Panthers Stave Off Sloppy Penguins, 4-3

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. Well, there was an image from last night’s disappointing 4-3 loss to Florida at PPG Paints Arena that stuck in my head. During a stop in play during the third period, the camera focused on Evgeni Malkin as he skated off the ice. Geno looked exhausted. Meanwhile, in the background, Aaron Ekblad was carrying on an animated strategy session with his teammates.

The above photo speaks a thousand words, too. Four of our guys standing around…puck in our net…while a lone Panther, Sam Reinhart, celebrates.

It kind of sums up the direction of the two clubs, not to mention the game itself. A team on the rise, the hungry young Panthers played on their toes all night long. Our Penguins, who seem to be treading water at best, played in spurts. Some good…some not so good.

An example of the latter? When Reinhart skated through the entire Malkin line and our top defensive pairing untouched at 12:43 of the first period before whacking the game-opening goal past Tristan Jarry. Or Ekblad’s long-range wrister a couple of minutes later that navigated a virtual chorus line of bodies before finding the back of our net. Making it 2-0, bad guys.

Our Pens did have their moments. About nine seconds’ worth early in the second period, to be exact. Roughly the time it took for Bryan Rust to slice through the Florida zone and score on a shot/pass that deflected in off Ekblad’s stick blade. Followed in short order by a clutch faceoff win from Sidney Crosby that led to a quick-draw goal by Jake Guentzel to knot the score at 2-2.

Emboldened by our good fortune, we even carried the play for a bit. Then Marcus Pettersson was whistled for interference and Anthony Duclair struck from point-blank range on the ensuing power play to put us back in the hole.

The Panthers padded their lead…and essentially put the game out of reach…with 8:49 left to play. With the Crosby line trapped up ice, Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov alit into the black-and-gold zone with stunning swiftness on a 2-on-1. Verhaeghe unleashed a bullet that beat Jarry glove side off the post.

As if to punctuate the Panthers’ dominance, Barkov pounced on a Malkin turnover minutes later and skated in on, around and through a bewildered Kris Letang before setting up Noel Acciari in the slot, forcing Jarry to make a huge save.

To our credit, we didn’t go “tits up” to coin a phrase. Mike Sullivan pulled Jarry for an extra attacker with two minutes remaining. Displaying the hustle and sled-dog tenacity that make him such a special player, Rust pounced on a loose puck in the corner and fed a short pass to Jeff Carter, who found Crosby with a sharp, cross-ice pass. Sergei Bobrovsky had no chance as Sid beat him stick side. “Bob” survived a furious last-minute push to preserve the victory for the visitors.

To sum up, our boys had their moments. Just not enough of them.

Puckpourri

The Pens outshot the Panthers, 35-29, including a 26-16 margin over the final 40 minutes. We won 58 percent of the faceoffs and outhit the jungle cats, 34-22.

However, odd-man breaks against continue to be a way of life, fueled by a sputtering forecheck that often leaves our forwards stranded in the offensive zone in the proverbial canoe without a paddle. Add pudding soft net-front defensive play to our growing list of woes. Jarry was left to fend for himself at times. He made several key stops, but eventually wilted.

Teddy Blueger rejoined the lineup after missing 16 games with a broken jaw. He was reunited with Brock McGinn and Zach Aston-Reese on the “Grind Line.” The trio combined for three shots on goal and a collective Corsi of 41.48.

To make room, Brian Boyle was a healthy scratch.

The loss drops the Pens (34-15-9, 77 points) into a second-place tie in the Metro with the Rangers, who have two games in hand. Next up…Vegas at the Paint Can on Friday night.

Opinyinz

Although he’s tallied a lone point (a goal) in his past 17 games, Dominik Simon somehow earned a promotion to the third line. His Corsi for the game…43.75. With depth scoring at a premium, it’s time to end this love affair. There are better options in the system. Radim Zohorna, for one. Drew O’Connor (six goals in 12 games with the Baby Pens) for another.

Which leads me to…

Depth Scoring MIA

Among our myriad issues, depth scoring (or lack of) continues to be a glaring sore spot. We’re getting next to nothing offensively from our bottom three lines.

Listening to his post-game comments, it’s obvious Sullivan and his staff are trying their best to flesh out combinations that work. At one point he said, “The players have to take ownership…” and he’s right. As the old adage goes, the coaches can’t lace on the skates and play for these guys. The onus is on the players to figure it out.

Too, our paucity of production screams to the fact that perhaps GM Ron Hextall’s bargain additions over the off-season weren’t such bargains after all. Danton Heinen, McGinn, Evan Rodrigues and Simon are all performing pretty much to their established production levels.  Reinforcing Other Rick’s assertion that our present lineup contains more pyrite than gold.

Bottom line. We’ve become a one-line team. An exceptional one line, to be sure. But one-line teams don’t go very far in the playoffs.