If one thing has been consistent in these past three seasons, it’s that the Pittsburgh Penguins never go down without a fight at the end of the season.
And although they’re a far cry from a 8-2-2 run to nearly pull off a playoff berth akin to 2023-24, their captain – and their goaltender – is leading the charge to make things somewhat interesting.
Sidney Crosby scored two goals, and the Penguins defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, on Erik Karlsson’s overtime winner to secure their second consecutive win. Goaltender Tristan Jarry – who earned his second consecutive start after a solid outing Sunday in a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild – was outstanding, as he stopped 36 of 38 Vegas shots, many of which were high-danger looks.
“It’s great,” Karlsson said. “He’s a great person. He works extremely hard at his game, and he hasn’t had the best of luck as of late. And, I think over the course of his career, he’s shown that he’s a good goaltender in this league.
“So, he had little bit of a bump in the road, but it’s nice to see him coming in, and he hasn’t changed one bit, which is awesome to see. It’s easy to get down on yourself, but he’s come in here, and he believes in himself, and he’s the same person he was since last we saw him. The last few games for us, he’s proven that he is capable of winning games for us.”
Vegas got some chances early on, and Jarry stood tall to keep it scoreless. The Penguins began to push a little bit in the back half of the first period, but the Golden Knights did a solid job stymying breakouts and clogging lanes.
But Vegas forward Tomas Hertl took a high-sticking late in the first period, and Crosby took advantage of a nice backdoor feed from Rickard Rakell, going on one knee to finish it off and give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
Crosby struck again early in the second. He won the faceoff, and then Rakell won a puck battle along the wall to squirt the puck back out to Crosby. The Penguins’ captain walked right in and snuck the puck underneath the pad of Ilya Samsonov, and the Penguins went up, 2-0.
Vegas struck on the power play with just over five minutes remaining in the middle frame, as Pavel Dorofeyev blasted a one-timer behind Jarry to make it 2-1. Then, Vegas really pushed…