup at second-line left wing with Malkin and Rust. He took the lineup spot of Jason Zucker, who’s out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
— Guentzel scored into an empty net late to seal it.
— With his second-period assist, Malkin extended his points streak to seven games (2 goal, 11 points).
— The Penguins have power-play goals in seven consecutive games, the first time that’s happened under coach Mike Sullivan. The last time the Penguins pulled that off was Nov. 17 to Dec. 1, 2015.
— The Panthers were without their scoring leader, Matthew Tkachuk, who missed the game because he was sick.
Stats ‘n at
— 8: Career goals for Letang against the Panthers, all of them coming on the road.
Coming up
The Penguins are off on Friday. They will practice on Saturday morning in Raleigh, N.C., before taking on the Hurricanes at PNC Arena. Puck drop for that one is scheduled for 5 p.m.
