Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Islanders 3 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 overtime win against the Islanders:

No matter if the Penguins miss the playoffs or win the Stanley Cup this season (or anything in between), changes are going to be coming to the franchise on and off the ice this summer.

New general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke have all but said that would be the case. They have suggested they will do everything they can to win the Stanley Cup this season but after that, just about any potential change — aside from perhaps any involving franchise pillar Sidney Crosby — would be on the table.

Jared McCann has a very prominent seat at that table. Heck, that table might as well be his own personal booth in the diner.

An inherently useful player due to his versatility, McCann offers a lot to the Penguins. At the same time, he hasn’t always actually offered much.

That’s to say he’s prone to inconsistency.

For instance, last season, he looked like he was on the verge of reaching the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career when he put up nine goals and 17 points in his first 23 games of the season. But that production dried up as he could only muster five goals and 13 assists in the final 43 games of the 2019-20 regular season.

Things didn’t get better in the playoffs as he was held to a single assist and was even scratched for one of the Penguins’ four postseason games.

Entering the offseason as an unrestricted free agent, McCann was given something of a “prove-it” contract for two years and $2.94 million a season by former general manager Jim Rutherford. It served as a chance for the 24-year-old to prove he has a place with this franchise. But it also gave management some freedom in terms of potentially trading him or exposing him in the upcoming expansion draft this summer.

Basically, Rutherford and company were optimistic that McCann could carve out a meaningful role with the Penguins, but they didn’t want to allow that optimism to paint them into a corner.

This season, McCann had five points (two goals, three assists) in his first 11 games. That’s solid production for someone who was skating on a pretty unremarkable third line while getting time with the second power-play unit. An undisclosed injury on Feb. 6 then sidelined him for seven games.

As he was about to return to the lineup, McCann’s role with the team was once again in question. With the entire fourth line of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev promoted to the third line and playing effectively in that deployment, where was McCann going to play? Was he a fourth liner all of a sudden?

Fortunately for him, there was an immediate opening on the second-line left wing with Jason Zucker sidelined long term with a suspected left leg injury. McCann, a first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2014, was being given another chance to prove he could take full advantage of his considerable skills when he lined up next to Evgeni Malkin at center and Bryan Rust on the right wing to open Saturday’s road game against the New York Islanders.

He made good on that chance and in a big moment.

With the Penguins trailing 3-2, thanks to a mostly rotten second period, McCann was set up on a breakaway by Malkin and buried a strong forehand shot to tie the game.

That sequence showed McCann can take full advantage of skating with an elite center such as Malkin — even if Malkin has rarely shown those elite attributes this season — and be a difference-maker for the Penguins. And he did it at a time when the Penguins needed it badly, not just from the scope of Saturday’s game but from the context of Zucker’s absence.

“It was a great goal,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s got such a great release. His release is deceptive. It’s hard for goaltenders to pick up the puck off of his stick because of his release. He changes the angle really, really well and I think that’s what allows him to score the types of goals that he can score. That’s the player that he is. That’s a huge goal for us at the beginning of the third period.

“He’s a dangerous player offensively when he gets the puck. In the good ice, he’s a guy that can bury the pucks.”

What happened

After the Penguins were unable to capitalize on the first two-power-play opportunities of the contest, the Islanders converted on their only chance at 18:40 of the first period. Controlling play at center point of the offensive zone, Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy fed a pass to the left half wall for forward Oliver Wahlstrom. Faking a shot, Wahlstrom fed a pass to the front of the crease where Islanders forward Brock Nelson deflected a puck over goaltender Tristan Jarry’s left skate for his sixth goal. Wahlstrom and Leddy had assists.

The Islanders made it a 2-0 game 1:34 into the second period. After gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Islanders forward Anders Lee left a drop pass at the point. Islanders forward Mathew Barzal picked up the puck and cut across the slot, went wide on the right wing and lifted a wrister. The puck deflected off the stick of Penguins defenseman John Marino and snuck between Jarry’s glove and the near post for Barzal’s eighth goal.

Shortly thereafter, the Penguins were on their third power-play chance and finally cashed in at 2:17 of the second, albeit with a little bit of luck. After Crosby won a draw in the left circle of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang controlled the puck at center point. Surveying the scene for a moment, Letang fed a pass to the left circle for Crosby who chopped a half-slapper into a vacant cage for his seventh goal after goaltender Semyon Varlamov simply slipped and slid out of the crease. The lone assist went to Letang.

Only 26 seconds later, the Penguins also found success when Varlamov remained in his crease. Corralling a rebound behind the Islanders’ net, Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen spun off a check from Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock and fed a forehand pass to the right circle for Letang who whacked a one-timer past Varlamov’s blocker on the far side for his third goal. Assists were recorded by Kapanen and forward Jake Guentzel.

The Islanders reclaimed a lead, 3-2, at 14:51 of the second. From the left point, Nelson fed a pass low in the left circle for forward Anthony Beauvillier. Waiting for Letang to slide out of position, Beauvillier slipped a small pass to the slot for unguarded forward Josh Bailey who pumped a one-timer past the glove of Jarry for his second goal. Beauvillier and Nelson were credited with assists.

McCann tied the game 18 seconds into the third period with his third goal. After Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech failed to corral a puck at the left point of the offensive zone, Malkin chased it down in the neutral zone to create a two-on-one rush with McCann against Pulock. Opting to defend Malkin, Pulock ceded the slot to McCann. Malkin fed the puck to McCann who attacked the net and ripped a wrister past Varlamov’s blocker. The only assist went to Malkin.

In a back-and-forth overtime period, some more good luck led to the winning score by Letang. Taking a drop pass from Crosby in his own slot, Letang simply skated the puck up ice into the offensive zone. From the Islanders’ slot, he released a pretty mundane wrister that deflected off the stick of Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau and fluttered past Varlamov’s blocker. Crosby had the only assist.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 31-27.

• Crosby led the game with five shots.

• Barzal and Beauvillier each led the Islanders with four shots.

• Pulock led the Islanders with 25:21 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 25:06 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• The Islanders controlled faceoffs, 33-21 (61%).

• Nelson was 11 for 15 (73%).

• Crosby was 9 for 22 (41%).

• Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield led the game with five blocked shots.

• Marino and defenseman Marcus Pettersson each led the Penguins with two blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• Special teams were pretty key in determining the outcome of this game. Not so much because of the goals that were scored but because of how many more power-play chances the Penguins had (five) than the Islanders (one). While the Penguins didn’t do a great job of capitalizing on all that power-play time, the fact they were able to be on the attack so often was a huge boost. The Islanders had to expend a lot of energy in defending and that put the Penguins in a position to stage their comeback.

• The Penguins made a handful of lineup changes in addition to adding McCann to the lineup. On defense, Pettersson was promoted to the top pairing alongside Letang while Joseph was moved to the third pairing along with Cody Ceci.

Joseph had strung together a couple of rough games in recent weeks and seeing a lesser deployment appeared to do him some good. He simply seemed at ease in that role. Meanwhile, Pettersson appeared to be up to the task of being a stabilizing agent to the volatility Letang can offer. Aside from being lost a bit on Bailey’s goal, Pettersson was solid.

• The fourth line underwent something of a facelift. With Mark Jankowski sidelined due to an undisclosed injury — presumably from the late hit he took from Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson on Thursday — Anthony Angello made his season debut. It would be a stretch to say the fourth line as a whole was anything of note but Angello seemed to provide some energy. He didn’t mind throwing the body around and even created two shot attempts, putting one on net. He also logged 3:08 of power-play time on the second unit while serving as a net-front presence. In all, Angello had 9:07 of ice time on 12 shifts.

Granted, the bar has been set fairly low this season, but Angello might have had the best performance by a fourth-liner for the Penguins this season. It’s curious as to why he hasn’t been an option up until this point.

• With Angello being promoted to the NHL roster from the taxi squad, Drew O’Connor was assigned to the taxi squad. O’Connor might have a fairly bright future with the Penguins, but he hasn’t arrived yet. He has been a largely inert presence ever since he recorded an assist in his first game Jan. 26. Considering he is a first-year professional, O’Connor looks like a player who could benefit from some seasoning with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

• Sam Lafferty took over for Jankowski as the fourth-line center. It would be charitable to say he distinguished himself in that role.

• Kapanen found a way to contribute to a goal for the third consecutive game. He has been finding a way to offer something positive ever since he was benched last week.

• Jarry was solid once again with 24 saves on 27 shots. But he looks like he could benefit from a night off after seven consecutive starts. Presumably, with a rematch against the Islanders on Sunday less than 24 hours later — Sunday’s game starts a little after 5 p.m. — backup Casey DeSmith will get his first start since Feb. 11.

• Letang had a great game. But it wasn’t perfect. While he did rack up three points, he was on the ice for a handful of garish defensive miscues. In a lot of ways, it was the classic Kris Letang game.

• Honestly, it almost seems like a small victory that Bailey was held to only one goal. He has always been a little bit troublesome for the Penguins during his 13 years with the Islanders but he looked like he had a rocket on his back on Saturday. He had two really good short-handed chances — each with Letang defending, in a loose definition of the word — that were denied by Jarry with some strong saves.

Bailey was so good that he was even given some extra shifts when Barzal ran into penalty issues.

• On Saturday morning, the Penguins hired Chris Pryor, a long-time associate of Hextall, as director of player personnel. That meant Derek Clancey was relieved from the position.

Clancey’s departure from the Penguins brings an end to a pretty successful run with the organization. Hired by former general manager Ray Shero as a professional scout in 2008, he was promoted to director of professional scouting in 2010. By 2019, he was promoted again to director of player personnel by former general manager Jim Rutherford.

During that time, Clancey was a member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship teams in 2009, 2016 and 2017 and even got his name on the Cup for the two most recent championships.

He had input on all trades at the NHL level, good (Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Phil Kessel, Trevor Daley) and bad (Douglas Murray, Daniel Winnik, David Perron, Derick Brassard). In more recent times, he helped recruit undrafted free agent forward Radim Zohorna from the Czech Republic.

The primary reason for his dismissal simply seems to be that he wasn’t Chris Pryor, a person Hextall trusts a great deal. Hextall suggested the parting was amicable and said he wanted to give Clancey a chance to get back on his feet as soon as possible.

Regardless, Clancey was a key component behind the scenes during the greatest era of franchise history.

Head Scout Derek Clancey smiles as he brings the #stanleycup home to Quidi Vidi NFLD. @NHL @HockeyHallFame @penguins pic.twitter.com/O48l9gyUcM

— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) August 9, 2017

Historically speaking

• The Penguins’ last overtime win against the Islanders was a 4-3 road victory at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Nov. 7, 2019. Rust scored the winning goal that capped off a comeback from a three-goal deficit.

• Guentzel (217 points) surpassed forward Randy Cunneyworth (216) for 40th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Kapanen’s assist was his 100th career point.

• Letang sure likes getting goals against the Islanders:

Letang has 3 career multi-goal games vs #Isles, tying record for d-men shared by 4 others: Coffey, Greschner, Mezaros, and Leetch. #Penguins #NHL #NHLStats

— Eric Hornick (@ehornick) February 28, 2021

• Granted, things are kind of off-kilter this season with division-only games due to the pandemic, but Letang has a chance to set a record for most goals in a single season by a defenseman against the Islanders. Currently, he has four over five games (with three remaining). Former Penguins defenseman Paul Coffey had five in seven games during the 1989-90 season while former Rangers defenseman Mike McEwen had five in eight games during 1978-79.

Publicly speaking

• Rust on the Penguins needing to stage another comeback in the third period to win:

“I guess it’s kind of playing with fire a little bit. But it shows our team’s character and our team’s resilience. We’ve got great leaders in the locker room and guys who are just going to go out there and try to work hard. Whether we’re down one, two, three goals, I don’t think it really matters. We’re just going to go over the boards, work hard and try to climb back in games.”

• Letang on his team’s strong play in overtime periods this season:

“The guys that go over the boards, they’re committed to play the right way three-on-three. Obviously, there’s a lot of ice. It’s tough to defend when you don’t have the puck. But I think this year, the focus on details, keeping your man and winning those battles has been really, really good. If you’re committed defensively three-on-three, you have a good chance to create offense. With the quality of players that we have … I like our chances every night.”

• McCann on his team’s approach to overtimes:

“Hold onto pucks. It’s a puck possession game. You’ve got to make (the opposition) tired. If you can do that, you can create opportunities for yourself. You have to have smart line changes. We have the skillset on this team, we have a lot of skill that can create chances. … It’s something that we’ve worked on a lot but it just comes down to just our mindset with being able to hang onto pucks, being able to make them tired, moving our feet.”

• Rust on Letang:

“He’s a world class player. Anytime he gets on the ice, he plays huge minutes for us. He plays in all situations, he does so many things. To see him get two huge goals here again tonight just shows he leadership and his character. When the team needs him, he’s just going to step up.”

• Islanders coach Barry Trotz sang Letang’s praises:

“Letang is probably on a 50-goal pace against us if he keeps going the way he’s going this year. It feels like he gets two every game.”

• Rust on McCann:

“He was great. As the game went on, he just got better and better. He complemented (Malkin) and I well. Obviously, he had a huge goal there. We had a lot of (offensive) zone time on our line. We got some chances. We’re just going to try to build off of that for sure.”

• Sullivan on Angello:

“He brings us some size. He can skate. He has a physical dimension to his game. He plays a simple, reliable trustworthy game and we thought we’d try him on that fourth line. I thought he had some good minutes for us. He can play at the net-front on our second power-play (unit). He’s done a lot of that at the (American Hockey League) level in (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). I thought Anthony had a good game for us.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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