Penguins rally for OT victory

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Their young franchise goaltender was in the trainer’s room dealing with a lower-body injury and their struggling cross-state rivals were up two goals. That’s when the Pittsburgh Penguins’ erratic start briefly came into sharp focus during the second intermission on Monday night.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions responded with perhaps their best 22 minutes of hockey since raising the Cup in June.

Patric Hornqvist and Bryan Rust scored 39 seconds apart early in the third to tie it, Jake Guentzel’s second of the night evened it again with 64 seconds left in regulation and Sidney Crosby’s deflection 1:48 into overtime lifted the Penguins to an improbable 5-4 victory over reeling Philadelphia.

“In a lot of ways it was a microcosm of our season,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

Meaning an inconsistent mix of dazzling offense, inexplicable breakdowns on the other end with an injury thrown in for good measure. Matt Murray exited with 4:21 left in the second period after Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek crashed into him during a breakaway.

The 23-year-old two-time Cup winner managed to skate off under his own power before limping down the runway clearly favoring his right leg.

Murray will be re-evaluated today. Rookie Tristan Jarry picked up the second win of his career by stopping 8 of 10 shots, spending most of his 25:24 of ice time watching his teammates pound away at Philadelphia’s Brian Elliott.

The Penguins finished with 52 shots in all, the last coming when Crosby deftly redirected Kris Letang’s shot from the point over Elliott and into the net for the 11th overtime winner of his career, tied with Mario Lemieux and Evgeni Malkin for most in franchise history.

“I had a thought that [Letang] might come to me,” Crosby said. “But ultimately it’s up to the guy with the puck to see what’s there. He made a great read and I was happy to see that go in.”

Guentzel and Crosby both finished with three points, and the Penguins have won two straight following a three-game losing streak.