Mammoth Hang On as Penguins' Power Play Nearly Steals One
Utah bounces back from the Edmonton loss, but a leaky night for Cossa lets Pittsburgh's slumping veterans keep it close to the end.
Utah had the better of this game almost everywhere, and still needed to sweat out a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh.
The Mammoth outshot the Penguins 29-18. Their chances were worth about 5.49 expected goals, a measure of how many goals their looks should produce, against Pittsburgh's 2.89. On a normal night, that's a comfortable win.
Two things kept the Penguins alive. First, their power play went two for two. Second, Sebastian Cossa gave up four goals on 18 shots, finishing at -1.11 goals saved above expected. In other words, he let in about one more goal than the shots he faced deserved. Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.
At the other end, Arturs Silovs stopped 24 of 29, about what Utah's barrage deserved. No shots hit the iron for either side.
Utah moves to 6-3-0 and snaps a one-game skid. Pittsburgh had the finish tonight but not enough of the chances.
