Penguins

Penguins Blow 3-Goal Lead to Terrible Sharks, Surive in Shootout

Published

2 weeks ago

November 16, 2024

Pittsburgh Penguins Game 4-3 SO Win over San Jose Sharks

PITTSBURGH — Fresh from their humbling loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, Pittsburgh Penguins (7-10-3) coach Mike Sullivan inserted a pair of rookies into the lineup against the San Jose Sharks (5-10-4), and the team scored a trio of goals in the first period, two of which counted.

Things looked quite rosy for the Penguins, but perhaps you’ve heard this story before—the Penguins blew a multi-goal lead. In fact, this time, the Penguins threw away a three-goal lead to San Jose, which was the worst team in hockey last season and has the second-fewest points in the league this season. It was the eighth time in 20 games this season they’ve played hot potato with a big lead.

Edit: The official tally was updated to eight times.

Evgeni Malkin scored the winner in the fifth round of the shootout for the 4-3 SO victory.

San Jose made it interesting in the third period, and the lead-challenged Penguins didn’t just casually flirt with giving up a 3-0 lead; they openly and aggressively did it.

Former (and maligned) Penguins forward Mikael Granlund, who came to San Jose in August 2023 through the Erik Karlsson trade, beat all of the Penguins to the net and found a loose puck to shelve over goalie Alex Nedeljkovic to close the gap to 3-2 at 6:56 of the third period.

Then Tyler Toffoli (8) scored his second goal of the game at 11:40 of the third, was inexplicably unguarded between several Penguins, and beat Nedeljkovic from inside 20 feet.

It was an interesting strategy, letting an awful team score three unanswered goals.

The Penguins capitalized on San Jose’s absentee defensive zone coverage just over a minute into the game. Penguins winger Bryan Rust (5) realized he was uncovered behind the net and simply skated into the crease to stuff a backhand past San Jose goalie Vitek Vanecek at 1:01.

The game was billed as the first meeting between Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Macklin Celebrini, the 2024 first-overall pick. However, the first rookies of the game to get a point were Pickering and Penguins 2019 first-round pick Sam Poulin. Pickering’s slick misdirection at the offensive blue line created a passing lane to Poulin, and Jesse Puljujarvi buried Poulin’s rebound for a 1-0 lead at 6:34 of the first.

In between the Penguins’ goals, Evgeni Malkin added another tally on a ridiculous backhand over Vanecek’s glove. It was a two-on-one odd-man rush, but the Penguins’ other half of the rush, Michael Bunting, was well offsides, and the goal was overturned on review.

Mackenzie Blackwood replaced Vitek Vanecek after the first period, as Vanecek suffered an injury.

Early in the second period, Crosby inched closer to his 600th career goal with No. 599 on a slap shot from near the blue line that beat Blackwood at 4:19. It was Crosby’s first goal since the Nov. 5 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. He went five games without a goal. Crosby will be the 21st player in NHL history to reach the mark and just the second active player (Alex Ovechkin).

Erik Karlsson earned the primary assist with a couple of swift moves and elusive skating to the mid-wall and pass back to Crosby at the blue line.

San Jose broke the shutout with a power play goal in the middle of the second period. Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea’s wild ride continued as he intercepted a San Jose dump-in but pushed the puck directly to San Jose rookie Will Smith, who quickly passed it to an uncovered Tyler Toffoli at the side of the net. Toffoli (7) easily tapped the puck into the empty net behind Nedeljkovic.

The Penguins dominated the overtime period with four shots on goal, allowing just one, but were unable to score.

2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering made his NHL debut, and Vasily Ponomarev made his Penguins debut.

Nedeljkovic stopped 25 of 28 in regulation. Blackwood stopped 19 of 20 in regulation.