Categories: PenguinPoop

Penguins Better but Pitchforked by Devils

The Penguins endured a tough loss to Metro foe New Jersey last night at PPG Paints Arena by a 4-2 count. Yet despite the defeat…our fourth in a row…there were some positives. Overall, our process was good and I was pleased with our effort. A hollow victory, perhaps, but a step in the right direction and a far cry from the previous post-holiday debacles.

Indeed, at the outset the Penguins employed the disciplined, patient style that served as the bedrock for their 15-3-3 run. No easy feat against a fast, young and talented Devils squad.

Our patience paid off at 14:26 of the opening period. Evgeni Malkin alertly stole the puck from Dougie Hamilton high in our zone, burst up ice on a breakaway and labelled a three-iron bank shot under the far post and past Vitek Vanecek. Literally a 10-bell goal if there ever was one.

At the opposite end of the rink, Tristan Jarry made 11 first-period saves, including two big stops on Miles Wood in the final minute to preserve our one-goal lead.

If the opening frame was an ode to buttoned-down hockey, the second period was…well…I’m not sure exactly how to describe it. Chaotic perhaps?

Hamilton appeared to knot the score at 3:21, beating Jarry with a laser from the right faceoff dot. However, referee Garrett Rank ruled that Eric Haula had interfered with Jarry (Haula jostled his stick ever so slightly) and waved the goal off, drawing a challenge from Devils skipper Lindy Ruff.

The call on the ice stood and the Pens were awarded a power play. We weren’t able to convert, a theme that would…unfortunately…carry through for the rest of the evening.

Minutes later Teddy Blueger was whistled off for tripping. During a crucial faceoff, Bryan Rust was caught napping on a quick puck drop by a linesman, leading to a game-tying tally by Jack Hughes.

Pens coach Mike Sullivan went berserk…I mean he literally lost his mind while protesting the call…and got slapped with a bench minor. Fortunately, our penalty killers bailed him out.

Shortly after a mid-period penalty to Devils d-man Kevin Bahl expired, the Pens struck for what for all intents and purposes was a power-play goal. Using his wheels to full advantage, Pierre-Olivier Joseph pounced on a weak clearing attempt by Jonas Siegenthaler. Displaying more moves than Mae West, to coin a favorite Mike Lange phrase, POJ scampered around and through four defenders on a scintillating rush before setting the puck on a tee for Jeff Carter, who drove it home.

With a 2-1 lead and Jarry looking sharp, we appeared to be in control. But after moving the Pens around like pawns on a chess board, the Devils knotted the score at 17:37 of the frame on a goal by Hamilton.  A high-sticking call to Igor Sharangovich opened the door at 18:02, but it was the visitors who stepped through. With 38 seconds left in the period, Nico Hischier blew around an exhausted Malkin and beat Jarry clean with a rocket off the far post.

Two opposing goals in 1:45. An all-too-familiar theme.

To make matters worse, Carter was flagged just before the end of the period and Brian Dumoulin went off early in the third period, handing the Devils a 5-on-3 for 1:22. But the Pens’ gritty PK gamely rose to the challenge.

Still within striking distance, our boys appeared to run out of gas. Although not for a lack of try, they had difficulty getting to the puck and controlling it when they did. Perhaps the effect of extreme use of our stars in what was largely a special-teams game, coupled with playing our third game in four nights.

Unable to capitalize on a four-minute, mid-period power play, we battled to the bitter end before yielding an empty-netter to Hughes.

Puckpourri

With last night’s goal, Malkin eclipsed his boyhood idol, Sergei Fedorov, and moved into second place on the NHL’s all-time list of Russian scorers with 1180 points. He trails leader Alex Ovechkin by 272 points. WAY TO GO GENO!!!

The game was even-steven, statistically. The Pens held the edge in shot attempts (56-54) and high-danger chances (15-11), the Devils in shots on goal (28-27) and scoring chances (32-26).

The Devils scored on the power play and shorthanded. The Pens were 0-for-9 on the power play.

Is there an uglier throw-back uniform then the Devils’ red, blue and yellow concoction, an ode to the old Kansas City Scouts? I think not.

Ryan Poehling was a surprise return to the lineup after missing the past three games. He centered the fourth line for Danton Heinen and Kasperi Kapanen. Blueger was elevated to No. 3 center while Carter was shifted to right wing.

With Kris Letang and Chad Ruhwedel out, Ty Smith made his much-anticipated black-and-gold debut. Paired with Mark Friedman, he logged a hefty 22:14 of ice time (11:10 on the power play) and finished a plus-1 with four shots on goal.

Speaking of Friedman, he played his customary feisty game, getting into the kitchen of Wood and several other Devils while dishing out a team-high four hits. Wonder if our coach has noticed he’s a plus-3 in two losses? Probably not. Even though he provides some sorely needed elements like grit and speed, Friedman’ll likely be the first guy banished to the press box when our injured d-men return.

Sorry…a bone of contention with me. Grrrr…

While we’re on the subject of personnel, Drew O’Connor scored his first goal of the season against Detroit. His reward? Sullivan limited him to a pathetic 5:11 of ice time, then scratched him against the Devils. Can’t begin to imagine how demotivating if not downright demoralizing this must be for a kid like O’Connor, knowing you’ll never be given a chance to shine no matter what you do.

I know Sully’s probably at cross purposes and is under pressure to win now at all costs. But, frankly, he’s awful with the kids.

On Tap

The Pens (19-11-6, 44 points) travel to Boston for a Monday matchup in the Winter Classic. With a stunning record of 28-4-3, the Bruins are the class of the league.

We’re presently tied for fourth in the Metro with the New York teams. We have a game in hand on each.

Rick Buker

View Comments

  • Hey Guys,
    Great info as always. You both compliment each other so well in your posts, meaning while Rick tends to often be of the opinion that the glass is half FULL while Coach often takes the approach the glass is half EMPTY and this is what we need to do to fill it back up. Your both right in what you say and that is why my dear friends I enjoy BOTH your comments so much.
    From my perspective we are a team in transition and honestly I do not see this ending up to well for us fans long term.With a bit of luck from the Hockey gods we might make the play offs for2023, but then get eliminated in a first Round elimination.
    Been the same thing for the past 4 years. How do we change this trend guys ? I wish I had the answers,
    Just a few thoughts to consider....
    Draft better you say ? Lets take a quick look at our last first round draft picks....Angelo Esposito, Beau Bennett,Joe Morrow,Derrick Pouliot, Kasperi Kapanen, Sam Poulin and the latest Owen Pickering. None of them developed in to Star players. I BLAME THE PEN'S ORGANIZATION IN THAT THEY NEVER PLACED A PRIORITY ON PLAYING THE YOUTH.
    The same problem exists today. Everyone believes that we must win today and the heck with winning tomorrow. Player development is not a priority.
    Don't you dare mention the sacred Cows of Pittsburgh....Mario, Sid or Mike Sullivan.
    Mario was always against "Goon Style" Hockey and he made sure that his team never had that identity.That was a mistake in my opinion.You need to be able to play both ways.Size and speed matters.
    Mike Sullivan. He is an average Coach at best. A one trick pony most of the time. But to many in Pittsburgh he is simply divine .Monday to Friday he can part the Allegheny River and on Saturday and Sunday's he can walk on top of it. I like Coach do not share that view. He needs to have a serious attitude adjustment to be able to adapt to the opposition. Finally Sidney Crosby. If you dare say anything against my fellow Maritimer, you are a traitor to the cause.Truth is the last 3 games Sid and his line have been a minus in the Stats. The better teams are focusing on him and shutting him and Jake down. Stop Crosby and there is a good chance the Pen's don't win. This is not a negative reflection on Sid but just shows that to have real success our team needs help for Crosby. We need an infusion of younger talent that can help carry the load and get us over the top.
    Finally guys, as I said in a previous post that the Devils are a good team and there is NO shame in getting beat by a good team. The West is changing.....
    Happy New Year All....

    JIM .

  • Hey Rick,

    This was a rarity, I got to see this game from start to finish. Sorry, there was nothing to write home about after Malkin’s Goal. Geno deftly picked the Devil’s pocket and scored a goal scorers Goal, driving hard at the net forcing the Goalie to back up fast then ripped the puck high over the Goalie.

    The Devil’s first goal was really the Goal that was waved off. Sullivan and our boys dodged a bullet. That Goal should have counted.

    The Devil’s 1st official Goal showed how bad the team is. Rust was caught napping, and Sullivan’s outburst was very telling. There was nothing wrong with any of that play. Sully’s reaction lends credence to the rumors I am hearing that the Fenway Group is not happy with him (despite the official blather to the opposite) and he is desperate now but doesn’t have any answers. Furthermore, Jarry looked bad on the Goal. He looked like he looked under Buckley’s tutelage, he made himself look tiny and gave up tons of room over his short side shoulder.

    I’ll take it but we got away with another one, Carter’s Goal still looks to me like POJ kicked it in too me. Not only am I okay with it because the Penguins got the Goal but because Rakell made a good play to dive and bump the puck to POJ. POJ did look very confident and drove the net like I would love to see some of the forwards drive the net. He was assisted by poor gap control and a bad decision by Severson to lunge at the puck and come up empty. However, When Carter through the puck, it looked to me then and even now as I watched it over and over again to have been kicked in by POJ with a deliberate kicking motion. Again, I will take it. In this case I think with his strong drive to the net, POJ earned it.

    On Hamilton’s Goal, once again the Penguins were weak on the clear and then Guentzel was lazy getting back into the D-Zone. And then Jarry looked horrible. He looked like a fish out of the water flopping all over the ice and then being very slow, giving up a huge hole for Hamilton’s shot.

    On the 3rd Devils’ Goal, the shortie, Malkin got caught flat footed (Forwards playing Defense cause PKs to salivate in anticipation) but Hirschier’s shot was extremely stoppable. Once again Jarry was way out of position, giving Devil’s forwards way too much room to work.

    Kingerski often writes that the Penguins need to sign Jarry long term. What?!?! I can’t help but wonder how much he is getting paid by Jarry’s agent for such lunacy. Jarry has been nothing better than inconsistent and hasn’t earned a raise yet let alone a long-term contract.

    Jarry finished the game with a 0.889 Sv% and deserved that lowly stat.

    Another extremely disturbing stat from last night was the TOI numbers of Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell, and Rust (25:25, 25:48, 23:21, 19:48) considering their ratings (-2, -1, -1, -2).

    Also, the 09 PP was scary. It would seem that the only 2 D men that can even hope to drive the PP are Petrie and Letang. The Refs were doing their best to help us, but we were doing our best to throw it all away.

    I would say Ty Smith was Disappointing, but quite frankly, I don't expect much from him.

    As for O'Connor, he wouldn't have been my call up, but as you say, Sullivan's eye dropper TOI given to him also condemns our Coach's right to retain his position. It is unconscionable.

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