Penguins Hit Oil Slick, Skid to 6-3 Loss

Over the course of a long, 82-game season, a hockey team will encounter just about every situation imaginable. During the early going, our Penguins perfected the art of starting at a snail’s pace before coming on like gangbusters.

Well, during last night’s ugly 6-3 loss to the Oilers at Rogers Place, the polar opposite occurred. Spurred by coach Mike Sullivan and his staff, the Pens started the game in top gear before experiencing a total meltdown. Culminating in a disastrous second period that saw us yield 24 shots on goal, four of which tickled the twine behind our beleaguered goalie Tristan Jarry.

More on that in a bit.

Speedy Zach Hyman opened the scoring for the Oilers at 4:36 of the first period. Taking a perfect lead pass from defenseman Evan Bouchard, he got behind Kris Letang and beat Jarry on a breakaway.

Working on a power play, the Pens knotted the score at 1-1 mid-period. Rickard Rakell, arguably our best player on the night, teed up a feed from Jason Zucker and ripped a shot off the far post and over Jack Campbell’s glove hand.

Less than two minutes later we snagged a 2-1 lead, again courtesy of Rakell. The Swedish winger made a strong play to protect the puck with his body before slipping a crisp trans-slot pass to Sidney Crosby. Sid did the rest, beating Campbell from below the right circle for his fourth goal of the season.

The Pens made it 3-1 two minutes into the second period off a three-man rush by the Evgeni Malkin line. With Zucker planted in the crease, Bryan Rust swung behind the net and bounced the puck in off Campbell’s back in classic Mario Lemieux fashion.

Unfortunately, that was the end of black-and-gold heroics. Things began to unravel when ex-Oiler Jeff Petry sent supernova Connor McDavid sprawling back-first in a goal post. Tyson Barrie struck on the ensuing power play to pare our lead to one.

Then the Oilers completely took over. And I mean completely.

Piling up an improbable 26-4 edge in second-period shots on goal, they attacked in wave after wave, as if they’d been awarded a 20-minute power play. Or as Colby Armstrong commented later, “The Penguins forgot how to check.”

Jarry held the fort for a time, but he, too, eventually wilted. Evander Kane, who unleased a staggering eight shots on goal during the period (twice as many as our Pens if you’re keeping track), walked out of the corner and past Brian Dumoulin to beat Jarry short side at 15:09, in the process knotting the score at 3-all.

Then the dam burst. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struck from the slot at 18:28, followed in rapid succession by Mannheim steamroller Leon Draisaitl with 23 seconds left in the period. (Actually he’s from Cologne.)

That was pretty much all she wrote. Sullivan juggled his lines, to no avail. With 3:15 to go Ryan McLeod drove the final nail into our collective coffin, scoring on yet another unfettered shot from the slot.

Puckpourri

The Oilers outshot the Pens, 47-35, and won 54 percent of the faceoffs. Five-on-five, they attempted 64 shots to our 40, had 27 scoring chances to our 13, including an astonishing 16-5 edge in high-danger chances according to Natural Stat Trick.

Our top tandem of Dumoulin and Letang was dreadful. Each was a minus-three.

On the positive side of the ledger, Rakell enjoyed a strong game. He finished with a goal and an assist and was one of three Pens to finish a plus-one. Jan Rutta and Pierre Olivier-Joseph were the others.

Zucker, who continues to impress with his hustle and aggressive play, registered two assists and four hits.

The Malkin line was our most effective trio (64.29 Corsi) until Sullivan broke it up, shifting Rust to Sid’s unit and Kasperi Kapanen to Geno’s flank, with negligible results.

Drake Caggiula played his first game with the black and gold. He was a minus-one in 7:28 of ice time.

Quote of the Night

Following Nugent-Hopkins’ goal, color analyst Bob Errey lamented, “Nobody’s eliminating anybody. Look at the bodies that are open. They (the Pens) are just following the puck.”

Houston We Have a Problem

Entering the season, I was concerned about how our Pens would fare in “normal” games. Would we be able to grind out playoff-style wins of the 2-1, 3-2 variety?

Six games in, I still don’t have an answer, mostly because we’ve yet to play what I’d call a normal game. Unless you count our lackluster 3-2 overtime loss to Montreal.

Indeed, our games have a decidedly bipolar feel. We’re either skating foes into the ice with manic intensity or having it done to us. Giving our games a decided track meet feel.

I’ll repeat my question. Can our Pens play solid, structured hockey?

Thus far, the answer would appear to be a resounding no.

On Tap

The Pens (4-1-1) travel to Calgary to take on the Flames (4-1), a team that dominated us last season. Then it’s off to Vancouver (Friday) and Seattle (Saturday) to complete the road trip.