Penguins Outlast Panthers, Prevail In Overtime To Earn Their Fourth Straight Win

Florida had a goal from Matthew Tkachuk in the first period, and after going down 4-1, they came on really strong in the third. The Penguins' lead had evaporated midway through the period, as the Panthers scored three goals in four minutes and 32 seconds to tie the game, the last of which was a power play goal by Tkachuk on their first power play of the night.

The Panthers are a very good hockey team. They're the defending champions. But this season-long story of the Penguins not being able to handle momentum swings and squandering multi-goal leads continues. Old habits that seemed to fade out during their win streak crept back in during the third period.

Make no mistake: Florida was the better team in this game. They outshot the Penguins, 41-16 and decidedly had most of the momentum throughout the game. The Penguins were opportunistic, and Jarry was just that good.

All that said, it was absolutely huge for the Penguins to get this overtime win, despite the circumstances. I think most would agree that this is a game that slips away earlier in the season.

Even Sullivan said that the mindset is completely different than it was when the Penguins were going through that rough stretch a month ago.

"What I liked about the group is that no one got rattled," Sullivan said. "There was great conversation on the bench amongst the players, and we were just trying to push back, simplify the game a bit, play more north-south, play straight ahead, and compete. That was the feeling on the bench, that was the mindset, and what I will tell you is that it was very different maybe a month ago when we were going through that rough stretch."

Here are a few other notes and observations from this game:

- Going back to Jarry for just a second, it really is amazing what good goaltending can do for a team. Early in the season - Joel Blomqvist aside - the Penguins simply weren't getting that from their two veterans.

That's no longer the case.

And this is true for Jarry in particular. Four of Jarry's five best performances of the season have come over the Penguins' last five games. In the past five games, Jarry has put up a .909 save percentage, and in those four performances, his save percentage is .919.

Jarry spoke about how the team's response - as well as his - has been better during this stretch of games.

"I think it's just staying with it," Jarry said. "We've talked a lot about that over the course of the season so far, is just sticking with it. When they're able to get those goals, just keep playing the right way. I think that's a lot of what we've been talking about, and I think that reiterates what we need to do."

The Penguins' netminder might be turning a corner, and this is great news for the Penguins for an abundance of reasons.

- The early returns on Blake Lizotte and Philip Tomasino are very promising. The youthful energy is apparent, they're both very smart players, and they each played a crucial role in Pittsburgh's first two goals of the evening.

On the Malkin goal - which was the second of the game - Tomasino made a nice play near the offensive blue line to get the puck to Drew O'Connor. He immediately drove the middle alongside Malkin, and he guided O'Connor's feed to Malkin with a no-look touch pass. Great, high-IQ stuff from him.

As for Lizotte? I said it after the last game, and I'll say it again: This third line is really, really clicking for the Penguins.

They're cycling. They're forechecking hard. They're winning puck battles. And Beauvillier and Lizotte have the ability to beat opponents to the puck and cycle using their speed, while Bunting has been a menace at the net front and below the goal line.

Two really good shifts by them led to the goals by Pickering and Letang. On Pickering's goal, Lizotte hustled to beat Florida to the puck and poke it to Pickering, who shot the puck through traffic and scored.