Back in the day The Police cut a smash reggae-hit titled Message in a Bottle. In the wake of the Penguins 4-0 whitewashing at the hands of Calgary, I found the song’s refrain to be wholly appropriate.
Indeed, the good ship H.M.S. Pens is sendin’ out an S.O.S. for a center with, say, 1325 career points to his credit. And another center who stands 6’3” and has 400 career goals. And a puck-moving defenseman with 586 points on his resume.
You get the picture. With our jack-rabbit start in danger of fading quickly into the rearview mirror, we need scoring help…and fast. Indeed, our oh-ffense as they say north of the border had dried up quicker than a well dug in the heart of Death Valley. Putting our chances to make some hay on the current eight-game homestand in serious jeopardy.
The loss certainly wasn’t attributable to a lack of heart or sweat equity. Indeed, our guys busted their tails all night long…and did an awful lot of things right in the process. We dominated most possession metrics and held a whopping 77-58 advantage in shot attempts and an equally impressive edge in shots on goal (45-35). For good measure, we out-chanced the Flames, 38-29.
We did everything except score.
Worse, the hockey gods, indeed, seemed to be upset with us as my colleague Other Rick feared. Loose pucks invariably bounced away from the visitors’ net and past flailing black-and-gold stick blades. As if the Flames had bricked over the front of the net when no one was looking and spray painted Jacob Markstrom’s image on it. Speaking of the big (and I mean big…6’6” 206) goalie, he was flawless. Rightfully earning the game’s No. 1 star.
Puckpourri
Johnny Gaudreau, Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube and Milan Lucic scored for the Flames. Casey DeSmith stopped 31 of 35 shots in a losing effort.
Mark Friedman paced the Pens with five shots on goal, followed by Jake Guentzel, Danton Heinen, Kasperi Kapanen, Sam Lafferty and Evan Rodrigues with four apiece.
The Pens (3-2-2, eight points) are presently tied for fifth place in the Metro with Columbus…and sinking fast. Next up, equally banged-up New Jersey on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Opinyinz
Here’s hoping Jeff Carter, on the shelf with covid but asymptomatic, returns sooner than later. More than anyone else, he’s the straw that stirs the Pens’ drink. There’s something about “Carts’s” no-nonsense, straight-to-the-net-and-shoot-the-puck style that wreaks havoc among opposing defenses and creates legit scoring chances. We could sorely use some of that right now.
This is more eye test than anything else. But Brock McGinn and Jason Zucker stood out to me last night, along with Lafferty and Rodrigues. Kapanen, too.
On the flip side, a guy who didn’t was Zach Aston-Reese (minus-two, two shots, four hits). Not to be harsh, but he rarely seems to win puck battles, takes too much time to release his shots and doesn’t display much creativity. Perhaps it’s due to the aftereffects of covid. In fairness, ZAR did miss training camp, and I know first-hand how the illness can sap your energy.
However, as it stands right now, when (and if) we start to get healthy, I’d sit him in favor of Lafferty.
