This isn’t going to be much of a game summary. Then again, it wasn’t much of a game, at least from a Penguins standpoint.
In the wake of Jim Rutherford’s resignation, I was hoping our guys would pull together and come up with an inspired effort. You know…kind of like “win one for the Gipper”…only win one for JR.
Wishful thinking. The Bruins had their way with our flightless waterfowl from start to finish en route to a convincing 4-1 triumph. They were everything our guys aspire to be but weren’t…fast, aggressive, structurally sound and deadly.
On the flip side of the coin, we were pretty much SOP (same old Pens). We started slowly and fell behind (gee, there’s a surprise). Trailing, 2-1, going into the second period, we put on a mild push to open the frame. That lasted until Penguins-killer Patrice Bergeron scored the first of his two goals on a nifty backhander from the doorstep just past the eight-minute mark.
After that, it was pretty much all she wrote. And all I’m going to write, too. A snoozer of a game summary to match the Pens’ snoozer of an effort.
Puckpourri
The Bruins outshot the Pens, 20-17, and dominated the faceoff circle (again), winning 63 percent of the draws.
Tristan Jarry started his fourth straight game and yielded four goals on 20 shots for an unsightly .800 save percentage. Yet it’s hard to fault him on any of the goals except maybe the last, as the Pens’ undermanned defense virtually collapsed around him.
Prior to the game, the Pens promoted defenseman Kevin Czuczman and forward Sam Lafferty (yay) from the taxi squad. Forwards Anthony Angello and Frederick Gaudreau and defenseman Will Reilly were recalled from the Baby Pens and placed on the taxi squad. New addition Yannick Weber cleared waivers, but was caught in a snowstorm and wasn’t available for the game.
In the can’t-take-any-more-bad-news department, defenseman Brian Dumoulin will be out week-to-week with an unspecified injury. Fellow blueliner Marcus Pettersson, initially week-to-week, was placed on injured reserve. Sheesh!
Rubbing salt in the wound, the equally depleted first-place Capitals rallied from a three-goal deficit to hammer the Islanders, 6-3, thanks to a two-goal effort by ex-Pen Conor Sheary. Oh, and Justin Schultz picked up two assists and was a plus-two. In eight games with the Caps, he’s registered two goals, six points and a plus-nine. Double sheesh!
Opinyinz
I only took two positives away from last night’s game. One very bright light is the play of rookie defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Skating alongside Kris Letang on the top pairing, Joseph didn’t look the least bit out of place. As I mentioned in a previous article, the kid can skate and handle the puck and is positionally sound. He displayed a physical side, too, rocking one of the Bruins with a solid body check in the neutral zone. When was the last time you saw a Pens defenseman do that?
I’ve been very critical of the Cody Ceci signing. But the former first-round pick has held up surprisingly well while eating a lot of minutes (23:45 last night). He made a really nice individual play to score our lone goal, nabbing a loose puck along the boards and barreling into the high slot, where he beat Jaroslav Halak with a hard wrister. Ceci does possess a good shot and he’s been an offensive threat in the past (10 and seven-goal seasons for Ottawa). Maybe he’ll rediscover his scoring touch.
I won’t call this a positive because he was victimized on the first two Bruins goals. But Czuczman played in his first NHL game since 2014. A feel-good story for a guy who’s hung in there and paid his dues. I’m sure he was thrilled.
Quick Update,
Weber was activated from the Taxi squad. We can now rest easy, another RH 5′-11 soft D-man is in the lineup – the team is saved
Hey all,
Not that you necessarily want to relive it, but there’s a really good summary of the game over on Pensblog (sportsdaily.com). These guys are creative, slightly irreverent and they do a nice job of sprinkling in just the right amount of advanced stats along with video analysis of the goals.
Almost always an entertaining and informative read.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Not a particularly good night, but then again, I can’t say I was surprised.
1) with Dumoulin, Riikola, and Pettersson are out, the team has had to dip into players who would be playing 2nd pairing in WBS on the LHD. (Matheson intentionally left off of that list)
2) the Pens aren’t built to compete in this division on a nightly basis. The lack of bigger tougher players in the nightly lineup contributes to both the injuries and the eventual wearing down of the team.
3) 1st and 2nd lines are still stuck in the starting blocks – 8 games now with only 3 goals a piece and not only did the 1st line not have any goals but they were on the ice for 2 Goals Against. But let’s not shake up those lines.
on the positive side, the Pens salvaged 3 – 6 points by taking teams into OT and SOs when by rights they should have lost.
The team hasn’t look this bad, Crosby and Malkin haven’t looked this bad, this disinterested since MJ was asked to get on with his life’s work and Sully got to hop on the bus. Maybe as the LRB sang it is “Time For A Cool Change” not just at GM but at Coach too.
Rick & The Other Rick
Few observations from last nights disappointing showing.
1) Like everyone else I wasn’t overly excited when JR signed Ceci but
I have to say that I like his aggressiveness with jumping into the play
and to his credit has been able to do so without getting burned.
2) Letang, Letang, Letang – To quote the old 29er this is getting extremely
tough to watch.
3) I watched the game last night on NHL Center Ice and it was being
broadcast by the Bruins announcers – One stat that they threw out but
didn’t surprise or shock me was of the 23 goals the Pen’s have given up
17 of those were scored around the crease. I know some may disagree but
Jack Johnson is looking pretty good right now – at least he would put his
body on an opposing player. Watching our defenseman trying to poke
check the puck “Letang” while teams hammer away at our goalies is
beyond frustrating.
4) Starting to question Sullivan’s system – having NHL Center Ice it’s allowed
me to watch a lot of Hockey around the NHL and what has stood out to me
is the Pen’s inability to get a clean shot off – It’s like they’re never open.
Everything is either deflected or blocked.
5) We need a blockbuster trade – pick up a couple of good prospects/picks
and maybe a few young players that can develop into solid pro’s.
Excuse any spelling mistakes and poor grammar – I was in a bit of a hurry.
Go Pen’s
Hey Mike,
The Pens’ defense down low has been atrocious. Not only do they cave in around their goaltender, but the offer little in the way of support or clearing bodies as you so aptly pointed out…in a way actually adding to the mayhem rather than helping to alleviate it.
I know we’re really banged up right now, but that was happening when we had our full complement of defensemen. So much for stick-on-puck (or air, in most cases) defense.
As for Sullivan’s system, the Pens are playing to a flawed model and concept. They keep trying to recreate 2016 when they snuck up on everybody with their speed. Problem is, EVERYBODY is fast these days. And most other teams…at least the ones that compete for the Cup…recognize the need for a certain amount of size, grit and physicality.
Look at Montreal…off to a great start by the way. Yeah, they’ve got speed and skill. But they also have guys like Josh Anderson and Corey Perry up front and Ben Chariot, Joel Edmundson and Shea Weber on ‘d.’ Think anyone sets up camp in front of Carey Price?
Uh uh.
You and 55 on Point and Other Rick and I have been down this road 9000 times (make it 9001). You need all different types of players to build a successful team. It doesn’t mean you can’t be fast. But you gotta have some oomph behind it.
Which, in my mind, tracks back to why we can’t seem to penetrate the prime scoring areas, and on the rare occasions we do, control the puck and get shots off. As a team, we simply aren’t big and strong enough.
Of course, then there’s our wonderful tendency to want to make that last, cute little pass…even in traffic…instead of shooting the bleeping puck.
Sorry…my blood’s starting to boil.
I hate to say it, because I think he’s a good coach and a quality guy. But as long as Mike Sullivan’s behind the bench, I think we’re stuck with this flawed model.
Rick
Great points Mike,
1) Ceci certainly wouldn’t be my first pick on D, but he hasn’t been as bad as many opined.
2) Letang – I never understood the supreme fascination some seem to have for Jekyll/Hyde – Letang. When he was younger and faster he was High Risk/High Reward, now he is Extremely High Risk/Moderate Reward.
3) The reason I still haven’t gotten down on Jarry is how poorly his D has defended him, but as I said, that is the Pens MO, they play much tighter defense for the back-up goalie but leave the starter hung out to dry.
4) The Pens inability to get a clean shot off may be tied tightly to a point I think you made a couple of days ago about the team looking like they
are just standing still in the O-Zone.
5) I would love to see a blockbuster trade but I can’t see that happening. Letang isn’t going to bring much in. Even if Malkin or Crosby were to waive their fNMC, that simple fact will make it hard to negotiate any real value for him as buyers will be in the better negotiating position. That only leaves Guentzel, Rust, or Zucker to make a blockbuster trade.
Also, you mention watching other teams play on Game Center, watching some of those other trams games is can be tough to watch as it reminds me of how the Pens used to play, but certainly aren’t playing anymore.
Excellent points, Other Rick.
The one thing you noted that I probably should’ve stressed more in my summary is how banged up we are on ‘d’. My goodness…Matheson, Pettersson, Riikola and now Dumoulin. It would be hard for any team to survive a run of injuries like that let alone thrive.
It’s got to be affecting our breakouts, too, although as I wrote in my article I’m very impressed with Joseph. He seems to be able to make the tape-to-tape passes that can at least give our transition game a fighting chance.
Anyway…agree with your comments right down the line.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Agreed, all the way through our talk down the gym, Joseph is only a rookie, but the sad truth is that he already looks like he could be the second pairing on this team, even if/when everyone gets back.