PASS OUT! Penguins dominate, Crosby plays hero with tie and overtime win

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins dominated the first and third periods, but chased the game-winning goal deep into the third period. In fact, despite closely controlling the game for much of the first and final periods, the Penguins didn’t score their first goal until 1:47 into the third period.

Unsurprisingly, with the possibility of a seven-game winless streak on the horizon, it was captain Sidney Crosby who upped his game in the third period, scoring a goal (2) with a brilliant deflection. Crosby also split a pair of defenders midway through the third period for a great chance, although Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal made that save.

Crosby stole the puck in the Anaheim zone in overtime and scored the game-winning goal. The Penguins’ six-game winless streak ended as they beat Anaheim 2-1 in overtime on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.

Instead of a bewildering series of errors, missed goals or no-shows, the Penguins dominated the first period. They outscored Anaheim 15-4 with about four minutes left in the first period, and Anaheim had no sign of danger as the Penguins overwhelmed Dostal with 15 scoring chances.

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang even helped goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, making three saves in 11:57 of the first period, including a great save on a shot.

One Penguins mistake compounded by another, however, and old foe Alex Killorn (2) was left alone in the bottom slot with enough time and space to easily beat Nedeljkovic at 15:50.

Penguins forward Michael Bunting chased the puck to the corner, where Jack St. Ivany battled Trevor Zegras, but defenseman Ryan Graves left the front of the net, leaving the scoring area wide open.

Oops.

It’s been the Penguins’ self-destructive run of luck since the team beat the Buffalo Sabers 6-5 in overtime on Oct. 16. It was an emotional game in which Crosby scored his 1,600th point and Evgeni Malkin scored his 500th goal.

The Penguins game went south after Anaheim scored the first goal. Anaheim kept the pace, and the number of shots between the goal and the end of the second period was 11-10 in favor of the Penguins. However, Anaheim had five high-danger scoring chances to the Penguins’ only two.

The Penguins fell further apart, losing a two-on-one with Crosby and Rickard Rakell, taking the minor with too many players at 19:05 of the second.

It may have been the word coach Mike Sullivan hated: desperation. The coaches believe that this means a hopeless situation. Regardless of the semantics, the Penguins’ urgency has finally caught up with a team trying to escape a six-game winless streak.

According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Penguins made 14 of their first 16 shots of the third period and outshot Anaheim 7-0 (high threat).

Trevor Zegras nearly scored the winning goal with just over four minutes remaining. He got behind Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson and beat Nedeljkovic, but as the puck trickled toward the goal line, Marcus Pettersson dove and knocked the puck off the line.

Cutter Gauthier also had a lead with just over a minute left, but Nedeljkovic saved the shot.

The Penguins took 45 shots in regulation, including 16 in the third period. Karlsson had six primary shots and 11 more attempts.

Nedeljkovic stopped 22 of 23. Dostal made 44 saves in regulation.