As they take their first steps in running the Penguins, new general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke will find plenty of deficiencies when they begin to evaluate the team they have inherited.
They will find a struggling power play, an inconsistent top goaltender, a lack of healthy defensemen and probably a few gray hairs in the scalp of coach Mike Sullivan.
There is one surplus Hextall and Burke will observe as they audit this franchise.
Resilience.
That was evident on Thursday.
Thanks to a game-tying goal with 18 seconds left in regulation by forward Evgeni Malkin and a shootout goal by forward Sidney Crosby, the Penguins were able to stage a hale and hearty 4-3 comeback victory at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
It was the Penguins’ sixth win of the season, all of which have required a comeback in some fashion.
“We’d prefer not to chase the game as often as we have in this early part of the season,” Sullivan said. “But maybe the silver lining is that we’re developing a certain level of resilience that’s required to win in this league.”
This game opened on a familiar note as the Penguins fell behind early. After Penguins defenseman John Marino fumbled a puck in his own slot, Islanders forward Casey Cizikas beat goaltender Casey DeSmith on a spectacular individual effort for his third goal of the season 5:39 into regulation.
The Penguins responded at 11:47 of the first period as the first line combined for a score. Off the Islanders’ right half wall, Crosby fed a seam pass to the left of the crease for forward Jake Guentzel, who then moved the puck to the front of the crease where forward Bryan Rust tapped in his third goal.
A power-play goal by Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, his second, restored a lead, 2-1, for the Islanders at 16:40 of the first.
Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese, appearing in his first game of the season after recovering from surgery on his left shoulder in August, bulled his way to a game-tying goal at 7:02 of the second. Winning a one-on-one battle against Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson behind New York’s net, he jabbed two wraparound backhand shot attempts before beating goaltender Semyon Varlamov’s left skate.
“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,” 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.”
Islanders forward Mathew Barzal scored a dazzling goal at 13:35 of the third period. Challenging Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph, Barzal overwhelmed the rookie with a handful of dekes and lifted a wrister past DeSmith’s glove hand for his fifth goal. That score appeared to put the Islanders in position to secure a victory.
But with DeSmith pulled for an extra attacker, the Penguins stormed the Islanders’ zone and came through when Malkin swatted a one-timer off the right half wall through a phalanx of bodies, beating Varlamov on the far side.
“(Malkin) did a good job of getting out of the shooting lane and getting open,” said Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, who had the primary assist on the score. “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.”
Crosby scored the lone shootout goal as DeSmith stopped all three shots he faced. In regulation and overtime, DeSmith, who got the start over struggling Tristan Jarry, made 26 saves on 29 shots, improving his record to 4-1-0.
“He’s really tough to read,” Letang said. “He keeps the shooter guessing. It served him really well in the shootout tonight again.”
Resilience has served the Penguins well as they’ve combatted their various shortcomings this season.
“That just starts at the top with the leadership with (Crosby, Malkin and Letang),” Rust said. “We just kind of try to follow their lead every time we kind of get in bit of a hole. … This is a very resilient group.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports
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