Punchless Penguins Jet-lagged, 4-1

I confess this isn’t going to be much of a game summary. Then again, last night’s disappointing 4-1 loss to visiting Winnipeg wasn’t much of a game. At least from a Penguins perspective.

From pretty much start to finish (and all points in between) it was about as flat-line an effort as you’d ever care to see from your favorite hockey team. Especially when you consider the Jets were playing their second of back-to-back games and third in four nights. All on the road no less. And that wasn’t all-world goalie Connor Hellebuyck tending the twine for the Jets but backup David Rittich. Big difference.

A missed opportunity to at least compete for the two points. Something our guys didn’t deign to do.

Needless to say, hardly anyone wearing the black and gold bathed themselves in glory. One of the few players who did was Dustin Tokarski, who stopped 36 of 40 shots while tending goal in a shooting gallery.

A special call-out as well to Jason Zucker, who once again tried to drag us (apparently against our collective will) into the fight. After ramming rugged Jets rearguard Brenden Dillon into the end boards in retaliation for a slew-foot on Bryan Rust, Zucks dropped the gloves and swapped punches with the big defenseman in a spirited go. Tried to engage the crowd (and his teammates) on the way to the penalty box as well.

Too bad his ‘mates refused the invite. A major problem with this bunch. Far too many passengers and not enough guys hauling the freight. Not to mention a paucity of players willing to get their noses dirty on a nightly basis.

Shortly after the set-to, color man Bob Errey, who’ve I’ve come to respect, told it like it is. After commenting on the team’s consistently languid starts, he lamented our lack of jam.

Thank you, Bob. I’ve been writing that for years. We’ll likely never have enough as long as Mike Sullivan’s running the show.

Speaking of coaching, Errey also noted the Jets were crisper, tighter and much more organized, often moving around the ice as a five-man unit thanks to their bench boss Rick Bowness.

The Pens? We pretty much waddled around like our flightless namesake.

Sullivan can’t lace up the skates and play for these guys, although I’m sure he’s tempted to at times. But he’s got to do a better job of getting his team ready to play.

They sure as hell weren’t last night.

The Goals

Hot on the heels of a Fleury-esque swipe-the-puck-off-the-goal-line-with-his-stick save by Tokarski, Blake Wheeler struck for the Jets on the power play 11:19 into the proceedings. The Pens drew even at 16:42 when Kasperi Kapanen stole Dylan DeMelo’s lunch money (along with the puck and his stick) before slipping a pass to a breaking Drew O’Connor, who elevated the biscuit from in tight to beat Rittich.

Nice shot by O’Connor and a heady play by Kappy, once again reinforcing that the skills are there if not the consistent application of them.

I’ll personally shoulder the blame for the next two Jets goals. No sooner did I scribble in my game notes, “Tokarski’s been terrific,” then the Jets struck twice in a span of 22 seconds on goals by Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers. (I’m not kidding…it was that instantaneous.)

Reinforcing that my infamous reverse PenguinPoop curse is alive and well.

Scheifele closed out the scoring at 6:39 of the third period, shortly after the Zucker-Dillon tilt. His prettiest goal, a brilliant first-period deflection, was negated due to an offsides.

Puckpourri

The stats pretty much summed up the game. The Jets dominated in shot attempts (63-40), shots on goal (40-23), scoring chances (34-17) and high-danger chances (13-6). Again, playing their third game (all on the road) in four nights.

Speaks volumes about who they are as a team…and who we aren’t.

Mark Friedman was recalled and subbed for an ailing Marcus Pettersson. Playing alongside Brian Dumoulin, the feisty d-man registered three hits and was a minus-one in 16:23 of ice time. Love the fact that he’ll actually use his body to box guys out around the net. Only wish he was 6’3” 215 instead of 5’11” 185.

Evgeni Malkin and linemates Rickard Rakell and Zucker were uncharacteristically awful. The trio was on the ice for five shot attempts for and a whopping 22 against 5v5.

One of the few positives? I continue to be impressed with newcomer Ty Smith. He’s an excellent skater, quick and agile, and uses his edges exceedingly well when walking the opposing blue line. I’m also impressed with his generalship…the way he sees the ice and distributes the puck. He even plays with a little bit of an edge.

A keeper.

On Tap

The load doesn’t get any lighter for our Pens (21-14-6, 48 points), who kicked off a stretch of nine games in 16 days with the loss.

Tonight we face the Metro-leading ‘Canes (26-9-7, 59 points) in Raleigh. Might as well save on the air fare and mail in those two points.

A saving grace? The Islanders, our primary competitor for a playoff spot, have lost four straight and are struggling to score goals.