Penguins Bedeviled in Sid’s Return

There’s good news and bad news concerning our Penguins.

First, the good news. Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter returned to the lineup last night.

Now for the bad news. Brace yourself. There’s a lot of it. Especially in the wake of our thoroughly disappointing 4-2 loss to the Devils. Our third straight defeat in regulation (and on home ice) if anyone’s keeping track of such things.

In many ways Crosby was the poster child for the loss. Usually as productive as he is inspired upon returning following injury, No. 87 was decidedly underwhelming, finishing with a minus-three, two giveaways and no points…unless you credit him with an assist on Jimmy Vesey’s shorthanded breakaway tally late in the second period. Oh, and Sid’s slash late in the third period on Jesper Bratt resulted in a penalty shot and the Devils’ go-ahead goal.

Our captain had company. Kasperi Kapanen continues to be a no-show on the score sheet (zero goals in eight games) along with Jake Guentzel (a goal in seven games, a minus-four). We need more from these guys. A lot more.

It wasn’t exactly Mike Sullivan’s finest hour, either. Despite producing the first of our two goals and accounting for five shots on goal, the fourth line of Danton Heinen (9:36 TOI), Brian Boyle (7:15) and Drew O’Connor (5:59) inexplicably spent the game virtually riveted to the bench. Yes, I know special teams play was a factor. Still, their Corsi For percentages were 82.35, 72.73 and 66.67 respectively. Far and away the best of any black-and-gold skaters.

Go figure.

In “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link” department, defenseman John Marino proved to be the faultiest link of all. His decision-making was, to be kind, somewhere to the south of sound. He sprawled to the ice (on Vesey’s goal) when he should have stood up, and he stood up (on Andreas Johnsson’s killer empty netter) when he should’ve gone down. I’d say defense coach Todd Reirden has some work to do…for $4.4 million reasons.

Let’s hope this kid ain’t the next Matt Murray.

The Goals

The Pens drew first blood at 12:23 of the opening frame, courtesy of a nice play by Juuso Riikola. Playing in place of Mark Friedman, Riikola stickhandled through the Devils’ defense before slipping a backhand pass to Zach Aston-Reese in the slot. ZAR bunted the puck into Jonathan Bernier’s pads, but the rebound popped out to Heinen, who whipped it home for his team-best fourth goal of the campaign. Pens 1-0.

Unfortunately we got sloppy in the final minute of the frame as we are wont to do and it cost us dearly. Bratt wheeled around Marcus Pettersson and fed a wide-open Johnsson in the left circle. With Crosby arriving late to cover, the Devils’ forward banked the puck in off Evan Rodrigues, who was in the process of manhandled in a one-on-one positional battle with Dawson Mercer. Tied 1-1.

The third goal was tough to swallow. Working with a man advantage, Crosby tried to move the puck back to Marino at the right point but shanked it. Marino inexplicably dove to the ice in an attempt to corral the wayward feed, leaving the door wide open for the much-travelled Vesey to take flight on a breakaway. His backhander easily eluded Tristan Jarry, who barely seemed to react. Devils 2-1.

The Pens tied it off the rush early in third period on a strong individual effort by Teddy Blueger, who fed Brock McGinn perfectly in the right circle despite falling to the ice. McGinn made no mistake and wired the puck past Bernier for his second goal of the season. Tied 2-2.

With the clock ticking down to three minutes Crosby slashed Bratt, resulting in a penalty shot. Bratt swooped in on Jarry from the right side and beat him with a silky forehand-to-backhand move. Devils 3-2.

New Jersey’s final goal was as comical as it was calamitous. Marino headmanned the puck to Riikola in the neutral zone, but Juuso flubbed the feed and P.K. Subban whacked it ahead to a quick-breaking Johnsson. The speedy Swede wheeled over the Pens’ blue line and past Jarry and Marino, who were scrambling in slapstick Keystone Kops fashion to get back into the play, before depositing the puck into our empty net. Devils 4-2.

Puckpourri

The Devils outshot the Pens, 40-35, including 28-18 through the first 40 minutes, and dominated in team Corsi (54.35) as well. The locals held a slight edge in faceoffs (52 percent) and hits (29-27).

Oh-for-five on the power play, we continue to be abysmal with the man advantage, converting at only 13.3 percent (27th in the league).

Jarry stopped 36 of 40 shots and generally played well, making some big stops in the second period. However, I wonder if we’ll have a Louis Domingue sighting in the near future.

Sam Lafferty, noticeable the past couple of games for all the right reasons, and Dominik Simon were healthy scratches, along with Friedman. Riikola registered an assist and plus-one in 18 minutes of ice time while manning his off (starboard) side. On the ice for both black-and-gold goals, Juuso’s misplay led to the final Devils tally.

The Pens (3-3-2) are presently tied for fifth (or last, depending on your perspective) in the Metro with the Devils, Islanders and Blue Jackets. We trail first place Carolina by six points and fourth place Philly by one.

Speaking of the Flyers, we square off against them Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. With an extended break, let’s hope the coaching staff can fix what’s ailing us. If not, things could get ugly.

On second thought, maybe they already have…