Mama said there’d be days (games) like this. You can’t win ‘em all. All good things must come to an end.
Pick your platitude.
Plain and simple, the Devils were the better team last night, hanging a 5-2 loss on our Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. In the process snapping our five-game winning streak and sending the 18,321 faithful in attendance home disappointed.
The evening actually started out with some promise. Indeed, for 20 minutes and change it looked as though our Pens might have their way with the visitors. Moments after Jake Guentzel stoved a shot off the left post, the shake-meister sprang Bryan Rust on a breakaway. Rusty gave Vitek Vanecek a shoulder feint as he slashed through the crease before roofing a backhander at 6:36.
Our first of many blunders occurred at 13:34 while working on, or should I say, misfiring on a power play. Erik Haula picked off a lazy pass in the neutral zone by Rust and set sail with Curtis Lazar on a two-on-one. Lazar’s shot from the right circle beat Tristan Jarry five-hole to knot the score.
The Pens got it back with a deflection goal at 3:17 of the second period. Sidney Crosby fed Erik Karlsson with a cross-ice pass and EK65 proceeded to dipsy doodle through the left circle before flinging a nifty backhand pass to the front of the net, where Rust tipped it home.
If only the game had ended there.
Quicker than you could say, “Look Out Loretta,” the Devils countered 38 seconds later on a jail-break rush following a turnover in the neutral zone. Hulking Nathan Bastian did the honors.
Our descent into the infernal regions continued unabated in the third period. Taking full advantage of open ice thanks to a 4-on-4, Jesper Bratt glided through the left circle unchecked and snapped the puck past Jarry blocker side at 2:35 to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.
Alexander Holtz and Tyler Toffoli beat our harried goalie within a 20-second span mid period to dim our hopes and suck the life out of the building.
To sum up, we just got beat. On this night, the Devils were the better team.
Puckpourri
Given the offensive pedigree of both clubs, it was a relatively low-event game. Our Metro rival held the statistical edge in most categories according to Natural Stat Trick, including shot attempts (52-47), shots on goal (31-23), scoring chances (29-25) and high-danger chances (14-13).
It was our first loss of the season when attempting less than 70 shots in a game. We won our previous six games.
The Devils were sans top guns Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes and Timo Meier, yet still got ‘er done due in part to an iffy performance between the pipes by Jarry. Following an extended string of strong-to-excellent outings, our on-again-off-again netminder was mostly off. Tristan was slow to close the wickets on Lazar’s shorty. On Holtz’s short-side goal, he lost sight of the puck and was off the post. Toffoli beat him like Mike Lange’s rented mule on the final Devils tally.
Lest you think it was all on Jarry, think again. His teammates cranked out more turnovers than a bakery and generally played a sloppy game.
A pair of old bugaboos, yielding goals immediately after scoring and allowing goals in bunches reared their ugly heads.
On a positive note, Sid extended his points streak to 10 games, Karlsson seven. With a pair of goals, Rust continues to sizzle. His intensity and drive are palpable.
Not to pick on the kid, but I wish some of that would rub off on Drew O’Connor. He’s got the size and speed, but seems to lack the jam to put his game over the top.
Speaking of coming up short, although we’re a better team top-to-bottom, we’re still relying too much on our top two lines and core players. Among the MIA offensively, Noel Acciari, Matt Nieto, Rickard Rakell and O’Connor. The tandem of Kris Letang and newcomer Ryan Graves as well. Last season they combined for 20 goals, including eight by Graves. This season…one.
In the misery loves company department, Rick Tocchet’s high-flying Canucks got bopped by the struggling Flames by an identical 5-2 score. And the Blues were trounced by the lowly Sharks.
Every team gets beat. It’s how you respond that counts.
On Deck
The load doesn’t get any lighter for our Pens (8-7). We visit Raleigh to take on Rod the Bod’s always tough Hurricanes (9-7) Saturday night before returning to face the Golden Knights (13-3-1) on Sunday.
