Porous Start Dooms Penguins

Our Penguins continued their seemingly endless string of not-ready-for-prime-time efforts against playoff-bound clubs yesterday afternoon at TD Garden.

Thrust into a starting role due to an injury to Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith flinched at the outset, yielding a pair of cookie-cutter goals in the first two minutes. It proved to be all the offense Boston would need. Limiting us to just 24 shots on goal, the Bruins nipped our Pens, 2-1, to snap a three-game losing streak and clinch a playoff berth.

As I’d mentioned, the Bruins wasted little time in gaining an edge. Just 49 seconds in Craig Smith unleashed a shot from the left circle. DeSmith made the save but lost his net (and the puck) in the process. B’s bruiser Trent Frederic bulled past John Marino to the lip of the crease, where he banged home a juicy rebound.

Following a brief pushback by the Sidney Crosby line, the Bruins struck again 72 seconds later on a virtually identical play. DeSmith stopped Erik Haula off the rush and angled the puck toward the boards. However, he overplayed the shot and again slid out of position. The opportunistic Haula pounced on the loose biscuit and flung it toward the open net in an attempt to feed Taylor Hall at the doorstep. The pass never reached its intended target, instead deflecting in off the skate of Marcus Pettersson.

To his credit, Casey dug in and righted himself with a number of key saves, including a pair on Bruins nemesis Brad Marchand in the closing minutes of the period. But the damage was done. Stymied by their close-checking foe, the Pens would spend the afternoon skating uphill in search of offense.

We did manage to take advantage of a rare chink in the Bruins’ armor at 5:38 of the second period. Catching our foe in a line change, Brock McGinn sidestepped a check from Nick Foligno and hit Teddy Blueger with a lead pass in the neutral zone.

Employing the center drive to perfection, Teddy lugged the puck over the Bruins’ line 1-on-2 and drove their defense back before dropping the rubber to Danton Heinen, who read the play perfectly and jumped in to support. With his linemate running interference, Heinen whipped a rising knuckler past Jeremy Swayman to make it 2-1.

Unfortunately, the Pens would get no closer. Maligned of late, Swayman stopped Jake Guentzel from the doorstep and Mike Matheson from the left circle as the period wound down.

The final frame featured more of the same. Rickard Rakell had a golden opportunity mid-period at the side of the net with Crosby looming at the far post. His shot squirted through Swayman and traced the goal line, but hit Matt Grzelcyk and slipped underneath the sprawling netminder. So close and yet so far.

Mike Sullivan pulled DeSmith with two minutes to play, but there would be no last minute heroics for our guys.

To sum up…Cup contending teams find a way. Also-rans don’t.

The Pens continue to play just well enough to lose.

Puckpourri

Jarry’s out week-to-week with a lower body injury. His loss deals our already flickering Cup hopes a crippling blow.

Accurately reflecting the action, the Bruins held a slight edge in most statistical categories, including shot attempts (45-41), shots on goal (29-24) and scoring chances (19-16). High-danger chances were dead-even at six apiece.

The Bruins played without leading goal scorer David Pastrnak and defensive stud Hampus Lindholm. The Pens, sans suspended superstar Evgeni Malkin.

With 11 of our 24 shots on goal, the Crosby line was far and away our most effective unit. On the flip side, the Jason Zucker–Jeff Carter–Bryan Rust unit cratered. They managed just one shot attempt (by Zucker) while yielding a dozen against for a dreadful Corsi of 7.69. The Blueger and Boyle lines pretty much broke even.

With his 17th goal of the campaign, Heinen established a new career high. Wielding a hot stick, Danton’s scored goals in three-straight games…his second three-game scoring jag of the season. The former fourth-round pick’s tallied three goals against the Bruins.

Pettersson (two shots on goal in 11:39 of ice time) replaced Mark Friedman, who took a double-minor penalty the previous contest. An offense that will likely land him deep in Sullivan’s dog house.

So much for adding a little aggression to the lineup.

We continue to run a cut below against top-flight competition. Since March 25, we’re a sorry 2-6 against playoff-bound teams. Since February 17…7-11-1. We’ve dipped to 11th in the league in points percentage (.630), behind teams like St. Louis and Minnesota.

On the bright side? Yesterday’s game pretty much brings our murderous stretch against the NHL elite to an end. We have a welcome four-day break before taking on the Bruins at home on Thursday night. Our final four games include match-ups with three non-playoff teams…Detroit, Philadelphia and Columbus. Games that might help us get some semblance of mojo back before the playoffs begin.

Despite the loss, the Pens (43-23-11, 97 points) maintain a three-point bulge over the Capitals in the race for third place in the Metro. The Caps have two games in hand.

A happy and blessed Easter to all of our faithful readers and commenters!