Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and the Pittsburgh Penguins erased a 2-0 Coyotes lead in the first period, eking out an overtime shootout win after Mark Letestu’s lone goal on Saturday.
Penguins fans have been used to falling behind in games recently: the Penguins fell behind 2-0 in their previous two games against both Anaheim and Dallas.
It was up to Crosby and Malkin to complete the comeback, and they overcame the early deficit in the second period. Each scored a goal about three minutes apart.
Pittsburgh pulled their starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after he gave up two goals off the Coyotes’ first five shots. His replacement, Brent Johnson, made 22 saves in 23 shots in the next two periods.
At 19:26 in the second period, the Penguins tied it up at 3-3 with a power play goal from Chris Kunitz. Center Mark Letestu scored the only goal in the shootout to seal the game.
“It shows a lot of character to stick with it,” Penguins captain Crosby told NHL.com.
“We have been on the road for a while, for a couple weeks here. It would have been easy to pack it in after a period of falling behind. Guys stuck with it and competed. We did a lot of good things [against the Ducks], built off of that and deserved to get the two points.”
Despite the win, the Penguins have lost five of their last seven to go 7-7-1.
“I kind of knew I was going to go [third],” Letestu told ESPN. “I’ve had a lot of success in the minors and practice, and I was pretty happy when Dan [Bielsma] called my number and I got a chance to win a hockey game.”
Penguins fans have been used to falling behind in games recently: the Penguins fell behind 2-0 in their previous two games against both Anaheim and Dallas.
It was up to Crosby and Malkin to complete the comeback, and they overcame the early deficit in the second period. Each scored a goal about three minutes apart.
Pittsburgh pulled their starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after he gave up two goals off the Coyotes’ first five shots. His replacement, Brent Johnson, made 22 saves in 23 shots in the next two periods.
At 19:26 in the second period, the Penguins tied it up at 3-3 with a power play goal from Chris Kunitz. Center Mark Letestu scored the only goal in the shootout to seal the game.
“It shows a lot of character to stick with it,” Penguins captain Crosby told NHL.com.
“We have been on the road for a while, for a couple weeks here. It would have been easy to pack it in after a period of falling behind. Guys stuck with it and competed. We did a lot of good things [against the Ducks], built off of that and deserved to get the two points.”
Despite the win, the Penguins have lost five of their last seven to go 7-7-1.
“I kind of knew I was going to go [third],” Letestu told ESPN. “I’ve had a lot of success in the minors and practice, and I was pretty happy when Dan [Bielsma] called my number and I got a chance to win a hockey game.”
