The Pittsburgh Penguins were looking to rebound from a loss against the New York Rangers on Friday in the second game of their back-to-back on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
And none other than a former Leaf played hero.
Forward Michael Bunting – who spent two seasons with the Leafs from 2021-23 – scored the game-winning goal on a third-period power play for the Penguins to propel them to a 5-2 victory against Toronto. Erik Karlsson made a slap-pass to Bryan Rust, who fed it cross-ice to Bunting with a little help from Toronto defenseman Conor Timmins.
“My eyes lit up,” Bunting said. “‘Rusty’ made a great play, and I was fortunate enough that it hit off the skate and, kind of, bounced right to me. Like I said, my eyes lit up, and I was able to capitalize.”
The Penguins scored two power play goals on Saturday – the other from Rickard Rakell early in the first period, originally credited to Matt Grzelcyk – and it was with two new-look units. They decided to place Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on separate units, as Malkin got iced with Bunting, Karlsson, Rust, and Cody Glass, while Crosby was with Grzelcyk, Rakell, Kris Letang, and Kevin Hayes.
The strategy seemed to pay off for the Penguins, as both units were very effective throughout the night and were used pretty evenly.
“Sometimes, when you affect a little bit of change, it can be good for players,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “So, we tried to do that tonight. I thought both power play units were really good. For tonight, it worked really well. I thought they were moving the puck, they were on pucks, they would take what the game gives them, they weren’t forcing plays that weren’t there… the pace and tempo that they were playing with was drastically different. It wasn’t as slow and deliberate, it was quick. It was fun to watch.”
He also stressed that it was nice to see both units willing to shoot the puck.
“When we shoot the puck, it breaks coverage down,” Sullivai said. “Teams get out of structure, and, in my experience with these guys, that’s when they’re always at their best because they’re so good instinctively. When teams are out of structure, they find the open man, they find the plays that are there… and our willingness to shoot the puck was a big part of it all.”
The power play aside, this was a very strong game from the Penguins.
They opened the scoring with Rakell’s goal, and – just like Friday night against New York and many other times this season – they surrendered the tying goal by Mitch Marner just a minute and 56 seconds later.
But, unlike times past, they didn’t let it hinder their game. Rust scored on a back-board rebound off a nice, self-generated chance by Crosby near the end of the first – and Crosby’s assist tied him for fifth all-time with Gordie Howe in assists with one franchise.
And, although William Nylander tied the game again early in the second period on a power play, the Penguins pretty much took over the game in response.
They were especially good in the third period, scoring three unanswered goals – the power play goal from Bunting as well as impressive empty-netters from Blake Lizotte and Kris Letang. In fact, it may have been the best third period they played the entire season, even with a push by the Leafs near the end.
“It might have been the most complete game we played all year from start to finish,” Sullivan said.
Here are some of my thoughts and observations from this game:
– I have to agree with Sullivan here. Other than, maybe, the Nov. 8 win against the Washington Capitals, this was the Penguins’ best effort of the season.
And I want to give a ton of credit to Letang, who – far and away – played his best game of the season. He registered seven shots on goal in 11 attempts, was a plus-3, and looked extremely comfortable in all zones next to new defense partner Owen Pickering.
He was everywhere in a good way tonight, and it’s a really encouraging thing to see from him. He was the driving force behind this win, even if he only showed up on the scoresheet once.
– Two other Penguins who played nice games tonight? Grzelcyk and Ryan Graves.
Even though he has struggled five-on-five at times this season, Grzelcyk is, arguably, the best power play quarterback the Penguins have. He’s decisive with the puck, he makes clean, crisp passes, and he gets pucks to the danger areas. He also played on his off-side next to Graves tonight and did an admirable job in that role.
As for Graves, who made his way back into the lineup tonight after being healthy scratched the previous five games? He was strong at the net-front, positionally sound, and made a really strong defensive play early in the third period where he backchecked to break up a potential two-on-none for the Leafs.
“I thought he was solid,” Sullivan said. “He played the game that we’re asking him to play. I thought he was hard at our net front, he was good on the penalty kill, he defended hard… using his stick, using his size to lean on people. The one blocked shot, he recovered really well from it. He was competing hard there. I thought he had a solid night.”
I’m of the belief that Graves should have been slotted in several games ago. I’m glad he made the most of his opportunity, because he was very good tonight.
– I still can’t think of enough good things to say about Lizotte.
That’s now six goals in 13 games. This guy is on a 38-goal pace right now.
But it’s not just his offensive output that’s making a difference. He’s a very defensively conscientious player, he’s great on the penalty kill, and he works his tail off each and every shift.
This is the exact kind of player that the Penguins have needed in their bottom-six since Brandon Tanev departed. And I think Lizotte has similar attributes but much more skill. He’s an energy guy.
And his empty-netter was a perfect example of the hard work he puts in each and every shift. He won a hard-fought puck battle in the defensive zone shorthanded, and he fired the puck at the empty net from the defensive zone after winning said battle.
Man, Blake Lizotte has really energized the Penguins and helped their resurgence to get back in the Wild Card waters. Winning hockey is hungry hockey.
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) December 8, 2024
“Lizzo’s been great,” Bunting said. “He’s been fun to play with, and he’s been a great addition to the team. That was a great effort for that empty-net goal. Even though it was an empty-net goal, that was unreal. He was able to win that battle and shoot it down the ice.”
According to HockeyStatCards, Lizotte leads all Penguins skaters in average GameScore (1.01) and Defense Rating (plus-1.2), and he’s third in Net Rating (plus-1.5) behind only Rakell (plus-2.2) and Crosby (plus-2.1).
This guy is a good hockey player, and he was a great pickup by Kyle Dubas. He has truly brought some energy and life to this Penguins team.
– Jesse Puljujarvi also made his first lineup appearance since Nov. 23 – same as Graves – and I thought he played a pretty good game as well. He looked right at home on that third line with Bunting and Lizotte, and he had a few close calls at the net-front when the line was doing business in the offensive zone.
Hopefully, Philip Tomasino isn’t on the shelf for long. But this guy deserves a bit of a run here to try and make himself a regular in the lineup again.
– Speaking of injuries, Glass took a cheap shot to the back of the head by Oliver Ekman-Larsson midway through the third period. Hayes took exception to that and went after Ekman-Larsson.
Glass just played in his first game on Friday after being out since Nov. 4 with a concussion. Hopefully, he’s okay. He took a pretty hefty knock there.
Besides, he’s already slotting in for the injured Tomasino in the lineup. It seems Malkin’s right wing spot is cursed at the moment.
– Anthony Beauvillier got just eight minutes and one second of ice time on Saturday. Every other skater played at least 10 minutes, with the next-closest players being Hayes (10:29) and Puljujarvi (11:15). Everyone else had at least 13:30 of ice time.
I’ve liked Beauvillier’s game as a whole this season – as mentioned on Friday – but I do think he’s a guy to keep an eye on. When the Penguins do get healthy again, I think there is going to be a pretty legitimate battle for those final few spots in the lineup, and Beauvillier was already demoted from the third line.
It feels strange to demote a guy who is fourth on the team in goals, but – to be honest – this Penguins’ lineup is meshing so well right now that it’s hard to see where he would fit in it if he’s not playing on the third line with Lizotte and Bunting.
– Finally, Tristan Jarry has been very impressive in recent games. And the same goes for Saturday.
He went 26 for 28 and made some huge saves late in the game to preserve the tie before the empty-net goals. He has posted a .912 save percentage over his last six starts, and he has allowed just 17 goals on 192 shots.
When a team gets good goaltending, chances are that the wins start to pile up as well. Such has been the case, and it’s been very impressive to see the way he’s responded to his early-season struggles.
If this is the version of Jarry the Penguins are going to get, they should be in pretty good shape.
