The Penguins get Grinched

There is no joy in Pittsburgh this Christmas Eve day.
The Grinch with his faithful dog Max stole it away.
Down from Mount Crumpet they came,
It is they who are to blame.
They stole the Pens-pudding, and the rare Pens-roast beast.
No there will not be any celebrating,
No talk of three-peating,
Not in the least.

Troubles they have, and there are a lot,
Too many to be cured, not with a single shot.
Yes, one Jamie Oleksiak by name,
He did bring his “A-game”;
He did flash his skating prowess,
But the rest of the team,
Well, somewhat less.

Our Pittsburgh Penguins assured themselves of giving away at least 3 of a possible 6 points on their current home stand adding one more disappointment to an ever darkening season. This time Anaheim and their flying fowl blanked our foundering fowl 4 – 0, blanking them on our own frozen pond. About the only bright spot I saw watching the game was Oleksiak displaying good skating ability.

Anaheim’s first goal was a testament to the pathos of the Penguins defense. Under no real pressure, more like a token fore-check, Kris Letang skated the puck up almost to his own blue-line before trying to send a long cross rink pass to Brian Dunoulin. Even though Letang wasn’t being harried by any Ducks, the fore-checker giving ground as he skated up, Letang threw the pass behind Dumoulin, bouncing off of the boards, still inside the Penguins’ zone. Lazily, Dumoulin turned slowly to the outside of the rink while the puck bounced back dangerously to the inside. Letang, also in a haze of laziness, stood and watched as Ondrej Kase of the Ducks pounced on the puck and streaked for the net. After it was too late to really help, the two Penguins defensemen tried to catch Kase from behind, but it was all in vain – Kase was able to lift a backhand shot over Matt Murray’s leg pad.

That wasn’t even the first giveaway. It was simply the first one that Murray wasn’t equal to last night. The Penguins’ “D” started early trying to give Anaheim an early Christmas present with a couple of give-aways on pretty much their first shift.

The second Anaheim goal came on another odd man break. Rickard Rakell was able to win a puck battle with Oleksiak just inside the blue-line. Rakell got a little help from Carter Rowney who ran a pick, then blocked Oleksiak from marking the Ducks forward allowing him to break toward the Penguins net 2-on-1. Left out to dry, Ian Cole played it perfectly eliminating the pass, but Rakell was able to sneak the puck past Murray. Initially, it looked like Murray had stopped the puck, but it must have had eyes on it and trickled in.

Things didn’t get any better in the second period. On a powerless play the Penguins tried to break in down the left wing boards but the Anaheim defense broke up the play and threw the puck up ice past Sidney Crosby who was sliding in behind Evgeni Malkin to cover the point. Ducks iron man Andrew Cogliano, at the tail end of a 6 game road-trip for the Ducks out-skated Penguins defensemen to the loose puck which was angling itself back toward the center of the ice rather than just down the boards. On the clean break-away, with no back-pressure whatsoever, in what looked more like a penalty shot or shoot out attempt, Cogliano wasted little time burying the puck through the 5-hole when Murray tried to move. (The first short-handed goal the Penguins ceded all year.)

The defense finally stiffened after that but the horse had already left the barn. Mike Sullivan pulled Murray and Tristan Jarry came in.

Cam Fowler closed out the scoring for the game with a wide open power play goal for a Ducks team that had been struggling on the power play. Fowler was left all by himself at the bottom of the back-side circle. The puck came to him on a pass that was hard to handle. Unfortunately for our Penguins, once again there was no “D” to be found. Fowler had enough time to settle the puck before ripping it past Jarry.

We can argue back and forth as to the reasons why but it all adds up to more lost ground in the play-off hunt. Maybe there has been too little patience shown in line combinations (getting changed as often as each shift) or too much patience shown in under-achieving veterans. The Oleksiak trade was a good start but things have to change.

Since the departure of Niemi, only the goalies can really get a pass. Although I have heard some people complain that the goalies have to start stealing games, the truth of the matter is that they have been. The skaters on this team really have only won roughly 6 games, the goalies stole the other 12 wins. It is worth noting that 3 of the 6 games the skaters won for the team were played during that short-lived 4 game winning streak.

Hopefully, if we all gather down in Market Square and start singing?
We could start out singing low
And then let our song grow.
And maybe, just maybe the Grinch’s heart will grow
3 sizes before the New Year and bring back our mojo.