It’s been a rough end to February for the Pittsburgh Penguins but spirits were lifted a little today with an overtime win against the St. Louis Blues.
It’s the first game since Kasperi Kapanen was claimed off waivers by their opponent, the Blues.
In change, they saw Jan Rutta back in the lineup after a long stint on the injured list.
Despite a scoreless first period, the Pens came out firing on all cylinders out shooting the Blues 21-7 with shots on goal.
Both teams would get on the board in the second, with the Blues scoring almost immediately at the start.
Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust linked up on a nice back and forth, giving Malkin his 22nd goal of the season.
The Penguins went on to squander some power play opportunities all the way until the end of the third period.
Marcus Patterson scored his first goal of the season off a nice drop pass from Teddy Blueger, giving them a 2-1 lead with five minuets to close out the game.
The lead wouldn’t last much longer as St. Louis scored just three minuets later to send the game in to overtime.
Rust and Malkin linked up yet again just over a minuet into OT as Rust netted his 14th of the season to definitively snap the losing streak.
The Penguins are still holding hope of a chance to sneak into the playoffs and will have the tough task of taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. EST in Pittsburgh.