Thursday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Lightning lacked nothing for excitement or mild controversy. The Penguins raced out to a 3-0 lead only to do what they’ve done multiple times this year, blow it.
Tampa Bay ultimately stormed back into the game tying things up in the third period. It was the kind of thing that seemed inevitable. The Lightning had no shortage of quality chances throughout the night and if not for Tristan Jarry the Penguins would have lost 7-4 or something along those lines. Instead, it was a Penguins 4-3 victory on the back of timely goaltending and a Penguins legend turning back the clock.
Geno electric
For whatever reason Evgeni Malkin seems to go out of his way to score against the Tampa Bay Lightning over the course of his Hall of Fame career. Some of his better highlight reel goals have come against the Florida franchise.
He added another one last night when he sneakily swooped in to steal the puck and went in on a breakaway. Geno galloped down the ice and finished things off with an old school forehand backhand forehand five-hole maneuver
This goal could have been from his 2011-12 MVP season and I would have believed you. It combined all the traits which have made him great throughout the years. The lurking and pouncing on unsuspecting opponents at exactly the right moment, galloping up the ice, and the silky smooth finish. It was a treat to see him score a goal like that in his year 39 season.
He wasn’t done. The Penguins blew their three goal lead and things were looking bleak. Then Geno was able to cap things off near the end of the third period with what was ultimately the game winning goal.
For his efforts Geno was given the player of the game from his teammates
https://x.com/penguins/status/1996795947985367410?s=20 .
Additionally, he joined his long time best bud, Dan Potash.
I know Kyle Dubas set the Olympic break as the time to sit down with Geno to talk about a potential extension or retirement, but perhaps we can speed that timeline up. He has 29 points in only 26 games.
I won’t sugar coat this, if Evgeni Malkin wants to play another year and the Penguins don’t allow him to do so in Pittsburgh I will be beyond livid. Give the legend another year. He’s still playing great.
Controversial finish
Even after Evgeni Malkin scored late you knew things weren’t just going to end smoothly, and they didn’t. Seemingly, Nikita Kucherov laser beamed a puck from the halfwall over Jarry’s glove kissing the post. It was an outrageously good shot and things looked head to overtime, until…
So, I thought this was pretty cut and dry. The puck did hit the Lightning player’s hand and his teammate was the first person to touch the puck. By rule, this was the correct interpretation of what happened.
That said, in my league, we wouldn’t be reviewing things like this. I also wouldn’t have offside reviews to decipher if a skate was a millimeter in the wrong direction. I think it is pretty lame to take amazing goals off the board like the one Kucherov scored, but it isn’t my league. It is the NHL and we know they can’t get out of their own way. Every other league is looking for offense, not them. Gotta take those goals off the board.
Jarry excellent
Tristan Jarry continued his bounce back season in impressive fashion against the Lightning. Even when the team was enjoying a three goal lead things were dicey. They were giving up great chances not only at even-strength, but while on the power play as well. Jarry stood tall and thwarted things from getting off track.
Jarry finished the night stopping 37 out of 40 shots. He stopped 11 out of the 13 high danger attempts the Lightning took. If not for Jarry this would have easily been a loss for the Penguins.
Dan Muse has had the goaltenders on an every other start rotation, but that might not be how things play out moving forward. Jarry has been that good.
Exhale, Ville
Ville Koivunen did something he has been chasing the first 23 games of his career, his first career goal. It was one of those things where he certainly played well enough in those 23 games to get a goal, but it just didn’t happen. You could tell it was causing him to press and was eating at him. Ville, you can exhale, you did it.
If the Penguins are going to continue their success they very much need a player like Koivunen to be part of the process. He has the talent to help this team and can provide some of the depth offense which has been lacking in recent years. By scoring this goal I hope he can move forward with more confidence and lean into his impressive skillset.
Another kid goal
Ville Koivunen wasn’t the only kid with a power play goal last night. Ben Kindel scored his fourth power play goal of the season and his seventh overall. It came on a great shot pass from Erik Karlsson
The Penguins scored another two goals on the power play and are up to 34.4% on the man advantage this season, it remains the best unit in the league. The reason it is the best is because they aren’t forcing anything. They take what is given. Koivunen was given an open look from the half circle and he took it. Erik Karlsson had an open look for that shot pass and he took it. It makes things incredibly difficult to prepare for if the opposing power play is willing to attack in a plethora of different ways.
The Penguins skate out of Tampa with a fortunate two points and are still in a playoff position, ahead of where anybody thought they’d be in December
Things don’t get much easier as they head to Dallas, the second best team in the NHL, for a 6PM Sunday contest.
