After recording their best offensive showing of the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins immediately face another crucial game when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
Trailing by two goals against the New York Islanders midway through the second period on Monday, the Penguins roared back with seven unanswered goals in an 8-3 rout. The eight goals marked a season high for Pittsburgh (37-21-16, 90 points), and 15 different players collected at least one point.
The comeback began with Rickard Rakell’s short-handed goal 11:01 into the second period. Anthony Mantha credited that goal as the momentum-changer for the Penguins.
“The belief just came back in our room and on the bench. We went for it, [and] obviously it was a great second period, great third period,” Mantha told SportsNet Pittsburgh.
A lower-body injury kept Sidney Crosby out of Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, but the Penguins’ superstar captain returned to collect two assists against the Islanders.
Evgeni Malkin could be the next Penguins star to return to the ice. The veteran forward has participated in full practices despite missing Pittsburgh’s last four games due to an upper-body injury.
Monday’s victory moved the Penguins into second place in the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh is one point ahead of the Islanders, and two in front of the fourth-place Columbus Blue Jackets.
Detroit (39-26-8, 86 points) is one of three teams sitting two points behind Columbus for the final Eastern Conference wild-card slot. Battling for their first playoff berth since the 2015-16 season, the Red Wings’ path looked a lot clearer before they went 4-6-2 over their last 12 games.
Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers saw the Red Wings fall behind 4-0 before making a late surge with three goals in a 2:31 stretch during the third period. Detroit coach Todd McLellan pointed to the game as an example of the inconsistency that continues to hamper his team.
“If we don’t start well and something bad happens, we give away too many minutes right now,” McLellan said. “It takes us too long to recover. … Just getting over it is real important, or staying with it. We’ll put some good shifts together and then we’ll shoot ourselves in the foot with some bad penalties, some timing things, execution. It all has to come together.”
Alex DeBrincat remains the constant in the Red Wings’ offense. DeBrincat, who leads the team in goals (37) and points (78), has four and 15, respectively, during a nine-game point streak.
John Gibson also has become a lineup fixture, as Tuesday will mark the goalie’s 12th consecutive start. A minor injury kept backup Cam Talbot from making a start during Detroit’s back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, though Talbot got 9:28 of relief duty Saturday when Gibson was pulled after allowing four goals on 21 shots.
Gibson is 4-6-1 with a .904 save percentage and 2.60 GAA in his previous 11 games.
Pittsburgh’s Stuart Skinner likely will get start in net Tuesday, as Arturs Silovs faced the Islanders. Skinner is looking to get on track after posting an .868 save percentage and 3.94 goals against average over his last five starts.
Pittsburgh is 4-4-4 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
The Penguins are 12-3-3 in their last 18 games against the Red Wings, including wins in their first two meetings this season.
