The Penguins didn’t have Evgeni Malkin, didn’t have a clean path through the game, and still found a way to walk out with two points.
Pittsburgh erased a pair of deficits, got a late equalizer from Rickard Rakell and finished off a 3-2 overtime win over Nashville on Saturday night. The comeback was powered by a busy night from Arturs Silovs in net, a strong NHL debut from Avery Hayes and a slick overtime finish from Ville Koivunen.
Malkin sat out with illness, marking his first missed game of the season. Hayes was recalled from the AHL and jumped straight into Malkin’s spot in the lineup, while Silovs got his third straight start.
The Predators struck first 9:24 into the opening period when a puck deflected off Steven Stamkos’ skate and went in to make it 1-0. Pittsburgh’s best chance to answer in the period came on the power play after Elmer Soderblom drew a penalty, but the Penguins couldn’t convert.
Even with the early hole, the first period wasn’t a disaster for the home team. They were down on the scoreboard, but they stayed close in shots and kept the game from slipping away.
The response came fast in the second. Connor Dewar pushed through the middle and beat Juuse Saros just 18 seconds into the period to tie it 1-1. Pittsburgh kept pressing after that, but Nashville grabbed the next goal when Spencer Stastney mishandled a puck behind his net, setting up Jayden Struble for a quick shot that got to the top of the net and put the Predators back in front.
Silovs had to do real work from there. He denied Ross Colton on one sequence and then stopped Ryan O’Rielly on a 2-on-1 as Nashville tried to build on the lead.
The Penguins kept coming, and one of their better looks in the middle frame came when Ville Koivunen set up Hayes for a chance in tight. Saros stayed sharp and made the stop.
Then, with the second period winding down, Pittsburgh nearly got burned on a counterattack. Silovs came well out of the crease to make the save, but the rebound was there for Jack Drury, who knocked it in after the horn had essentially sounded.
It counted by just tenths of a second after the clock hit 0.0, and the Predators carried a 2-1 lead into the third.
That’s where the game got frantic.
Pittsburgh spent much of the third pushing for the equalizer, and Nashville’s power play after a Dewar penalty didn’t help the cause. In fact, the best chance on the man advantage belonged to Rickard Rakell, who was stopped on a breakaway by Saros.
But the Penguins kept the pressure on, pulled Silovs with a little more than two minutes left and finally broke through at 6-on-5. Sidney Crosby threaded a pass through the zone, Rakell was in position to one-time it off Saros’ shoulder and in, and the game was tied with 1:06 left.
From there, overtime belonged almost entirely to Pittsburgh possession. The Penguins held the puck for most of the frame before Koivunen finished it off. He found room in the offensive zone, turned toward the middle and ripped a wrister past Saros for the winner.
Saros was the central figure in why this game lasted as long as it did. He stopped 24 of 25 Pittsburgh shots through 40 minutes and played well enough to tilt the game Nashville’s way for long stretches. Pittsburgh may have ended up with the win, but the game was much more difficult than it needed to be.
The Penguins were also dealing with a thin lineup. Along with Malkin, they were missing three top-six forwards in Malkin, Chinakhov and Rust, plus two defensemen from opening night in Girard and van Riemsdyk, not to mention Kindel. That made the late push even more valuable, especially with Rakell finally breaking through after a frustrating night.
Rakell’s overall game had already included a missed chance on that third-period breakaway, so his tying goal mattered even more. Without it, Pittsburgh could have been staring at a home loss to a team that isn’t exactly a powerhouse and a slide to 4-7-1. Instead, the Penguins moved to 5-6-1.
Crosby’s line still has work to do. He didn’t record a shot on goal for the second straight game, and Novak hasn’t given that group the boost Pittsburgh is looking for. Still, Crosby’s feed on the tying goal showed up when it mattered, even if the night was otherwise quiet for him.
There were a few encouraging side notes beyond the top scorers. Lapierre and Koivunen continue to look comfortable together, with both players capable of holding onto pucks and moving all over the offensive zone. That pairing got the nod in 3-on-3 and made the difference in overtime.
Soderblom had his moments, too. He drew the only Pittsburgh power play of the night, picked up his first point of the season and flashed some skill with a couple of dekes and power moves in the offensive zone before fading from view later on.
Hayes made his case for more attention in just under 13 minutes of ice time. He finished with five shots on goal, three hits and a takeaway, and his game was exactly what it usually is: direct, energetic and constantly around the puck. There’s a reason he keeps making people want to see more.
Silovs, meanwhile, continued to give Pittsburgh steady goaltending. Three starts in a row is unusual territory for a Penguins goalie, but he did enough to keep the team in the fight and may have done enough to earn another look Monday.
It wasn’t pretty, but for a banged-up group, it was the kind of win that keeps a season from drifting. Pittsburgh now gets four days off before Utah comes to town on Thursday, which should help after a night where surviving mattered just as much as style.
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