All’s well that ends well as the Penguins beat Dallas in a shootout

I gotta say: I love mantras and look for any chance to use ’em. One of my very favorites is “All’s well that ends well.” Such was true for the Penguins Saturday night. Read more: Penguins shootout win over Stars

That very nearly wasn’t the case.

The Penguins couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season: In their very first game, a grudge match against the in-state rival responsible for vanquishing them from the quest to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup last year, the Pens boat-raced the Flyers 7-0, on the road, no less. Next, for the home opener, Pittsburgh outlasted a young, talented Canadiens team that made last year’s Eastern Conference Final, losing only to eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina.

Since then, the Pens have floundered. First came a disappointing home loss to Winnipeg, which came from behind in the final period to win. Then, a road game against Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and the Capitals, in which the Pittsburgh hockey team quite frankly looked outmatched ... and on Friday, the Pens skated to a regulation tie in Columbus, only for the Blue Jackets to win in an overtime shootout (the Pens’ notorious Achilles’ heel last season).

Related: Penguins end three-game skid in shooutout win

To add insult to injury, that initial, decisive victory against the Flyers has since looked less and less impressive, as the still-winless Flyers look like they couldn’t beat an egg in a blender (not that I mind).

A late goal, then a shootout

So, when, with only 30 seconds left in regulation and snapping a losing streak on the line, Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin propelled a puck past Pens goalie Artūrs Šilovs (who had delivered a shutout to that point), Pittsburgh fans collectively had to have been thinking, Here we go again...

Yet, following a scoreless overtime, when the dreaded shootout reared its head, the Pens actually managed to come up big, outscoring the Stars 3-2, with goals from Ben Kindel, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell, for a final score for the night of 2-1, ’Guins. (The Penguins’ lone regulation goal had come earlier in the third period, when fourth-liner Connor Dewar flung a shot by Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, who, up to that moment, hadn’t allowed a goal in nearly 189 previous minutes in the net.)

Instead of potentially posting a losing record for the first time in this still-fledgling hockey season, the Pens moved to 3-2-1 on the year (good enough for third place in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division).

“It’s always great to be on the winning side,” Šilovs remarked after the game. Pens second-year coach Dan Muse noted that the team was coming off its first shootout of the season, a loss, the night before, and was glad his players were ready for another one and found “a way to get that other point. So, they did a good job.”

Still looking for an identity

Having watched every one of the Pens’ games so far, I can’t say that I’m able to define this team’s identity yet. Are they primarily an offensive team? A stout defensive team? A fast team? A hard-nosed team? (Etc.) Yes, we’re less than two weeks into the season and have many, many more games to go (with the league moving to an 84-game regular-season schedule this year). However, I’d like, as soon as possible, to get a better sense of what the team’s signature is, for Muse to coach, and the players to play, thereto. In the meantime, I’m grateful that, in lieu of consistently dictating the terms of a contest, the Pens have so far shown that they can be competitive, and win, in whatever kind of fight they find themselves.

Next up for the team: on the road in Chicago to face the Blackhawks Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.