The Penguins handed the NHL's last remaining undefeated team, the Colorado Avalanche, its first loss of the season on Wednesday night when Brandon Tanev scored a shorthanded goal in overtime.
What led to the goal? Let's break it down.
The play starts back in the Penguins' defensive zone, while the Penguins are on a four-on-three penalty kill, with strong work from Jack Johnson to force a turnover by just out-muscling Mikko Rantanen off the puck:
Sam Lafferty recovers the puck along the wall but isn't able to hang onto it as Gabe Landeskog and Nate MacKinnon close in:
MacKinnon tries to pick up the loose puck and drive it to the net but Johnson knocks the puck back to Lafferty, who backhands a pass to Tanev:
"Sam did a good job on the wall clearing that up," Tanev said after the game.
Tanev starts flying through all the open ice in the neutral zone and Lafferty shifts into another gear to create a two-on-two with Landeskog and Makar:
"I saw some open ice and (Lafferty) was driving to the net, I just wanted to get one to the net there," said Tanev. "... There's obviously a little more space on the ice (in overtime) and you want to take advantage of that."
Makar forces Tanev wide to the outside, and Tanev throws the puck to the net on a bad angle:
The puck slides in front of Philip Grubauer, and redirects off of his toe to Landeskog, who can't handle the spinning puck and knocks it into the net:
"I was fortunate enough to get a bounce," Tanev said of the goal.
"It almost goes into slow motion there," Tanev said of what he saw of the bouncing puck.
"I thought he played a hell of a game," Mike Sullivan said of Tanev after the win. "His speed I think is so evident out there. I thought that line in particular, Teddy Blueger's line, they got a fair amount of time out there against MacKinnon's line, and those guys did a real good job and (Tanev) was a part of that. He's physical, he's hard to play against, I think he gets under our opponent's skin, he's just a good player. He relishes that role. So I was thrilled for him that he scores in overtime because I thought his whole game tonight was terrific."
Tanev became just the second player in Penguins franchise history to score a shorthanded goal in overtime. The first Penguins player to accomplish the feat was waiting in the locker room to shake Tanev's hand after the game.
"It was a great goal," Mario Lemieux said to Tanev. "That was nice."
Not bad company at all.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
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Penguins vs. Avalanche, PPG Paints Arena, Oct. 16, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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