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.
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Just throwing this out there, Kris Letang is horrible. I thought maybe last year he was having a huge turn around year, nope. He played for the contract last year and has completely given up. He got spun around so bad last night you would think it was his first time playing defense. It's time to take away his minutes. They have plenty of way better skilled defensemen.
I believe he single handedly sunk the west coast trip.
Hey guys,
Great observations. My overriding concern? The way the Pens played on this road trip was pretty much a continuation of the way they played during the second half of last season. Not sustaining a forecheck, chasing the puck (and the game) and the glaring breakdowns.
Occasionally, a foe (generally one of the bottom feeders) would give us time and space and we'd explode for a bunch of goals. But against teams with genuine pedigree (and who challenge us physically and take away time and space) we're often overmatched.
My worry is those issues aren't being addressed. Sullivan keeps trying to play the same way. And it ain't working.
That's part of the reason I suggested in my season preview that we might be this season's New York Islanders.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I too share those same concerns. Good teams with speed and size often gives us trouble. Just like last year. Nothing has changed except there are much more younger talent starting to blossom on several teams around the NHL and that means bad news for us. We are not the team we all thought we were.
Phil raises a great point about Letang and I fully agree. Last year he played his tail off to impress other teams around the NHL to show he still warranted a large,multi-year contract! He can not play at that high level for an entire season anymore and it shows he does not plan to either. Saving himself for the play offs ??
My concern Rick is now the rest of the league knows what we all know....The Pen's can be beat on any given night and now teams will not FEAR our Pen's as they did 2-3 years a go.
It is only going to get worse. I hope i am wrong...
Cheers
JIM
Hey Phil,
Letang did have a horrible road trip. Maybe Sullivan is already thinking the same as you. Last game, against the Kraken, Letang wasn't the ice time leader, Petry was. Letang had 23:09 TOI, Petry had 24:21.
Hey Rick,
Like you I am severely disappointed by this West Coast trip however, I do have to point out a couple of things;
Our Penguins aren't giving the puck away any more frequent then any other team. The Black and Gold is smack dab in the middle of the pack in Gv/60, seated at 16th in the league. The Gv aren't the problem. The problem is how bad the team's defense is. Opposing teams convert on their opportunities. They crash the net and over power our Ruth Buzzi's, either with numbers or by dumping our wheat stalk thin LHD on their keisters.
On Eberle's goal, Malkin was not guilty of a fly buy. He looked at the net and behind. There were no Kraken in front and Rutta won the race to the puck cleanly. He started to turn up to give Rutta a target to which he pass. Rutta hesitated and a Kraken forechecker drew near. Rutta then shot passed the puck into the forecheckers skates. Rutta's D partner, Joseph was slow to get in front. 2 Kraken beat him there. POJ then put his stick to the wrong side, giving Beniers a lane to pass to Eberle. DeSmith then over committed to the shooter and slid completely out of the way. Neither he nor POJ were seemed aware that Eberle slipped in behind him.
When Malkin made his check, the play looked like it was going to be a clean breakout. He did the right thing. If he had hung out in front of the net to cover for the AWOL POJ then Rutta would not have had anyone with which to pass.
Not saying Malkin had a great game. just saying he wasn't at fault on the Eberle G. That G was on the Defensemen and Goalie.
On the second Goal, Kapanen did throw a terrible, blind pass that got picked off, but Letang assisted just as much on the play as he was driving hard into the attacking zone, like shark in feeding frenzy, so that he was going the wrong way and slow to turn around, giving the Kraken that 2 on 1. That G was a case of a horrible pass and too much emphasis on driving the Offense through the Defense.
The problem last night wasn't really defense though, it was offense. Take away Jake's one man show Goal and our Pens get shut out. As I wrote yesterday, this team really isn't Crosby's or Malkin's, it is Guentzel's team.
Also, the Coaching staff deserves copious helpings of blame. With an intact lineup, why wasn't Guentzel - Crosby - Rakell and Zucker - Malkin - Rust reunited? That was stupid. Guentzel and Crosby need that physical presence Rakell brings (he ain't Tocchet but Geuntzel and Crosby always play the perimeter, neither goes to the net). Malkin needs Rust as Rust is more capable of reading the big man than Rakell or Zucker.
In the end, age and a lack of vision has stripped this team of the turbo charged engine that it once had. They could still win games, even at a playoff clip if they would recognize their limitations and play accordingly. In particular they need to reel in the D. Their Defensemen need to start playing D and not looking to be 4th and 5th forwards. I have said this before and will probably have to say this many more times in the future, our defenders are not Sylvain Cote, Al Iafrate, Kevin Hatcher, and Calle Johanson and this isn't 1993.