Coming into their Tuesday matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Los Angeles Kings had won seven of their last eight games and were on a tear.
But the Penguins have been on a tear of their own, and they continued their winning ways against the Kings.
Pittsburgh rallied from behind twice before prevailing against the Kings in overtime, 3-2. Rickard Rakell scored the OT winner by deflecting an Erik Karlsson floater from the point for his team-leading 14th goal of the season.
The Penguins are now 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, and they were playing a hot Los Angeles team that sits second in the Atlantic division behind only the Vegas Golden Knights. During that stretch, six of Pittsburgh’s wins have come against teams currently in a playoff position.
Rakell referenced the team’s hot streak at the end of last season – beating some very good teams to nearly catapult themselves into the playoffs – and how there’s a similar feeling in the room right now.
“I think that makes us feel good about our whole team game,” Rakell said. “And it makes everyone feel more confident just to have that feeling that we can play with any team in this league and no one is going to have an easy game against us.”
This game was another example of the stark difference between the Penguins of a month ago and the Penguins of today.
They could have mailed it in early on, as certified Penguins killer Adrian Kempe scored just 33 seconds into the game. Instead, they responded by playing a defensively responsible game and pressuring the Kings with puck possession and forechecking pressure in the offensive zone.
Evgeni Malkin potted his first goal in six games – and his seventh of the season – in the first half of the second period. However, Los Angeles went ahead again midway through the second frame on an Alex Turcotte goal.
But the Penguins refused to quit. They were the better team in the latter half of the game, and it finally paid off with 5:35 remaining in regulation, when defenseman Matt Grzelcyk scored his first goal in a Penguins’ uniform and forced overtime.
“Right now, the guys… they’re believing, you know?” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I’m happy for them, because we’ve gone through a difficult stretch here early in the year. We’ve kind of dragged ourselves back into the mix.”
Here are some notes and observations from Tuesday’s game:
– Wanted to briefly mention something Kings-related: Kempe’s goal-scoring dominance against the Penguins is truly something else.
In his last five games against Pittsburgh, Kempe has eight goals. He has nine goals and 14 points in total against the Penguins in his career.
What a player he is, too. He leads the Kings in goals this season with 16 goals and is second only to Anze Kopitar with 31 points in 31 games.
– I’ve said it so many times, but Rakell is playing his very best hockey in a Penguins’ uniform – and, quite possibly, the best hockey of his career – this season.
Babe wake up, a new Ricky Raks stat just dropped.
Since Team Sweden left him off the Four Nations roster, Rakell leads all Swedish-born players with four goals and eight points in six games. pic.twitter.com/60CPdKXGJi
— Penguins PR (@PenguinsPR) December 18, 2024
Rakell was snubbed from Team Sweden for the 4 Nations Tournament, as he is third in goals among Swedish-born players this season. He expressed disappointment in not being selected.
Not only does he have those four goals and eight points in the six games since the snub, he also has 12 points during this 10-game winning stretch for the Penguins.
He is playing some remarkable hockey, and it’s safe to say that he’s sticking it to Team Sweden’s selection committee right now.
– This is the first time I can honestly say that Owen Pickering had a bit of an inconsistent night.
He and partner Kris Letang were on the ice for the first goal against by Kempe, and Pickering made a bad read in the neutral zone and got beat to the puck by Turcotte leading up to his partial-breakaway goal.
Pickering has been pretty sound in his decision-making and in his own zone this season, but that wasn’t so much the case on Tuesday. He looked a tad bit inexperienced against a very talented Kings’ first line.
But Sullivan said the team is happy with how he’s handled the adjustment to top-pair minutes, especially with increased responsibilities in the absence of Marcus Pettersson.
“Pick’s 20 years old, and he’s playing 20 minutes,” Sullivan said. “He played a fair amount against Kopitar and Danault and players of that nature… that’s a handful. So, we think he’s competing hard. He’s not perfect, but he’s competing hard. He’s battling out there.”
Pickering did see some time on the Penguins’ second power play of the game with Erik Karlsson, which is a new look for him. I’m curious to see if that’s something that sticks. He skated in place of Glass on that particular man-advantage.
– Another player I think had a bit of an off-night is Karlsson. He wasn’t bad by any means – he had three shots and sent the puck toward the net on Rakell’s overtime deflection goal – but he wasn’t at his best, either.
He had an egregious defensive zone giveaway at the beginning of the second period that led to a prime scoring opportunity for Los Angeles, and there were several instances of him being unable to retrieve passes, fumbling the puck, and general hesitation.
Like Letang, he’s been very good in this winning stretch for the Penguins. But, I didn’t think this was his best game.
– Again, Malkin scored his first goal in six games on Tuesday – and I’m still not even sure it was his.
After a lengthy review process, it was determined that Malkin got a piece of the puck as it made its way from the post to Kuemper, who ultimately guided it into his own net.
I’m still not entirely seeing it, but the Penguins will take a goal any way it comes. Regardless, Michael Bunting played another really solid, engaged game for the Penguins. He now has 15 points in his last 20 games – which is tied with Rakell for third-most in that stretch – and he had four shots on goal.
But my favorite play of his on Tuesday came midway through the third period. The Penguins got a scoring chance around Kuemper in the blue paint, and Malkin gave a few jabs trying to poke the puck loose. Kevin Fiala kind of cheap-shotted Malkin from behind, and Bunting when right after Fiala.
That is great to see not only from this team, but from Bunting in particular. When he is doing those kinds of things, he’s at his best. And that’s definitely where his game is right now.
– All that being said, Sidney Crosby was the best player in this game, and it wasn’t particularly close.
He registered six shots on goal on 12 attempts. His line was everywhere. He was making good reads. Forechecking hard. And his pass to Grzelcyk on the tying goal late in the third period was magnificent:
This guy wants to score. Badly. When he is playing at this level, the goals are going to come in droves once one finally goes in for him.
“I think he’s so close,” Sullivan said. “He could’ve had three tonight. He could’ve had three in the third period alone. It’s a matter of time, it’s going to go in the net for him.”
I asked Grzelcyk about how big a factor Crosby was for the team in this win.
“Amazing,” Grzelcyk said. “I know he’s probably a little frustrated he hasn’t scored, but he’s been playing really well for us. Such a good player, has amazing vision… I know from playing against him for so many years, he’s always got his head up, and he can put guys on his back and draw a lot of guys in coverage and find you. I mean, that play (on the goal) was all him.”
– The Penguins are really starting to look like a formidable hockey team, and I’m not entirely convinced this is a fluke.
Nedeljkovic, on playing without Pettersson: “Everybody was doing a good job of making up for that and putting their bodies on the line tonight, and that’s what it’s going to take moving forward. Even when he comes back, it’s going to take that same type of effort and commitment.”
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) December 18, 2024
Their process looks completely different than it did a month ago. They’re beating playoff teams. They’re committed to defense and aren’t bleeding chances like they were at the beginning of the season, even with their best defensive defenseman out. It seems like there is a level of urgency showing in their game that wasn’t necessarily at peak level before.
The Penguins will still need their power play to click in addition to good goaltending – Alex Nedeljkovic was solid in net for the Penguins on Tuesday, and Tristan Jarry has been very good as of late – but, as a unit, they simply look much harder to play against.
It will take more than a hot streak in December to change the outlook of this team, even if they briefly found themselves in a playoff spot before Ottawa defeated the Kraken, 3-0, late on Tuesday.
But, if they can sustain this level of commitment to details – and keep getting contributions, offensively and defensively, from up and down their lineup – they should find themselves in a pretty good spot by season’s end.
