Tim Benz: Penguins pull themselves back from the brink, avoid ‘soul-sucking’ loss to lowly Anaheim

Tim Benz | Tuesday, January 17, 2023 6:17 a.m.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

The Penguins’ Rakell Rickard and Jake Guentzel celebrate Monday with Bryan Rust after Rust’s game-tying goal against the Anaheim Ducks late in the third period at PPG Paints Arena.

The Pittsburgh Penguins knew exactly what they were staring at late in their game Monday night.

The bottom.

Having lost eight of their last 10 games, the Pens had just blown a 2-1 third-period lead at home to the Anaheim Ducks — a team with just 12 wins, second fewest in the NHL.

Failing to walk away with anything less than two points — let alone none — would’ve been a gut punch.

“I think it is a huge win for us. Especially with the way it evolved,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “When they scored with four and a half minutes to go in the game, given the circumstances, and contextually what our team has been through this last little while, in a lot of instances that could really deflate a team.”

That was Sullivan’s coach-speak, politically correct way of saying, “Any team chasing a playoff spot can’t blow a third period lead at home to a team as bad as Anaheim after having lost eight of 10.”

Not to a team with just four measly road wins on the season.

It’s not as if the Penguins played poorly for much of the game. They outshot the Ducks 45-29 (and attempted 21 more that got blocked), out hit them 32-25 and won the faceoff battle 29-22. They just didn’t finish most of the opportunities they had.

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So when Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras scored with four minutes, 20 seconds left to make it 3-2 Anaheim, it could’ve made this particular defeat far more painful than an average Monday night loss in mid-January.

“It was really good for our confidence to pull that one out,” goaltender Casey DeSmith said. “That would have been pretty deflating. We are desperate for every point now.”

Indeed, like Sullivan also alluded to, “deflating” would’ve been one way to describe it. “Soul-sucking” is the phrase that leapt to my mind, though.

The Penguins were able to avoid such an eventuality, however, thanks to a heroic six-on-five goal from Bryan Rust, off a sparkling pass from Jake Guentzel with 24.8 seconds left.

With 24.8 seconds left pic.twitter.com/K0CTrXePwL

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 17, 2023

“Everybody got open for each other,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said of the Rust goal. “We didn’t try to go through legs or go through sticks. We kept moving ourselves around the puck. And things open up for us when we do that.”

Then Guentzel did the damage himself in overtime to end the game with a 4-3 win, converting a two-on-one with Sidney Crosby against forward Ryan Strome who was forced to play defenseman.

END-TO-END ACTION!

Jake Guentzel wins it for the @penguins with a wild @Energizer overtime winner! pic.twitter.com/jURSYZJJjp

— NHL (@NHL) January 17, 2023

“A great finish by Jake,” Sullivan said. “I thought the early pass by Sid on the entry was a really good decision. It puts that defenseman who is defending that two-on-one in a reactive mode as opposed to proactive mode. The execution was great.”

On the surface, this was just a win the Penguins had to have.

“Extremely,” Rust said of the importance of getting two points from this game. “Very important, yes. … Instead of deflating, that was a huge effort.”

Are you sensing a theme yet with how “deflating” a defeat could’ve been?

Maybe avoiding the abyss that Penguins would have entered if they lost to a team the caliber of Anaheim — in the manner they just described — actually propels them to a hot streak to counter the slump they’ve been in of late.

Based on the inconsistent season these Penguins have put forth, I’ll believe it when I see it. But I sure know what I would’ve believed if the Pens had ended up blowing this one to a team as rudderless as the Ducks.

I would’ve believed they were done.

Now, maybe, if they can get four points in back-to-back games against Ottawa, I’ll allow myself to put those worries on the back burner for another few weeks.

In this week’s hockey podcast, Tim Benz and Brian Metzer discuss the Penguins overtime victory against Anaheim, upcoming games against the Senators, and the current Metropolitan Division standings.

Listen: Tim Benz and Brian Metzer talk Penguins