Tim Benz: Victory in Vancouver may be Penguins' win of the year. But is the season too far gone for Kyle Dubas?

The Penguins’ overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks had a ton of memorable moments.

• The Pens overcame a 2-0 deficit (and some shaky penalty calls) in the first period.

• The usually repugnant power play scored on a five-on-three, only to yield a shorthanded goal to J.T. Miller during the ensuing five-on-four.

It’s J.T. Miller Time. ⏰???? pic.twitter.com/fz9WDHR4Rn

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 28, 2024

• Often snakebitten forward Rickard Rakell scored twice on assists from Sidney Crosby.

Ready to start Rak-ing up some points ???? pic.twitter.com/3zK8cxKqVL

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 28, 2024

LET'S RAK AND ROLL!

Rakell makes the Canucks pay on the 5-on-3 and tallies his third goal in two games. pic.twitter.com/ZaWWo26I05

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 28, 2024

• Tristan Jarry had 32 saves against a team that is third in the NHL in goal scoring (3.62 goals per game), including a dynamic one in overtime to keep the Penguins alive.

• Defenseman Erik Karlsson polished off an Old West saloon pistol fight of a three-on-three OT session by beating counterpunching goalie Thatcher Demko for the game-winner on the team’s 40th shot on goal.

WHO NEEDS SLEEP WHEN WE HAVE THIS?! pic.twitter.com/Ci73ZMLAQO

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 28, 2024

In the end, the Penguins posted a 4-3 victory, their third in a row, as the club feverishly attempts to resuscitate its season before general manager Kyle Dubas feels the need to sell off whatever parts he can before the trade deadline on March 8.

“They were better than us for large portions today. I don’t think we played our best game. But we stuck with it. (Jarry) made some timely saves for us. That’s kept us alive. It wasn’t a pretty one,” Karlsson said via video posted on the team’s website. “They are one of the best teams in the league. But we hung in there until the end. Even though we didn’t get the start we wanted, we didn’t get discouraged. We just kept going. Good things happen sometimes. We earned it.”

The Penguins managed to get the two points on the road against the NHL’s best team so far (83 points). And they did so on a night when they were playing without injured top-line wingers Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust.

“Everybody has to step up and do a little bit more. Other guys are going to have bigger roles, more ice time, and more opportunity… We just need a little bit more from everybody,” center Lars Eller said.

Despite the victory and the Pens’ recent win streak, their reality is inescapable. They are tied for sixth place in the eight-team Metropolitan Division. They are tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference, with three teams between themselves and a playoff spot. There are just 26 games left.

Or, perhaps more importantly, four games left before the deadline.

“I was real proud of them,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we had a certain resilience about us all night long. We got down a couple of goals. We just stayed with it.”

When Dubas met with the media last week, very little was made clear about his trade deadline intentions. In fact, opening the press conference in advance of any questions, Dubas warned that’s how it would go.

Related

• Penguins beat Canucks in overtime for 3rd straight win
• Penguins' Bryan Rust out week-to-week with upper-body injury
• Mark Madden: Trading Tristan Jarry would bring value, lay groundwork for Penguins' future

Because he’s conflicted. He doesn’t want to sell, especially not Guentzel. But he probably knew at the time that trading Guenztel is the smartest thing to do if his contract can’t be extended here.

That’s still the case a week later.

But Dubas doesn’t want to punt on a season with about a third of it left to go and would (in his heart) probably prefer to add to the team to aid its quest to get back to the playoffs. Unfortunately, that’s going to be very difficult to do in any sort of meaningful capacity with minimal salary-cap space and virtually no draft assets or prospects to move.

As a result, instinctively, Dubas may be feeling like standing pat and just letting things play out is the most expeditious thing to do.

It probably is.

It’s also the least prudent to do long term for the betterment of the organization and the least beneficial approach to helping the Pens win a playoff series if they were to actually make the postseason in the first place.

For the first time in five years, by the way.

Oddly, for as exhilarating as that win was at 12:41 a.m. Eastern time, it’s also the kind of victory that clouds the picture even more for Dubas.

In a way, you could argue the Penguins’ victory was the win of the year so far. I just wish it had occurred in a better year.