Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Islanders 3 (SO)

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 shootout win against the Islanders.

The 2019-20 season was pretty meaningful for the professional existence of Zach Aston-Reese. After a few years of scuttling along without much of a direction, Aston-Reese found his role last season on the team’s fourth (but really third) line along with Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev.

His basic numbers weren’t anything astounding. In 56 games, he put up 13 points (six goals, seven assists). But the way he was deployed sure was something. Along with his linemates, Aston-Reese was routinely put on the ice against the opposition’s top line and relied upon to shut things down.

What’s even more remarkable about his development last season is that he did it with a bad shoulder.

Aston-Reese underwent surgery on his left shoulder in August and was not able to make his season debut until Thursday.

After the game, in which he scored a key goal, he revealed how bad things were with his shoulder.

“There was just hesitation,” Aston-Reese said via video conference. “Going into battles, whether it was a battle or a fight or crosschecking around, there was a chance of my shoulder potentially slipping out. To not have to worry about that anymore and have that hesitation out of my game, it’s huge for me, especially the way that I play.”

Aston-Reese has to be physical in order to stay in the NHL. He’s not a missile of a forechecker like Brandon Tanev. He’s more of a bumper and a grinder. That’s to say he muscles guys off pucks or just barges through defensemen on the boards. He won’t light someone up with a big hit. He’ll probably just burrow through contact to get where he needs to go.

That’s kind of how he scored his goal on Thursday. He got busy on the end boards, won a one-on-one battle and scored on a wraparound.

It was a promising start for a player the Penguins need on their fourth (but now third) line.

“For Zach to come back in, score a goal in his first game after having not played for six-plus months, that’s not an easy challenge,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought he did a real good job. He kept the game simple, he played within himself and the goal he got was huge for us.”

What happened

The Islanders took the game’s first lead 5:39 into regulation. Trying to settle a dump-in by the Islanders in his own zone, Penguins defenseman John Marino fumbled the puck in his own slot while under pressure from Islanders forward Casey Cizikas. Taking possession of the puck, Cizikas pushed his way through a nugatory checking attempt by Marino and deked from his forehand to his backhand to his forehand before tucking his third goal of the season past the right skate of goaltender Casey DeSmith. Assists went to forward Cal Clutterbuck and defenseman Ryan Pulock.

Things were tied, 1-1, at 11:47 of the first period when the Penguins’ top line went to work. Marino slinked his way up the Islanders’ right half wall and left a drop pass for Crosby. Surveying the zone for a moment, Crosby zipped a seam pass to forward Jake Guentzel to the left of the crease. Guentzel then fed the puck to the front of the cage where Penguins forward Bryan Rust was able to fend off Islanders forward Mathew Barzal and tapped in his third goal past goaltender Semyon Varlamov’s right skate. Guentzel and Crosby registered assists.

New York reclaimed a lead, 2-1, with a power-play score at the 16:40 mark of the first. Taking a pass at the center point, Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy waited for a shooting lane to open and lifted a wrister towards the cage. Mostly unguarded above the crease, Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau was able to redirect the puck with his stick past DeSmith’s blocker for his second goal. Leddy and forward Josh Bailey had assists.

The Penguins’ third line tied the game again, 2-2, at 7:03 of the second. From the center red line, Blueger dumped a puck into the Islanders’ end boards. Stripping the puck from Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson, Aston-Reese emerged from behind the cage and tried to jam in a backhand shot. Varlamov denied the first shot but could not hold off Aston-Reese’s second backhand attempt. Blueger and Tanev netted assists.

At 13:35 of the third period, a brilliant individual effort gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead. As Penguins defenseman Kris Letang pinched in on a puck at the Islanders’ right point, Islanders forward Anders Lee rubbed him out on the boards. That allowed Barzal to pick up the puck and push play through the neutral zone. Gaining the Penguins’ blue line, he challenged Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph one-on-one and taught the rookie a hard lesson. Going inside-out with a few dekes, he jammed up Joseph and attacked the net, putting a forehand shot past DeSmith’s glove hand for his fifth goal. There were no assists.

Desperate to tie the game, the Penguins pulled DeSmith late in regulation for an extra attacker. Controlling the puck on the left half wall, Rust fed a pass to Letang at the left point. Fending off Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck, Letang slid a pass to the right half wall for Malkin who chopped a one-timer through a phalanx of bodies, beating Varlamov’s blocker on the far side. Guentzel and Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech screened Varlamov on the sequence. Assists went to Letang and Rust.

In the shootout, Crosby scored the only goal. DeSmith stopped all three shots he faced.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 35-29.

• Rust led the game with six shots.

• Lee led the Islanders with five shots.

• Letang led the game with 26:45 of ice time on 33 shifts.

• Pulock led the Islanders with 24:47 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• The Islanders controlled faceoffs, 32-25 (56%).

• Pageau was 11 for 15 (73%).

• Crosby was 15 for 24 (63%).

• Dobson, Islanders forward Jordan Eberle and defenseman Scott Mayfield each led the game with three blocked shots.

• Forwards Mark Jankowski, Colton Sceviour and Letang each led the Penguins with two blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• This game was far from perfect for the Penguins. They trailed early and never got a lead until the end. In fact, this game followed a pretty common script for this team in that they trailed for much of it.

It’s a great attribute to be able to make a comeback, but a better trait is the ability to claim and hold a lead.

• DeSmith was far from perfect as well. But does he battle. He really gave his teammates a chance to stage this comeback. He continues to be the Penguins’ top goaltender.

• The Penguins were granted only one power-play chance in this game and they never really looked like a threat to convert it. In fact, they gave up a really good short-handed chance that DeSmith had to make a pretty strong save on. They have gone seven games without a power-play goal and are 0 for 20 over that span.

• Speaking of special teams issues, the Penguins’ penalty kill has allowed a goal in six consecutive games.

• It wasn’t all bad for the penalty kill. Shortly before Pageau’s goal, Aston-Reese and forward Mark Jankowski almost came up with a two-on-none goal but were denied on a tough save by Varlamov:

• The Aston-Reese / Blueger / Tanev line looked like it never missed a beat. They fit in perfectly in a game against an opponent like the Islanders who like to slow things down and battle it out in tight spaces.

• Aston-Reese’s five shots matched a career-high.

• Sceviour returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for three games.

• Barzal torched Joseph on the Islanders’ third goal. That was a pretty special moment for Barzal. He tried something earlier in the third period against Joseph and DeSmith came up with a tough save.

Historically speaking

• Aston-Reese changed his number from 46 to 12. He became the 26th player in franchise history to wear No. 12. His predecessors:

Ken Schinkel, Blaine Stoughton, Kelly Pratt, Greg Malone, Mitch Lamoureux, Dean DeFazio, Tom O’Regan, Tom Roulston, Bob Errey, Larry Depalma, Troy Murray, Chris Wells, Sean Pronger, Martin Sonnenberg, Billy Tibbetts, Michal Sivek, Ryan Malone, Chris Bourque, Brett Sterling, Richard Park, Jarome Iginla, Chuck Kobasew, Ben Lovejoy, Dominik Simon, Patrick Marleau.

• Rust (180 points) surpassed forward Rick Tocchet (179) for 46th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• DeSmith (25 wins) surpassed Sebastien Caron and Al Smith (24 each) for 21st place on the franchise’s career goaltending wins list.

Publicly speaking

• Letang on Malkin’s goal:

“(The Islanders are) a good team defensively. They converge very well at their net. They block a lot of shots. (Malkin) did a good job of getting out of the shooting lane and getting open. And it was just a great shot. That’s what he does well, shoot the puck. And we had good traffic in front. A great goal all around.”

• Sullivan on Malkin’s goal:

“It’s huge. It’s a huge goal for us. I think we needed a win for our confidence. I believe we have a resilient group here. I loved how our guys dug in down the stretch. For (Malkin) to score that one, all the elements were in play. We worked on that six-on-five (scenario) a fair amount. We had traffic in front. That was a big part of it. We made the goalie’s sightlines difficult. And (Letang) makes a good pass, he puts it right in (Malkin’s) wheelhouse. And obviously, (Malkin) can really shoot the puck.”

• Letang on his team’s propensity for needing comebacks to win:

“Earlier in the year, we didn’t have great starts. So, when you fall behind, you’re always trying to get back in the game. But lately, our starts have been good but we managed to fall behind a little bit. But we managed to prove how much character is in this dressing room. Guys never give up. We have the personnel to come back in games. It’s never done before the (final) buzzer.”

• Sullivan on his team’s history of comeback wins this season:

“It takes a certain level of resilience, it takes a certain level of mental toughness and a belief in the group that we can come back. These guys, they don’t get discouraged and just try to continue to play the game the right way and keep fighting throughout the course of the game. I give the players a lot of credit. They deserve a lot of credit for that resilience. … They have a belief in themselves that they can come back regardless of what the circumstances look like. We’d prefer not to chase games but early in this part of the season, we’ve chased a fair amount of them. “

• Rust on the penalty kill issues:

“We’re maybe just a little bit disconnected. In some situations, we seem to do a fairly decent job for a lot of penalty (kill sequences). Then there are one or two big breakdowns that always end up in the back of our net.”

• DeSmith on how he handles shootouts:

“I try to challenge initially and discourage the straight shot. Then try to hold my feet, stay patient, make them make the first move. And just keep the gap small so it makes them a little bit uncomfortable.”

• Letang on DeSmith:

“He works hard. Other (than) being a hard-working guy on and off the ice, he’s really tough to read. Sometimes, you’re able to know what the goalie is going to do. He keeps the shooter guessing. It served him really well in the shootout tonight again. He works on his game. He’s a true professional.”

• Rust on DeSmith:

“That guy works his (backside) off. It’s just as simple as that. You can see it in practice, you can see it after practice. He’s always working hard. He’s such an athletic goalie, he always seems to get across and make those saves and make the big saves in games when we need them.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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