On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins jumped out to an impressive 5-1 lead over the visiting Vancouver Canucks, only to weather their comeback and hang on for a gutsy 5-4 victory at PPG Paints Arena.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, the Penguins received offense contributions from various players, including Bryan Rust, Blake Lizotte, Sidney Crosby, and Erik Karlsson.
Despite almost blowing one of their only four-goal leads of the season, Pittsburgh closed the gap on the New York Islanders to get out of the Metropolitan basement.
Penguins Fend Off One of the Hottest Road Teams in the NHL
After losing their first road contest of the season, the Canucks were one win shy of tying a franchise record for nine consecutive road wins. However, their streak ended at eight on Wednesday night.
The Penguins gave the hometown crowd something to celebrate heading into Thanksgiving by jumping out to a 4-1 lead after the first period. Of course, they didn’t make things easy on themselves, watching the visitors storm back to make it 5-4, but the bend-don’t-break strategy worked for once.
Unlike their meeting a month ago in Vancouver, the Penguins didn’t blow a two-goal lead this time and banked two valuable points.
Pittsburgh Ends Home Stand on Positive Note
On Veterans Day, the Penguins began a lengthy seven-game home stand, split with a quick trip to Columbus (Nov. 15). If anyone has chosen to forget, it all started with a blowout loss to the Stars. Their lone victory in the past two and half weeks was against the Sharks in overtime on Nov. 16.
The team has experienced many low points, so seeing them gut out a win against another superior Western Conference opponent should give them positive vibes heading into their Friday tilt with the Boston Bruins.
Four of their next six games are also at PPG Paints Arena, where they are 5-6-2. Despite the continuous rain of boos, collecting wins on home ice will go a long way toward building a positive relationship with fans starving for a competitive team to support.
Multi-Point Nights
On Wednesday, Crosby had two assists, and the Penguins improved to 5-1-0 when the captain had two or more points in a contest. Meanwhile, Karlsson collected a season-high three points, and the team is perfect when he scores at least two points, 3-0-0.
Moreover, Rust had two goals, his first contest with multiple lamplighters and the second time he’s registered more than a point. Of course, Pittsburgh is now 2-0-0 in those games.
Explosive offensive nights won’t happen regularly, signaling the desperate need for the Penguins to put away opponents at times when their skaters are playing their best hockey.
Wednesday night was an excellent example of how Pittsburgh should not be counted out yet. There’s still hope once they clean up a few aspects of their game and keep burying the puck.
