Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Devils 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-2 win against the Devils:

Jeff Carter scored a goal on three shots in Saturday’s victory.

That last figure is pretty on-brand for Carter. Ever since the NHL relaunched following the 2004-05 lockout with an emphasis on rules designed to promote offense, Carter has the third-most shots in the league with 3,516.

Only Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (5,723) and Montreal Canadiens forward Eric Staal (3,762), each future Hockey Hall of Famers, have more since then.

And even with the change to a new team, Carter hasn’t seemed to slow down to adjust to his new surroundings.

Since he was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings on April 12, Carter has the fifth-most shots on the Penguins in their six games. And unlike most of the players ahead of him in that regard, he doesn’t have the benefit of playing on the top power-play unit:

The Penguins brought in Carter partially due to his willingness to put pucks on net. And he hasn’t disappointed in that regard.

“He’s real poised on both sides of the puck,” coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference. “Offensively … it’s just taking what the game gives you. He’s a shoot-first guy, he’s got a real good shot. He has scored a lot of goals in this league and it’s not easy to score goals. I think our guys can learn a lot from Jeff’s overall game. But he’s certainly been a real positive impact on our team since we got him.”

What happened

The Penguins took a lead 9:41 into regulation. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Penguins forward Jason Zucker cut between Devils defenseman Will Butcher and forward Jesper Boqvist in the right circle and allowed the puck to slide to the faceoff dot where Carter claimed it then gripped and ripped a wrister past goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood’s blocker on the far side. It was Carter’s 10th goal of the season and second since he joined the Penguins. Zucker and defenseman Mike Matheson each had assists.

A power-play goal at 12:50 of the first period made it a 2-0 game. From the high slot of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang fired a wrister at the cage. Stationed above the crease, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel was struck by the puck which bounced to the left of the blue paint. Darting to the rebound, forward Jared McCann was tripped by the stick of Devils forward Michael McLeod but was still able to jab the puck with a forehand shot over Blackwood’s right skate on the near side for his 13th goal of the season and team-leading seventh power-play score. Guentzel and Letang tallied assists.

It became a 3-0 game at 7:30 of the second period. After beating Devils forward Nico Hischier on a draw in New Jersey’s right circle, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby slid the puck to the right point for Matheson. From there, Matheson dished a pass to center point for defensive partner Cody Ceci who chopped a quick one-timer. The puck deflected first off of the stick of Guentzel — positioned in the crease — then the right leg of Penguins forward Bryan Rust — who was battling for position to the left of the crease with Devils defenseman Matt Tennyson — and caromed by the glove of Blackwood on the near side. Rust was credited with his 20th goal. Guentzel and Ceci collected assists.

The Devils responded only 75 seconds later. Chasing a puck dumped into the right corner of the Penguins’ zone, Butcher backhand chipped it to the far side of the crease for rookie forward Yegor Sharangovich who bobbled the puck. As Penguins defenseman John Marino, as well as Crosby and Rust, skated back in support, the puck slid past them in the crease and was claimed just below the right circle by Devils forward Jack Hughes who swiped a wrister past the glove hand of goaltender Casey DeSmith for his 11th goal. Assists went to Sharangovich and Butcher.

New Jersey pulled within one at 10:58 of the third period. After winning a puck battle on the Penguins’ end boards against Ceci, Devils forward Nathan Bastian dealt a pass to the right circle to forward Miles Wood. From there, Wood backhanded a pass above the circle for defenseman Damon Severson who one-touched a forehand pass to defenseman Ryan Murray above the left circle. Faking a one-timer, Murray dished a seam pass to the right circle for Wood who stroked a one-timer past DeSmith’s glove hand on the near side for his 15th goal. Murray and defenseman Damon Severson had assists.

The Devils pulled Blackwood for an extra attacker late in regulation and made a pretty strong push to tie the game but couldn’t put one more past DeSmith. As play wound down, Crosby corralled a puck in his own right corner and airmailed a wrister into the open cage at the last second, literally. There was one-tenth of a second left on the clock when the puck crossed the goal line. It was Crosby’s 20th goal and there were no assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins had a 37-36 edge in shots.

• Zucker, Wood and Devils forward Jesper Bratt each led the game with six shots.

• The only Penguins skaters who failed to record a shot were forward Mark Jankowski and Marino.

• Letang led the game with 26:16 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• Butcher led the Devils with 25:07 of ice time on 26 shifts.

• The Penguins dominated faceoffs, 36-23 (61%).

• Crosby was 13 for 22 (59%).

• Hischier was 12 for 18 (67%).

• Ceci, Matheson, Crosby, Sharangovich and Wood each led the game with two blocked shots.

• DeSmith made 34 saves on 36 shots.

• Blackwood made 33 saves on 36 shots.

Randomly speaking

• Near the end of regulation, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger got dinged up when Devils forward Andreas Johnsson slammed him into the left corner boards of New Jersey’s zone at the 17:44 mark. Blueger made his way to the bench and was in discomfort, focusing on his left arm while being attended to by head athletic trainer Chris Stewart.

After the game, Sullivan suggested there was no reason to be concerned with Blueger’s status.

• Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen missed quite a bit of the second period. At 3:41 of the middle frame, he headed to the dressing room holding a towel to his face after he collided with Blueger and struck his head off the ice.

Kapanen returned at 17:31 of the second after spending a good deal of time in the dressing room.

• Rust reached the 20-goal mark for the second consecutive season. Once upon a time, he didn’t even want to talk about reaching that mark out of superstition. Now, it almost seems routine for him. And if it wasn’t for the pandemic shortening the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, he probably would have reached the 30-goal mark.

To be clear, his goal on Saturday wasn’t a work of art. But players who routinely score a ton of goals collect them in a bunch of ways. That’s what Rust has done for the past two seasons.

• Ceci keeps collecting points. He now has points in 11 of his past 14 games (two goals, nine assists). His shot from the point led to Rust’s goal. Ceci doesn’t necessarily have the hardest shot in the world but he has a knack for putting it in places where his teammates can do something with it, whether it’s a deflection or a rebound. He kind of reminds one of former Penguins defenseman Paul Martin in that regard.

• McCann keeps finding ways to collect goals on the power play. With injured forward Evgeni Malkin working his way back into the lineup, McCann’s success really forces Penguins coaches to ponder a hard decision as to who comes off the top power-play unit. It’s hard to justify McCann coming off that squad.

• DeSmith got an important win for his own sake. In his previous four games, he had a 1-3-0 record with a 4.70 goals against average and an .828 save percentage. Getting things trending in the opposite direction was significant.

• There was a rare sight at 14:54 of the third period. After Zucker leveled Devils forward Marian Studenic in the neutral zone, Devils forward Nicholas Merkley jumped Zucker and they each received fighting majors.

According to HockeyFights.com, that was only the second fighting major of Zucker’s 10-year career.

• There’s not a lot to feel optimistic about from the Devils’ perspective. But Wood is a player just about every general manager would love to have on their team. He plays hard, ticks off the opposition and has some scoring touch. He is similar to Penguins forward Brandon Tanev in some ways.

Historically speaking

• This is pretty remarkable. Crosby’s goal allowed the Penguins to set a franchise record for empty-net goals with 15. And they did it in only 48 games!

The previous mark of 14 was established by the 2000-01 team which had some guys named Lemieux and Jagr in uniform. And they needed 82 games to reach that mark.

The overall NHL record of 24 was set by the 2015-16 Dallas Stars, also in 82 games.

• Marino appeared in his 100th career game.

Publicly speaking

• Crosby on Carter:

“It’s a good style for him, especially with the way he plays. He’s fast. He can get up and down the ice. He’s pretty responsible. He’s done a great job. You can see with his shot, he’s dangerous from everywhere. But he’s really responsible defensively. I think he’s adjusted really well.”

• With the regular season winding down, the Penguins, like most teams, are publicly campaigning for their better players to get votes for individual awards. As such, they’ve been touting Crosby for the Frank J. Selke Trophy which recognizes the NHL’s top defensive forward.

Crosby was asked what kind of player he associates with that award, a purely defensive forward or more of a two-way player:

“I’ve always looked at it as a defensive center. I don’t know if it’s necessarily the same as it used to be where a guy, his role was strictly to shut down and offense was maybe put to the side. I think it’s looked upon to do a little bit more of both. I think it’s kind of just changing. Different guys have done it their own way. That’s a hard one to say. It’s more about the defensive side, for sure.”

• Sullivan on Carter:

“Jeff’s had a positive influence on our team since he’s walked into the locker room in so many ways. He has a quiet confidence about him. Our players are well aware of how successful his career has been, the legacy he has built. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion and our players are all well aware of that and have so much respect for Jeff in what he’s accomplished. He has this quiet confidence about him, that he has a certain poise, regardless of the circumstances that we put him. Tonight, we put him on the ice with Sid and (Rust) in the last minute of the game, helping us defend a lead. His play on the walls, there’s just no panic with his game.”

• Sullivan on Rust reaching the 20-goal mark again:

“I don’t think it’s ever routine. It’s hard to score 20 goals in this league. There’s lots of good players, there’s a lot of good teams and it’s hard to score 20 goals. Guys that reach that milestone are really good players and (Rust) is one of those players. I don’t know that I’ve ever been around another guy in coaching young players and watching them from the (American Hockey League) and watching their maturation progress, when I look back in experiences, I can’t think of another guy that has developed his game as much as (Rust) has.

“He’s always been a solid player, a good defensive player, a real good defensive conscience, an energy guy, a good skater. But he’s developed his offensive game so well over the time that I’ve been with him. (Rust) deserves so much credit for maximizing his potential and his work ethic to continue to grow his game.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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