Penguins Go Gently into the Night

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of light.

If only our Penguins had heeded the words of Dylan Thomas and put up a fight in Game Four of their qualifying round series against the Canadiens. Instead of going out on their collective shields as champions are supposed to do, they went oh so gently into the night.

In a shockingly tepid performance, the Pens tested Montreal goalie Carey Price only 22 times, a remarkably low total considering their postseason lives were on the line. And most of those shots came from the perimeter.

Indeed, the Pens seemed content to dump the puck into the Canadiens’ zone and give chase, almost exclusively along the boards. The way they avoided the middle of the ice (and along with it, the prime scoring areas), you’d think it was out of bounds or something.

Anyone heard of the center drive?

Yes, I know Montreal was clogging the middle of the ice and the passing lanes. But sometimes you have to fight for real estate. Our guys did precious little battling.

The lone bright spot was the play of Jarry. Retrieved from mothballs to replace Matt Murray, the 25-year-old All-Star seized the moment, stopping 20 of 21 shots his first-ever NHL postseason start while muting the Canadiens dump-and-chase game with his adroit puckhandling. Alas, it wasn’t enough, as Price pitched a shutout to pace a series-clinching 2-0 Montreal victory.

Back to the attack…or lack of. Whether the black and gold played it close to the vest by design or it just worked out that way, they rarely pushed the pace. Rarer still, were prime scoring opportunities and second chances.

Patric Hornqvist rang a shot off the right post from a sharp angle during the early going. Midway through the second period, Sidney Crosby capped a 2-on-1 break with a quick one-timer, but Price stopped him cold and smothered the rebound.

After Jarry made the save of the game at 3:29 of the third period, robbing Brendan Gallagher on a partial breakaway with a brilliant glove save, the Pens finally showed some jump. Working with the man advantage, Evgeni Malkin found Sid with a sharp pass inside the left circle. Crosby ripped off a rising shot that whistled past Price, only to clang harmlessly off the crossbar.

All the while, the Canadiens waited for the Pens to flinch. They wouldn’t have long to wait.

With just over four minutes to play, the usually responsible Brandon Tanev misfired on a dangerous cross-ice pass in his own zone. Game One hero Artturi Lekhonen pounced on the errant pass and quickly fed Paul Byron, who burst past the net before slipping a beautiful against-the-grain backhand pass between Jarry and the post.

It was the only time during the afternoon that the young goalie lost his net and it cost him dearly. Lekhonen slipped into the crease between Justin Schultz and Kris Letang and rifled the puck home.

Skating on rubbery legs, the Pens’ big guns tried in vain to score the equalizer in the closing minutes. But Shea Weber, who had a huge series, put them out of their misery, shaking off a hard check by Malkin to bounce a clearing attempt off the side boards and into an empty net.

And that was all she wrote for our flightless waterfowl. A stunning if not entirely unexpected defeat at the hands of the lowly Canadiens.

Our worst nightmare come true.

So how could this have happened? How could a team with so much talent be ousted (and exposed) by a 24th seed? I’ll delve into some of the reasons in my next post.