For the Penguins, a win – any win – is a welcome sight after losing four straight games over the last week. The Penguins 3-1 victory over Arizona Coyotes, however, is hardly an accomplishment worth celebrating.
The Coyotes, now losers of six straight games and 16 of their last 17, seemed particularly uninterested in taking the play to the Penguins, despite a lackluster first period from the black and gold.
The Penguins were completely outplayed through the first 20 minutes, and were outshot 13-3 in the opening frame. The Penguins power play went 0-2, was held without a shot, and at 1:34 of the period, gave up a shorthanded goal when Tobias Rieder scored his 12th of the season to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.
The Arizona would lead would evaporate in the second period, as the Penguins power play scored, sort of. Coyotes’ goaltender Mike Smith skated out of his net to his right to play a Penguins dump in. He corralled the puck, turned, and shot it off the backside of onrushing Penguins center Brandon Sutter and into his own net.
For Sutter, it was an interesting way to get his first power play goal since January 27. For Smith, a talented goaltender that leads the league in losses, mostly due to the motley crew playing in front of him, a frustrating season continued.
The Penguins were able to keep the pressure on, outshooting the Coyotes 22-11 in the middle frame, and it paid off. At 12:21 of the second, a harmless Kris Letang wrist shot from the point deflected off Daniel Winnik and went off the crossbar and in behind Smith. It was Winnik’s first goal as with the Penguins.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby added an empty-net goal, his 24th of the season at 19:48 of the third period. Crosby is again tied with the New York Islanders’ John Tavares and the Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin with 73 points for the NHL lead.
Marc-Andre Fleury had to make some difficult stops down the stretch to keep the Penguins lead intact, but the Penguins netminder was up to the task, stopping 30 of 31 shots.
Fleury was helped out by a Penguins defensive corps that was playing without Christian Ehrhoff, who was in the team’s lineup but never saw the ice after warmups. As a result, several Penguins defenseman saw elevated levels of ice time, none more than Letang, who finished with 31:09. His usual partner, Paul Martin, played 25:03, and Ben Lovejoy played 23:47.
As the defense’s time on ice increased, their play improved. They held the Coyotes to 11 shots in the second period and just seven in the final frame.
Head coach Mike Johnston said after the game that Ehrhoff was dealing with “something nagging” and that it was not related to the concussion issues that had sidelined him for 18 games through February and early March.
Photo credit: NHL
