Rakell steered in the winning goal on a pass in knee height from teammate and defenseman Erik Karlsson, barely two minutes into overtime. Los Angeles goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper was helpless, screened as he was by Rakell and considering the way the puck went, straight into the far post.
It felt fantastic. We were behind from the start, but we fought and pushed on, says Rakell to reporters after the match and notes that the effort and the many chances finally paid off and gave us the win.
Rakell is now up to 24 points this season – 14 goals and 10 assists.
Otherwise, it was Adrian Kempe, really on the go in Los Angeles, who made sure the away team took the lead already after 33 seconds in the first period. After Pittsburgh equalized, the West Coast team took the lead again before Matt Grzelcyk evened out again 14:25 into the third period, set up by Rakell and Sidney Crosby.
Adrian Kempe, who is up to 16 goals so far, was perhaps not entirely unexpectedly a little frustrated over the loss in overtime.
We or they could have won. But, looking at the whole, maybe this wasn't our best match.
