Penguins Phall Phlat to Philly in Shootout

I really like the Penguins’ white alternate jerseys. Very clean.

Wish I could say the same about our game last night, from our weak three-shot first period to our rather meek capitulation in the shootout.

Kris Letang, who assisted on our lone goal, summed it up best.

“If you look at the overall game, I don’t think we played well for 60 minutes,” he said. “We had some bursts here and there. Maybe the fact that we didn’t play for three days showed a little bit. We’re used to playing every other day. Maybe it’s a little bit of that. But we have to find our game where it was before.”

Amen, Tanger. I’ll concede that playing our first game following three days off…an eternity in this COVID-condensed campaign…contributed greatly to our rust. No slight to a favored winger who wears No. 17.

In keeping with our retro uniforms, we played a retro game, harkening back to the dark days of January when perimeter play ruled and we spent precious little time inhabiting the prime scoring areas between the circles. In the process, giving a decidedly shaky Carter Hart time to find his sea legs and turn in a strong performance, eclipsing a solid 26-save effort by his good pal and counterpart Tristan Jarry.

Too, I thought our bottom three lines were out of sync and largely ineffective, with the glaring exception of newcomer Jeff Carter. True to scouting reports, he kept it simple and played a north-south game, employing the center drive on numerous occasions (anyone else paying attention?) to generate scoring prime chances. He also won 69 percent of his draws and killed penalties.

Perhaps we can expect good things from Jeff.

On to the particulars.

Sidney Crosby scored our lone goal on a busted play at 5:04 of the second period…with an assist from an unlikely source. After handing his stick to Brian Dumoulin, Sid buzzed past our bench in his never-say-die style and grabbed a new stick from the hands of equipment manager Jon Taglianetti, son of former Pens defenseman Peter.

Sid then raced to the Flyers’ net, where he jammed a loose puck between Hart’s pads. Since Dumoulin started the sequence with a pass using Sid’s stick, you could loosely argue that No. 87 assisted on his own goal.

Long-time nemesis Jakub Voracek tied the game for Philly early in the third period, steaming in from the top of the right circle to beat Jarry through the five-hole.

Entering the shootout following an exciting but scoreless overtime, we appeared to hold the high cards, especially after Jake Guentzel struck to give us an early edge. But Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier victimized Jarry with mesmerizing moves while Hart held the fort against Crosby and Letang to earn the Flyers a 2-1 victory.

Puckpourri

Following a sluggish start, the Pens outshot Philly 32-27. The Flyers held the edge in faceoffs, winning 52 percent of the draws. Each team was 0-for-3 on the power play.

Entering the game, the Pens’ power-play had converted at a piping hot 30.6 percent since March 1.

Jared McCann led the way with seven shots on goal, followed by Crosby (five). The third and fourth lines generated only four shots on goal combined. Two by Teddy Blueger.

Cody Ceci’s streak of 28 consecutive plus or even games was snapped. During that span he was a plus-14. Dumoulin extended his surprising points streak to six games.

The Pens presently hold third place in the MassMutual East with 57 points, five points up on Boston (two games in hand). Don’t look now, but the fifth-place Rangers (48 points) are 6-2-2 in their past 10 and are starting to make a move.

Next up, a pair of matinee games on Saturday and Sunday at Buffalo. Previously easy pickins’, the Sabres are on a 5-2-3 roll.

Carter Impresses

I was quite impressed with Carter last night. With his formidable size and elite speed, he cuts a dashing and imposing figure on the ice to say the least. At first blush, I think he’ll fit nicely into our scheme.

When Evgeni Malkin returns and Carter bumps to the third line, it should create matchup nightmares for opponents, similar to the HBK dynamic in 2016. Or Jeff could join Geno on a super-charged second line.

The Wrong Z

I’m going to echo a concern expressed by Other Rick on numerous occasions. Frankly, I’m worried about our personnel decisions among the forwards, especially as guys get healthy. Coach Mike Sullivan sounded the alarm last night when he scratched rookie Radim Zohorna.

To my eye, the big guy is more capable and skilled than any number of players who dressed last night, including the entire fourth line of Mark Jankowski, Sam Lafferty and Colton Sceviour.

I’ll throw another name out there…Jason Zucker. I kept a close eye on him. And while he made a hustling, diving play at the end of a shift to break up a potential scoring opportunity in overtime, I was decidedly underwhelmed by the rest of his game…again.

His passes? Almost uniformly hard and difficult to handle. And incoming passes clank off his blade with mind-numbing regularity. Nor is he particularly good along the wall or on the cycle.

Yes, I know…Jason was playing the off wing. And maybe I’m missing some of the finer details in his game. But it’s been my overall impression for a while that he does very little to contribute to the team’s success. Did I mention his team-worst minus-nine?

There must be a good player in there somewhere. You don’t score 20 goals in this league by accident, let alone the 33 he potted back in 2017-18. But honestly, I just don’t see any signs that Zucker’s going to be an asset for us.

Which leads me back to Zohorna. Even Blind Bartimaeus could see this kid is skilled. He has soft hands, both for passing and shooting and a quick release. Not to mention good awareness and hockey sense and a low panic threshold. Best of all, he’s a horse (6’6” 220 pounds) who can skate.

Attributes Zucker doesn’t possess.

Zohorna should be playing…period.

I know it’s tough to scratch $5.5 million. But for goodness sake, play the guys who are playing the best, not the ones you’re paying the most.

Our postseason could depend on it.