Penguins Slide into Break, Fall to Capitals in OT

By all accounts, our Penguins did a lot of good things last night. Stats-wise, we dominated our blood-rival Capitals, piling up a 79-52 edge in shot attempts and a 47-32 advantage in shots on goal. We had 19 high-danger chances to the Caps’ 12. We struck for three, count ‘em, three power play goals.

And we lost, 4-3, in overtime.

Following a blazing 17-2 run, I guess a bit of a course correction is to be expected. As the old saying goes, you can’t win ‘em all. And we did manage to squeeze a point out of the affair.

Still, we’re backing into the All-Star break on an 0-1-3 slide. Worse yet, there are some disturbing trends coach Mike Sullivan and his staff will need to correct moving forward.

At this stage I’m going to dispense with a traditional game summary and ramble. Bear with me if you will.

After playing like a well-oiled machine through the first half of the season with each player doing his part, the Pens increasingly have become a one-trick pony…in more ways than one. During our mini-skid, a staggering seven of our nine goals have come with the man advantage. While it’s great that the power play is finally clicking, thanks in no small part to Evgeni Malkin’s return, our boys aren’t scoring 5v5. A huge concern.

Along those lines (no pun intended), secondary scoring has all but evaporated. It’s as if Scotty beamed up our bottom nine forwards to the starship Enterprise along with Kirk, Bones and Spock. Indeed, only a handful of players…basically the Sidney Crosby–Jake Guentzel–Bryan Rust line along with Malkin and Kris Letang…are contributing.

Last night the five guys not named Moe accounted for all three of our goals and all nine of our points. In fact, during our four-game skid, they’ve accumulated all seven black-and-gold goals and all 23 of our points. No one else has tallied so much as a second assist!

You have to go all the way back to Brian Boyle’s third-period dazzler against Arizona eight days ago to find another player registering on the scoresheet. Even then the fab five dominated, notching four of our six goals and 10 of our 14 points. Extraordinary, and perhaps not in a good way.

The list of players who’ve gone stone cold is egregious and lengthy. Previously piping hot, Evan Rodrigues hasn’t scored a goal since January 6, a span of 14 games. A frequent resident of Sully’s dog house, Kasperi Kapanen has one tally in his past 13, and that one an excuse-me goal that glanced in off his skate. Hustling Brock McGinn has one goal in his past dozen despite seeing prime ice time next to Geno. Danton Heinen, currently nursing an upper-body injury, hasn’t tickled the twine since December 19. Zach Aston-Reese has one goal…period.

I could go right down the lineup and cite a similar paucity in production. But you get the picture.

Injuries have certainly played a part. No doubt we miss jack-of-all-trades Teddy Blueger, scrappy Jason Zucker and Heinen, all on the shelf at the present. It’s been a challenge for Sullivan and the coaching staff to cobble together three effective lines, let alone four.

A mild beef. Sully seems to overlook combinations that work. During their brief time together, the Malkin-Radim Zohorna–Jeff Carter trio dominated in terms of possession. Sullivan hasn’t gone back to it. Likewise, Rodrigues and Kapanen displayed terrific chemistry earlier in the season. Again, for whatever reasons, they haven’t been reunited.

Too, Sullivan seems insistent on playing E-Rod at right wing. The numbers clearly show he’s far more productive at center and left wing.

Granted, with so many moving pieces, it’s a difficult puzzle to figure out. But right now, the coaching staff isn’t putting guys in a position that gives them the greatest chance to succeed. Hopefully, this can be resolved over the break.

I’ll throw one more log onto the worry fire. Tristan Jarry hasn’t been Tristan Jarry Superman of late, at least not the one who mimicked the Rock of Gibraltar early on. Over his past nine games he’s posted a save percentage of .897, .887 over his past four.

While he’s faced down a plethora of odd-man breaks in recent weeks behind our watery team defense…certainly a contributing factor…you wonder if Tristan’s wearing down under an uber-heavy workload (second in the league in games played).

I understand the temptation to ride a hot goalie, especially when backup Casey DeSmith’s been iffy at best. But Sullivan needs to figure out how to shield Jarry down the stretch, even if it means sacrificing a precious point or two or three during the regular season.

Anyway…my concerns for what they’re worth.

Puckpourri

Rust (two) and Malkin (one) scored for the Pens. Dmitry Orlov (two), Nick Dowd and old friend Daniel Sprong tickled the twine for the Caps.

Since the start of the New Year, Rust has been on an incredible tear. He has a dozen goals and 23 points over a 12-game span. Likewise, his linemates have been piping hot as well. Sid’s tallied seven goals and 16 points in his past 10 games. With 23 goals and 46 points in 40 games, Guentzel’s been lights out all season long. He’s only been held off the scoresheet eight times. Talk about consistency.

Letang has four goals and 22 points in 16 games in 2022. Malkin’s averaging better than a point per game (5 goals, 8 assists) in the 12 games since his return.

We enter the All-Star break in third place in the Metro (27-11-8, 62 points), two points behind the division-leading Hurricanes and Rangers. The ‘Canes have four games in hand. We have one in hand on the Blueshirts.