PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – If it wasn’t the pregame ceremony for Kris Letang that had you feeling good, it may have been the first goal that tipped you off it was going to be the Pens night. A bounce-back win against the Flyers 4-2 Sunday.
It was eleven-and-a-half minutes into the first period when Pens Rickard Rakell’s shot bounced off the back of the boards, or maybe better said backboard, up over the goal, off the back of Philadelphia goalie Samuel Ersson and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
“I was bummed that I shot it three feet over the net and then I was just as surprised to see it go in,” Rakell said. “I’ll take it.”
Four minutes later Rakell would take a pass from Evgeni Malkin in the slot for a re-direct/shot to make it 2-0. Bryan Rust would add a second period goal settling down a great backhand pass from Sidney Crosby with a nice backhand shot for his 19th goal of the season, it’s 3-0.
“Really nice for the whole team to get some goals early and play with the lead and find a way to get the win,” Rakell said.
Flyers would make it 3-2 with a pair of third period goals before Ryan Poehling put it away with an empty net goal with just over a minute left.
“We are doing whatever we can to try and make it to the playoffs,” Rust said. “It tough, there are teams on our heels. Every point matters. Every game matters.”
DeSave
His last start he gave up six goals against the Red Wings, Casey DeSmith made a number of quality saves, several with his toe as he went full splits to keep the game scoreless for a long time.
“Just get back to work,” DeSmith said, making a total of 31 saves. “Had three good days of practice and some good morning skates as well. Just working on some things, some things that I wanted to focus on. I thought that put me in a really good position tonight to feel good.”
“He made some huge saves,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “He made some big saves, in particular in the third period on the penalty kill, once again we took a barrage of penalties in the third period, which we have to do a better job at not doing. Casey was there to make some big saves for us. I thought he had a strong game.”
“He was unbelievable,” Rakell said. “He kept us in the game. They had some good looks off turnovers. He was a big part of our win tonight.”
Malkin kicked out
After committing three consecutive penalties, one for high sticking, when a Philadelphia high stick was not called against him, Malkin let the refs have it. He was penalized on what was first called a misconduct, meaning he’s out for 10 minutes of the game. It was later learned it was a game misconduct and that’s why he didn’t return.
“You guys witnessed it,” Sullivan said. “He had an exchange with the referees and the referees didn’t like it. He got high-sticked and they didn’t see it.”
“He’s obviously an emotional guy. His emotions got the best of him in that circumstance. Geno and I will have a conversation about that. He’s got to do a better job of controlling his emotions because we need him. The stakes are high right now.”
Related
Letang Appreciation
Letang admitted it took about five minutes before he was able to settle in like a normal game. He said his heart was racing all day thinking about his 1,000th career NHL game
“Pretty emotional having my son on the ice with me kind of made it perfect,” Letang said. “It’s such a special group we have here. It was special. The fans always believed in me. It was a special night, a lot of emotion, but the two points were more important now.”
Letang’s son, Alex, skated on the ice with Kris before the puck drop. He said his younger sister, Victoria, was jealous of him being out there. Alex also got to record an introduction of his father in the starting lineup.
“He did pretty good,” Letang said. “I was pretty happy to see that he wanted to get involved. He’s way better than me in front of a camera. It’s pretty cool he was a part of the day with me.”
Wild Card standings
It was a big day for the Pens, going from out of the playoffs to not only being back in, but a point behind the first Wild Card spot with a game in hand.
Islanders-78 games 87 points
Pens-77 games 86 points
Florida-77 games 85 points
Buffalo-75 games 81 points
“It’s human nature to watch the scoreboard,” Sullivan said. “We are all well aware of who is winning and who is losing and where we stand.”
Up Next
Pens at New Jersey Tuesday night at 7 before returning home Thursday against Minnesota.