For much of the season, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin have more than carried the load for the Penguins when it comes to putting pucks in the net.
At least for one night, a handful of Penguins’ role players eased the superstars’ burden. Both Drew O’Connor and Jeff Carter netted key goals, Jansen Harkins chipped in his first assist of the year and the Penguins upped their point streak to five games by outlasting the St. Louis Blues with a 4-2 win Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
“We got to be able to rely on our big guys, but at the same time, we got to be able to bring something to the team,” Harkins said. “So, today was a good step and hopefully build on that.”
Skating in his 19th game as a Penguin, Harkins made a heads-up play to get Carter his fourth goal of the year. With the Penguins holding a 2-1 lead, early in the third period, St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer tried to saucer the puck up the boards from behind his net. But Harkins picked it off at the half wall, then immediately dished to Carter at the net front for an easy tap-in.
While he netted a shootout goal in a win over the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the month, Harkins was thrilled to finally get on the scoresheet with the Penguins.
“After a while, you just want one to drop,” Harkins said. “Happy it worked out in the game, helped us win.”
It was O’Connor, though, who got the night’s scoring started. Malkin skated toward the Blues’ net with only defenseman Marco Scandella in front of him, then dished to O’Connor for his fourth goal of the season.
Coach Mike Sullivan has deployed O’Connor on the Penguins’ second line for a good chunk of the season now, and believes the 25-year-old winger is getting better acclimated to playing to Malkin’s right.
“He's shown an ability to score goals at other levels,” Sullivan said. “I think maybe, he might be starting to figure it out at this level.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt O’Connor’s cause that Malkin seems to be rediscovering his form from a red-hot start to the season. Albeit a bit lucky, Malkin scored on the power play early in the second soon after St. Louis got one with a man advantage.
With his right skate, Malkin deflected in a Guentzel pass from the left face-off circle for his 14th goal of the season. It was Malkin’s third goal in as many games, a stretch during which he’s registered five points.
“When his confidence is high, you can see it in his body language,” Sullivan said of Malkin. “I feel like that's where he's at right now. He goes over the boards, he feels like he's gonna make an impact on the game, and he has.”
O’Connor, Malkin and Carter’s goals gave the Penguins a third-period lead, but only by a goal. Blues forward Robert Thomas snapped a one-timer past Tristan Jarry from just above the goal line to knot the tally at one apiece early in the second.
After Malkin and Carter’s goals, former Penguin Kasperi Kapanen made sure his current club wouldn’t go down easily. Not long after Radim Zohorna tripped Kapanen, the Blues winger deflected in a shot from the point for his fourth goal of the year, bringing St. Louis back within one.
Of course, the Blues easily could have scored more than their two goals. Per Sportlogiq, the Blues had 16 high-danger scoring chances, one of which was gifted by Erik Karlsson. In the final minutes of the second, Karlsson made an ill-advised pass to spring the Blues for a 3-on-1 short-handed chance.
Jarry, who made 25 saves on the night, turned away a Torey Krug wrister, ensuring the Penguins maintained a lead they never gave up.
“You're obviously there to bail the guys out, and I think the guys always do a great job in front of me,” Jarry said. “It's nice when I can help.”
So, too, did Crosby, albeit late in the contest. While the captain’s scoring prowess wasn’t needed for the first 58 minutes of regulation, he lent his services via an empty-net goal with 1:31 remaining to ice the Penguins’ fourth victory in five games.
But dissimilar from most of the season, it wasn’t Crosby propelling his team to a win. Instead, it was a collective effort, especially on defense in the third, that allowed the Penguins to earn their 17th win of the year against a pesky Blues team that had their number back in October.
“We held on,” Guentzel said. “It wasn't the best third, but we held on. That’s all that matters.”
ICE CHIPS
• Defenseman Ryan Shea was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton prior to Saturday night’s game. Shea, who’s in his rookie season, has skated in 22 games for the Penguins this season. He was a healthy scratch
• Pierre-Olivier Joseph, scratched in each of the Penguins’ previous four games, was not available due to illness and prompted Shea’s call-up. Zohorna, meanwhile, skated despite missing Friday’s practice due to illness
•For the first time since Rickard Rakell was activated from long-term injured reserve, he skated with the top power-play unit. Valtteri Puustinen, meanwhile, dropped down to the second group
•Rakell has recorded a point in four consecutive games. He’s gotten on the scoresheet in all but one game since being activated
• Vinnie Hinostroza was a healthy scratch for the fifth game in a row
• By assisting on Malkin’s goal, Guentzel has points in nine of the Penguins’ 12 games this season
• Carter’s goal was the 435th of his NHL career and 45th with the Penguins
STAT N’AT
5 – Slot shots on net by Guentzel, per Sportlogiq. St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn (three) was the only other player in the game besides Guentzel with more than two.
THEY SAID IT
“Third periods are huge in tight games like that,” Harkins said. “We got to be able to hold on to leads, and be able to build on a lead, right? We can't really let it go down to the wire.”
COMING UP
The Penguins are in action again Sunday night, hosting the New York Islanders in the second leg of a back-to-back. Another Metropolitan division rival in the Washington Capitals comes to town Tuesday night to wrap up a stretch of three home games in four days for the Penguins.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1
First Published: December 31, 2023, 2:45 a.m.
