Prior to this game, the Penguins’ announced that Tristan Jarry would not be playing due to injury and that Kris Letang would be making his return to the lineup. Unfortunately for the home squad, things did not get off to a great start: Reinhart and Tkachuk put the Florida Panthers up 2-0 before the midway-point of the opening period. Rickard Rakell put Pittsburgh on the scoreboard with a well-placed deflection from right outside the blue paint, and 60 seconds after that, Danton Heinen crashed the net and put home the rebound. Per Penguins PR, with his assist on Rakell’s goal, Letang became the seventh player in Penguins history to record 400 even-strength points. He is the third active blueliner—and 23rd in NHL history—to reach the milestone. Then, Kris Letang found the back of the net with a redirected puck from near the faceoff circle, giving the Penguins a 3-2 lead. Verhaeghe had an answer for the visitors, though, and knotted things up, 3-3, before the opening period concluded. The 2nd period saw Ekblad earning a short-handed tally, tipping the scales in favor of the visitors. 41 seconds before the end of the middle frame, the captain would pounce. Sidney Crosby won a loose puck at the blue line, turned on the jets, put the puck on his backhand, and went five-hole. It was then 4-4 heading into the intermission. To continue the theme from the rest of the game, no lead was safe in the 3rd period. White gave Florida a 5-4 lead, but that was answered by Drew O’Connor as he crashed the net and smacked home a rebound opportunity. Evgeni Malkin then notched one on the man-advantage with a signature one-timer from the top of the circle, beating Panthers’ netminder Alex Lyon on the glove side. It was now 6-5 Pittsburgh, but Verhaeghe would find the back of the net once more, forcing overtime. In the extra frame, Montour took a penalty, sending the Penguins to the power play. It was Kris Letang’s night: the defenseman, in his return to the lineup, capped off an excellent night with the game-winning blast from up high. Per Penguins PR, Letang has tied Erik Karlsson for the most overtime points by a defenseman in NHL history (31) with his tally tonight.
Letang (2G-2A), Crosby (1G-2A), Heinen (1G-2A), Malkin (1G-2A), O’Connor (1G-1A), and Poehling (2A) each had multi-point games, while Casey DeSmith turned aside 33 of 39 shots.
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35 Comments
desmith? no
deSHIT? yes
Как же бесит ДеСмит, ну просто уровень двор за домом…..
Very frustrating game to watch, lucky to get outta this one with the win.
It was painful to watch such bad goaltending for the Penguins.
Rough night for DeSmith but the boys bailed him out like DeSmith bailed out the boys vs the Coyotes. Thrilling match up and awesome return for Kris Letang. Crosby, Geno, and Tanger all scored power play goals.
This game was a horrible game for Desmith. Put Tokarski in over him
WHY do some goalies seem to make the STUPID mistake of leaving the net !?!?!? The "cutting down the angle" excuse has been PROVEN to be a horrible idea – almost EVERY SINGLE time I see an NHL goalie get out from between the posts it ends up as a goal against…STAY BETWEEN THE DAMN PIPES !!!!!
I usually try to defend desmith but this game was so bad for him
My goodness, that Crosby goal. A fortuitous bounce? Absolutely. But he's just the smartest player on the ice and always has been. When you're thinking the game two steps ahead of your opponent and the fortuitous happens you react faster. A true prodigy on display.
LET'S GO BOYS!!!! Welcome back 58💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Glad the 3rd line is showing up finally
3:17 yes, it was even better!
haven't seen sid that happy in a while
desmith is terrible please get rid of him
Letang! ❤
Вот это матч! Вот это праздник! Браво 🔥🔥🔥 let's go Pen's!
Oh man is desmith awful this year wow. I've never seen so many just plane dumb goals allowed by a goal tender in 1 game before. It literally looked like he was TRYING to lose the game for them, that's how bad he was. It's gna be tough to make it in the playoffs WITH Jerry, but man if jarry gets hurt again and is out for more than I'd say 3 games the pens will be in stone real trouble. I just don't get it how do u go from 1 of top 3 teams in league to 1 of the worst in the league all in half a season
What a game, lets go pens
See guys Casey desmith needs to go!!!
“Huge game on Thursday now!!!
Luckily desmith always signs team friendly contracts
Obviously the D didn’t play great, but DeSmith isn’t the greatest backup in the world.
Great having Letang back.
DeSmith looked especially bad on several of the goals. He looked like he was moving in slow motion a lot of the time. I really don't know what happened to him from last year when he was really solid.
DeSmith almost lost another one. He gave it a real try.
About time e get an overtime win! Way to go Letang!
Can we get fleury for a conditional 5th round?
The defense is terrible. Desmith seemed brainless.
I love how excited Sid still gets after the goals. He is just a incredible competitor!
Perfect example of DeSmith being the ultimate back-up goalie. He just doesn't have that starting goaltender pedigree.
Despite the win, I'm gonna say it again. Desmith has to go. Get a better Goalie than jarry to be our main, and make jarry the backup. I love Jarry don't get me wrong, but even he still has growing to do
🤦🏻♂️ we’ll take the win.
I smell a shutdown goalie, via trade!
Let's go Letang!! 🔥
That OT period was possibly the most aggressive teamwork we've seen all year. Proof that the Pens can do it.