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!
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Hi Rick,
Hope you had a great Easter holiday.
I was just reading one of the articles linked below and the author made a great final statement. We all know it to be true but no one wants to admit it. As fans we hope for one more magical ride.
He said :
"The Penguins have lost four playoff series in a row, posting a 5-15 record in the process. They’re aging out.
Organically disintegrating. New owner Fenway Sports Group will fix things. You might NOT like how they do it.
FSG will feel NO debt to those preceding them or those still here. That’s exactly as it should be.
The Penguins have nurtured the false hope of “one more run” for too many years. (In terms of acting pragmatically, the worst thing that could happen is winning a playoff series.) It’s time to forge ahead, perhaps by way of first moving backward !!. "
People here in Canada,(all Crosby supporters by the way,)have been writing about this same thing for at least the past 2 years.
Cheers
Jim
Hey Guys.
Great comments from all of you. This is what I really enjoy about this Blog, is the informed patrons who come here and make great comments even if I have a different opinion.
Happy Easter Rick and to all.
I can only add that I get to watch several other playoff contenders on a regular basis lately and needless to say there are several great teams out there and they are all peaking at the right time. Barring injuries, as a league the NHL should have one of it's best Stanley Cup Play off series in a very long time.In the West,just look at Nate MacKinnon and the Av's playing with out 2 of their top 3 players,and winning 9-1 in the last 10 games. Calgary are no fluke, nor are the Blues,Oilers,Wild and Smashville. In the East the Panthers look formidable,so do the Rangers. Toronto,Carolina,Boston and we can not forget Tampa are also potential Cup winners. All to say this 2022 addition of the Stanley Cup should be a great one to watch.
Which leads me to my main point. The Washington Capitals !! This is the only team that means anything to us right now! They have 7 games left on their schedule and we have 5. They are playing better and are motivated not to have the Panthers as their first round opponent for obvious reasons. Simple mathematics is,if we were to win all 5 remaining games and they were to win all 7 of theirs we would be facing the Panthers.Ouch. As Rick pointed out there are 3 non play off teams that we play and we should defeat them. Not guaranteed but most likely. For the Capitals they have 4 teams that they should defeat giving us a photo finish win.By one point. However injuries can upset my prediction.
The real problem is that in order for us to win those 3 of those 5 games we need to play Sid,Jake,Kris,Geno,Jeff, and hopefully Tristan EVERY night to win.There is no way to rest any of our players in the final 5 games.( 4 for Malkin).
A Panthers/Penguins Round 1 match up.
That is the issue I worry about Guys and of course when will Jarry be back and will he be 100%.
Great to be a fan.
We are watching Penguins history unfold before our eyes Rick.
Go Pen's
Cheers
Jim
Happy Easter to you to Jim,
And to all our readers
Jim, point well taken, the Pens will need to lean on the big guns, Sid, Geno, Jake, Kris, Bryan, Jeff, and if possible Tristan and there is the rub, they already are - Kris 30:22, Jake 23:06, Sid 22:55, Bryan 21:43 last night, in fact the bench was really short, Matheson 21:46, Rakell 21:43. Since April 1 Letang is averaging 26:57, Crosby 21:55, Guentzel 21:41 with Sid and Kris 34 years of age. How much will these guys have left in the tank by the end of the month.
This is why I have bemoaned Sully not using the kids when we were playing the bottom end of the league, sparing the big guns for the show.
Hey Mike,
You are right, teams may have been higher up in the standings when the Penguins played them, just like the Pens were at one time Number 1 in the Metro, when they had a significant amount of games against cellar dwellers and went on a Win streak. Many teams at that point could have claimed to be playing an elite team rather than a team that may barely make the playoffs (as we look now). That sword cuts both directions and should be relatively even at this point of the season as most teams have played each other at least once.
The Penguins best hope right now lies in what has happened in Carolina, injuries to opponents. Anything is possible, the Pens may still steal a game or two or even a series, nothing is impossible, but I wouldn't bet the house on it.
I pray I am wrong. We fans could use some boost, but unlike in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 I don't get that feel like there is something special here and the teams efforts seem to bear that feeling out. Maybe had change occurred a couple of seasons back and the team embraced a the new Big and Fast league rather than clung to the little and fast past.
Happy Easter.
In order to have a run in the playoffs, we need/have to have Erod, Kappa, Zucker and Carter to score. A one line team in the playoffs will equal a first round exit, not that I am expecting more.
A lot of media and others talked about praised about Zuckers return and how he will change our lineup... well he sucks .. and just a thought Calen Addison is Minnesota's 4th ranked prospect.
Petterson is useless as well... rather see Freidman take his spot for the remaining games and playoffs.
Maybe a few "weaker" teams can turn around our PP and give the boys some confidence heading into the playoffs.
Hey Rick,
Good stuff as always! A couple of things.
1) Playoff bound teams (or at least as of today - 4/17) Have a record of 24 - 9 - 4 against Sullivan this season, with 21 of those wins in Regulation - not a good sign my friend.
2) The Caps are closing the gap with our Pens and may pass us. Phil may get his wish. Our Pens may get the dubious honor of playing Fla in the 1st round, allowing us to get to play thru the Atlantic rather than the Metro.
3) Carolina lost Staal and Anderson, that could give NYR the inside track to win the Division.
4) Not sure if you saw this but according to Elite Prospects Joel Blomqvist signed an ATO and will be joining WBS. I would love to go see a game. However, I am not sure what is going on down there. They could easily be in the same stat of poor coaching as the parent club.
5) Speaking of WBS, Riikola is now the top scoring D man for our farm club and he has played fewer games for them then our top D Prospect. He had 4 points in WBS win last night. He is picking up steam as WBS gets to crunch time.
Rick & The Other Rick
Not disputing your claim that the Playoff bound teams have a 24-9-4 edge over Sully and the
Pens this year but there are so many variables to that type of statistic. One, teams that are no
longer playoff teams may of been playing well and higher up in the standings when we beat
them, and vise versa. Also, you have injuries, scheduling and timing that would affect that
statistic. Just an observation.
One other thing - I was disappointed that the Penguins didn't at least let Marchand no they hadn't
forgetten what he did to Jarry. I get tired of people saying we needed to concentrate on getting the two
points and the win, well guess what we got neither. I obviously view it differently and with the way we
started the game a retaliation penalty or fight just might of been what the doctor ordered. Oh well, I'm
not at all surprised. GO PENS