You can blame this one on me.
I had the lead-in to my Penguins-Islanders game summary all thought out. I was even going to include a photo of the Kool-Aid Man to reference the fact that I was starting to believe in this team (aka drink the Kool-Aid). I even waited till the end of the second period to commit it to paper, just to be sure we weren’t going to blow our lead.
Then I wrote it down and we blew our lead. The PenguinPoop curse is alive and well.
The old hockey adage that a 3-1 lead is the most difficult to protect proved painfully prescient last night. After skating circles around the visiting Islanders for two periods, we let the lead slip away late in regulation and bowed, 4-3, in overtime on Brock Nelson’s breakaway goal.
To allow this game to slip through our collective fingers is…well…I just can’t come up with adjectives to describe this latest fiasco of a loss. Let’s just say you can’t count on anything with this team. Especially when it comes to protecting a lead.
Once upon a time, all was well…even jolly…at the Paint Can. After yielding an early power-play goal to Anders Lee, the Pens came storming back. Jake Guentzel sliced through the slot to deflect a Marcus Pettersson lob past Ilya Sorokin to knot the score at 11:07.
Heck, we even turned the tables for a change by scoring a late goal at 18:24 to grab the lead. After relieving Adam Pelech of the puck, Evgeni Malkin carried the biscuit behind the Isles’ cage before slipping a pretty pass to Jason Zucker between the circles. Our little ball of fire ripped it home for his 22nd goal of the season.
We padded our lead midway through the second period on a disputed (and rare) tally by mucker Josh Archibald. The plucky winger appeared to redirect a long-range blast by Brian Dumoulin past Sorokin with his glove. The Isles protested, but for once lady luck (and the Kool-Aid Man) seemed to smile on our boys and the goal stood.
Alas, fate would soon execute a dramatic U-turn.
Play-by-play man Steve Mears noted that the Islanders had outscored us, 6-0, in previous third periods. A trend that, unfortunately, was soon to continue.
BAD GOAL ALERT.
Sure enough, with 5:29 left in regulation, Drew O’Connor overskated an outlet pass in the neutral zone. Hudson Fasching pounced on the loose puck and worked a give-and-go with Casey Cizikas. Fighting through a check by Mikael Granlund, the nondescript winger slipped the puck past Tristan Jarry at the left post.
A bad goal…actually a horrible goal…to allow. One that breathed new life into our foes.
As much as I wanted to believe we’d regroup and close it out, well… Shortly after Jeff Carter advanced the puck toward the empty Isles net with a high stick, a horse named Lee shrugged off the checking efforts of Dumoulin and Kris Letang and struck on a deflection through Jarry’s wickets. In the process, flushing two excellent periods of hockey down the commode.
Intent on regaining our mojo and securing the second point, we threw caution to the wind and went full-throttle offense in overtime. We threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at Sorokin, but true to form he blunted Grade-A chances by Jeff Petry and Bryan Rust.
Just past the two-minute mark, Rickard Rakell skated behind the Isles’ net and tried to feed countryman and pal Pettersson, who jumped into the left circle. Sorokin somehow nudged the would-be pass to Nelson, who streaked up the ice and torched Jarry stick side for the game winner.
Puckpourri
Thanks to a strong third period, the Isles held a 68-60 edge in shot attempts. The Pens held the high ground in shots on goal (36-28), scoring chances (32-20) and high-danger chances (16-9).
Truly a shame we lost. I thought so many of our guys played well. Malkin, in particular, was absolutely dominant…the most forceful he’s been since before his knee injury a couple of seasons back. Likewise, Petry had a mammoth game with two assists and 11 hits, although he did commit three giveaways.
With seven goals in his past six games, Zucker’s positively on fire.
Although we allowed a power-play goal, I thought our PK looked much improved with Granlund and Nick Bonino. “Bones,” in particular, excels at clearing the puck.
Granlund and Rust returned to the lineup. Alex Nylander, who played so well in his debut, was returned to the Baby Pens. Dmitry Kulikov bumped Pierre-Olivier Joseph to the press box.
On the flip side, Jarry appeared shaky. On the Fasching goal, he was slow to react and move to the post. To my eye, he was also playing deep in his net and struggled to regain his skates after going down, particularly as the game progressed. Not to make excuses, but I wonder if he’s 100 percent?
Initially, I thought Pettersson’s overtime pinch was brutally ill-conceived. But if Sorokin doesn’t get a stick on the puck and “The Dragon” scores, he’s a hero. As they say, hockey’s a game of inches.
The past three games against the Islanders were a lot like the comedy classic Groundhog Day. We thoroughly outplayed them early, grabbed leads…and couldn’t hold ‘em. We did everything but win.
Lee (seven) and Nelson (five) combined for a dozen goals against us this season. Large humans both, they simply overpowered our defense.
On Tap
The Pens (32-22-10, 74 points) host the Flyers (24-30-11, 59 points) and the Rangers (36-19-9, 81 points) in weekend Metro matinee matchups.
We trail the Isles by two points in the race for the top Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
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Bonino is out with a lacerated kidney. Not good
Hey all,
Just wanted to point out a great article by Gretz over on Pensburgh titled, "Jeff Carter situation is tip of the iceberg when it comes to Penguins failures."
The subhead..."The people running the Penguins are simply steering the ship right at the iceberg," pretty much says it all.
Rick
Same story just a different day...our pens are old and by the mid point of the second period they are wore down and thats when mediocre teams start imposing thier will on pittsbugh. I say mediocre teams because we are never really competitive against bona-fide playoff teams. Sullivan won't change his coaching style and we have a bunch of old guys who can't play 60 min of high octane hockey. Our only hope in most games is to build a big enough lead that our opponents can't track us down. Jarry and Desmith are good to give up 3 to 4 goals a game most nights. And when we play high octane teams we get the 7-1 beatdowns and lopsided loses we have seen since first of the year... its time to blow up the team and start building draft picks...the trade deadline came and went and all we could do was run in place with the trades made....the pens might...I say might squeak into the playoffs but are swept or out in 5....
Well said Jason...
This group will never get it done and the best thing for the franchise is to NOT make the play offs and force FSG to make real changes. Top to bottom.
I am reminded something Mario said 3 years ago. "In order for this team to make any real money,(when we spend to the Cap limit every year} we must get past the second Round of the playoffs"... We have not done that for the past 4 years...
Blow it up and start the rebuild,
Cheers
JIM
Hey Jim,
I do agree, the best thing for the long term health of this team would be for them not to make the playoffs. They will be ale to get a better draft position to bring in better talent and it will force the front office to take a hard look at its infrastructure and make the off ice changes that need to be made, better scouting, better player development, better Coaching.
Unfortunately, they already blew a lot of opportunity for drafting this season by using those future assets to secure more fossils for our resident archaeologist Mike Sullivan's revelling in the past. This team needs a wakeup call to shake off their lethargy.
Hello Jason and a belated welcome to PenguinPoop.
Your observations are pretty much spot on right down the line. We seem to have no clue as to how to protect a lead, other than trying to outscore the other team. Also agree with your assessment of how we fare against different levels of competition.
Again, welcome to PenguinPoop.
Rick
Hey Jason,
One thing the Pens did at the trade deadline was get older. Their youngest Center is 34, their youngest RHD is 32. Your argument has solid evidence.
Hey Mike,
You aren’t really poking the bear. There are some things I don’t like to say while they are happening. I have been watching JZ and am happy he is not performing to his norm. Unlike Jarry, he is playing like he wants a raise. However, understand, over his career, prior to this season JZ only had 14 Gs in 66 GP, while not horrible, certainly not what you want from a top 6. Rather than focus on the past right now, I would rather ride the best start to March for JZ and hope that JZ can stay hot through the entire month.
The Other Rick
The Old 29er made a good point about Zuckers previous production - he went back and researched
Zuckers linemates and they were nothing to write home about. As you know I'm not a numbers guy
at all but looking at Zuckers stats he's been over the top consistent thoughout his career. Also, if
falls in line with 2nd line players.
2014-15 (51) games - 21 goals
2015-16 (71) games - 13 goals
2016-17 (79) games - 22 goals
2017-18 (82) games - 33 gaals
2018-19 (81) games - 21 goals
2019-20 (60) games - 20 goals
2020-21 (38) games - Injured
2021-22 (41) games - Injured
2022-23 (60) games- 22 goals
It's pretty evident with the number that when Zucker is healthy he's been productive except for
one season - 2015-16.
GO PENS
Hey Mike
Zucker’s Career Splits (Parenthesis mean stat per game)
Oct 80 GP, 25 (0.31) G, 32 (0.40) A, 57 (0.71) Pts, +14 (+0.18)
Nov 112 GP, 31 (0.28) G, 28 (0.25) A, 59 (0.53) Pts, +5 (0.04)
Dec 91 GP, 23 (0.25) G, 22 0.24) A, 45 (0.49) Pts, +11 (0.12)
Jan 101 GP, 35 (0.35) G, 20 (0.20) A, 55 (0.54) Pts, -4 (-0.04)
Feb 94 GP, 31 (0.33) G, 23 (0.24) A, 54 (0.57) Pts, +6 (0.06)
Mar 77 GP, 19 (0.25) G, 19 (0.38) A, 38 (0.49) Pts, -2 (0.03)
Apr 50 GP, 11 (0.22) G, 7 ().14) A, 18 (0.36) Pts, -17 (-0.34)
Subtract out this years March so far and Zucker’s March Goals are 14 (0.19), +/-0
According to Natural Stat Trick Zucker’s most common linemates were Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund when he was Minnesota. His most common Defensive players were Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon.
So, until this season, RZ has faded in the stretch run and even though he hasn’t always had the opportunity to skate with a generational player like Malkin, he hasn’t been given stiffs to ply with.
Not saying he is a bad player, he has played well, particularly at the beginning of the seasons and after breaks. Furthermore, I will say I am enjoying his unusually productive March so far. I am, however, mindful of his track record.
And I will say, unlike UFA Jarry, he will deserve any raise he gets, he is working his tail off right now.
Hey Other Rick,
Just for clarity regarding Zucker's 14 goals in 66 games...are you referring to his production in March?
Rick
Yes Rick, Zucker has a history of fading in March and April. Thankfully this season is an anomaly.
Also Mike,
I am hoping that by talking about it, we didn't screw it up. We need JZ to keep playing like this.
Rick
I didn't see the game but listened to most of it on radio. Disappointing loss for sure. If nothing
esle comes out of these game with the Islanders GM Hextall should realize the value of having
a big body (Lee) camping out in front of the net. Also, and maybe it's me but when 5 on 5 our
players seem confused with our defensive coverages in our own zone. According to the Old
29er Letang left Lee who was standing on top of Jarry to pick up Horvat in the slot - mental
error? or system flaw?
One final comment to poke the bear - Zucker is thriving down the stretch contrary to one's opinion
that he fades as the season progresses. I think now we can see when healthy he's a legit top 6 forward.
Hey Mike,
On the game-tying goal, Dumoulin tried to body/cover Lee for a time before turning his attention to Palmieri encroaching from the side of the net. Letang fronted Lee briefly, then moved out to challenge Horvat in the slot. It kind of had the effect of the parting of the Red Sea and left Lee all alone in front of Jarry.
Regarding Zucker, I'll take some of the heat off the bear. It seems utterly ridiculous to say this now in the light of the way he's playing, but there were times last season...particularly during a 23-game stretch when he scored only one goal...where I thought Zucker was an empty jersey at times. Can you imagine! I guess such was the extent of his injury.
Of course, I absolutely LOVE the player he's become. Full props to you for having his back all the way along.
Rick
Rick
I just like the way Zucker plays and if you look at Zuckers stats throughout his career he's been
really consistent. "SEE ABOVE ON MY RESPONSE TO THE OTHER RICK". Especially when he's remained
healthy. Also, according to the Old 29er Zuckers linemates in Minny were nothing to write home
about and he was still productive.
Pen's need to get back on track this afternoon vs Philly!! Hope your well.