Despite playing the night before in Los Angeles, the Penguins had their legs early. They put together some good shifts and had offensive-zone time.
But when Anaheim’s No. 2-ranked power play went over the boards 6:27 in, it went to work, and captain Mikael Granlund found a goal immediately after a penalty to Kaedan Korczak expired. Less than a minute later, Sidney Crosby went to the box, and this time, the Penguins successfully kept the red-hot Ducks from converting. That group came into this game having scored in seven straight, with multiple goals in four straight.
When the Penguins got a man-advantage of their own, Andrei Kuzmenko had a couple of good looks. He slotted in for Ville Koivunen, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Overall, the Penguins created some high-quality chances in that opening frame, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
In the second period, Leo Carlsson took a penalty just 20 seconds in. And not long after, Alex Killorn high-sticked Tommy Novak and drew blood, giving the Penguins 1:38 of 5-on-3 time within a four-minute power play. Erik Karlsson had a glorious chance on an open net, but Jackson LaCombe’s skate blocked his shot. Other than that, the Penguins didn’t generate much.
It was déjà vu from a similar opportunity against Vegas last week, when the Penguins had 1:22 of 5-on-3 time late in regulation with the score tied 2-2, but failed to convert in an eventual 3-2 loss.
“It’s one of those situations you’re not in a lot, but we got to be ready for it when it does come,” Head Coach Dan Muse said. “There is a plan in place. We got to continue to look at it, though, and we’ll go back and revisit it and see if we want to make any tweaks in terms of what we’re looking at there.”