Penguins No-Show in Ugly Loss to Flyers

To borrow from the 1970s romance classic Love Story, “where do I begin” to describe the carnage that took place at Wells Fargo Center last night?

The best way to sum up is to say the Penguins were late in arriving for the 7:00 p.m. drop of the puck. And for the first 20 minutes. And the second.

I guess they showed up in the third period, outshooting the Flyers, 15-8, and potting a couple of token power-play goals to close the gap to 4-2 and make things interesting for a few minutes before their hosts struck for three-straight goals. But for the most part, we were never in the game.

We just couldn’t get the motor going. While the Flyers lived up to their nickname, we appeared at times to be skating in molasses. 

If I didn’t know better, I’d think our guys were determined to finish the season the way they started. With sloppy, disjointed losses to the Flyers. If so, last night they more than succeeded.

In honor of Evgeni Malkin’s return following a 23-game absence pretty much nothing went right. We struggled to defend and had difficulty penetrating the prime scoring areas. When we did break through, we seemed intent on making the perfect play instead of keeping it simple and just getting the puck on net. A nasty old bugaboo.

In the process, we turned 28-year-old journeyman goalie Alex Lyon, who has a .250 quality starts percentage following the 7-2 Philly triumph, into a Vezina candidate.

I know I’m being a tad harsh. Our guys just completed four intense, high-stakes matchups with the Bruins and Capitals and acquitted themselves extremely well. They were due for a letdown. Very human and very understandable. But it underscores how ordinary (or worse) this team can be when it isn’t focused and/or firing on all cylinders. It’s not like the Flyers are giant killers (11-17-4 in their past 32 games). We made them look like they are.

Get it out of your system, boys. The playoffs looming…

Puckpourri

Philly outshot the Pens, 45-37, (including a whopping 37-22 margin over the first 40 minutes) and dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 68 percent of the draws. The Pens were two-for-four on the power play, the Flyers one-for-three.

Sidney Crosby and Jason Zucker scored for the black and gold. Both tallies came with the man-advantage.

Geno skated with Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen on the second line. Jeff Carter centered a recast third line with Jared McCann and Frederick Gaudreau. Teddy Blueger slotted between Zach Aston-Reese and Colton Sceviour. Sid’s line remained intact.

Mark Friedman replaced Mike Matheson, listed as week-to-week with a facial injury, on defense. The former Flyer was a minus-two with two hits and four blocked shots in 13:02 of ice time. Following the Pens’ rocky start, coach Mike Sullivan juggled his pairings, to little or no avail.

Casey DeSmith exited following the second period due to a lower-body injury after yielding four goals on 37 shots. He was tagged with the loss. Tristan Jarry allowed two goals on seven shots in relief.

The Pens (71 points) fell back into a tie for first place in the MassMutual East with the Capitals, who have a game in hand. We presently hold a three-point edge over streaking Boston (two games in hand) and a four-point lead over the stumbling Islanders (a game in hand).

No black-and-gold skater finished the game a plus. Paced by Sid’s line (minus-12), the forwards were a collective minus-20, the defense a minus-11. Aston-Reese, Blueger, Gaudreau, McCann and Sceviour were even. In stark contrast to the top line, the fourth line dominated in Corsi events (a collective 45 For and 22 Against).

While we’re on the subject…

Top Dogs?

A worrisome trend. According to Natural Stat Trick, Sid’s line has been mostly owned by the opposition over the past six games. You have to go back to the 7-6 and 5-1 victories over New Jersey a couple of weeks ago to find consecutive games where the line was a positive in Corsi events.

How bad have they been? Read the metrics and weep.

			Crosby			Guentzel			Rust
Date	Opp	Result	CF	CA	+/-	CF	CA	+/-	CF	CA	+/-
4/24	NJD	4-2 W	10	20	1	10	19	E	10	22	1
4/25	BOS	1-0 W	16	11	1	19	10	1	18	10	1
4/27	BOS	1-3 L	12	23	-3	12	22	-3	10	22	-3
4/29	WSH	5-4 OT	21	21	-1	21	20	E	21	22	-1
5/1	WSH	3-0 W	10	16	2	10	15	2	9	16	2
5/3	PHI	2-7 L	7	22	-4	7	22	-4	6	21	-4

I posed the question in my last article. But after carrying the team on his shoulders for much of the season, could Sid be wearing down at precisely the wrong time?