Bryan Rust scored the game-winning goal 91 seconds into overtime to lift the host Pittsburgh Penguins past Florida Panthers 5-4 on Tuesday.
In a battle of teams with three-game winning streaks, the Penguins won despite giving up a 4-1 third-period lead. They needed the 32-year-old right wing’s eighth goal of the season to secure the second point.
Pittsburgh won despite being outshot 41-16. Tristan Jarry saved a season-high 37 shots. Florida put pressure on Jarry throughout, but the former All-Star netminder, who was sent to the AHL in late October after posting a 5.47 goals-against average through his first three starts, stopped several quality chances.
Despite being outshot 13-5 in the first period, Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead midway through it on goals 1:12 apart from the Penguins’ youngest and oldest players.
Defenseman Owen Pickering celebrated his first NHL goal on a blueline blast in his sixth game. Evgeni Malkin, 38, followed up the 20-year-old’s milestone with 9:28 left in the period for his 504th goal.
For Pittsburgh, Marcus Pettersson and Kris Letang also scored and Blake Lizotte notched two assists.
Matthew Tkachuk scored a season-high four points (two goals and two assists), which put him above 600 career points. His second goal of the game came on a power play with 8:33 remaining in regulation for a 4-4 tie.
Sam Bennett scored a goal for the fourth straight game for Florida, which also got a goal from Adam Boqvist. Both of those goals came in the third before Tkachuk’s equalizer.
Goalie Spencer Knight started for the Panthers with Sergei Bobrovsky stayed back in South Florida because he and his wife are expecting a baby. Knight made 11 saves.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Penguins activated Cody Glass from injured reserve. The 25-year-old center, acquired through a trade with the Nashville Predators in August, had been on IR since Nov. 8 due to a concussion.
–Field Level Media
