Rust’s OT Goal Salvages Penguins’ 5-4 Victory Over Florida

The Pittsburgh Penguins still face a long, steep climb to get to where they want to be in the standings, but they are closing in on a milestone that might have seemed unreachable just a week ago.

They defeated Florida, 5-4, at PPG Paints Arena Tuesday night for their fourth consecutive victory and, in the process, made it to within one game of .500 (11-12-4).

Of course, breaking even would be, at best, a modest accomplishment, but it would represent significant progress for a team that sputtered and struggled through the early weeks of the season.

The two points didn’t come easily, however. As has been the case so often this season, the Penguins squandered a multiple-goal lead — 4-1 in the third period, to be precise — before Bryan Rust claimed the victory by scoring from inside the right circle at 1:31 of overtime.

Florida appeared to take a 1-0 lead at 8:26 of the opening period, when right winger Adam Boqvist beat Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry from the top of the right circle, but the Penguins challenged that the play had been offside. A video review confirmed that Panthers center Anton Lundell had not tagged up properly before defenseman Nate Schmidt carried the puck into the offensive zone.

The Penguins needed less than a minute to take advantage of that reprieve, as rookie defenseman Owen Pickering staked them to a 1-0 advantage at 9:20 with his first goal in the NHL.

Pickering threw a shot past Panthers goalie Spencer Knight from the left point, thanks in large part to Michael Bunting’s screen in front of Knight. Blake Lizotte received the only assist.

Evgeni Malkin made it 2-0 at 10:32, burying a puck behind Knight from the inner edge of the left circle for his sixth of the season. Assists went to Philip Tomasino — his third point in four games since being acquired from Nashville — and Drew O’Connor.

Much of the period played out in the Penguins’ end, and Matthew Tkachuk got the Panthers within one by sticking a shot behind Jarry from inside the right circle at 17:24. His goal came on Florida’s 12th of 13 shots in the opening 20 minutes. The Penguins generated five on Knight during that period.

Sergei Bobrovsky, a key figure in the Panthers’ surge to the Stanley Cup this spring, did not accompany his teammates here because his wife was preparing to give birth in Florida, and nothing Knight did is likely to prompt Bobrovsky to rush back out of fear he’ll be replaced as the go-to goalie.

After scoring on two of five shots during the first period, the Pittsburgh Penguins made the most of their second in the second period.

Krls Letang collected the rebound of a Matt Grzelcyk shot that caromed off the boards behind the net and beat Knight from the outer edge of the right circle to put the Penguins up, 3-1.

Lizotte and Grzelcyk picked up assists on the goal, Letang’s fourth of the season and second in two games.

The first half of the game passed without a penalty being assessed to either team, a streak that was broken when Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov was sent off for slashing O’Connor at 11:17.

The Penguins failed to capitalize on that power play and Jarry subsequently preserved their lead with an excellent stop on Aleksander Barkov after a ghastly giveaway by Grzelcyk.

Marcus Pettersson produced what appeared to be an insurance goal at 3:45 of the third to swell the Penguins’ advantage to three, but Florida began to claw back in a matter of minutes.

Sam Bennett countered Pettersson’s goal at 6:55 and Boqvist lifted Florida within one at 8:58.

And while Lizotte was serving a high-sticking minor that gave the Panthers their first power play of the evening, Tkachuk collected an Aaron Ekblad rebound and tossed it past Jarry at 11:27 to tie the game.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are scheduled to practice Wednesday at noon at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.