Pittsburgh Review

The Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Florida Panthers in a challenging match on January 3 at Amerant Bank Arena. This encounter marked the second time this season that the Penguins extended play against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. The Panthers emerged victorious in a shootout with a final score of 3-2, following an overtime win by Pittsburgh on December 3.

Bryan Rust, playing his 600th career game, contributed an assist and became the ninth player in Penguins history to reach 400 points with the team. Rust assisted Sidney Crosby's power-play goal in the second period, which tied the game at 1-1 after a scoreless first period. Rust expressed his satisfaction with reaching this milestone, saying, "Any time you can get a milestone - obviously it's not Sid's 9,000th assist [laughs] - but it's something for me, which is nice.”

The game featured significant special teams play. Matthew Tkachuk scored for Florida during a power play early in the third period. Pittsburgh capitalized on two four-minute power plays due to high-sticking penalties against Florida players and managed to score twice out of seven opportunities. Rickard Rakell scored with just under 40 seconds left in regulation to force extra time.

In terms of lineup changes, Kevin Hayes replaced Anthony Beauvillier after being a healthy scratch for nine games and tied for most shots on goal for Pittsburgh. Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering returned from injury, replacing Ryan Shea.

Phil Tomasino suffered an injury during the third period and did not return to play after crashing into the boards.

Head Coach Mike Sullivan shared his thoughts post-game: “I thought we played extremely hard... I loved our compete level down the stretch.” He praised goaltender Tristan Jarry's performance: “I thought Jars made some good saves... It was a real good NHL hockey game.” Sullivan also commented positively on Kevin Hayes' return: “I liked Hayesy’s game... he has great poise with the puck.”

Discussing defensive strategies against Florida's forecheck, Sullivan noted improvement since their last matchup: “I thought we handled it better in this game than we did last time.” On penalty killing efforts, he remarked: “I thought they were solid most of the night... They’re a pretty dangerous team off the rush.”