Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers could have gone very sideways for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, it started to go sideways early on.
But then, there was a definitive turning point that reversed their fortunes and led them to a 5-4 overtime victory.
Midway through the second period – after the Flyers went up, 3-0, on goals by Noah Cates, Owen Tippett, and rookie sensation Matvei Michkov – it looked like it was going to be a repeat of Tuesday’s brutal 6-1 loss to the Flyers. However, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan made the decision to pull starting goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic in favor of rookie Joel Blomqvist.
And Nedeljkovic wasn’t having it. In reaction, he slammed his stick into the crossbar behind him and then onto the ice, breaking it. He then skated to the bench and slammed the door shut before yelling in the general direction of the coaching staff in a raw outburst of anger and emotion.
Nedeljkovic is a very passionate guy. He holds himself accountable. The first two goals weren’t really on him – although the Penguins surrendered the first goal on the first shot for the 12th time this season – but he was stuck too far out of his net on the last one. He’d probably tell you the same.
But the Penguins needed that change. It felt more like a move to get the team going.
And It worked.
Two minutes and 19 seconds after the change, Philip Tomasino scored a nasty net-front goal to cut the Flyers’ lead to 3-1. Erik Karlsson scored just 30 seconds later to cut the deficit to one.
Then, Boko Imama laid a thunderous hit – a blatant interference – on Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway, who was down for some time and did not return to the game. The Penguins failed to kill the ensuing penalty – they surrendered a second goal to Michkov – but it did not seem to faze them.
With less than two minutes to go in the second, Karlsson scored a second goal – a rocket of a wrist shot from the right circle – to put the Penguins back down by one.
And the Penguins continued that momentum into the third period, as Evgeni Malkin tied the game two minutes and 30 seconds into the final frame. He made a play in the neutral zone to get the puck to Anthony Beauvillier, then he finished the play from the left circle off…