Just when it seemed the hockey gods were smiling on our Penguins and everything was going our way…WHAM…we get hit with a triple dose of misfortune. Given our horrendous luck, I sometimes wonder if PPG Paints Arena is built on an ancient Native American burial ground.
The one thing this team could ill afford has happened…a crippling rash of injuries to our forwards. But I digress.
The Pens battled valiantly against adversity and the Bruins at PPG Paints Arena, only to come up on the short end of a 2-1 score. In the process snapping our six-game winning streak.
If ever a team deserved a better fate, we did last night. Instead of succumbing to a daisy-chain of brutal events our guys displayed the heart of a lion and fought to the bitter end. Win, lose or draw, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been more proud of a Penguins team.
We started taking hits before the opening faceoff. Teddy Blueger, such a pleasant surprise at third-line center and a crackerjack penalty killer to boot, was scratched with an undisclosed upper-body injury. After the game came more bad news…coach Mike Sullivan announced No. 53 would be out longer term.
Things downshifted from bad to worse just past the six-minute mark of the opening frame. Former Pens farmhand Jarred Tinordi…all 6’6” of him…flattened Evgeni Malkin with bristling check in the corner. When Geno regained his skates, the hulking B’s defenseman ran him again. Grimacing, Malkin slowly exited the ice and made his way to the locker room.
After gamely returning for a power play, No. 71 exited again…this time for the night. This following an early power-play goal by David Pastrnak that gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Again, the Pens displayed their remarkable resilience. Following a nice bit of work by linemates Kasperi Kapanen and Evan Rodrigues, Brandon Tanev pounced on a loose puck at the goal mouth and slipped it past goalie Dan Vladar to even the score at 1-1.
As fate would have it, Tanev and Tinordi would soon play a pivotal role in the proceedings. At 12:57 of the second period, “Turbo” spotted Tinordi lugging the puck near center red. Whether he had it in mind to avenge the hit on Malkin, only he knows. Taking dead aim, No. 13 raced across the ice like a wild dog, closing on Tinordi with demon speed.
Tanev leveled the big defenseman just as he released the puck. Tinordi slammed into the boards back-first and lie on the ice for several minutes, drawing the attention of both the Bruins’ medical staff and the officials. After watching replays of the incident, the zebras confirmed their initial call. Despite his vigorous protests that the hit was clean, Tanev was issued a five-minute match penalty and a game misconduct.
For all intents and purposes the Pens were now down three forwards, including arguably their two best penalty killers in Blueger and Tanev.
What followed was one of the gutsiest displays I’ve witnessed in recent years. With help from Sidney Crosby, we snuffed out the major penalty and very nearly scored a shorty. Mark Jankowski broke in alone on Vladar, but the rookie goalie got a piece of his shot, which glanced off a post for good measure.
So close and yet so far.
Unfortunately, Boston’s Trent Frederic had no such difficulties. Seven minutes into the third period the rugged forward took full advantage of heavy traffic in front of Casey DeSmith to score on a wrister from the high slot.
The Pens battled valiantly till the bitter end, nearly beating Vladar from a scrum around the net in the closing seconds. Alas, on this night, it was not meant to be.
An observation. Whether we contend for the Stanley Cup or not, we’ve got Stanley Cup character. And that bodes well for this group…now and in the future.
Puckpourri
The Pens outshot Boston, 35-33. The Bruins won the faceoff battle (58 percent) and topped the black and gold in hits (46-40).
DeSmith earned the third star and made 31 saves in a losing cause. The first star belonged to Vladar, and rightfully so. The rangy 6’5” netminder made several huge stops in his NHL debut, none bigger than his reach-back paddle save on Colton Sceviour midway through the first period.
Chad Ruhwedel dressed in place of John Marino; Sam Lafferty filled Blueger’s spot. With Teddy joining Jared McCann and Jason Zucker on IR, pray Malkin’s not seriously hurt.
Despite the loss, the third-place Pens maintain a three-point edge over Boston and a six-point lead over Philly. Up next, the Devils at the Prudential Center on Thursday night.
Hi Rick!
As I write these lines, no words from the NHL’s security department regarding Tanev’s hit on Tinordi. In my opinion, Tinordi lost balance while being hit but it was not a vicious hit.
Rick, I would like to draw your attention on the team’s face-offs. The Pens have been struggling in this department for at least three weeks. And the coaching staff
relies on Sid a lot. Maybe too much. Here is a significant stat: so far, the Pens have taken 1555 face-offs. Sid took 588 of these face-offs (the rest of the team: 967). He takes 21.8 face-offs per game! The closest is Geno with 11.
Is the coaching staff’s decision or Sid’s?
I would like to read your comment on that situation.
Hello Jorenz,
Great to hear from you as always!
Hmmm…now that you mention it. After getting annihilated on draws by Philly early in the season, it seemed we did pretty well on faceoffs for a while, although some of those games were against the Capitals, who are even worse than we are (not by much).
But lately…yeah I have noticed a drop off. I guess I haven’t been reacting to it because we’ve been winning.
Sid’s been terrific (is there anything he’s not good at?) but Blueger…who’s improved quite a bit…is the only other guy over 50 percent. I thought Jankowski (52 percent a couple years ago) would be okay…he’s been dreadful. Not to pick at Geno, but he’s been awful, too, after winning 50.3 percent last season.
In terms of other guys who could slide over to take draws, Lafferty is only fair and Rodrigues and Sceviour aren’t very good. McCann is terrible.
I don’t know if anyone is the system (Jordy Bellerive?) is any good.
For reference, I checked out how our Cup winners fared in the faceoff circle. The ’15-16 team won 50.2 percent, the ’08-09 team 49.1 percent and the ’16-17 team 47.6 percent (yikes). Even worse than our present 48.1. So it may not be super critical.
Still, if you want to possess the puck, it stands to reason that winning faceoffs helps. Especially when you’re a bit undersized like the Pens and may have difficulty winning puck battles to win it back.
Too, losing faceoffs may lead to extended zone time for an attacking foe, something we’re not really built to handle.
I don’t know what the answer is, other than swinging a deal for a faceoff guy or maybe even hiring a faceoff coach like the Caps did with Michael Peca. Matt Cullen comes to mind.
FYI: my favorite trade target, Sam Bennett, has been pretty good on draws…up to this season.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Our Pens are paper thin at center to begin with, they could ill afford to lose either Malkin or Blueger, to lose both? this will be really tough. Some people are already musing that these injuries may force Hextall’s hand for a trade. I don’t know about that though. Over the next 10 we only have Buffalo and New Jersey. I think I would rather wait and see if we can at least get Malkin back before dealing for any one.
I honestly thought we would win after killing off that major.
Sorry NHL but I don’t see a penalty there, let alone a major. If the roles were reversed, would you have called it the same? Your track record says no.
Tinordi was no where near the boards when he got hit. He lost his balance and slid into the boards. It is unfortunate, but it happens.
Already without Malkin, from Tinordi’s hit, how much did the tossing of Tanev play in the result of the game?
The Other Rick
I hope Hextall stays strong and doesn’t sell the farm. IMO it’s time to bring up 2 or 3 of our young guys and see what we have. We should still be able to beat the Buffalo and New Jersey of the world and with the way, it looks Marino and possibly McCann will be returning shortly.
A couple of quick observations from last night.
1) Not picking on E-Rod and I know he’s trying to fill a role he’s not qualified
for but man he failed to control so many pucks that came his way it was
insane.
2) Why isn’t Tinordi wearing a Penguin jersey??
3) For the love of God – why would Letang stand directly in front of DeSmith on
the Bruin’s 2nd and game-winning goal?? How about making an attempt to
clear him out of the crease. Smh – the guy has zero hockey sense.
4) DeSmith gave us another solid performance in nets – Can’t ask for anymore
than that from your backup goaltender.
Hey Mike,
I hear you, try to stay in house with WBS kids, at least against the Devils and the Sabres. No need to panic here.
1) Not an E-Rod fan either. Caleb may get mad but he has many, many limitations. I can’t imagine what caused Sullivan to tell JR that the kid would score lots of Goals in Pgh.
2) Tinordi not here – for the same reason why Reaves isn’t. I know you knew that but I still had to vent.
3) Letang, I would love to trade him right now, while people think he has value.
4) DeSmith, I hear you about what he did last night and so far this season, but I still have last season stuck in my craw, when he tanked for well over half of the AHL season when he was demoted last season. I am hoping for quick development of Blomqvist and Clang.
Hey guys,
Just a quicky follow-up.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t think Tanev’s hit was dirty. He just caught Tinordi in a vulnerable position. A shame that the boards had to come into play…I think that and Tinordi’s condition heavily influenced the call. But I think the league’s trying to be extra vigilant now that they’ve made an example out of Tom Wilson.
Speaking of…I know. How many times have we blatantly seen Wilson lay dirty hits on our Pens, let alone other guys around the league, and get away scot-free. (I do, however, always take delight in watching video of the two instances where Ryan Reaves laid Wilson out).
Onto the injury scene. I hope (and pray) that Geno’s not seriously hurt. I, too, would try to avoid making a big trade to land a big name. Namely, Eric Staal. I just don’t know how much he has left and I’m not anxious to repeat the Patrick Marleau thing.
Maybe a small trade. I wouldn’t be averse to seeing Jordy Bellerive get a shot at fourth line center. And I’m still hoping Sam Lafferty can work his way out of the funk he’s been in. He can really fly and he’s got some sand. He just doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of hockey sense.
Rick
Hey Rick
I totally agree – let’s take a look at Bellerive and see how he does with 4 or 5 NHL games under his belt. This is a good time to see
what you have in your young players.
Also, I agree on the Tinordi hit – it wasn’t so much the hit but the
vulnerable position that Tinordi was in when contact was made.
On Malkin, I would be shocked if he’s worse than day to day – It
just didn’t look that bad to me but you never really know. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.