Categories: PenguinPoop

Penguins Update: There’s Work to Be Done

Funny, but before I’d read any accounts of last night’s embarrassing 6-2 preseason loss to Detroit, I’d had my title in mind.

Then I noted Mike Sullivan’s post-game comment to his players. “Let’s not get discouraged,” our coach said. “But if there’s any takeaway, the takeaway is, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

I guess it’s unanimous.

I confess I didn’t see the game, but tracked it on NHL.com. When I saw Brock McGinn had scored just 1:42 into the opening frame, I figured that was indicative of how the contest would go. After all, the Penguins dressed a veteran-laden lineup. With a few minor tweaks, basically the lineup we’ll use to start the season. On the other side of the red line, Detroit’s roster was liberally sprinkled with kids.

Too, the Pens had made mincemeat out of the Red Wings the last two times the clubs met during the regular season. Indeed, we’d walloped ‘em by a combined score of 18-4.

Like taking candy from a baby, right?

The next time I checked, I noticed a four-spot on the board. Assuming it was for the good guys, I took a closer look to see who scored our goals. I was more than mildly surprised (stunned) to note that it was the Red Wings and not our Pens who’d been filling the net.

I checked periodically to see if we’d mount a comeback. But aside from a pushback tally from Bryan Rust at 13:16 of the second frame, none was forthcoming.

After the game mercifully came to a close, I took a gander at the team statistics. I confess, one of the most bizarre stat summaries I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Going strictly by the numbers:

The Good

The Pens outshot the Wings, 33-21.
A handful of players, including forwards Teddy Blueger, Radim Zohorna, Jason Zucker and McGinn and the defensive tandem of Jeff Petry and Marcus Pettersson somehow managed to finish a plus-1 despite being on the short end of a 6-2 score.

The Bad

Our special teams were awful. The power-play was 0-for-9. The penalty kill was “perfect,” yielding two goals on two tries. (Where have you gone Zach Aston-Reese and Brian Boyle?) Oh, we leaked a shorty for good measure.
Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel finished a minus-3 each. Linemate Rickard Rakell was minus-2.
Our top defensive tandem of Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin was a combined minus-5.
Goalies Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith posted matching .714 save percentages. Hey, at least they were consistent.
We were outhit, 39-29.
We won only 45 percent of the faceoffs. Blueger and newcomer Ryan Poehling were a combined 3-for-12 on draws. Zohorna, who otherwise earned solid reviews, was 0-for-4.
Seven giveaways to the Red Wings’ three. Six blocked shots to the Wings’ 15.
Ex-Pen Olli Maatta (plus-2) dished out six hits and registered three takeaways, both game highs.

Nuff said.

Privately, Sullivan must be smiling. There’s no better wake-up call than a lopsided loss to a supposedly inferior foe. I’m sure he’ll have the players’ rapt attention come next practice. Or at least he’d better.

There’s work to be done.

Rick Buker

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View Comments

the Other Rick says:

September 28, 2022 at 12:23 pm

Hey Rick,

Thanks for doing the postmortem on this one.

Winning or losing the first 3 or 4 preseason games should not be the focus.
However, playing that many veterans and getting smoked not only by a team that is supposed to be inferior, once the season starts, but that team's prospect loaded roster, that could be a problem.

I could even overlook that in a preseason game. I don't really know how hard the Vets are going when the practice focus could be on the prospects and bubble players trying to tease out the ones that will stick on the NHL roster and which ones go to WBS, Wheeling or elsewhere. What bothers me right now is Sullivan's post-game interview. I always listen closely to word choice and repetition of phrases - what someone is trying to emphasize. In this case the point of interest for me was "My experience of coaching in this league with veteran players...." and repeated as "because my experience has been that veteran players, ..." I do find it a bit worrisome when someone feels the need to say something like that to support their argument rather than let it stand on its own. In the vast majority of cases I hear that, the person intoning that sort of phrase is themselves worried - and that is worrisome.

Mike, let's hope your boy Zucker is turning some sort of corner here because his play this preseason is now showing up in material ways - that could be a significant sign.