Our Penguins tried to atone for Friday night’s ghastly giveaway loss to the Islanders. Sort of. They played a reasonably strong first period against a fast, young New Jersey squad yesterday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. Even took the early lead just 3:33 in thanks to a power-play marker off the rush by Evgeni Malkin.
Although they gave up the game-tying goal just 80 seconds later…endemic of the team’s myriad issues…they continued to give a pretty fair account of themselves through the remainder of the opening frame. At least by present black-and-gold standards.
Whether due to tired legs from playing the night before or the fact that they were facing a superior opponent (or a combination thereof), the Pens simply faded like a sick daisy over the final 40 minutes, resulting in a 5-2 loss. Disheartening as it was disappointing.
I won’t delve too much into the gory details. Dougie Hamilton struck from point-blank range on the power play at 3:47 of the second period, followed in fairly short order by a shorty from rising star Nico Hischier. Speedy Jesper Bratt extended the Devils’ lead to 4-1 at 8:39 of the third period before Malkin notched his second goal of the game six minutes later to give the Pens a pulse. Only to be flatlined again on an empty-netter from Hischier at 17:56, capping a four-point night for the Devils’ young captain.
To borrow from an old Jackson 5 tune, an automatic, systematic drubbing.
Rather than watch on TV, I once again opted to listen to the game on radio. Specifically, I wanted to get color man Phil Bourque’s take. Whereas his TV counterparts, Steve Mears and Bob Errey, tend to sugarcoat, the “Ol’ Two-Niner” tells it like it is. He didn’t paint an especially pretty picture.
Among his observations? Perhaps due to a fear of taking penalties, our defense won’t (or doesn’t know how to) clear bodies away from the net (cue Other Rick’s Ruth Buzzi comparison), basically leaving our goalies to fend for themselves. The above photo pretty much says it all.
At one point, a Devils forward snapped the puck into our net after the whistle. An offense that Bourque noted would draw instant and harsh retribution from every other team in the league. Instead, Jeff Petry gave the offender a mild bump.
That’s Penguins hockey, folks. Perfectly in line with allowing your stars to get mugged on a regular basis.
Speaking of, aside from Sidney Crosby and the top-six forwards, there are way (waaaaay) too many passengers. Think of Steve Miller’s “big ol’ jet airliner” with the captain and co-pilot (Sid and Geno) flying the plane with help from the flight crew (Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust and occasionally Kris Letang). The rest of the team are comfortably ensconced in their seats.
Bourque lamented the utter lack of bottom-six production (“they need to score sometime”) and, in particular, the play of Jeff Carter. Propriety and decorum prevented the color announcer from going into the grisly details, but I’ll finish the thought for him.
Carter’s play, to be kind, has simply fallen off a cliff. Since January 10, a span of 16 games, he has one excuse-me goal and is a minus-7. As long as he’s anchoring (a wholly apt description) the third line, we have no chance.
I understand showing respect and loyalty to such an accomplished veteran…but only to a point. If we keep running Carter out there, we might as well kiss our playoff hopes goodbye. At age 38, he simply can’t get ‘er done anymore.
The fact that Mike Sullivan continues to pencil him into such a crucial spot in the lineup, game after game? It speaks to a coach who isn’t the least bit worried about job security but perhaps should be. But we’ve seen this before from Sully. The obstinance, coupled with a disturbing inability to identify issues and/or make necessary adjustments.
As always, it’s business as usual. “Just play.”
Except the boys aren’t playin’. For the most part, they’re passengers on that big ol’ jet airliner.
Puckpourri
The Devils held the high ground in shot attempts (64-61), shots on goal (43-31), scoring chances (38-30) and high-danger chances (21-11). Hard to believe the Pens actually had the advantage in shot attempts (26-20) and shots on goal (13-12) after 20 minutes.
Thanks to his two goals, Malkin became the fourth member of the Pens’ 20-goal club, joining Crosby (25), Guentzel (23) and Rakell (21). The fearsome foursome have tallied 90 goals…over half of the team’s 177 non-shootout goals!
Dustin Tokarski filled in for Casey DeSmith and performed admirably given the circumstances, stopping 38 of 42 shots. Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry’s status remains clear as mud. He’s participating in practice and Sullivan seems to indicate that he’s close to returning. Yet Jarry’s seeing outside specialists and there are rumblings of a chronic hip injury. Shades of Crosby at the height of his concussion woes.
Following a strong game against the Islanders, Drew O’Connor was promoted to the third line while Brock McGinn, goalless and pointless in 22 games, was dropped to the fourth line. It didn’t help…the third line was the only unit underwater possession-wise at 5v5.
Zucker drilled Devils defenseman Brendan Smith into the end boards with a huge first-period hit. Something we don’t see nearly enough of from this bunch.
On Tap
The Pens (27-19-9, 63 points) host the Islanders (28-24-7, 63 points) in a return match Monday night. Despite our bungling, we continue to maintain a tenuous hold on the top Eastern Conference wild card slot.
We haven’t beaten a Metro team since a 3-2 triumph over the Rangers on December 20. We’re 0-5-3 against our division rivals since.
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Hi Rick,
We are just 12 days away from trade deadline day. It is coming fast.
We hear that Jarry is seeing Outside Consultants to help him with his health problem.???? i am a little bit concerned . There is a lot of people criticizing Casey DeSmith for his play and the lack of wins our team has.. May i remind everyone that he was hired and is paid to be the Back up , or part time Goalie!!. His job is not to be the starter or he would be paid as such. It is unreasonable to expect him to play the next 25 games and be as good as the other play off teams net minders..
Second point is the play of Letang. He too has injuries and is doing his best to play like his old self, but that will not happen.Our defense is a real problem moving forward. Then we come to the third line debate and all i will say is the entire bottom 6 need at least a 50% replacement. 12 days Rick....
The elephant in the room was last night our top line was a minus 3. !!! This has happened a lot this year but no one wants to admit we are no longer an elite team.
My biggest worry is the other teams !!! Toronto just added 2 players and more are coming. Boston says they are adding as well. Today Detroit just said they are puling their players off the market and now will look to become buyers. Stevie Y is up to something. !! The Sabers said the same thing 2 weeks ago.ff The Rangers and Islanders both said they want to add more as well. The Cannes are rated # 1 or 2 at present and they too will be forced to add players.
All this to say.... Between now and March 3rd we play the islanders, Oilers. Blues,Lighting,, Nashville and Lighting again. .
Most of these teams can beat us...... Only the islanders are a easy win ???? haha
The next 12 days will be critical for the future of our team. I don't envy Hextall and what has to be done.
My rant ....Cheers
JIM
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Hi Guys,
I guess i was wrong when i wrote above ""Only the islanders are a easy win???? Haha" ...The laugh is on me.
4-2 Loss tonight....Oilers are next.... Ouch....
Jim
Hey Jim and Rick,
Rick, thanks for the post-mortem. It isn’t bad writing about losses when they only come once in a while, but it is tougher now that they come all too frequently.
Jim, you speak several truths.
The top line has been crushed several times this season. That is a real problem. Crosby is trying the best he can but he is not as young as he once was, his line really hasn’t changed its style of play even after Trotz exposed how to beat it, and he is not getting any help from the bottom 6. Tritz showed that to beat Crosby you knock Guentzel around early and often and clog the passing lanes. Combine that with an near complete absence of scoring from the bottom 6, the opponents can lay all of their checking eggs in one defensive line basket to execute Trotz’s strategy.
As both of you say and show, the defense is atrocious. The defensemen stand around their defensive zone spectating rather than participating, as evidenced in your pic Rick; 2 – Devil forwards both with position on our defenders. Some will try and blame the forwards for not helping out, but 1st it is not their main job to defend and 2nd it may just be that the bottom 6 are exhausted after playing 5 – on 3 in their own zone that they have nothing left to contribute in the O-Zone. Get some D out there that can protect their own house, we may find that we have a couple of bottom-6 players. And I don’t trust this leadership’s talent evaluation to find those defensemen. They will just get more clones of what they already have.
Perhaps Jarry’s injury is to blame for his erratic play, earning him 1/3 of his games below 0.900. If he were healthy, the team would certainly be in a little better position to make it to the first round of the playoffs so they could pull their usual first round exit. If Jary misses too many more games then this team could miss the playoffs. DeSmith and Tokarski Euphemism!!! DeSmith was a decent back up at one time, but neither is NHL calibre right now.
For those that can remember back then, I wanted the team to keep Gustavsson, I beamed about him. I was irate when JR added him into the millions of other assets, he flushed down the drain for PP specialist Bressard to add to a team already playing Crosby-Malkin-Kessel-Hornqvist-Letang on the PP. Not sure what JR was thinking or if he was thinking. Seems to me he let the talking heads cloud his vision. I was on record as having said I thought Gustavsson was better than Murray and Jarry.
Let’s add into your rant Jim, some of my own. As we start down the stretch run, as old as this team is, do they have what it takes to survive the stretch run? Perhaps a lot of the problem is age is already catching up to the museum pieces GMRH and HCMS assembled.
Rick, after writing
“The fact that Mike Sullivan continues to pencil him into such a crucial spot in the lineup, game after game? It speaks to a coach who isn’t the least bit worried about job security but perhaps should be. But we’ve seen this before from Sully. The obstinance, coupled with a disturbing inability to identify issues and/or make necessary adjustments.”
Are you still going to say he I a great Coach? The former statement is in opposition to the latter.
Jim, the next 12 days are going to be interesting. I still see pride blinding the organization to the truth and a futile attempt at status quo rather than starting to address the base line problems.
Any good architect will tell you that a house cannot stand without a solid foundation. Our Penguins don’t have that. They are shaky behind the bench and that radiates out to the ice.
Haha Coach....spoken as a true Architect !!! Great analogy.
As one who has developed and built Apartment Buildings, commercial structures and residential housing I am very aware of the need for strong foundations. You are so right in what you say. Our foundation is sinking...
If i may expand on your point.....Something more important than a strong foundation is a great set of "Blue Prints" with all the necessary approvals . if you have the wrong "Plan," your doomed to fail in what ever you do....
I think our Pen's have been using the wrong "Plan" since the day Mario and Ron wanted to sell the team.
Cheers
JIM
Hey Jim,
Spot on! there is not much the workers can do if they are following a flawed blueprint.