Penguins Put the Ugh into Ugly 6-0 Loss to Kings

It seems every time our Penguins provide a glimmer of hope for better things to come, those hopes get trampled under foot. Or more appropriately, under skate.

After gathering a shred of momentum with a pair of stirring victories, our Mr. Hyde side resurfaced in an abysmal 6-0 dismantling at the hands of the Kings last night at Crypto.com Arena.

Blemishes that were more or less concealed during our modest two-game winning streak resurfaced with a vengeance. For starters, we gave up a goal early (2:28 on a deflection by Jaret Anderson-Dolan) and late (17:47 on a second chance follow-up by Alex Iafallo) in the opening frame.

Down 2-0 but still marginally in the hunt entering the second period, the Pens pretty much dissolved under a hail of Adrian Kempe snipes. The Kings’ top goal-getter struck from the left circle at 1:58 to chase surprise starter Casey DeSmith and that, folks, was  pretty much all she wrote.

Enter Dustin Tokarski, who had little more fortune that his luckless tandem-mate. Kempe promptly smoked him with a laser from the slot at 5:18 to hand the Kings a commanding 4-0 lead.

To borrow a line from Private Hudson in Aliens, “Game over, man. Game over.”

And so it was. Kempe completed his natural hat trick with a side-of-the-net slam dunk on the power play at 14:27. For good measure, the flashy Kings winger added a fourth goal, again with the man advantage, with five minutes to play in the third.

Give up six goals, and there’s a natural tendency to blame the goalies. Don’t get me wrong, they were hardly airtight. DeSmith served up more pizzas than Dominos and Tokarski looked small (really small) while sagging back into his crease. But the defensive play in front of them?

Atrocious.

Lots of standing around and looking disinterested (or overmatched) to the tune of a staggering 22 high-danger chances against.

For the second time in recent memory we served up a stinker that’s best shoved into the biz bag. Or better yet, flushed down the loo.

Puckpourri

Stats-wise, it was an odd game. The Pens held serve in shot attempts (68-54) and scoring chances (35-33). The Kings prevailed in shots on goal (31-25) and, most telling, those high-danger chances previously mentioned (22-12). Again, hard to fault the goalies…with a caveat.

We need Tristan Jarry back and healthy…pronto. Although not for a lack of try or gumption, there’s a reason DeSmith’s a backup and not a starter or even a 1A. And after watching Tokarski turn into the Incredible Shrinking Goalie (again, not all his fault) I’ll concede to my colleague Other Rick that maybe we try a kid.

Taylor Gauthier is performing fairly well for the Baby Pens (2.47 GAA, .914 SV%) and he’s bigger and more athletic than Tokarski, and a silly sider to boot. Maybe we catch a little lightning in a bottle along the lines of Pyotr Kochetkov in Carolina. Or maybe we don’t.

Bottom line…we need Jarry.

Kris Letang returned following a one-game absence. Mark Friedman replaced Chad Ruhwedel and played with his usual competitive fire, but had a rough night (minus-2).

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Midway through the third period Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson planted his stick high into Sidney Crosby’s back and sent him tumbling to the ice in front of the LA cage. Compounded by the fact that Sean Durzi then fell onto Sid’s back.

While Crosby lay prone on the ice his teammates did…nothing. Not a whimper of retaliation.

Our passivity knows no bounds.

Left to fend for himself, No. 87 eventually skated over to Anderson and gave him a shove along with a few choice words and promptly got tossed. As Sid exited the ice while being serenaded with “Nah Nah Hey Hey Goodbye,” the camera panned to coach Mike Sullivan, whose expression was bemusement tinged with disgust.

Hey Mike. Tip for you. Rather than giving the refs dirty looks, employ someone…ANYONE…who’ll go to the defense of your captain.

No other team in the NHL brooks these kind of liberties against their stars. None. It’s all due to Sully and his damnable “just play” mantra, not to mention his intense allergic reaction to anyone who plays with a hint of genuine fight and aggression.

Instead, milquetoasts all around. 

Makes me long for the days when Ray Shero ran the show. He was smart enough to know you have to be hard to play against. Not Parkay soft.

Other Rick, I hope you get your wish and win the Powerball so you can buy the team and fire everyone in charge as you’ve promised to do. Maybe then we’ll have the kind of players we need…

On Tap

The Pens (26-17-9, 61 points) wrap up their west coast swing Tuesday against San Jose. The Sharks are probably sharpening their teeth in anticipation of dining on flightless waterfowl again.

We presently occupy fifth place in the Metro and the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.