Kraken Dine on Penguins

The Penguins woes continued last night at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Squaring off against a Kraken club that featured five former Pens, the black and gold sputtered to a 3-1 defeat. Our fourth loss in a row.

Road warriors we ain’t. At least not on this trip.

If you’re searching for positives, we had a chance to earn a point or two till the bitter end, when Jaden Schwartz split an empty net with a minute remaining. Injured forwards Jake Guentzel and Jason Zucker returned to the lineup. Jake made a nifty play midway through the contest to pick off a cross-ice pass from old friend Jamie Oleksiak and steam in on a breakaway. After shrugging off defenseman Will Borgen, the Omaha native snapped the puck between Martin Jones’ pads to stake us to a 1-0 lead.

Although shaky at times, Casey DeSmith made 27 saves to keep us in the game, with a little help from his friends in the Toronto war room (and decidedly not his teammates).

And that, folks, was about it.

In a sequence befitting a fragile team (and make no mistake, we’re fragile) we surrendered the tying goal a mere 75 seconds after taking the lead. Jan Rutta had his pocket picked by Schwartz, who fed Matty Beniers, who in turn found old nemesis Jordan Eberle all alone in the slot. He was aided and abetted by Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who stood idly by watching the play.

Oh, this occurred a handful of seconds after the Kraken had a potential game-tying goal disallowed. The second would-be Seattle goal of the period overturned if you’re keeping track.

Nonplussed, the Kraken proceeded to take the lead at 18:33 of the period. Kasperi Kapanen executed a dreadful turnover with a spinning backhand pass that the home team quickly converted into a 2-on-1. Daniel Sprong (remember him) ripped off a low, hard shot that bounded off DeSmith’s glove and onto the stick of Morgan Geekie, who roofed the follow-up.

There was absolutely zippo defensive-zone coverage on the play. In fact, for the most part we resembled a botched fire drill in our own end. Or the Keystone Kops if you prefer. The price you pay for cultivating “offensemen.”

Still, we had our moments in the third period. Sidney Crosby had several Grade-A chances, only to be stifled by Jones. Danton Heinen rang one off the crossbar. Then Schwartz sealed our fate with the empty-netter. Bringing to a close the most dreadful road trip in recent memory.

Puckpourri

The game was fairly even, statistically speaking. The Kraken had a narrow edge in shot attempts (62-61) while the Pens held the advantage in shots on goal (33-30).

Seattle had a slight edge in faceoffs (52 percent).

The top two lines were generally effective at 5v5 play. Sid’s unit had a 58.33 Corsi, Evgeni Malkin’s 54.55. Geno (minus-two) was guilty of a net-front drive by on the Eberle goal.

Jeff Carter left the game after 4:18 of ice time with an undisclosed injury. Ryan Poehling stepped into his spot between Heinen and Kapanen.

Kris Letang (minus-two) and Brian Dumoulin (minus-one) continued their struggles.

Opinyinz

At times the Pens appear to be in complete and utter disarray. We’re turning the puck over with alarming frequency, and once we do it’s like watching a building collapse. Nobody seems to know what to do or where they’re supposed to be.

Ugly and embarrassing all at the same time.

Mike Sullivan and his staff need to get ahold of this. They need to hit the reset button and go back to the combinations that worked so well early in the season. Although well-intended, constantly shuffling combinations only creates more chaos. And the last thing we need is chaos.

Sullivan’s no fan of systematic hockey, but it’s time to adjust and perhaps simplify his approach. The Pens aren’t establishing consistent pressure on the forecheck…the lifeblood of his scheme. Our forwards are getting caught flatfooted behind the play, leaving the defensemen…often in a vulnerable spot due to pinching…to fend for themselves. A recipe for disaster.

Simply put, with our aging legs, we may not be fast enough to play the game Sully wants to play. It’s a demanding style that requires a maximum outpouring of effort and energy on a nightly basis. There’s no room for let up or tentative play. No margin for error.

Although they may not possess the speed to consistently outskate the opposition, the Pens have the talent to excel at a more conservative style and strike on the counterattack, much as opponents are doing to us now. It may not produce flashy six-goal outbursts, but it may lead to wins of the 2-1 and 3-2 variety.

To digress, during the first round of the 1992 playoffs the Capitals were skating us into the ice, in the process beating us at our own game. At the behest of his players, then-coach Scotty Bowman switched to a 1-4 delay. We beat the Caps three straight and went on to win the Cup.

It remains to be seen if Sullivan is capable…or more to the point…willing to make such an adjustment.