Amazing what a difference 24 hours can make. To say nothing of the quality of opponent and a fresh set of legs. On Friday night the Penguins owned the crippled Flyers in Philly. Well, last night the pink slip changed hands as Toronto visited PPG Paints Arena, resulting in a frustrating 4-1 defeat.
Our bumbling began with a fire-drill line change on the very first shift. Our top line and defensive pairing exited en masse, leaving Leafs sniper Mitch Marner clear sailing to the net and goalie Casey DeSmith feeling like the last of the Mohicans. One-zip Leafs.
The visitors proceeded to pour over us like Canadian Finest maple syrup seeping into a stack of hotcakes, piling up a 17-5 edge in first-period shots on goal. DeSmith held the fort for a time. However, a Kris Letang misfire midway through the contest led to another d-zone scramble. Marner appeared to trip Tanger in the corner before feeding Pontus Holmberg in the slot. The rookie forward wasted no time in roofing a wrister.
With the Pens back on their heels and chasing the puck, the Leafs struck again 55 seconds later. Again from the slot, William Nylander did the honors off a sweet feed from Auston Matthews.
The Pens finally gained some traction at 11:38 of the final period. Jake Guentzel drove down his off wing before turning on a dime and hitting Rickard Rakell with an unconscious pass. Mere feet from the net, Rakell displayed great hands and reaction time to elevate the puck over goalie Erik Kallgren.
Finally skating with authority, we pushed for a second goal but predictably unraveled in the process. Michael Bunting skated through and around half our team before finding Matthews alone in the slot with a pass while falling to the ice. Don’t have to tell you how that turned out.
Beaten like Mike Lange’s rented mule. That goes for our team, too.
Puckpourri
The Leafs dominated numbers-wise, holding a decided edge in shot attempts (62-50), shots on goal (41-26), scoring chances (33-26) and high-danger chances (15-11) according to Natural Stat Trick.
We had some opportunities to get back in the game, but muffed an early power play (surprise). Shortly after the man-advantage expired, Jason Zucker shot the puck over an open net and Kallgren stoned Jeff Carter on a breakaway.
At 7:58 of the second period Rakell had an apparent game-tying goal waved off when the referees whistled the play dead in error. Leading to our inevitable mid-period breakdown.
The Pens were 0-for-2 on the power play. We haven’t scored with the man advantage in our last five games and are currently ranked 28th with a sorry 16.7 conversion rate. Among our shortcomings, the lack of a net-front presence. Where have you gone, Patric Hornqvist?
In a rare fit of pique, Sidney Crosby blew a gasket on the bench following the Leafs’ opening goal. He appeared to repeatedly kick the boards, leading to apparent skate issues and an impromptu trip to the locker room. Sid also departed early apres game.
Glad someone was teed off.
Shake the Jake?
As the old saying goes, you can’t win ‘em all. With the notable exception of DeSmith (37 saves) there was plenty of culpability to go around. I’ll include the refs and the NHL schedule-makers for formenting the ridiculous slew of back-to-back games. However, at the risk of singling out one guy, I notice Guentzel in the d-zone time and again for all the wrong reasons. As creative, skilled and tenacious as he is offensively, he’s that soft and lax defensively.
The numbers support my eye test. According to data provided by TopDownHockey, Jake’s even-strength defensive WAR is 5 percent. It doesn’t get much worse.
I’ll probably be shouted down for suggesting this. But coming off a 40-goal season, Jake’s trade value may never be higher. Perhaps he could fetch us the jam and net-front presence we so desperately need. To borrow from Pens history, something along the lines of a Mark Recchi-for-Rick Tocchet swap.
As for potential trade partners? Vancouver’s been looking to shake things up. They’re rumored to be pitching captain and pending UFA Bo Horvat, a 215-pound tank of a scorer (17 goals) and power-play specialist. Maybe old friend Jim Rutherford would accept Guentzel and Kasperi Kapanen in return for Horvat. Or perhaps in a deal for feisty ‘n’ good local boy J.T. Miller.
Of course there are complications. Horvat is a center by trade, although his shoot-first mentality might lend itself to wing. Starting next season, Miller’s signed to a long-term deal with an AAV of $8 million. In the short term, we’d need to accept another player (probably the Canucks’ version of Kapanen) in return to balance the books. And Horvat and Miller aren’t a whole lot better defensively than Guentzel.
Still, I think either or might provide elements that Jake doesn’t.
While we’re on the subject, I’d love to pry budding power-forward Lawson Crouse out of Arizona, although I doubt if he’s available.
Okay, I’ll duck and run for cover…
On Tap
The Pens (11-8-3) have two days to lick their wounds before hosting Carolina on Tuesday night. We trail the always nettlesome ‘Canes by two points (27-25) in the race for third place in the Metro.
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Hey Poopers.. haven't been on here in a while , busy with my boys playing and coaching, but not a good game Sat. night.
I didn't understand why Mike played Jarry vs. Flyers, you should play #1 against the "best".
The PP is absolutely terrible, too many passes, not enough shots and when the penalized team ices it we can't get set up again.... coaching tip... put the fourth line out for some pp time.
On the bright side the penalty killers are coming together and looking good
Tough with back to back games when your the oldest team, lol.
Two real tough teams/contenders this week.
LET'S GO PEN'S