Crosby Spooks Ducks, Penguins snap six-game skid on Halloween with 2-1 overtime win

On Halloween night, the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled into PPG Paints Arena hoping to scare Anaheim Ducks and walk away with a huge win for snapping theirs six game losing streak.

And in the end they got the treat and not the trick.

The Penguins defeated the Ducks in overtime, 2-1, thanks to two goals by their captain, Sidney Crosby. The Penguins were the dominant team for most of the evening, registering 46 shots on goal and overwhelming the Ducks with their forecheck.

Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic earned the win, stopping 22 of 23 Anaheim shots and coming up big near the end of the contest.

“Ned made some big saves late there when we made some mistakes,” Crosby said. “So we got some big plays and defensively we were a lot better.”

---

Here are some thoughts and observations from Thursday’s game:

– I’ll be at Crosby’s in a minute here. But Erik Karlsson was nothing short of phenomenal tonight, and he was the team’s best player.

Karlsson recorded six shots on goal, but he attempted 21 — yes, you read that right, 21 shot attempts — which is just absurd. He was all over the ice in all three zones and the Penguins dominated with him on the ice in all situations.

His Corsi was a team-best 78.6 percent, and the Penguins generated a whopping 3.32 expected goals while Karlsson was on the ice.

He and Pettersson each had a late giveaway that calls for some thanks to Nedeljkovic, but overall the pairing was spectacular. Shot attempts were 46-14 with the pair on the ice, and they had an expected field goal percentage of 77.2 percent.

Just an excellent game from both of them, but especially from Karlsson. He was on another planet tonight, and the pens need to see this version of him with more consistency.

– Kris Letang had a good shift in the first period.

The Ducks got what was really their first good look in the game. There was a scramble around Nedeljkovic and the puck ended up behind him after a shot from Brian Dumoulin. Letang cleared it out of danger with his stick but straight to Leo Carlsson and he blocked another attempt.

Then the puck splashed to Troy Terry in the slot for a third try. Letang blocked it.

Finally, about a second later, Dumoulin was wide open in the right circle and Letang scampered feet-first and got a piece of another shot on its way to a wide-open net. The shot went wide of the post.

This was a great defensive shift from him. He has struggled so far this season, but boy did he have a good shift there.

– The Penguins had no shortage of high-danger chances tonight. They were the better team and had a 46-23 shot advantage.

Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal was very, very good for the Ducks.

It’s really the first time this season you can say a goalie single-handedly almost beat the Penguins. Dostal is only 24. He looks to be a legitimate starting goaltender in this league.

He got the third star of the game. A spectacular performance from him.

– Speaking of which, Nedeljkovic made an excellent save with about four minutes left. He also stopped within two minutes and made a huge save on Cutter Gauthier off a Penguins’ turnover.

This game could very well have ended in heartbreak for the Penguins had Nedeljkovic not come up big at the end. He made the saves when he needed to tonight.

– Michael Bunting had a strong performance tonight. He didn’t end up on the scoresheet, but he could easily have. He was getting to the dirty areas and he looked like the player the Penguins acquired last season.

Head coach Mike Sullivan gave him glowing support by comparing him to a beloved former Penguin tonight.

“Just getting to know him as a person, he reminds me a lot of Patric Hornqvist,” Sullivan said. “‘Låre’ used to do the same thing, he’d come back to the bench and talk to himself and he’d get mad at himself. It’s just an indictment to us that he’s engaged and he’s invested emotionally. And , usually when players are invested like that, they’ll find their best game.”

If Bunting keeps playing like he did tonight, he will find the back of the net.

– The Penguins, for the third straight overtime game this season, had a really strong showing in the extra frame. They dominated possession, controlled tempo, forced turnovers and worked hard defensively on longer shifts.

Sullivan said he and assistant coach David Quinn spent a lot of time going over film and figuring out a way to get the best out of the Penguins in overtime, since that was a weakness last season. He said there should be more of a commitment to defend when they don’t have the puck, opening up opportunities for their big guys to create offensively.

This was evident on the overtime goal by Crosby. Cody Glass — who deserves a huge amount of credit for making the play happen — was on a long shift and won a puck battle along the boards near the Penguins’ bench, forcing a turnover. This allowed Crosby to chip the puck to himself and have the breakaway chance that led to the winning goal.

It’s early, but it certainly looks like the Penguins figured something out in overtime. And it could be huge for them at the end of the season if they can get the extra points.

– Now to the captain.

This was the best I’ve seen Crosby look all season. He was a puck dog all night. He was in his office below the goal line creating beforehand. He scored a beautiful deflection goal to put the Penguins ahead, 1-0, and he was relentless in puck pursuit, possession and protection.

And his overtime goal was just vintage, ugly stuff from him. He stopped completely in front of Dostal, covered him and flipped the puck over his shoulder to the winner:

This is the version of Crosby that everyone knows. I expect to see a lot more of him down the stretch, especially with the very high level his line is playing at right now.