Penguins Stumble, Fall to Islanders in Opener

Losing in the postseason is getting to be old hat for our Penguins. On the heels of yesterday’s disappointing 4-3 series-opening overtime loss to the visiting Islanders? We’ve lost three playoff games in a row and 10 of 11 stretching back to May of 2018. That’s a long run of futility.

True, one game does not a playoff series make. And there’s still plenty of reason to believe this bunch is cut from a different cloth. But it goes without saying we’ll need to turn things around quickly if we hope to sip the bubbly from Lord Stanley’s punch bowl. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

For 40 minutes, I thought our guys played a decent game. Not great mind you, but decent. We outshot the Islanders, 26-21, through two periods, which was fairly indicative of the action. We held a substantial edge in scoring chances and high danger chances 5v5.

The Isles grabbed the lead on a goal off the rush by Kyle Palmieri at 7:58 of the opening frame, but the Pens wasted little time in countering. Just over three minutes later Frederick Gaudreau evened the score on a second-chance opportunity from the high slot, beating surprise starter Ilya Sorokin high to the stick side.

Then Sidney Crosby got into the act. Early in the second period Sid scored on an incredible one-hand-on-the-stick deflection of a Brian Dumoulin shot from center point to give the Pens a 2-1 lead. Adam Pelech handed us a golden opportunity to seize control when he drew a tripping penalty moments later. But the Pens squandered the man advantage, managing only one missed shot by Kris Letang.

Still, after killing off a double-minor to Jeff Carter late in the period in spirited fashion, the black and gold appeared to be firmly in the driver’s seat.

Unfortunately, we appeared to take our foot off the gas pedal to open the third period and the New Yorkers promptly seized control, outshooting us 13-6 during the frame and thoroughly dominating play. Jean-Gabriel Pageau caught the Pens in a sloppy line change at 3:33 and ripped the puck past Tristan Jarry high to the glove side to knot the score at 2-all. With 4:10 remaining, Brock Nelson drove down the slot and beat Jarry for the go-ahead goal, again to the glove side.

At this stage, the Pens appeared dead in the water. But on the very next shift Kasperi Kapanen gathered in a drop pass from Carter off the rush. While the big center ran interference on Andy Greene, Kapanen coolly waited for Scott Mayfield to drift out of the shooting lane. Then he rang a wicked wrister in off the far post. Man, can this kid shoot the puck.

The Pens rebounded in overtime, rolling up a 10-7 edge in shots. Carter nearly scored the game-winner with 5:23 to play in the extra stanza when he broke free in the slot, but Sorokin stood his ground and made the save. A short time later Palmieri took a backhand feed from Pageau, settled the bouncing puck, and roofed an incredible shot over Jarry’s shoulder from point-blank range.

Puckpourri

The Pens outshot the Islanders, 42-41, and surprisingly won 53 percent of the faceoffs. The black and gold held a decided edge in scoring chances (33-20) and high danger chances (11-6) 5v5. However, we also had 10 giveaways (three by Carter) versus only two for the Isles.

New York outhit us by a whopping 72-47 margin and played an effective physical game, nullifying our speed while knocking the smaller Pens off stride. Playing in his first game since April 3, Brandon Tanev paced us with nine hits. Linemate Zach Aston-Reese registered six. Letang led the defense with five.

Crosby enjoyed a typically strong game: a goal, a team-high five shots on goal, two hits and a takeaway to finish at plus-one. He won 57 percent of his draws.

Evgeni Malkin was a scratch. Evan Rodrigues dressed in his place and assisted on Gaudreau’s goal. Cody Ceci, Jake Guentzel, Carter and Dumoulin also collected helpers. Freddy’s tally was his fourth in nine career postseason games.

The defensive duo of John Marino and Marcus Pettersson was a combined minus-five and was on the ice for Palmieri’s OT winner.

Jarry blunted 37 of 41 shots for .902 save percentage and made numerous key saves. But the first three goals appeared stoppable. All four Islanders tallies went in on the glove side.

Game Two is slated for Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Opinyinz

Although the Penguins played a good game, statistically speaking, I thought we appeared to be a bit rusty and sluggish following an eight-day layoff. Too, the Islanders prevented us from fully utilizing our speed, effectively negating our biggest advantage.

While it may be too early to shuffle the deck, I’d consider replacing Aston-Reese with Radim Zohorna for Game Two. ZAR’s a minus-three over his past ten games with a goal and an assist and doesn’t seem to be capitalizing on scoring chances the way he did earlier in the season.

Although the stats don’t support the eye test (no giveaways), I thought Mike Matheson looked shaky at times, especially deep in our zone. He was wearing a full shield to protect a facial injury.

Around the League

The Caps hold a 1-0 lead over Boston, courtesy of a 3-2 overtime triumph in the series opener. In other action, Tampa Bay defeated Florida, 5-4, and Minnesota clipped Vegas, 1-0, in OT.