Penguins give long-shot playoff hopes boost with win against Red Wings
PITTSBURGH – The Penguins would have benefitted further from a perfect weekend, but they saved their sole victory for the more essential foe. Less than 24 hours removed from the Rangers taking it to them, the Penguins were at their best from the outset during Sunday night’s 6-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena. Despite being mired in a 3-7-1 stretch dating to the end of February, the Penguins again trail the Red Wings by five points for the final playoff spot in the East with 15 games to go. The Penguins were
held scoreless on their first two power-play opportunities but struck just after the latter expired. Reilly Smith got his right quad on a deflected Marcus Pettersson shot, and the puck trickled past Detroit goalie Alex Lyon.
While Lucas Raymond briefly knotted it up at one goal apiece, the Penguins struck twice over a 27-second span to enter the first intermission up two. Sidney Crosby broke his season-long 11-game goalless streak by backhanding in a rebound, and Valtteri Puustinen ripped a one-timer off a great feed from Smith shortly after to cap off a dominant period. The Penguins out-shot the Red Wings 15-4 in the frame. Detroit generated a pair of 3-on-1 rushes, but Alex Nedeljkovic turned away both chances, the Red Wings’ best of the period. The Penguins didn’t quite replicate their initial offensive dominance but netted another in the second against the Red Wings, who have now lost eight of nine games. Michael Bunting scored his second goal as a Penguin and 15th of the season, dropping to the ice to punch in a loose puck.
Christian Fischer drew Detroit back within two late in the second, yet that was as close as they got in the period. After Pettersson drew a cross-checking penalty on Michael Rasmussen, Lars Eller scored a power-play goal. He deflected a Crosby shot from the high slot for the Penguins’ fifth. Just as the Penguins controlled play in the first, so too did they for most of the third. That changed when Raymond netted another at 6-on-4 after Drew O’Connor took his second penalty of the evening and Lyon went to the bench in lieu of an
extra skater, bringing the Penguins’ advantage down to two for the game’s waning moments. O’Connor atoned for his mistake with an empty-netter in the final minute, and the Penguins held on for a needed victory. And in beating the Red Wings, the Penguins improved their hopes of competing for a playoff spot and chasing the team they need to catch. ICE CHIPS – Jack St. Ivany was again not in uniform. His NHL debut will have to wait. Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Ludvig started over him. They were third-pair partners for the fifth straight game.
