Penguins Report Card: Domination, Possession & D-Men Flying in SO Win (+)

Mike Matheson supercharged Kris Letang for a couple of games. Matheson and John Marino did the same for the Penguins attack on Thursday night. The Penguins back end pushed the puck and the forwards held onto the puck. The Pittsburgh Penguins blasted the St. Louis Blues with 45 shots on goal and 35 scoring chances.

Justice was served, eventually, as the Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues and goalie Ville Husso 3-2 in a shootout at the Enterprise Center. The Penguins outshot St. Louis 41-21 in OT and 45-25 overall. Get the Penguins postgame here.

You may have some handwringing over the Penguins’ lack of finish over the last two games in which they outplayed their larger Western Conference opponents. The Penguins squeezed 11 shots on four power-plays, not including a few that may have been uncounted on a third period power play in which they had frantic whacks near the crease like a practice drill.

“I thought our guys played hard–we played hard in Nashville, and if we put that kind of a game on the ice consistently, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win on most nights. I thought tonight we were the better team for a lot of the night,” head coach Mike Sullivan said.

The hockey gods didn’t let the Penguins go hungry. Bryan Rust scored the shootout winner after three scoreless rounds. All’s well that ends well.

The Penguins blew the dust off their 2016 Stanley Cup playbook to beat the 2019 Stanley Cup champions.