PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)-Finally, when they needed it most, the Pens came through in overtime. By beating Detroit 6-5, they now control their playoff fate. But just how did they finally do it?
It was the first overtime win since February 27 and now six for the season, or less than half of the 13 OT wins Toronto has. During the Pens recent point streak, the Pens had overtime losses to the Maple Leafs, Columbus and Colorado. Earlier in the year they went to overtime in three of four games, and lost all three.
“We got control of the puck and we didn’t give it away as much as we usually do,” said forward Bryan Rust, pausing for a quick chuckle. “We took our opportunity when it was there to score. They made a really nice play out there, tried to be patient.”
“We just did a better job of holding onto the puck when we had it,” said Sidney Crosby who’s 1000th career assist led to the win. “We didn’t force any plays. If we’re going to turn it over, it should be in trying to create a good chance or taking an opportunity that’s there. We did a really good job of that in just being patient.”
Erik Karlsson scored the gamer and broke it down a little more. He said first they had the puck the entire time. They were able to make a couple of line changes, but when they did lose the puck, Lars Eller won a faceoff to get it back.
"At the end of the game like that, everybody is tired and you're not going to be at your best and I think that we did a good job in managing that and we capitalized when we had that opportunity," Karlsson said.
Pens head coach Mike Sullivan agreed with that assessment, adding they’ve worked all season to try and ‘out-change’ teams and take advantage of fatigue with the opponent. This time they didn’t take wild shots or make wild passes which can lead to odd-man rushes the other way. Detroit had one advantage and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made the stop.
“We made way better decisions with the puck and not forcing something that’s not there,” Sullivan said. “Not allowing ourselves to get steered into short ice so they can pressure us and force a turnover. Possession in overtime is so critically important and shot selection is an extension of possession.”
It wasn’t ideal to have to go to overtime, especially giving a team you were tied with in the Wild Card standings a point, but they found a way to get both points this time.
“It’s not always going to go perfect,” Crosby said. “There’s some games in this stretch where we’ve done a better job.
We didn’t and we still found a way.”
"I think we've done a really good job of staying with it, getting back on the horse and just persevering.,” Nedeljkovic said. “Whatever happens. We've had it both ways where we've blown leads and lost, we've blown leads and won. We've come from behind and won late so it's, we're just finding ways to win right now, they're not always going to be pretty, you'd like them to be a little prettier than that but you know, like I said, we'll take two points tonight."
“I give our players a lot of credit for just digging in and competing,” Sullivan said. “That's what I love about this group right now. Their care factor is high to get into the playoffs."
It’s a one-point lead over three teams with three games to play. The Pens are on the verge of becoming the first team to ever come back from being nine points behind with 11 games to play.