Penguins Un-Moore-d, Fall to Kings 4-3

There’s a time-honored saying. What goes up must come down. Well, following a seven-week run of mostly superlative hockey, it appears gravity has finally caught up to our Penguins.

Playing seven games in 11 days may have something to do with it. Our guys aren’t prone to dogging it. However, there’s been a scarcity of full 60-minute efforts. They must be tired.

Losing Teddy Blueger has hurt, too, perhaps more deeply than anyone anticipated. Teddy’s a glue guy, a foundational piece who does everything well, from killing penalties to winning important draws to playing stingy defense to scoring timely goals. Without him, our bottom-nine forwards have collapsed like the proverbial house of cards. But I digress.

As for yesterday’s 4-3 loss to the nettlesome Kings, it was kind of like those wish sandwiches struggling parents used to feed their kids during the Great Depression. Two slices of bread on the outside, with nothing in between.

The tone was set from the opening draw, when Kings forward Trevor Moore took a short pass at his blue line, skated through the entire Penguins team and tested Tristan Jarry from the slot. A harbinger of things to come.

Following the bumpy start, the Pens generally had the better of the play through the opening 20 minutes. Bryan Rust, Jake Guentzel and Brock McGinn all had great chances off the rush, but LA netminder Cal Peterson stopped them cold. Jarry returned the favor, stoning Viktor Arvidsson from close range in the final minute of the period with a little help from Chad Ruhwedel.

Seventy-seven ticks into the second period the Kings snatched the lead on a laser by Alex Iafallo that deflected in off Sidney Crosby’s stick. Sid would make amends seven minutes later while working on a power play. After breaking up a nascent Kings shorthanded attempt, Sid streaked up ice, took a beautiful pass from Evgeni Malkin in stride and beat Peterson to even the score at 1-1.

The Kings quickly countered. On a play that materialized out of nowhere, rookie d-man Jacob Moverare hit Moore with a stretch pass. In the blink of an eye, the ubiquitous winger beat Jarry with a top-shelf backhander to the short side…one Tristan would probably like to have back. Kings 2-1.

The visitors widened their lead to 3-1 at 13:49, courtesy of a languid line change by the Pens. Drew Doughty struck on the ensuing 2-on-1 from point-blank range. Jarry had no chance.

Displaying their trademark resilience, our guys clawed back to within a goal at 6:17 of the final period on a buzz-saw cycle by the Crosby line. With No. 87 providing a leaping screen on the doorstep, Rust buried a shot from close range.

Handed a gift power play on a too-many-men penalty, the Pens drew even mid-period. Again Rust did the honors, taking a crisp feed from Crosby on his off wing and bouncing the puck in off Doughty’s skate from a sharp angle. The appreciative PPG Paints Arena partisans exploded in an emotional ovation.

If only the game had ended there.

With the Pens buzzing like Mike Lange’s bees around a hive, Blake Lizotte sprang Moore on a breakaway. Jarry, who seemed frozen in place, barely moved a muscle as Moore whipped the puck past him from the high slot. Sucking the air out of the crowd with a stunning suddenness and providing the Kings with a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Puckpourri

The Kings outshot us, 38-26. The Pens won 51 percent of the draws and held a stunning 56-12 edge in hits. Leading the hit parade…Evan Rodrigues (???) with 10, followed by Zach-Aston Reese (nine) and Radim Zohorna (seven). Big Z dressed in place of Danton Heinen, injured during warmups.

Sid’s line continued its strong offensive play, combining for all three of our goals and five of our eight points. However, they were also a combined minus-five.

Kris Letang collected two assists, but likewise had a rough game defensively. He finished a minus-three and was late getting back to cover on the Kings’ third goal. Partner Brian Dumoulin managed four shots on goal, but finished a minus-two.

With Corsi’s of 26.67 and 25 respectively, the Malkin and Brian Boyle units floundered in 5v5 play. Jeff Carter’s line (with Zohorna and ZAR) had the best Corsi of our four lines at 64.29. Sid’s trio slotted in at 52.63.

The Pens have grown increasingly dependent on the power play to drive the offense. Over the past four games, six of our 12 goals have come with the man advantage. During the past three…four out of six.

After starting the season as a fringe player, former Pens wunderkind Olli Maatta has quietly played his way back into the Kings’ good graces. He’s a plus-eight over his past 15 games while topping 20 minutes of ice time on five occasions during that span.

With yesterday’s loss, we slipped back into third place in the Metro (27-11-7, 61 points), three points behind the division-leading ‘Canes and one behind the Rangers. We close out our six-game home stand versus the Capitals on Tuesday night before getting a well-deserved and much-needed seven-day break for the All-Star game.