Lineup changes work for Penguins in shootout victory
Two weeks of inconsistent, at times inexplicable play from the Penguins inspired coach Mike Sullivan to respond with his own bit of improvisation on Saturday as he pieced together player combinations to use against New Jersey at PPG Paints Arena.
Fourth-line center Matt Cullen opened the game flanking Sidney Crosby on the Penguins' top trio and occasionally handled the offensive-zone draws.
Wingers Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin reunited with Nick Bonino for the third time this season.
Depth defenseman Steve Oleksy dressed while top-pair regular Brian Dumoulin sat, and Justin Schultz shifted up to join Trevor Daley on the Penguins' second blue-line pairing.
What troubled the Penguins in their poor recent performances survived the lineup shakeup and endured in the 4-3 shootout win, though. The excellence of Matt Murray, who stopped 30 shots, including three in the shootout, and a successful shootout attempt by Kris Letang, the third Penguin to go, made the difference after Sidney Crosby came through with six-on-five heroics in the final 14 seconds of regulation.
“I think he's just trying to get everybody going,” Crosby said of Sullivan. “We had a tough game in Minnesota there (a 6-2 loss on Friday), and that's usually the case when you don't have a good game. You shake things up and give guys a different look. I thought we responded the right way. We had enough chances to win the game. It just took a while to finally get there.”
The Devils used a handful of high-quality scoring chances to put their hosts on their heels despite significantly trailing in shots on goal throughout. Crosby found a loose puck in a wild scramble and buried a tight-angle shot to force overtime.
Ten of the Penguins' 49 shots on Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid came with a one-man advantage, as they received five power play opportunities. But their power play slump extended to 0 for 13 in the last four games.
“Not good,” Letang said of the unit. “We had some chances. We had some shots. We didn't have anybody in front. It's tough to beat a goalie when he sees the puck. .”
Two of Sullivan's most intriguing lineup decisions — pairing Schultz with Daley and breaking up Crosby's normally steady line with the presence of Cullen — led to an ugly breakdown less than four minutes into the opening period.
New Jersey's Kyle Palmieri pressured Daley into a turnover behind the Penguins' goal and found Michael Cammalleri at the right faceoff circle. Cammalleri then carried the puck through traffic, including Crosby, and fired a shot past Murray. Schultz floated at the crease throughout the sequence.
Jake Guentzel continued his stellar start to his NHL career with a game-tying goal off of a crease scramble just 83 seconds into the middle period, and Tom Kuhnhackl finished a breakaway one minute later to briefly hand the Penguins a lead.
Each of three goals for the Penguins fit their central mission: Play fast and vertically to create transition chances, and then use speed and cunning around the crease to put away loose pucks if the first shot doesn't find the back of the net.
“We're trying to weather a storm right now with two key injuries to two of our better players in (Patric Hornqvist) and (Chris Kunitz),” Sullivan said. “These guys played key roles in key situations on key lines, so in the absence of those guys, we're still trying to move people around that we think are going and that are going to give us that balanced attack.”
But another breakdown by the Penguins allowed Devils penalty killer Vernon Fiddler to dampen the soaring spirits at the arena during the second period with a short-handed goal on a breakaway.
After Fiddler's tally tied the score at 2 with 16 minutes remaining in the second period, the Devils reclaimed the lead with a Cammalleri one-timer on the power play five minutes later.
And just seconds after Cammalleri's goal, New Jersey frustrated the Penguins even further with a breakaway by Nick Lappin. Murray reached out with his right toe to deny Lappin's backhand at the far post.
“We were resilient all night,” Murray said. “The way we were playing, I kind of knew we were going to bury one. It took a little bit longer than expected, but we got it done.”
Bill West is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at wwest@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BWest_Trib.
