NHL Game Recap: Bunting Scores Lone Goal, Connor Helps Jets Defeat Penguins 4-1

The Penguins took their second straight loss after a 4-3 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks on November 16th when they played against the Jets at PPG Paints Arena on Friday, November 22nd, taking a 4-1 loss. Michael Bunting scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh, scoring his fourth of the season. Nino Niederreiter, Vladislav Namestnikov, Gabriel Vilardi, and Kyle Connor scored for Winnipeg to help secure their 4-1 victory. Sidney Crosby, who’s currently one goal away from 600 in his NHL career, had been held without a shot on goal for a second straight game. The Penguins will be home for two more games, which are against both the Utah Hockey Club and the Vancouver Canucks, before heading to Boston to take on the Bruins on November 29th. The Jets head to Nashville on November 22nd, continuing their road trip, to take on the Predators.

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Beauvillier – Crosby – Rakell

Bunting – Malkin – Rust

Puljujarvi – O’Connor – Poulin

Nieto – Acciari – Ponomarev

Grzelcyk – Letang

Pettersson – Karlsson

Pickering – Shea

Jarry

Nedeljkovic

Winnipeg Jets Lineup:

Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi

Perfetti – Namestnikov – Ehlers

Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton

Barron – Kupari – Iafallo

Morrissey – DeMelo

Samberg – Pionk

Fleury – Miller

Hellebuyck

Comrie

Nino Niederreiter opened the scoring when he scored on the first shot of the game, putting the Jets in front 1-0 early into the first period at 18:38. Just outside the crease off of Evgeni Malkin’s turnover, he collected the puck and tucked a backhand around the left pad of Tristan Jarry after the Penguins tried keeping the puck away but failed when the puck got loose with just enough time for Niederreiter to get Winnipeg in the lead.

Making it 2-0 for Winnipeg in the second at 15:07 – Vladislav Namestnikov scored with a backhand in the slot after taking a wrist shot from the left face-off circle. Nikolaj Ehlers took the puck in Winnipeg’s zone, carried it out and up into the Penguins’ zone, and then passed it off to Namestnikov, who dragged the puck around a sliding Bryan Rust and went for the 2-0 lead. There had been a chance for Pittsburgh to make it a one-goal game at 10:58 when Rickard Rakell received a pass from Sidney Crosby for a wrist shot from the right circle on a 2-on-1, however, Connor Hellebuyck slid over to make a glove save. Gabriel Vilardi extended it to 3-0 with just 58.6 remaining in the middle frame. After some passing back and forth, Kyle Connor kept the puck to send it off to Vilardi, who scored on a one-timer from the slot on the power play.

Michael Bunting cut it to 3-1, avoiding getting shutout by Winnipeg at 14:11 of the final frame with a power-play goal. Bryan Rust got a hold of the puck after fighting for it in the right corner and passed it to Bunting at the left post, who tapped it in for the game’s one and only Pittsburgh goal. With 1:11 left in regulation, Kyle Connor struck Pittsburgh’s empty net for the 4-1 final. At the beginning of the third period, Sidney Crosby dropped the gloves with Connor for a short fight that had been quickly broken up. It occurred when they were skating to the benches at the end of a shift. Even though the captain’s fight sparked the Penguins, the Jets still held on strong to the very end.

Michael Bunting on Sidney Crosby’s fight and the game overall: “He definitely motivated the whole bench. I think that was the best period of the night… I thought we played with energy, we played fast and straightforward. You never want to see Sid fight, obviously. But he definitely brought the energy for us, and that’s the leader he is,” – “They’re at the top of the league for a reason. They play the right way, they play fast, and they make a lot of offensive plays to create chances. I thought we were in it for a lot of the night. We pushed back a lot and we could’ve given up, but we didn’t and turned it around in the third. We fought back, but a little too late. We want to build off of that.”

Tristan Jarry on settling back into it after allowing that first goal, the mood after this loss compared to their previous loss, letting first shots on goal in, and Sidney Crosby: “It’s just a mindset, honestly. It’s tough going down a goal that early. It’s just trying to keep battling; obviously, we don’t want to be in that position. It’s tough starting the game that way – I’d say every loss is a little different, obviously. This one, they played a hard game. They’re a good team. They defend well and they don’t give up a lot, and we saw that tonight. We didn’t get many shots. When they moved the puck well on our end, we were defending a lot, and it was hard to get out of our zone. When we did, we were changing and it was kind of putting us behind a little bit,” – “I don’t know what to really say about it. It’s just tough, and I think that it’s more of a mindset, just defending a little bit harder in our zone and making sure that we’re prepared for the first five minutes. It includes all of us, from the goaltender and out. – I think it’s a wake-up call. It’s a wake-up call to all of us. You see the competitor he is, and losing games like this is tough for everyone. We have to play harder. I think him doing that is just raw emotion, I think he wants better, and I think it comes from everyone.”

Notes:

– Tristan Jarry made a total of 26 saves for Pittsburgh… Jarry has allowed a goal on the first shot he’s faced in four of six starts this season.

– Sidney Crosby’s fight had been his ninth in his NHL career, including the playoffs.

– Making his return to the lineup after missing the previous three games due to illness – Kris Letang had one blocked shot and one hit in 20:46 of ice time.

– The Penguins have dropped to 7th in the past 9 games.

– Connor Hellebuyck made a total of 17 saves for Winnipeg.

– Kyle Connor picked up a pair of points (one goal, one assist), and his fight against Sidney Crosby was his first career fight. …Connor has 26 points in 20 games so far this season (13 goals, 13 assists).

– It had been Vladislav Namestnikov’s 32nd birthday, and he scored his sixth of the season to help Winnipeg secure this win.

– Picking up an assist on Gabriel Vilardi’s goal – Josh Morrissey reaches 20 points (two goals, 18 assists). This season, he ranks second for defensemen with at least 20 points, sitting behind Cale Makar (28 points; eight goals, 20 assists).

– The Jets are 10-0-0 when it comes to scoring the game’s first goal. They and the New York Rangers (10-0-0) are the only teams currently yet to lose after scoring the first goal.