Sidney Crosby scored his 599th NHL career goal against the San Jose Sharks at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday, November 16th. The Penguins secured a 4-3 shootout victory, recovering from blowing a three-goal lead to defeat the Sharks. Both Bryan Rust and Jesse Puljujarvi also scored for the Penguins. Evgeni Malkin scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of the shootout, and Anthony Beauvillier scored in the fourth round for Pittsburgh. Defenseman, Owen Pickering, made his NHL debut and picked up a secondary assist as his first point. He had been selected by the Penguins in the first round (No. 21) of the 2022 NHL Draft. The Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning next on Tuesday, November 19th.
Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:
Beauvillier – Crosby – Rakell
Bunting – Malkin – Rust
Puljujarvi – O’Connor – Poulin
Nieto – Acciari – Ponomarev
Pettersson – Karlsson
Grzelcyk – St. Ivany
Pickering – Shea
Nedeljkovic
Jarry
San Jose Sharks Lineup:
Goodrow – Celebrini – Smith
Eklund – Granlund – Zetterlund
Dellandrea – Wennberg – Toffoli
Grundstrom – Kostin – Kunin
Thrun – Ceci
Ferraro – Liljegren
Walman – Rutta
Vanecek
Blackwood
Bryan Rust opened the scoring to put Pittsburgh in front 1-0 on the first shot on goal of the game just a minute into the first period. He took a pass behind the net from Michael Bunting, then scored on a backhand wraparound at the right post for his fifth goal of the season. Not long after the first Penguins goal, it appeared that Evgeni Malkin extended their lead to 2-0 from the right face-off circle with a backhand, however, the goal was overturned when the Sharks ruled for offside. Jesse Puljujarvi found the back of the net, getting the 2-0 lead for real this time, with 13:26 on the clock. The shot had originally been by Drew O’Connor off a pass by Owen Pickering, but it bounced off Vitek Vanecek’s pad, and Puljujarvi reached to collect the rebound off O’Connor’s shot, firing a wrister low in the left circle.
Sidney Crosby extended the lead to 3-0 with his seventh goal of the season and his 599th NHL goal early into the second period at 15:41. The puck was carried up into the Sharks’ zone, Erik Karlsson took a pass and sent the puck to Crosby, who’s first attempt didn’t make it in as it bounced off of Mackenzie Blackwood… He got the puck back after it went along the right wall and Karlsson passed it to him, and Crosby scored through traffic on a slap shot from the right point. With this goal, Crosby ended a five-game goal drought. On the power play with 7:55 remaining in the second, Tyler Toffoli struck the first San Jose goal of the night to cut it to 3-1. A pass from Macklin Celebrini had been intercepted by Ryan Shea, but he tapped it to Will Smith, who then found Toffoli for a backhand at the right side of the net.
Pulling San Jose within 3-2 at 13:04 of the third – Mikael Granlund took a cross-ice pass from Fabian Zetterlund that was tipped by Anthony Beauvillier and sent the puck past Alex Nedeljkovic just outside the crease on a snap shot. This had been Granlund’s eighth goal of the season. Tyler Toffoli tied it to 3-3 with his second of the game at 8:20 off a pass from Ty Dellandrea, scoring from the left circle on a wrist shot for his eighth of the season.
After overtime wasn’t enough for the Penguins and Sharks, they went into a shootout where Evgeni Malkin scored the deciding goal in the fifth round of the shootout. Anthony Beauvillier scored in the fourth round.
Owen Pickering on support from the Penguins, his family being there, and his first point in his NHL debut: “They were great, especially when I showed up to the rink this morning. I was pretty nervous, just talking to the guys and whatnot. When I got here, the same thing – everybody was super supportive. It helped me a lot,” – “Pretty special. They flew out on a flight at seven in the morning, so to have them here and to be able to be with them now is pretty cool. It’s something I won’t forget – It just kind of worked out. I made a play and lucky it went in. So, it was a pretty cool night.”
Bryan Rust on the game overall, the younger guys coming in and just trying to make their way in the NHL, and Owen Pickering and his flow: “Obviously, we would have liked to hold that lead better and not have to go to a shootout, but I think overall, we dug in… It’s always nice to win,” – “It’s awesome to see how excited they are to be here… everybody’s excited to be here, but when you’re a young guy just trying to get your opportunity and trying to make the most of it, I think that energy is contagious and you see it with all of those guys. Pick in his first game tonight, now you can tell he’s been all smiles all day, and it’s been incredible to watch. I thought tonight he was great – If you got it, flaunt it.”
Notes:
– The Penguins were outscored 16-5 in three straight losses (0-2-1), including the 6-2 loss at Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
– Alex Nedeljkovic made a total of 26 saves for Pittsburgh.
– Sidney Crosby is on the verge of becoming the 21st player to score 600, as well as the second active player to do so, behind Alex Ovechkin (863). Crosby can hit the milestone on Tuesday when the Penguins host the Tampa Bay Lightning.
– Kris Letang was out for a second straight game due to illness.
– Vitek Vanecek had missed the final two periods due to an undisclosed reason after he allowed two goals on 10 shots in the first period. Mackenzie Blackwood made a total of 25 saves in relief. … There had not been an update on Vanecek.
– Jake Walman recorded an assist and had two blocked shots in 24:55 of ice time after he had missed five previous games with an upper-body injury.
– Nico Sturm did not play in this game due to sustaining an upper-body injury on Thursday in a 3-2 loss against the New York Rangers.
