We had this game.
Had it in our hip pockets.
My game summary was all but written in my head. It was going to be titled, “Who Are These Guys?” in deference to our new-found attention to detail and our ability to prevail in low-scoring affairs.
Indeed, we’d pretty much let the air out of the KeyBank Center and, more important, the Sabres. The quintessential road game. Alex Nedeljkovic, sharp as a tack, was cruising toward his second-straight shutout.
Then Evgeni Malkin, God bless his Russian soul, takes one of his patented dumb penalties early in the third period for hooking Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson (son of ex-Pen Kjell). While killing the penalty, Kris Letang attempts to skate the puck through a cluster of attackers rather than make the simple play and bang the puck out.
Old habits die oh so hard.
Tanger turns the puck over, leading directly to a power-play goal by Jeff Skinner. And the Penguins just flat-out dissolved. Quit skating, quit attacking, quit paying attention to detail. Pretty much quit everything. Folded up like the proverbial cheap suit.
To digress, we don’t win our Stanley Cups without Malkin and Letang. I love the fact that they play with fire and emotion, even if it backfires on occasion. So few of our guys do. Tanger was especially involved last night, scrapping with the Sabres’ Peyton Krebs and crushing JJ Peterka with a huge open-ice hit. But, man, they cost us sometimes.
Geno in particular seems to be mired in one of his epic funks. I focused on him mid-game. Long enough to watch him misfire on at least three east-west passes. Ugh.
This isn’t to suggest the duo was solely responsible for the loss. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team fall apart the way we did last night. Once the Sabres scored and began to push, we had zero response. With few exceptions, it’s as if our guys literally melted into the ice.
That can’t happen.
Man, do I feel for Sidney Crosby. Rarely have I seen him play with such riveting intensity, and that’s saying something given his legendary compete level. Yet as terrific as Sid’s been, he can’t carry the entire team on his back.
Mario Lemieux couldn’t do it. Try as he might, Sid can’t either.
Bottom line?
This was a terrible loss…a soul crusher. The kind that could deeply affect our psyche. Right now we’re exposed and vulnerable. In boxing parlance, sagging on the ropes waiting for the knockout punch. A blow that could land as early as tonight when we square off against the Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena.
Pray our guys somehow haul themselves off the ropes and land a haymaker. Our season hangs in the balance.
Puckpourri
The Sabres controlled the game, numbers-wise, according to Natural Stat Trick. They held an edge in shot attempts (73-58), shots on goal (34-33), scoring chances (33-29) and high-danger chances (12-11).
Crosby scored our opening goal at 16:46 of the first period, thanks to a hustling play by Jake Guentzel. Jake picked Samuelsson’s pocket on the forecheck and quickly fed Sid in the high slot. Our captain did the rest, blasting the puck past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
We upped our lead to 2-0 at virtually the identical (16:44) juncture of the second period when Rasmus Dahlin fanned on an outlet pass. Matt Nieto pounced on the loose biscuit and fed Lars Eller, who banged it in off the iron from close range.
Kyle Okposo’s game-tying tally midway through the third period actually went in courtesy of a picture-perfect deflection off the stick blade of Erik Karlsson. Ouch.
On Alex Tuch’s go-ahead goal from the slot with 2:46 remaining, the Sabres simply outworked the Pens, who for the most part waved their sticks at the puck in Ruth Buzzi-purse swinging fashion, to borrow from Other Rick.
I have absolutely no issues with Nedeljkovic’s performance. General Custer got better defensive support at Little Big Horn than Ned received from his teammates in the third period.
To what extent has Sid been shouldering the load? During our past six games dating back to our win over the CBJ, No. 87 has notched six of our 14 goals and assisted on two others.
A little help would be greatly appreciated.
The reconfigured power-play units produced the same tepid results (0-for-2). Not sure why, but Mike Sullivan elected to start our crucial second opportunity at 13:29 of the final period with the second unit, which couldn’t even get set up.
Speaking of, how much longer will POHO/GM Kyle Dubas and FSG stick with Sully and his staff? Personally, I think he (they) have done a better job of adjusting to the talent on hand. But the results simply aren’t there.
Just past the four-minute mark of the second period, Erik Johnson flattened Alex Nylander with a hard check along the boards. Reilly Smith, not known for his physical play, promptly flew in and deposited the big Sabres defender on his wallet. Although he took a penalty, it was the kind a team doesn’t mind killing.
However, late in the third period Johnson leveled Smith along the end boards, without a whimper of retaliation or even a whisper of harsh language.
As Gomer Pyle was fond of saying, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”
Not.
When is this pathetic coaching staff going to be held responsible for this pathetic powerplay? Malkin was on float cruise control last night. Dumb penalties from Geno. But do you expect anything less from “I got to get to my game”??? Another 3rd period collapse. Shades of last year. Sullivan has lost this team years ago and needs to be made to change his coaching staff or be fired.