Penguins/Sabres Recap: As a wise man once said, YOU’D HAVE TO BE HERE TO BELIEVE IT!

The Pens win a roller coaster of a game in OT against Buffalo. Evgeni Malkin gets his 500th goal, Sidney Crosby gets point 1,600 (and 1,602 in OT)

Pregame

The Penguins use a similar lineup to Monday night’s win, only change is that Jack St. Ivany is in and Ryan Shea is out.

The visiting Buffalo Sabres are going with the following group for tonight’s game.

First period

It only takes 43 seconds for a nightmare to begin for Tristan Jarry. The goalie misplays a puck behind the net when Tage Thompson smacks it away. Then it goes from bad to worse in the luck department when Thompson tries to send the puck out from the right side but it gets blocked back at him, so Thompson goes to the other side, where Jarry isn’t looking/leaning and is able to put it in the net. 1-0 Buffalo early.

The misfortune compounds again, another crazy bounce on Erik Karlsson pops right in for Jordan Greenway to sneak in. It’s a close shot but poor form from Jarry meant he never had a chance and Buffalo is 2-for-2 in the shot to goal department early.

The Pens are able to steady themselves with a power play earned by Kris Letang takes a high-stick. Sidney Crosby takes another (uncalled) high-stick and steals the puck back. Crosby drops a pass for Evgeni Malkin. Looking for goal No. 500, Malkin fires. Ukko-Pekka Luukonen makes the save but a fortunate bounce this time leaves a slam dunk goal for Bryan Rust at the door step. 2-1 game, and Crosby records his 1,600th point in the NHL!

Buffalo gets a 2v1 rush, Jack St. Ivany does the one thing you don’t want a defender to do by allowing the pass through and JJ Peterka rips a really nice shot to the top of the net. Of all the goals, this one isn’t on Jarry but in 10:32 he’s allowed three goals on five shots and his night is over.

Joel Blomqvist comes in and makes a few saves to the delight of the crowd.

Shots are 12-9 Pittsburgh in the first, but it was a brutal period for a Penguin team that fell behind too early.

Second period

Not much going on early. Karlsson gets way too casual in the neutral zone and loses the puck to lead to a Sabre breakaway. Luckily Blomqvist coolly makes the save.

Karlsson makes another casual play and the speedy Peterka gets around him. His shot hits the post and somehow while sliding Blomqvist avoids knocking the rebound into the net, but Marcus Pettersson is whistled for a slashing call on the sequence.

There’s a ref show with penalties on Jason Zucker then Matt Grzelcyk in quick succession to lead to a 4v3 Buffalo power play. Noel Acciari does well to win a puck and start a 2-on-1 with Drew O’Connor. O’Connor carries the puck and unleashes a great shot into the net.

However, Buffalo challenges for offside. It was very close, Acciari didn’t drag his leg going into the zone but after a long delay, the goal stands. 3-2 game and Buffalo is penalized for the failed challenge and we get the rare 3v3 in regulation.

Blomqvist keeps standing tall and the Pens find an equalizer. Nice play by Lars Eller to feed Jesse Puljujarvi who facing away from the goalie lifts a nice backhander into the net. 3-3, against all odds.

Shots are 11-10 Pittsburgh in the second. Most importantly, the Pens get 10 saves and owe a lot to Blomqvist’s performance that it is a tie game with 20 minutes to play.

Third period

Rust punches the puck in from in tight following a brilliant one-touch pass from behind the net by Crosby. However after a review the refs rule no goal due to Rust interfering by pushing Luukkonen’s pad into the net.

Eller draws a penalty, Michael Bunting gets a great look off a cross-ice pass but Luukkonen makes a big time save on him. As the power play is ending, Malkin and Crosby work a classic give-and-go, Malkin drives to the net and scores his 500th goal in an amazing effort from virtually his back on a third attempt at the shot. The Pens’ bench clears in a celebration.

And it gives the Pens their first lead of the game at 4-3.

The good times don’t last, Malkin and Cody Glass get chances but can’t pile it on and if it felt like a bad sign of things to come, it was. More lackluster defending and Peterka almost goal hanging back there leads to yet another break for him. He doesn’t miss for his second goal of the game over Blomqvist’s shoulder. 4-4 game.

Forty seconds later the bloom comes off the rose. The Pens can’t get a clear or the puck, eventually Ryan McLeod shoots from deep and the rising shot beats Blomqvist. 5-4 Buffalo back on top just like that.

The Pens pull Blomqvist — and it works! Malkin’s blast of a shot leaves a rebound that Rust and Rickard Rakell converge on. Rakell pokes it in for his third of the season and to tie the game with just 46 seconds left!

Overtime

Crosby-Rust-Karlsson start the first OT of the season for the Pens. Sid drives to the net on a power move but can’t score due to a rolling puck.

Buffalo takes a tripping penalty, Pittsburgh gets a 4v3 power play with 4:17 to go. The big boys work the puck around, and Crosby wins it at the doorstep off a Karlsson pass. Unreal.

Some thoughts

• Tristan Jarry, sigh. What can you even say?
• To say a little more, the wheels are completely off his game right now. It’s plain to see his confidence is shot. All the preseason hype about a fresh start and being in great condition is out the window, it matters not. He’s picked up where he left off in the second half of last season, which is giving up too many goals early in games and often getting pulled. Time will tell if that results in losing his job again like last year but it’s not looking good.
• And granted this is completely personal and emotional and of no real value but after Jarry gets pulled he sits on the bench, acting calm with no reaction. Obviously a person has to be competitive as hell at that position to make it that far but it’s infuriating to see him cool on the outside. Break a stick! Throw a blocker down the hall! Stomp to the lockerroom for a bit to take a moment to decompress! Do something! (Granted, this is no doubt a no win situation and ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ territory, since many would be complaining if he had a petulant or whiny response). I don’t need it to be performative but showing some displeasure or any emotion at all would humanize him and look better than just taking it all in.
• OK, I guess I said a lot more on the topic after all. It feels better that way, right? It almost feels like a different game by the end of it.
• The first 30 minutes were about the worst Karlsson has played as a Penguin. Maybe extend it out further but it was especially bad early. As mentioned above, casual seems like the perfect word. There’s a thin line between patience and playing too slow and he was on the wrong end of it.
• Disjointed was the word for the Pens. Little things all over the place were awful. Malkin stole a puck and ran into Michael Bunting who got in his way highlighted this. A bit later Marcus Pettersson tripped over himself making a switch. Random weird stuff everywhere. Letang and Karlsson not coming through in spots they need to, ugly stuff.
• But, that said, when you have a goalie to erase it all, sure helps. Big ups to Blomqvist for stopping the first 15 shots he saw and keeping the team in the game. If he isn’t super sharp while coming in cold the scoreboard could have gotten very ugly.
• On the positive side though, the Pens’ power play remembered how to get pucks and bodies to the net. So that’s nice. Scored twice in six opportunities and two of them were very, very short and the Malkin goal happened seconds after another expired. And add in the 6v5 at the end of the game (though not a power play) but same concept in spirit. That’s encouraging to see in the early going.
• Third line was great as well. Scoring goals, drawing penalties, they’ve got something cooking. The fourth line was also competent, bottom six play continues to be an impressive development in the early going of the year.
• The drive by Malkin to score that goal was an illustration of what makes him special, that blend of skill and desire. He wanted the milestone goal and wouldn’t be denied, so he went and scored it. The top players always know how to put on that extra bit of flair in the big moments.
• It would have stung on the big milestone night for Malkin and Crosby if the Pens couldn’t get the win. Individual achievements are nice and all but it’s all for naught in a team sport without that victory. Luckily there was enough time to find an equalizer and see a little more magic in OT. Crosby (1G+2A) and Malkin (1G+3A) ended up with huge games, because of course they did. What a run they’ve sent us all on these last 19, 20 years, truly special and unbelievable and nice it doesn’t have to end on a sour note.

Carolina is up next, it will be the last home game for Pittsburgh in a while. The Pens have some tightening up to do and some very real questions right now, but they also are displaying some of their star power and moxie along the way. In that regard, nothing could be more fitting on a milestone night for both Crosby and Malkin individually to top it off with a thrilling win.