NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Phil Kessel buried his own rebound 41 seconds into overtime to earn his keep Saturday night. His goal gave the Penguins a 2-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
But truly, the night belonged to goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Fleury made 38 saves for the Penguins, buying his club time to find their offense, and holding at bay one of the hottest teams in the NHL.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on a Chris Kunitz goal and were in position to win in regulation until Fleury was beaten by former Penguins sniper James Neal.
Neal, who attempted 12 shots and has had no problem scoring goals this season, finished his own rebound in tight at 11:27 to force overtime.
Fleury gritted his teeth over it afterwards.
“Argh. I didn’t want him to score at all. I was mad about that,” Fleury said. “But he looked good, played a good game and that’s his style. He’s got such a good shot. Goes to the net. Bang. Tried to go for the rebound. I wish he didn’t get that goal, but we got the win and that’s more important.”
Penguins coach Mike Johnston never challenged the goal, though it appeared as if Fleury’s stick may have been kicked.
“We didn’t think there was any interference,” Johnston said.
“You keep your timeout at that time ... because you never know what’s going to happen in a close game like that.”
Johnston had dug deep into his bag of tricks to somehow halt the mystifying lack of production from a lineup built to score.
He juggled lines and broke up the Sidney Crosby-Kessel top-line duo to open the game.
The results were not quick, but Kunitz broke open a scoreless game when he unleashed the most wicked of slap shots to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 15:04 of the second period after a Nashville power play.
If only that puck could talk.
Kunitz’s goal broke a well-documented scoreless skid by the veteran winger that went deep into last season. His previous regular-season goal was March 29. And that goal broke an 11-game point-less streak.
Evgeni Malkin burst in from the penalty box, found his way to the puck on the far wing and dropped it back to Kunitz, who seemed to wind up for an eternity.
“I’ve been practicing in my mind for a while,” joked Kunitz. “No. [Malkin] came out of the box and had some speed. [Matt Cullen] made a good play to poke it away from their guy, tried to bump it up. Worked out that Cullen did a good job pushing their [defenseman] back, opening up a lane and [Malkin] just laid it out for me.”
To that point, the game was scoreless in large part because of the 22 saves made by Fleury, who looked like he was on his way to his second shutout this season.
“He was our best player by far,” Kunitz said. “It was nice to get the win in OT, but without him, we didn’t have a chance.”
Said Kessel: “Wow. He was great for us. He’s been unbelievable for us all season long, making big saves all over. Again, he played unbelievable.”
The Penguins sputtered on the power play in the first period, failing to generate any kind of sustained attack in the Predators zone on a five-minute opportunity.
The glorious lengthy chance came about after Austin Watson was assessed a five-minute major for a boarding call that briefly sent defenseman Brian Dumoulin down the runway.
Worse than not scoring, the Predators nearly did. Nashville produced two legitimate short-handed chances on the penalty-kill, one off a quick backhanded shot from Craig Smith in traffic, and a second off the rush.
Fleury stopped both, and the Penguins started to create chances by the end of the period.
Fleury was the difference for much of the second period, twice turning away Smith, then making a couple of saves on Roman Josi, which allowed the Penguins to counter.
Jenn Menendez: jmenendez@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JennMenendez.
First Published: October 25, 2015, 2:56 a.m.
