News from the Penguins: “Not Afraid to Play to Win” More PP Changes, and the Penguins Have a Bright Future
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Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins led in the third period, just as they did 24 hours earlier.
The similarities ceased there.
They allowed a Sabres team that had been booed off the ice at the second intermission to score three times in the final 15 minutes of regulation to transform a 2-0 advantage into a 3-2 setback on Friday night in Buffalo.
Twenty-four hours later, they successfully defended a one-goal lead in the final period to defeat Toronto 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena.
“We weren’t afraid to go out there and play to win this game instead of being scared of losing it,” said defenseman Erik Karlsson. “It’s a positive step for us.” Hopefully, it will boost our confidence if we find ourselves in the similar circumstances again against a good team like Toronto.”
The Maple Leafs fought hard for a tying goal in the third period, firing 15 shots at goalkeeper Tristan Jarry, but the Penguins held the advantage well, making wise decisions and executing smoothly.
“It was the polar opposite from what happened (Friday), which is everything you can ask for in the situation we were in today,” Karlsson said at the time. “It worked out today for us. We can play third periods like this again and not win when playing powerful teams like Toronto, but I believe that if we play like we did in the third with the lead today, we’ll win more games. We’ll hopefully get some confidence from that if we find ourselves in the same circumstance again, which I’m sure we will.”
With 27.9 seconds remained in the second period, Karlsson scored the game-winning goal.
eff Carter won a faceoff in the right circle in the Maple Leafs’ zone, pulling the puck to Kris Letang along the right-wing boards. Letang slid a pass to Karlsson, who was at the right point and drove a shot through a screen set by Noel Acciari and past goalie Joseph Woll.
And yes, the play went exactly the way it had been drawn up.
“It’s been a set play in this league for as long as guys could shoot one-timers,” Karlsson said.
Noel Acciari
Coach Mike Sullivan offered a pretty straightforward assessment of Noel Acciari’s night.
Acciari, he said, “probably had his best game as a Pittsburgh Penguin so far.”
Acciari is the fourth-line center who doesn’t often figure prominently in the offense, but he scored the Penguins’ second goal and set the screen that made Karlsson’s goal possible.
His goal, which lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins into a 2-2 tie, came after Acciari intercepted a pass by Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie along the board behind the Toronto net, then took the puck out to the goal line before throwing a high shot past Woll on the short side.
“It was a fortunate turnover,” Acciari said. “I got my stick on it and was able to pull it out of the corner. (Matt Nieto) got a good moving screen for me and I was able to put it in.”
Mike Sullivan
After going 0-for-3 on the power play against Toronto, the Pittsburgh Penguins have not scored a man-advantage goal in seven games, going 0-for-18 in that span.
There have been some personnel and positioning tweaks of late, and Mike Sullivan said there might be more adjustments and alterations on the way.
“We’ll see where it goes,” he said. “That’s still a work in progress. We know we’re capable of being better in that regard. We’re going to work with the players to try to find their very best game. We’re trying to bring some solutions to the table. We tweaked the personnel groups a little bit. We’ve moved people around, positionally.
“But we understand that’s an area where we have a real opportunity to grow and get better. I believe we have the talent, the players to get it done. and these guys are going to be difference-makers for us. We just have to stay with it.”
Sullivan suggested that his players appeared bent on bouncing back from their breakdown in Buffalo — “The resilience and the resolve were there from the drop of the puck,” he said — and that it was evident in the way they held on to the advantage against Toronto.
“When our team is at its best, we’re on our toes,” Sullivan explained. “We’re playing against top squads. In many ways, our best defense is our up-ice puck-pursuit game. I don’t believe our team is at its best when we retreat and allow other teams to attack us. I thought we just played a little more cautiously in the third quarter (Friday night). We got a lot of numbers back, but we didn’t dictate the terms as well as I believe our team is capable of doing, so we spent more time in our end and they ended up scoring a couple of goals.”
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