For Penguins, a New, Happy Ending to Tired, Old Story

There was nothing original about the storyline the Pittsburgh Penguins lived through at PPG Paints Arena Tuesday evening.

Fact is, if there’s anything they’ve done with impressive consistency through the first third of the 2024-25 season, it’s failing to protect multiple-goal leads.

So while there is no shortage of reasons the Penguins (11-12-4) are staring up at most of the Eastern Conference and haven’t been on the sunny side of .500 since advancing to 3-2 with a 3-2 overtime victory against Buffalo Oct. 16, squandering advantages on the scoreboard, especially late in games, holds a prominent place on that list.

Perhaps the top one.

And so it was that, despite Florida carrying the play for much of the game, the Penguins found themselves up, 4-1, after a Marcus Pettersson goal early in the third period. (For anyone wondering, no, Spencer Knight is not a clear and present threat to wrest the Panthers’ No. 1 goaltending job from Sergei Bobrovsky.)

“When you look at the way the game was played, we were fortunate to be up a couple of goals,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

Although it could not have been envisioned that the Penguins would be so far ahead — something possible mostly because Tristan Jarry had been as good as Knight was leaky — what followed was about as predictable as a sunrise.

Barely three minutes after Pettersson scored, Sam Bennett made it 4-2. A little over two minutes later, Adam Boqvist got the Panthers within one.

And after another 2 1/2 minutes, Matthew Tkachuk converted the Panthers’ only power play into a game-tying goal.

At that point, all that remained was to determine who would deliver the coup de grace.

And few, if any, in the crowd likely were confident it would come from someone wearing a Penguins sweater.

Which is where the plot twist comes in.

The Penguins managed to limp through the balance of the third period unscathed, despite being outshot 17-5 during those final 20 minutes of regulation, and Bryan Rust brought the proceedings to an abrupt halt at 1:31 of overtime, beating Knight from inside the right circle for a 5-4 victory.

That stretched the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season-best winning streak to four games and, perhaps more important, reflected an attitude adjustment the team has undergone since earlier this season.

That’s what coach Mike Sullivan believes, anyway.

“It’s just the mindset of the group,” he said. “I just think we have a different feeling on the bench. … It was very different when we were maybe, a month ago, going through that rough stretch.”

The change, Sullivan said, is that the Penguins retained their composure and focus, even as the game looked to be getting away from them.

“What I liked about the group is, no one got rattled,” he said. “There was great conversation on the bench amongst the players. We were just trying to push back, simplify the game a bit, play more north-south, play more straight ahead and compete.”

Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering, who opened the scoring with his first NHL goal, echoed that assessment.

“I don’t think there was ever a feeling on the bench that it was starting to get away from us,” he said. “You don’t want to give up a 4-1 lead in the third period, but … it’s a testament to the mentality we have, in terms of coming back in overtime and winning the game.”

Leaving town with a point might prove to be important for Florida, which is the defending Stanley Cup champion and is intent on winning another title, because it could prove to be the margin that gives the Panthers home-ice advantage in a playoff series or two.

In some — maybe even most — seasons, donating such a point to a conference rival might be a source of exasperation for the Penguins, but at this juncture, the odds of them finishing close enough to the Panthers that home ice would be an issue in a postseason series are roughly the same as the chances of the Penguins facing the Detroit Lions in the Super Bowl.

Which, rounded up, comes to precisely zero.

Whatever objectives — the realistic ones, at least — the Pittsburgh Penguins have for this season are considerably more modest than those of the Panthers, but figuring out how to stay in front once they get there during games could go a long way toward attaining them.

“It is frustrating (to let leads slip away), but we have to take this victory and feel good about it,” Pettersson said. “It’s a tough thing, to win in this league.”