In Pittsburgh Monday, the Penguins needed an overtime goal from Justin Schultz midway through the extra session to get past the Calgary Flames, 4-3.
“It was a tough game there,” Schultz said. “[The Flames are] a good team. They’re playing hard, obviously. They’re trying to fight for a playoff spot. So, it was a tough game. I thought we were just average tonight. We didn’t play our best, but we found a way to get the two points.”
The Flames responded to each push by the Pens in regulation, especially the first period when they erased a 2-0 deficit.
Evgeni Malkin and Chad Ruhwedel gave the Pens a 2-0 lead early in the game.
Mark Giordano and Mikael Backlund rallied the Flames back.
“I thought we played a good game,” Backlund said. “It was a tight game. After the first, I thought we were a better team than in the first. … It was a tight game all the way until the end. Obviously, we wanted two points, but we’ll take the one and we need two big wins here on the road.”
Kris Letang gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead in the second and Calgary replied again on a goal from Troy Brouwer with two seconds on the clock in the second period.
“I think the game was played back-and-forth. In the third, they were searching for a goal and to get the game. We finished the period really strong. We had so many scoring chances at the end. We could’ve taken the game there,” Letang said after the game.
Tristan Jarry made 35 saves to pick up the win for the Penguins who improved to 38-25-4.
“Like every position we have, performance is always going to be the dictator,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “The guys that play well are going to tend to get more of the ice time. Tristan has had a couple of pretty strong starts. I thought he was solid tonight. He made some real quality saves at key times that allowed us to get the win.”
[WATCH: All Flames vs. Penguins highlights]
Jon Gillies made 28 saves in taking the loss.
“The pucks were kind of bouncing all night on me,” Gillies said. “So, kind of fighting the puck. But at the end of the day, wish I could have made more saves, but got a point out of it from a really good team game and hopefully we can get a win on Wednesday.”
The Flames dropped to 32-25-10.
“Didn’t get off to the start that we wanted. A couple goals there. I thought our response, though, right after, was really good. It showed a lot of character and resilience. I thought from then on, we had a pretty good road game,” Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan said after the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.