Pittsburgh Penguins Game 4-3 Loss OT Utah Mammoth The teams threw caution to the wind, and the final minutes of the game were a track meet, and a thrilling final minute in which the Pittsburgh Penguins (5-6-2) scored the go-ahead goal with 24 seconds remaining, but Pittsburgh-native Logan Cooley scored the tying goal for the Utah Mammoth (9-5-0) with just one second remaining.
Penguins center Ben Kindel capped an odd-man rush in the final minute with a rebound goal for what looked like the celebratory winner, but in fact, like any good Halloween horror file, the villain was not dead yet. Cooley completed the hat trick to force overtime.
The Penguins have points in three straight, but Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev capped an even wilder overtime, and Utah beat the Penguins 4-3 in OT Thursday at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins showed the struggles of a team that has not played in four days.
They had plenty of shots and puck possession but also struggled to break through the structured Utah Mammoth for the first 30 minutes. Rickard Rakell’s third-period shorthanded goal tied the game 2-2.
Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs made a pair of potentially game-saving stops in the middle of the second period (and then plenty more in the third period). First, he stopped Nick Schmaltz from 10 feet at 12:10, then Lawson Crouse in front at 14:20.
The pivotal sequence allowed the Penguins to keep their budding second-period momentum. The shot clock generally told the story of where the game was played, though not necessarily how it was played.
After a strong start and 7-2 shot advantage, the first period ended with a 9-9 stalemate. The Penguins outshot Utah 13-9 in the second, which was emblematic of the Penguins’ territorial advantage.
And Utah’s 13-8 advantage in the third was fitting of their attack, blunted only by Silovs. Cooley was exceptional.
He bolted through the Penguins’ defense multiple times for breakaway chances, including one third-period rush in which he breezed by all five Penguins on an end-to-end rush. Notes: The Penguins’ lineup received an influx of returning players.
Sam Girard, who was a game-time decision, played. Ben Kindel also returned to the lineup.
He and Girard were activated from injured reserve Thursday. Evgeni Malkin (illness) and Egor Chinakhov (lower-body) were also back in the lineup.
The game marked Silovs’ fourth straight start in goal. He stopped 30 of 34 shots.
Utah goalie Sebastian Cossa stopped 30 of 33 for the win. Penguins Goal Cap 1-0 Utah: A nothing play became an early deficit despite a 7-2 shot advantage.
Erik Karlsson’s cross-ice breakout was on the tape, but the stick belonged to Utah forward Logan Cooley (5), who snapped a wrister at full speed from the low left circle past Silovs at 4:40 of the first period. 2-0: Logan Cooley (6) blew past several Penguins defenders.
From deep in his own zone, he raced through center ice. Four Penguins had their assignments, but captain Sidney Crosby didn’t see Cooley until it was too late.
Crosby couldn’t catch Cooley, who split Stastney and Karlsson for a breakaway goal at 14:11. 2-1: Signs of life.
A controlled zone entry on the right wing and a pair of drop passes, first Malkin to Kindel, then Kindel back to Karlsson, gave Karlsson acres of space at the top of the zone. Karlsson (2) toe-dragged past one defender into the slot and beat goalie Sebastian Cossa to the glove side at 8:38 of the second.
2-2: A third-period shortie. With Utah on the power play, the puck bounced over Cooley’s stick at the point, which set up a two-on-one for Rickard Rakell and Nick Robertson.
Rakell (3) kept the puck, squared to Cossa, and snapped a top-shelf wrister to the stick side to tie the game at 10:59. 3-2: Kindel capped a three-on-two in the final minute.
With Evgeni Malkin lying near the crease, Kindel (4) chipped the puck over the outstretched Cossa for what looked like the game winner at 19:36. 3-3: What?!
The breakneck pace continued, and the Penguins squandered a sure regulation victory when Cooley (7) capped the hat trick by batting the puck out of the air at 19:59. 4-3 UTAH: The OT winner.
Mikhail Sergachev (4) at 3:27.
