Penguins Lay Season-Opening Egg

Merriam-Webster defines a mixed bag as follows: one having both positive and negative qualities. Well, that pretty much defines the Penguins’ lopsided 6-3 season-opening loss to the blood rival Flyers last night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Yeah, there were some positives…most notably the play of the bottom six. But there was a heapin’ helpin’ of negative thrown in.

I didn’t watch the game on TV, but I did listen to it on the radio, which sometimes can give you a unique perspective on the proceedings. Here are my impressions.

The Good

The Third Line—It’s almost as if we entered a parallel universe where up is down and down is up. Especially since the third line has been a black hole in recent seasons. But it was a definite plus (two goals, three assists, seven shots on goal, a collective plus-three).

Leading the way was center Mark Jankowski. The former Flame staked the black and gold to an early lead, hammering home a feed from Jared McCann. For good measure, he set up our third goal as well with a beautiful cross-ice backhand dish to collegiate teammate Brandon Tanev, who rifled the puck home from the left circle.

A poor showing in the faceoff circle aside (only two for nine on draws), perhaps we can expect good things from Jankowski.

While we’re talking bottom six, the fourth line of Teddy Blueger centering for Colton Sceviour and speedy Sam Lafferty also had its moments, unleashing five shots of their own while applying consistent pressure in the Philly zone.

Captain Sid—From the sounds of it, Sidney Crosby, was at the top of his game, winning 10 of 18 draws and notching an amazing, power-play goal with a brilliant backhand pickle-stab move that only Sid could author. If only the rest of the top-six had followed his lead…

The Bad

The Top Six–While we’re on the subject, the Pens vaunted top-six produced next to nothing…especially the second line. For a good portion of the game, Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker…so good in training camp…were held without a shot on goal. Jake Guentzel (one shot, minus-1) wasn’t exactly a ball of fire, either.

In his post-game comments, color analyst Phil Bourque singled out the top six without naming names, saying they didn’t show a lot of hunger. Kind of like 9-to-5ers plodding along, watching the clock, waiting for the end of the day. That just can’t be.

The Defensemen—As a group, the Pens’ defense really struggled. Lay some of the blame squarely at the feet of Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff, who want the rearguards to join the attack at every opportunity. A tactic that backfired mightily against the patient, disciplined Flyers, resulting in a plethora of odd-man breaks against.

Mike Matheson was…well…Mike Matheson. I must say, his name was called a lot, and he did a good job of keeping plays alive in the offensive zone. However, he screened goalie Tristan Jarry on the Flyers’ first goal, drew a retaliatory cross-checking penalty that led to Philly’s second power-play goal, and…along with his usually redoubtable partner John Marino…was on the wrong side of the puck a lot. Matheson got caught chasing the play on the Flyers’ game winner and failed to pick up Kevin Hayes on the sixth and final goal.

Let’s just say he’s a work in progress.

Speaking of new defensemen, I found it interesting that Brian Metzer was already questioning whether we need to play Cody Ceci on the post-game radio show. On the stat sheet, Ceci had a fairly benign game (a hit, a blocked shot, an even rating in 16:29 of ice time). Known for making bone-head decisions, he got trapped up ice on the Flyers’ fifth goal, the one that really drove a nail into our coffin and squelched any hope of a comeback.

Goaltending—Bourque went to great lengths to exonerate Jarry. Still, if you’re yielding six goals on 25 shots, something’s amiss. While his teammates were hardly blameless, he yielded go-head goals in the final two minutes of the first and second periods…a definite no-no. Let’s hope he bounces back…in a hurry.

Special Teams—Although they notched a power-play goal, the special teams were far from it. The penalty-kill was positively sieve-like, allowing Philly two back-breaking power-play tallies and forcing the Pens to play from behind for the better part of the evening.

Faceoffs—The Pens won only 21 of 50 draws (42 percent). Jankowski and Blueger were especially weak. A definite area of concern.

Second Chance Opportunities—Did we have any? A lot of one-and-dones, it seemed.

I’ll wrap with another comment by Bourque. Despite all of the off-season changes, he said this group played an awful lot like the one that got embarrassed by the Canadiens last fall, again citing a lack of hunger and passion.

If that’s the case, we’re in for a long season.