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.
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I'll throw this out for y'all. If Sidney Crosby can't stick up for himself (and last night was horrible attempt) then he's not long for the league. Sorry, but asking someone else to stick up for your stars is not a thing in the NHL anymore. Goons and tough guys have gone the way of the dodo bird. So Sidney's gonna have to learn to drop the gloves.
Then again with your team down 4-0, 10 minutes to go and showing no life, Crosby gets a 10 minute misconduct and then a game misconduct? Damn! The Pens are in trouble if their "leader" can't figure out he can't help from the dressing room. That was a really crappy effort from the kid who acted like a baby. Instead of being smart and staying on the ice and trying to score a goal to give his team life against a team that's notoriously wilted in the 3rd, Crosby sucked the life out of the Penguins. Did he have a right to be pissed? Absolutely. You get revenge on the scoreboard and not with a misconduct followed by a game misconduct. Straight out embarrassing.
Not to go into overkill mode, but the Bruins are the best team in the league this season by a country mile.
They have a trio of rugged forwards in Trent Frederic, A.J. Greer and Nick Foligno that represent the type of player I'm talking about. In addition, they boast a number of sizable players and most of their lineup plays with an edge or a degree of physicality.
Interesting that the Bruins embrace aggressive types, but we can't or don't. That's ALL on Sullivan, with an unfortunate assist from Hextall/Burke.
Rick
PS--Just watched some fight clips of the Bruins sticking up for each other, and our sorry situation pisses me off even more.
I'm not talking about a goon, Michael. I'm talking about a guy who plays a straight, hard game and gets involved physically. And if the situation calls for it, can and will defend a teammate. Preferably someone who can actually throw a punch or two.
For the record, I've had my eye on left wing Tanner Jeannot of Nashville. He's regressed after a 24-goal rookie season, but he'll hit and fight and get his nose dirty. Affordable at $850 K.
Can't tell you how many times in the past month Bob Errey has lamented that "someone needs to get involved physically" or "the Penguins need to eliminate bodies." It's not in their DNA because they don't have enough guys who play that way by nature. They have to be coaxed into it. Or "dragged into the fight" by someone like Zucker.
They need more guys who play a hard game.
Rick
Rick
Michael needs to look around the league and he would see that every team wants a player that can
step in for a teammate except our Penguins. I've never heard anyone on this page call for a "GOON"
but every team needs a guy that will drop the gloves when the situation calls for it.
As for Crosby it's the first time in his 18 year career so I think he gets a pass, plus the game was over
at that point. He was trying to send a message that his teammates take losing way to lightly.
Rick, also many former Pen's players that hoisted the Stanley Cup in the Burg are voicing their displeasure
with this years team lack of push-back. Good article by Dave Molinari talking about how the Pens must
stop letting teammates be Pinata's. GO PENS
Hey Mike, Rick, and Michael,
Michael, you are right, goon hockey is passé. There is not enough room on a modern hockey team to justify a goon. The tempo is too high to operate on just 3 lines or 2 D pairings with a goon or 2 stashed away for circus activity. I also agree with you that Crosby's reaction was problematic as was Sullivan's pathetic reaction. A real Captain would have tried to get his team fired up by defending himself rather than the rest of the players an excuse for their embarrassing performance by deflecting blame for their rolling over to the referee, something they couldn't control rather than their own lackadaisical efforts (something they can control).
Having said that, Michael, I for one, like Rick and Mike, would rather not see my star players taking too many penalties and missing ice time due to being in the penalty box, that just feeds into the intent of the opponent. If they can't contain Crosby or Malkin while they are on the ice, it would be just as effective to get them off the ice in the Penalty Box.
Not all tough players are goons, there are many players who can play hockey and are still capable of physical play. Unfortunately, our coach has an extreme allergy to size and grit. He prefers diaper hockey. He preaches play through it but sits and demotes players who can't play through it and cry and moan and give nasty looks to referees when the going gets tough. Without tough players to get going our Penguins wilt, roll over, and play dead.
Things will not change until their is a change at the top.
Hi Rick
Very sober article indeed my friend. But very true.
I myself am guilty as charged in the fact that when the Pen's win I get grand dreams of Sid carrying another Cup in a Pen's uniform. Then reality comes crashing down in a performance like last night and I return to my senses. This team as currently configured is Not a CUP Contender. Boston, Tampa and Toronto are solid 1,2,and3 in the Atlantic. Florida and upcoming Buffalo will make things interesting with regards to the Wild card spots.
In the Metro Carolina, New Jersey and NY Rangers for now are 1,2 and 3. The Penguins,NY Islanders and Washington make things very interesting as well.
If you remember I have often said there are 2 hockey games being played at once. The one on the ice and the one off the ice. To succeed in the NHL you need to be good at both.
I just laid out for you above the teams involved. It is like the game "MUSICAL CHAIRS" we old folk played when we were just kids. 16 participants looking for 8 spots. I ruled out 5 weak teams and now we have 11 teams left chasing 8 spots.
This is the game were playing folks. Can the Pen's beat 3 other teams to win a seat in the play offs??? Before you answer that question you need to ask yourself one more important question ....
Can we compete and get the new talent we will need to beat any of the above teams ? We have no Cap space. We have no farm system. The bottom 6 and half our d corps will not get you much in a bidding war for good,real talent..
We are not in a good position to be able to out bid the competition for real game changing players Rick.
You all know the big names out there and many are coming East. Big names and great players.
Sorry Rick but i don't need to wait to play 31 more games to answer the above question... Carolina, Jersey, Rangers, Islanders, Bruins, Leafs,Panthers and Sabers all have stated they are going all in this year.
It is going to be fun.. I hope i am wrong but I think we will come up short come April and what Coach has been saying will be prophetic. What do you do then ? I think Crosby is well aware of that..
Cheers
JIM
.
The Kings are a good team, Anaheim isn't, our Penguins are not a contender.
On any other team, if their team leader or captain gets pushed around or hit illegally, I can't believe that no one stepped up and helped out. And yeah it's because Sullivan doesn't like the rough stuff...I don't get it.
The other problem, the team has some passengers on the bus... Rust signed his big contract, now not really doing much... Kappy, Petterson, Carter , all not helping.
Going to be a tough road to get in playoffs.
Yesterday was another NHL BS schedule game. Kings off for 12 days, Pens played the night before, then had to sit through a 45 minute schedule change presentation. On top of that the refs kept their whistles in their pockets for the Kings, some blatant easy to call penalties like the stick slash broken stick on Rust that lead to one of their early goals. The odds were heavily stacked against the Pens from the get go.
Including last nights BS, Pens are 5-2-3 their last 10 games.
Hey Phil,
I'll concede that they were on the second game of a back-to-back. Never easy for anyone let alone an older team like the Pens.
But more than any black-and-gold team in recent memory, when the horse slips out of the corral they have an almost impossible time reining it back in. And, yes, we're 5-2-3 in our last 10. But who did we play? Granted, the Devils are having a season and the Kings, Caps and Avs are good teams. But we also had nonplayoff teams like Anaheim (two games), Ottawa (two games), Florida and the Sharks, who embarrassed us.
Hardly a Murder's Row of opponents.
Rick
PS--I do think getting Jarry back would make a huge difference. For the most part he's able to cover up for our shortcomings while DeSmith isn't...or at least not as consistently.
Hey Rick,
Actually, DeSmith and Jarry have been roughly equal in their level of play. Particularly under 5 on 5 conditions Jarry has been very, very insulated. The team scores 2.74 TGF/60 for Jarry while only potting 2.38 for DeSmith. It gets worse when you look at the numbers sorted by TOI with a lead, even though their TGA is statistically the same, with DeSmith having an ever so slightly better number 2.73 to Jarry's 2.76, the team goes out of its way to protect Jarry, 3.13 to DeSmith's 2.09. That goes a long way to explain why Jarry has more TOI with a lead per game17:44 to DeSmith's 14.55. Overall, the average shot Jarry faces comes from 37.85, longest in the league among qualified Goalies. He also faces some of the least amount of Rush Attempts Against/60 (1.54) I believe 8th lowest among qualified Goalies.
So, I would agree with you Rick that maybe the team would play better for Jarry than they do for DeSmith, but Jarry himself, isn't playing any better than DeSmith in the areas he can control. They both stink in rebound control 4.42 rebound attempts against/60 for Jarry compared to 4.66 for DeSmith while DeSmith has a better HDSv% 0.836% to Jarry's 0.827%, with the difference being that Jarry only faces 8.59 HDSA/60 vs the 10.00 that DeSmith faces.
Again, I understand that the placebo affect on the team would be a slight benefit, but I would suggest a new Goalie. That which was once a strength during the Cup era with Fleury and Murray is now a decided weakness.
Hey Other Rick,
Interesting stuff. Based on the stats, your assertions may well be true.
I guess my bottom line is, "Who helps the team win?" On that count there isn't much question or debate. We're 16-5-5 with Jarry and 10-12-4 with DeSmith and Tokarski.
Placebo effect or no, we seem to be a much better team with Jarry between the pipes.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I agree that between Jarry and DeSmith, since the team picks their game up to protect him, play Jarry, for now. However, it is time to look down the road, in his contract year, Jarry is not playing like he wants a raise. He is relying on his teammates to win games for him.
The Bressard trade is looking worse and worse, Gustavsson may have been what the Dr ordered.
I do think that our Pens have the right pieces in the Org. Unfortunately, the team is not willing to use them or develop them.
Phil
Just a FYI - The Old 29er stated on the radio it actually helped the Pen's to sit thru
the ceremony. Plus we've had teams come into our arena playing their 2nd game
in two nights while we rested and kick the tar out of us. We're just not a very good
team right now. It's funny, I read these other blogs and they believe picking up
another scorer will correct the issues with the Pens - LOL. Until they stop other teams
from taking advantage of our star players the problems with this team will remain.
Fire Hextall and we're half way home.
Amen Mike.
Ok Rick,
I promise, the next time the Powerball gets up high enough, I will play, I will hit, I will buy the team, and I will clean house, installing a leadership group that will have no allergies to grit or youth, instead willing to play a balanced team of size and speed a well as veterans with a dash of youthful enthusiasm to keep everyone hungry, and who will be adaptable to the changes that constantly occur in the fluid environment of the NHL.
The thing that is truly amazing about this team is that just when you think they don't have another cheek to turn, our Penguins show another facet replete with more cheeks. If they were to take part in an animated film the perfect role for them would be Jean Reno's frog squad in "Flushed Away", always surrendering when called to action.
As Penguin's fans we have seen losses before but nothing is as embarrassing as those losses like last night when our Penguins cower like prey rather than fight back like predators and then whine about it and glare at the ref.