Empty Thoughts: Penguins 6, Islanders 3

Observations from the Penguins 6-3 win against the Islanders:

Hockey doesn’t always make sense.

Take the Penguins’ power play for instance.

One would think it would be worse off minus the abilities of franchise center Evgeni Malkin, currently on injured reserve.

And surely, it wouldn’t get better when his replacement, a slick and skilled winger such as Kasperi Kapanen, also landed on injured reserve.

So when Jared McCann, a sturdy but inconsistent forward, steps in, there’s no way the Penguins’ sputtering power play will ever gain traction, right?

Right?

Riiiiighhttt?

Two games into using McCann on the top power-play unit, the Penguins have scored four goals and have multiple power-play goals in consecutive games for the first time in over a year. After going 2 for 4 during a 4-0 home win against the admittedly woeful Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, they were once again 2 for 4 against the New York Islanders on Saturday.

For McCann, after scoring both power-play goals against the Sabres, he helped set up forward Bryan Rust for the game-winning goal on the power play against the Islanders.

“I’ve got to have a shoot-first mentality,” McCann said via video conference. “I’ve got a decent shot. I’ve got to look to use it a little bit more here. But if (forwards Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Rust or defenseman Kris Letang) are open, I’m going to try to find them. I’m going to keep my head up and try to find them.”

At some point, McCann will lose this gig. Malkin will be healthy once again and he’ll pose a threat few others in the NHL can offer with that thunderclap of a one-timer from the right circle.

But for the time being, the Penguins appear to have found something with an imperfect fit in McCann.

“He brings a little bit of a different dimension,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s very good at coming off that strong-side wall, just getting off the wall, getting inside the dots. And he’s such a threat with his shooting ability and his ability to score goals. It presents a different look for our power play. He’s a real good power-play guy. That’s one of Jared’s strengths. We’ve used him there on occasion over the last couple of years since we’ve had him depending on who we’ve had in our lineup. But that is certainly one of Jared’s strengths and I just think it changes the look a little bit from a threat standpoint.”

What happened

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 5:48 into regulation. From his own right corner, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson pushed a pass up to the defensive blue line for forward Colton Sceviour who one-touched it to forward Sam Lafferty, rushing through the neutral zone. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Lafferty created a two-on-one rush with forward Frederick Gaudreau against Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey. Drawing Hickey into the left circle, Lafferty fed a forehand pass to the slot for Gaudreau who lifted a wrister past the glove of goaltender Ilya Sorokin for his first goal as a member of the Penguins. Lafferty and Sceviour collected assists.

They made it a 2-0 advantage at 10:07 of the first period. Off a neutral zone turnover by the Islanders, McCann gained the offensive zone with speed, lost it momentarily, then regained it in the slot. Settling play for a moment, McCann fed a pass above the left circle for forward Evan Rodrigues who chucked a knuckler of a wrister past Sorokin’s blocker on the near side for his fourth goal of the season. Assists went to McCann and Ceci.

Two consecutive power-play goals in the second period gave them a 4-0 lead.

First, 4:26 into the second period, forward Sidney Crosby collected his 14th goal. Settling a puck at the right point of the offensive zone, defenseman Kris Letang backpedaled to the center point and teed up a slapper that struck Penguins forward Jake Guentzel just to the right of the crease. During the ensuing goalmouth scramble, Crosby snuck in undetected from the right circle, collected the loose puck and lifted a backhander through the legs of Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield. Guentzel and Letang were credited with assists.

That was followed up by Rust scoring his 12th goal less than two minutes later at the 6:18 mark. Taking a pass at the left point of the offensive zone, McCann fed it low in the near circle for Crosby who one-touched it to the slot where Rust ripped a wrister through Sorokin’s five hole. Assists were recorded by Crosby and McCann.

The Islanders pulled Sorokin in favor of Semyon Varlamov but that did little to stymie the Penguins or Rust who scored again, in an even-strength situation, just over two minutes later at 8:21.

On a forecheck, Guentzel hounded Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech into a turnover behind New York’s net, claimed the puck and banked a pass off the right wall to the right point for Letang who golfed a one-timer. Varlamov made the initial save but allowed a rebound above the crease that Rust corralled and lifted into the net, past Valramov’s blocker, with a backhander. Letang and Guentzel netted assists.

The Islanders got on the scoreboard at 10:47 of the second period. Guentzel took a wrister from the left half wall of the offensive zone that went wide on the far side and struck the glass in the right corner. After Crosby failed to collect the rebound on the right half wall, it became a breakout for Islanders forward Mathew Barzal. Taking advantage of a poor line change by the Penguins, Barzal zipped up the left wing, surged past a lethargic Letang and attacked the net, lifting a wrister past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s glove for his 10th goal. Mayfield had the only assist.

Barzal’s talents led to another goal 5:23 into the third period. Skating up the left wing into the offensive zone, Barzal danced around a poke check from Pettersson and attacked the net. After Jarry denied Barzal’s forehand shot, Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier followed up on the sequence and fired in the rebound with a forehand shot for his sixth goal. Barzal and defenseman Nick Leddy tallied assists.

The Islanders made it a 5-3 games at 17:33 of the third. During a four-on-four sequence, they pulled Varlamov for an extra attacker and it paid off. Controlling the puck on the right half wall of the offensive zone, Islanders forward Josh Bailey dealt a pass to forward Brock Nelson on the end boards. From there, Nelson distributed the puck to the right circle for forward Jordan Eberle who got his seemingly obligatory goal against the Penguins by whipping a wrister over Jarry’s left shoulder on the near side for his 11th goal. Nelson and Bailey had assists.

An empty-net goal by Rust completed the hat trick at 19:18 of the third period. The score was unassisted.

Statistically speaking

• The Islanders controlled shots, 32-21.

• Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock led the game with seven shots.

• Rust led the Penguins with five shots.

• Letang led the game with 23:55 of ice time on 25 shifts.

• Barzal led the Islanders with 19:58 of ice time on 22 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 29-24 (55%).

• Crosby was 15 for 24 (63%).

• Islanders forward Casey Cizikas was 9 for 13 (69%).

• Pulock and Islanders defenseman Andy Greene each led the game with three blocked shots.

• None of the Penguins had more than one blocked shot.

• Jarry made 29 saves on 32 shots.

• Sorokin recorded the loss after making five saves on nine shots.

• Varlamov made 10 saves on 11 shots.

Randomly speaking

• There was a time that when Rust would score a goal, it was a kind of novelty. It didn’t happen all the time, but when it did, it was nice. Today, it’s kind of normal or customary when he racks up goals in bunches. Almost ho-hum.

His entire game has grown with time, but the way he’s added to his scoring touch throughout his career is something to marvel at. He used to just chuck pucks on net and hope they went in. Now, he’s a bit more calculating with how he shoots.

• Lafferty has pieced together a handful of solid games in the past week. In particular, his passing to set up goals as of late has been impressive.

His second NHL season has been kind of up and down, to be kind. Inconsistent, to be blunt. Either way, he’s needed a few nice games to balance things out for him.

• Gaudreau got his first NHL goal in more than two years. He genuinely seems grateful just to be in the NHL. So for him to piece together a three-game scoring streak, a first in his career, has to be especially profound.

• With forward Mark Jankowski (as well as Brandon Tanev) being added to the NHL’s list of absences related to covid-19 protocol, the Penguins recalled rookie forward Drew O’Connor from the taxi squad and he played his first NHL game since Feb. 25. It would be a stretch to say he stood out while playing on the fourth line. He logged 6:24 of ice time on 11 shifts and had one shot on three attempts.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill is on a bit of a heater. It has been perfect (17 for 17) over the past five games. And the Penguins have been without the services of three of their most regular penalty-killing forwards as of late in forward Teddy Blueger as well as Jankowski and Tanev.

• Jarry took a high-sticking penalty in the first period. That was his second penalty of the season. He is now tied with Darcy Kuemper of the Arizona Coyotes for most penalty minutes among goaltenders this season with four.

• The way Barzal tried to carry the Islanders’ offense in this game should serve as a reminder of how talented he is. In terms of pure puck skills, he is probably one of the NHL’s top five players.

• If the Islanders had even average play from Sorokin to open this game, this might have been a very different contest.

Historically speaking

• Gaudreau became the 542nd player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

• Gaudreau scored his first goal at the NHL level since Dec. 31, 2018. As a member of the Nashville Predators, Gaudreau scored the winning goal in a 6-3 road win against the Washington Capitals.

• Rust recorded the Penguins’ first hat trick of the season. He had their only hat trick of last season, recording three goals in a 7-3 home win against the Ottawa Senators on March 3, 2020.

• The Penguins went just over eight years between hat tricks against the Islanders. Forward Chris Kunitz racked up three goals in a 6-1 home win, March 10, 2013.

• Rust (198 points) surpassed forward George Ferguson (195) for 43rd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Crosby (1,302 points) surpassed forward Jarome Iginla (1,300), an ex-teammate, for 35th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Crosby now has 122 career points (39 goals, 83 assists) in 74 games against the Islanders.

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan spoke about dressing a lineup full of so many players trying to prove their place in the NHL:

“These guys that have an opportunity to play at the NHL level, they bring a certain level of urgency and a compete level and an enthusiasm that can be contagious. When you look at the roster that we have right now, some of the guys that are in the lineup I think have brought us a certain level of enthusiasm that has helped the whole group.

“Freddy Gaudreau comes to mind, (forward Radim) Zohorna comes to mind, (forward) Anthony Angello. Some of these guys that we have put in the lineup, they’re excited to be there. They want to prove that they belong here. So they bring a certain level of urgency to their game. And that can be contagious through our bench. These guys right now are having a positive impact on our team.”

• Lafferty talked about the feel of the team with so many younger players in the lineup:

“There’s a little bit more urgency than usual. Everyone knows we’ve got to step up and contribute here. I think we went through it a little bit here last year. So I got a little bit of a taste of that where we had a lot of guys hurt and different guys were stepping up each night. It’s something that we’ve got to continue if we’re going to keep winning here.”

• Gaudreau is grateful to be back in the NHL:

“It’s been awesome just to step in the lineup. I haven’t played, obviously for a long time in the NHL before that first game in (New) Jersey (on March 18). Since I didn’t play, that was all I worked for, to come back into this league. To be able to come back and feel good on the ice and feel the trust from my coaches and teammates, that felt really good. It’s been great.”

• Islanders coach Barry Trotz really tore into his team after the game:

“Tonight, quite honestly I felt we had about five players going today. After the second period, I just said ‘Listen, they’ve got everybody going for them. All 20 players seem to be going for the Penguins.’ I went around the room and I basically counted in my head … I felt like there was like five or six guys that were only going. You can’t beat good teams when you don’t have that many guys going. Tonight, it was one of those games where we didn’t have a lot of the A games from our group.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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