The Penguins were keen to get Jason Zucker back in their lineup.
And sure enough, the forward, who missed 37 of the last 38 games with a core muscle injury, contributed almost immediately to his 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota on Thursday.
But any ambitions for a triumphant comeback were dashed about halfway through the competition.
At 9:49 of the second period, just as his teammates scored, Zucker was injured in a gruesome fall into the gang. Zucker chased a puck down the right wall of his own zone, was shoved into the gang by Wild forward Kevin Fiala, and almost did a full splits against the wall.
Athletic trainer Chris Stewart tended to Zucker, who appeared to be holding the inside of his right thigh. Zucker eventually recovered on his skates but put little weight on his right leg and required the help of forward Sidney Crosby and defenseman Mike Matheson, as well as team staff, to get off the ice and retreat to the dressing room.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan did not provide an update on Zucker’s status after the game.
A goal after 3:57 in overtime by Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin – his 17th this season – secured the win.
This latest setback for Zucker, who has been injured since December, has had a noticeable impact on his teammates.
“He’s a big part of this team,” defenseman John Marino told the media in St. Paul. “Especially off the ice. In the dressing room it was a spark for us to have him back. You could see that in the first few thirds when he played for us. That hurt to watch.”
Zucker, who played his first game in Minnesota since the Wild traded him to the Penguins in February 2020, helped the Penguins get just 1:06 into regulation on the first shot of the contest.
Zucker gained the offensive zone on the right wing, deflecting a pass from the half-wall to the right spot for Marino, who pumped a wrister towards the cage. Positioning himself on the edge of the right circle near the crease, Penguins forward Rickard Rakell deflected the puck through goaltender Cam Talbot’s fifth hole to score his 18th goal of the season (and his second since he lost per barter to the Penguins). Marino and Zucker had assists.
A power play goal at 10:51 of the first period ended the game 1-1. From the Penguins’ right circle, Fiala threw a wrister into the net, which was denied by goaltender Casey DeSmith’s blocker. As a crowd of people plunged into the crease, the rebound bounced to the right circle, where Wild defender Matt Dumba steered it onto the net with his right skate.
After a desperate DeSmith held the puck back out, Dumba eased the rebound with a forehand shot off the near post. Despite a stick check from defenseman Kris Letang, Dumba was able to make some contact on a second attempted shot and briefly pushed the puck slightly over the goal line before Letang lunged to sweep the puck out of the cage. Officials initially decided no goal, but a quick check resulted in Dumba’s seventh goal. There were no assists.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel, who grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota, put his team back in the lead with a 1:54 power play score going into the second period.
After Crosby defeated Wild forward Tyson Jost in a Minnesota left circle tie, Letang put the puck in the high slot and triggered a passing sequence to take Bryan Rust (left point), then Crosby (left corner) and then leading Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin (right corner) and finally Letang (right faceoff), who fired a one-timer at the net. Talbot parried with his left leg but slipped a rebound into the slot where Guentzel cleaned it up with a forehand shot for his 32nd goal. Letang and Malkin claimed assists.
“Just a great reference game,” said Guentzel. “I just had my stick on the ice. It went straight to my stick. Definitely one I will take.”
The Penguins took a 3-1 lead in the episode where Zucker was injured. Crosby grabbed the puck on his own left point, deketed past Dumba and used Rakell to create a two-for-one rush against Wild defender Jonas Brodin. As Brodin made a vain attempt to block the fast lane, Crosby was able to slide the puck from deep in the Wild’s left circle to the other side of the crease where Rakell tapped the puck in. Crosby had the only assist.
After a possible goal by Wild forward Jordan Greenway at 5:31 p.m. of the second was nullified by a Penguins coach challenge — a video review showed the sequence was offside — the Wild drew on at 5:48 p.m Goal returned to former Penguins forward Frederick Gaudreau, who scored his 10th goal.
After a turnover from Marino in the defensive zone, Gaudreau corralled the puck in place and tapped it on Fiala’s right half-wall. As Gaudreau maneuvered to the slot, Fiala handed it back to him and Gaudreau brushed a one-timer past DeSmith’s glove. Fiala and linemate Jordan Boldy had assists.
In the third third it even went on again only 1:02. Wild forward Ryan Hartman controlled the puck behind the Penguins’ net and “passed” himself from the back of the cage to get past a backchecking Malkin, and fed a pass into the slot from the right side of the net. From there, linesmate Kirill Kaprizov stroked a one-timer past DeSmith’s left skate for his 38th goal. Assists went to Hartman and defenseman Jared Spurgeon.
For the remainder of the third period, teams mostly held serve.
“I thought we showed really good resilience,” DeSmith said. “Obviously a tie in the third, I thought we did a great job recovering back without letting the momentum take away from us. I thought we made it to overtime which was great to see. The star players stepped in for us.”
That showed in overtime when the Penguins beat the Wild 7-2, including Malkin’s last three shots of the game.
Marino pushed play into the offensive zone on the right wing boards, shielding the puck from Hartman and then shoving a pass to the right point for Rust, who chipped a forehand in front of the cage for Malkin. Malkin initially ran behind the cage, backing away to the right of the net and blocking two forehand shots that Talbot’s left skate denied.
Malkin’s third attempt gained access when Wild defender Dmitry Kulikov made an exhausted and futile attempt at a poke check. Rust and Marino have logged assists.
“It was a complete effort, top to bottom,” Sullivan said. “It was a great hockey game on both sides. This is a really good team. Our team played really hard tonight. We fought hard. …I just really liked our resilience throughout the game. It was a game with lots of momentum swings it seemed. Sometimes you can get caught up in it. I thought we did a good job of just sticking with it and keeping the game simple to try and get it back if we lost it.
“It was a great hockey game. It had a playoff feel to it in many ways. It was physical. Great games were shown on both sides. I felt both goalkeepers played well and made great saves. It was just a great ice hockey game.”
DeSmith made 28 saves on 31 shots as his record improved to 7-4-4 in a win that was invigorating but somewhat Pyrrhic given Zucker’s recent illness.
“It was awful,” DeSmith said. “Obviously I hate to see it. We see him working hard every day, rehab and try to come back as soon as possible. It was pretty heartbreaking for that to happen in the first second leg.”
Remarks:
• On Thursday afternoon, Zucker was activated from the long-term casualty reserve. In a related transaction, Penguins forward Brock McGinn was placed on long-term injury reserve with a suspected right hand or arm injury that sidelined him for the last nine games.
• This was the first game decided in overtime between the Penguins and Wild. Previously, the Penguins lost twice in shootouts against the Wild.
• Malkin has scored three of the Penguins’ last four crucial goals.
• After struggling with the worst streak of his career in six games without a point, Malkin has cobbled together a six-goal streak.
• Letang scored his 500th career assist for Guentzel’s goal.
• The Penguins are now 5 for 5 in this season’s Coach’s Challenges.
• Scoring streaks don’t continue when a player is absent, but Zucker has scored in the last three games he played through December 19.
• The Penguins scraped forwards Anthony Angello, Radim Zohorna and defenseman Marcus Pettersson.
• The Wild did not escape this game unscathed. Forward Matt Boldy and defenseman Jon Merrill left the game in the second half due to undisclosed injuries.
• The Wild remains one of three active NHL franchises that have never excluded the Penguins. The others are the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights, each of which are expansion franchises that have joined the NHL for the past four seasons.
• Kaprizov equaled the Wilds’ all-season record with 83 points (37 goals, 45 assists) in just 65 games. The mark was originally set by former Wild forward Marian Gaborik, who recorded 83 points (42 goals, 41 assists) in 77 games during the 2007/08 season.
• Dumba became the first Wild defender to score a power play goal this season.
•The Wild scratched former Penguins Nick Bjugstad and Alex Goligoski and defenseman Jordie Benn.
Seth Rorabaugh is a contributor to the Tribune Review. You can contact Seth via email at [email protected] or via Twitter .