Pittsburgh Penguins’ Three Stars Of The Game In Win Over The Arizona Coyotes
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Penguins were able to curtail a four-game losing steak Saturday with two goals in the second period to defeat the Coyotes 3-1 in Arizona.
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Pittsburgh was down 1-0 in the second frame when they obtained one of the more interesting power play goals of the season to make it 1-1. Arizona goalender Mike Smith stopped the puck in back of the net and tried to send it back out up the middle of the ice. The clearing attempt bounced off the back of Penguins center Brandon Sutter and into the empty net.
Sidney Crosby contributed an empty-net goal for the Pens with just 12.1 seconds left in the contest. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound center picked up his 50th assist on Daniel Winnik’s goal and led the team with 15 face-off wins.
The Coyotes lost for the 17th time in their last 18 games and it was the 16th defeat in the past 17 contests at home. They are 1-7-1 in March.
The victory saw the Black and Gold improve their record to 40-22-10 with 88 points. Their last win on the road was Saturday, March 7 when they shutout the Kings 1-0 in Los Angeles.
The Penguins are still two points behind the New York Islanders (44-25-4, 92 points) for second place in the Metropolitan Division. The New York Rangers are atop the Metro with a record of 45-18-7, 97 points. The Blue Shirts edged the Carolina Hurricanes on the road Saturday 3-2 in a shoot-out. The Isles claimed a 3-0 win Saturday over the Devils in New Jersey
Let’s check out my three players of the game that helped the Pens rally back and down the Coyotes.
1) Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury turned away 30-of-31 shots for a .968 save percentage in picking up his 32nd win this season. The 6-fot-2, 180-pound netminder is 32-16-7 overall with a 2.21 goals-against-average and a .923 save percentage. He was named the McDonald’s Player of the Game on the ROOT Sports Network.
2) Winnik put up the go-ahead score on a redirect over Smith’s head and under the crossbar off Kris Letang’s one timer at 12:21 in the second. It was his first goal in 11 games since joining the Pens. He has eight on the season.
3) Coming into Saturday’s match-up, the Penguins had just five healthy defensemen. Kris Letang led the blue line crew with 31:09 minutes played. That was in addition to his assist on Winnik’s goal.
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Special Teams: Pittsburgh did get credit for going 1-of-4 on the power play. At the other end of the ice, Arizona shot blanks as they went 0-of-3 with the man advantage.
Lunch Pail Crew: Right wing Beau Bennett led the team in hits with seven. Right wing Craig Adams was one back with six. Defensemen Ben Lovejoy and Ian Cole were tied with three blocked shots each.
Box Score Points: Pittsburgh outshot their hosts 37-31. The Penguins had a slight edge in faceoff wins 35-34 over the Coyotes. The Black and Gold was just one back of Arizona in blocked shots 13-12. The penalty minutes were close with Dave Tippett’s squad leading 10-8.
Official Three Stars Of The Game: 1) Crosby for his one goal and one assist; 2) Right wing Tobias Rieder with one goal for the Coyotes; 3) Letang for his one assist.
Up Next: The Black and Gold return to the Steel City Tuesday, March 24 to host the St. Louis Blues (45-21-6, 96 points). The Blues lost 6-3 to the Wild Saturday, March 21 in Minnesota. They take on the Red Wings Sunday, March 22 in Detroit.
They will drop the puck at CONSOL Energy Center at 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh
From The Clipboard: There was a crowd of 15,581 at Gila River Arena in Glendale, AZ…Pittsburgh’s scratches for the contest were center Evgeni Malkin and right wing Patric Hornqvist…Sutter was second in faceoff wins with 12.