PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – A flat start put the Pens in a hole they would be able to dig a point out of, but not the two in a 4-3 overtime loss to Vancouver.
The slow beginning led to three Vancouver first-period goals, and while not all the fault of starting goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, head coach Mike Sullivan made a switch to Tristan Jarry.
“We were trying to create a spark because we didn’t have the energy or the juice, whatever you want to call it,” Sullivan said Thursday night. “We didn’t play with the energy we needed to in the first period. I thought Jars played really well.”
Jarry started with a number of early glove saves in the second period, making a total of 12 in the period and he did create a spark. Jarry would stop all 19 shots in the second and third periods.
“He made some big saves,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby. “They are a dangerous team. They create some good chances. We don’t want to give up chances like that.”
Crosby would score his second of the game with Jarry on the bench, finishing on a six-on-five with 29 seconds to play to at least get the Pens a point.
“Give the guys a lot of credit for competing, digging in and find a way to grab a point,” Sullivan said. “I thought we competed hard the rest of the way. We had our looks in the overtime, but that’s just the nature of overtime.”
“Hard-fought point, disappointed at the start, but a hard-fought point,” said defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who scored his first goal of the season in the first period on a slap shot from near the blue line.
It’s the glass half-full that they were able to manage a point against the best team in the West right now. But still the reality of starting out flat for most of the first and bailed out by Jarry after some sloppy plays early in the second period. Even Jarry felt bad for Nedeljkovic with the lack of support in the first.
“Ned has done a great job the last couple of games and he played great,” Jarry said. “We came out a little bit flat. Those are all tough goals, they are all basically back-door tap-ins. It’s tough when the goalie is playing the shooter and goals are going in around you.”
“We have standards around here, the first 20 games were not the way we wanted to play,” Pettersson said. “The last 20 games, we’ve played a lot better. We’ve played as a team and we are coming together.”
But much like the game, the Pens started the season out flat and even with gaining a point against the Canucks and points in eight of their last 10, have moved up only one spot in the standings to sixth in the Metropolitan Division.
22nd best
With his 23rd goal, Sidney Crosby moved into a tie for 22nd place, with Mike Bossy, on the NHL’s all-time goal scoring list with 573. Then he passed Bossy with his 24th goal of the season to send the game in overtime. Crosby is three goals behind Hall of Fame Penguin Mark Recchi with 577.
Up Next
Pens are at Carolina on Saturday. The Hurricanes are in second place in the Metropolitan Division with points in nine of its last 10 games. Pens are six points behind Carolina with a game in hand.