In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby scored a power play goal at 6:10 of the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and send the Penguins to a 4-3 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Monday night.
The Pens had taken a 3-0 lead into the middle frame, and then sat back watched the Wild rally to tie it, including Vinni Lettieri’s goal just 41 seconds ahead of the Crosby strike. .
“Getting the lead, not having to chase the game, that’s an important part,” Crosby said. “It would’ve been nice to put it away a little bit and not allow them to come back. … We’ll just try to keep building here.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves in the win.
“I wouldn’t say there were a lot of conversations (after the loss Saturday). There were a couple of candid ones,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re in this thing together, the coaches and the players. There’s a partnership there. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to do our job as a coaching staff to bring some solutions to the table.
“We’re trying to put the players in position to be successful. We’re trying to give them a real good understanding of what Penguins hockey looks like. When we play it, we can be a real competitive team.”
The Penguins moved to 14-13-3.
The Penguins broke out early in the game with a first period marker from Reilly Smith at 7:39 for a 1-0 lead.
In the middle frame, Jake Guentzel hit off the power play with 39 seconds gone in the period for a 2-0 advantage.
Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin pushed the lead to 3-0 at 3:34 off an off man break.with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1.
The Wild dropped to 12-13-4, and had their three-game win streak snapped.
“There are games and times where you have to be able to come from behind,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I thought we clawed our way back into the game. … There are games where they’re tied, sometimes you have a lead, sometimes you’ve got to come from behind. I thought there were a lot of positives from that.”
The Wild then rallied with two goals in the second to get within on, 3-2, headed to the third.
Ryan Hartman scored at 15:05 of the second to get the Wild on the board at 3-1.
“It’s the first time we had to chase in a while, but those things happen,” Hartman said. “We were able to tie it up. So, liked the way we responded.”
Jake Middleton hit at 17:30 to make it it 3-2.
Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves in the loss.
“I don’t know why we came out so weak today,” Gustavsson said. “Didn’t help when they got some power plays, too. You have to restart after those ones. We were always on the back foot today.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.