Penguins Report Card: Team Shows Heart, ‘Beers Taste Better’

NEW YORK — “Beer tastes good, but after a win, it tastes better,” Alex Nedeljkovic quoted Penguins coach Mike Sullivan as saying before the game.

At the start of the annual Father’s trip, the Penguins gave their best under the most trying circumstances. The dads were pretty happy after the game, too.

“Where’s that beer!” one dad said to the group with a big smile.

Recap: Penguins Rise to Challenge, Grab Gutsy Win in New York

The Penguins overcame more obstacles than an American Ninja obstacle course Friday and earned a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Blake Lizotte and Rickard Rakell scored even-strength goals in the second period. Philip Tomasino scored the game-winner on the power play.

No Sidney Crosby? No problem. Sans Evgeni Malkin? Same answer. Facing a red-hot Rangers team that recently acquired J.T. Miller on the road? Sure thing.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was barrel-chested after the game, clearly proud of his team’s effort without Crosby and Malkin against a top-shelf opponent. As for comparison’s sake, here’s what Sullivan said Friday morning about what the team had to do for a win:

“High compete level. A lot of structure and good puck management. I think that’s going to be an important aspect of winning games (without the star centers),” Sullivan said. “And so the reality is guys are going to get an opportunity to step up and help us win. And our expectation hasn’t changed. We’ve got capable people in the lineup. These guys got to get excited for the challenge.”

And for comparison’s sake, it would seem Sullivan got his wish. In front of the group of dads who were waiting in the hallway outside the locker room, the Penguins coach was a proud papa of hard effort.

“I just think it speaks volumes for the type of people that we have in our dressing room. You can thank that group right over there (the Dads) because they’re a reflection of those guys,” Sullivan said. “They’re great. They’re great kids. They compete hard, and they don’t look for excuses–this was a game that we potentially could have (looked for excuses), but we didn’t. I thought our guys competed hard. We battled. We found a way. Some guys stepped up, and we got good goaltending. I thought our competitive spirit was as good as it’s been.”

In the first period, the Penguins very much looked like a try-hard team that was going to fall short in the first period. They chased pucks, created turnovers, and had offensive opportunities that met the crest of New York goalie Igor Shesterkin or whistled wide of the net.

Undeterred, the Penguins and de facto top-line center Rakell, who hasn’t played center in years—not since his first couple of seasons in Anaheim nearly a decade ago—created chances.

More importantly, the Anthony Beauvillier-Rakell-Bryan Rust line largely fought the Rangers’ top line with Miller, Artemi Panarin, and Mika Zibanejad to a draw. Each line had a goal, and the scoring chances tilted slightly toward the Penguins (6-4 scoring chances, 2-0 high-danger chances).

In truth, that game was a lot of fun to watch, even the third period in which the Rangers attacked and the Penguins defended. In fact, the Penguins had exactly ZERO shots on goal in the third. Yet, the game didn’t ever seem out of control or tenuous.

“Yeah (it shows) just how resilient we can be when we want to be. We probably didn’t have the most offensive or zero shots in the third, but we were able to keep a very offensive team from scoring,” said Noel Acciari. “I think that shows that when we want, we can play really good in the D-zone, and it will be hard to play against us.”

Penguins Xs and Os

Structure. Desperation and necessity largely kept the Penguins in place.

They nary put a skate out of place on the forecheck. Except for Erik Karlsson’s rotten whoopsie in the first period, which spotted Vincent Trocheck’s first-period goal, the Penguins took care of the puck.

There were very few odd-man rushes, and the few New York had, a pair of large Penguins defensemen (Vincent Desharnais and Ryan Graves) were able to nullify them (More about them in the report card).

The Penguins simply kept the same playbook as when Crosby is in the lineup–they got the puck low, forced New York to defend, but the Penguins also did a very good job of getting to the net against the New York defense. That came from not throwing pucks away with bad shots or carefree passes.

The Penguins forecheck was buttoned up, too. You may have noticed layers in the neutral zone. Heck, sometimes it looked like a 1-4 trap (it wasn’t), but the Penguins did well to keep themselves between the puck and the destination.

A few defensemen were really good, too.

And the goalie. Alex Nedeljkovic was sharp, too. He outdueled Igor Shesterkin.

Penguins Report Card

I’m going to gush a little here. As a fellow plugger, I enjoy it when the down-line guys are the stars and the game is gritty.

Team: A+

Heart. Soul. Want-to. All 60 minutes.

Nedeljkovic: A

He controlled rebounds, peered through traffic, and made all of the saves he needed to make. Nedeljkovic made 25 saves.

P.O Joseph: Wow

He had himself a game. Joseph attempted five shots (one on goal), but he was all over the ice. He chased down an odd-man break and took the puck like he was playing against mites. In the first period, he weaved through two defenders like he was Malkin and let rip for the top corner–just missing.

Vincent Desharnais-Ryan Graves: A

Graves had the shoulda-been goal in the second period bounce off his stick, but the pair were a blanked in the defensive zone. Desharnais even showed some puck poise, avoiding the New York forecheck and skating with the puck when necessary.

They took away a lot of passing lanes and New York setups by getting their sticks in the lanes.

Rickard Rakell: A+

Play center against Miller, Panarin, and Zbinejad. PHN asked if he was ever a little afraid of the task.

“Not really. I mean, I didn’t feel like I had a lot of expectations on me because it’s a new position,” said Rakell. “So, I could just go out and try to play. Do as best as I can. Obviously, I want to do it as good as I can. I thought we played pretty well.”

Penalty Kill: A+

One OK call and one dive put the Penguins shorthanded for most of the last 5:38 of the game. How many leads have the Penguins blown in this building? I can think of three in 2022.

“I mean, everyone who was on a PK in this league is very prideful of what they do and takes a lot of pride in it. And that’s true with our group as well,” said Lizotte. “You look at the time of the game and the situation, a couple of minutes to go up by one, everyone takes even a little bit more pride at that time. So, for us to get it done when there’s two points on the line was huge.”

Aside from the effort, the PK may have been the star of the game.

“I just think there was a level of urgency. That’s a pretty dynamic power play that they have. Just (our) willingness to do the little things–win puck battles, block shots,” Sullivan said. “They had a couple of looks, but I thought our guys competed hard, and that’s an important element. And the other aspect of it is just decision-making and execution. We want to be a high pressure kill, but we have to do it collectively. And I thought we did that. We recognized when we had an opportunity to jump pucks and put them under pressure, and we did it collectively as a group. It wasn’t an isolated effort.”

Surprise Efforts: 

Philip Tomasino, Emil Bemstrom.

Tomasino was hard on the walls, aggressive, getting after the puck and physically getting to the net.

Bemstrom certainly didn’t float. He got between the dots, used his body to shield pucks, and the pair–with center Kevin Hayes–comprised the Penguins’ best statistical line. The line had seven of the eight shot attempts while they were on the ice, out-chanced the Rangers 3-1, and didn’t allow a high-danger scoring chance.