The Penguins’ roller coaster of a season plummeted to a new low last night with an embarrassing 6-0 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. A defeat that, in many ways, was a microcosm of a season (and team) in disarray.
Based on the final score, you’d think the New Yorkers ran us out of the building. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Pens displayed plenty of jump and controlled “the process,” as they so often do. They also buried themselves beneath an avalanche of blown coverages and breakdowns galore.
Indeed, the Rangers simply waited for us to self-destruct and capitalized when we handed them opportunities.
The first Blueshirts goal was a classic example. The much (and rightfully) maligned Jeff Carter somehow lost coverage on Mika Zibanejad just inside the right circle, leaving the 35-goal man unfettered and in prime scoring position. Make that 36-goal man. With Pierre-Olivier Joseph performing an ineffective pirouette, Zibanejad beat Tristan Jarry short side.
Near the end of the first period we gave ‘em a classic Penguins two-fer…a power-play opportunity courtesy of Evgeni Malkin and a late goal 11 seconds before the horn on a snipe from the left circle by Artemi Panarin.
Down 2-0, we began to press. Cue the bonehead decision-making. At 3:54 of the second period Vladimir Tarasenko…not exactly a guy you want to leave wide open…scored on a three-on-freakin’-one. Among the culpable, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.
Following a muffed power play, we allowed the Rangers to breakout four-men strong, leading to an easy side-of-the-net tap in by nemesis Chris Kreider. Roughly the equivalent of a gimme-putt in golf.
At this stage, coach Mike Sullivan mercifully yanked Jarry in favor of Casey DeSmith. Almost immediately, ol’ Case yielded a goal off his mask off a sharp-angle shot by Jacob Trouba (aka Public Enemy No. 1).
Panarin capped the humiliation at 16:38, thanks to some beautiful passing and typically weak defensive play by our guys down low.
Puckpourri
According to Natural Stat Trick, we held a significant edge in shot attempts (64-43), shots on goal (33-24), scoring chances (35-23) and high-danger chances (17-9), but we couldn’t dent Igor Shesterkin.
Perhaps one day we’ll have metrics such as RAB (Really Atrocious Breakdowns) and HYGOTD (Hanging Your Goalie Out to Dry). We’d no doubt lead the league.
Maybe a Plaxico Burress Shoot Yourself in the Foot Award as well.
I’ve been harping on this for a while now and so has everyone else. God bless him, but Carter’s gotta sit. He’s a minus-8 (with one assist) in his past eight games. Over his past 23 games…a minus-14. He literally costs us a goal a game.
Sullivan’s obstinance in this matter is, quite frankly, baffling. It’s likely to cost us a playoff spot (if it hasn’t already)…and Sully his job.
Not to pick on guys when they’re struggling, but Brian Dumoulin’s also on the minus train of late (minus-9 in his past 18 games). He was a minus-2 yesterday and failed to clear the puck just prior to the Rangers’ second goal.
Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta sat out with injuries. Chad Ruhwedel and emergency call-up Mark Friedman plugged the holes. When it rains it pours…Marcus Pettersson exited late in the game, once again leaving us with only five healthy d-men.
Malkin, Bryan Rust and newcomer Mikael Granlund were the only players to finish with an even slate. Everyone else sporting the black and gold was a minus.
As if to symbolize the volatile nature of our season, Jarry was pulled for the fourth time in his last 11 appearances. So much for that fat contract he’s seeking.
On Tap
The Pens (34-25-10, 78 points) host Ottawa (33-31-5, 71 points) Monday night before visiting Western Conference heavies Dallas and Colorado in back-to-backs Wednesday and Thursday.
We’re presently clinging to the last Eastern wild-card spot by our fingernails. The surging Panthers are one point behind.
It ain’t lookin’ good, folks.
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Hey Rick,
Have you read any of our Head Goof’s post-game comments, once again defending those who have no excuse for their pathetic play?
“You guys like to pick on certain guys. You go to them all the time,” Sullivan said. “And we respectfully disagree with you in a lot of circumstances. When goals are scored, we look at a lot of the details on the hows and the whys. And the reality is it’s more than one person when goals are in the back of your net. Those guys are easy guys to pick on, but I will tell you, all year long, we’ve put them in difficult circumstances that are involved. It’s not just any one guy.”
And
“Those guys play against top players in defensive situations all the time. ‘Carts’ going into tonight’s game was sixth in the league in faceoffs. Sixth,” Sullivan repeated for emphasis. “Overall, he wins a lot of faceoffs. If we don’t win the faceoff, we don’t get the blue line. There’s a number of circumstances that are involved.”
Let’s ignore the facts Sully,
65.8% of all of Carter’s shifts start on the fly (5-on5) not in the Defensive Zone. Only 25.2% starts in the defensive zone. 60.8% of Dumoulin’s shifts start o the fly with only 11.0% of his starts in the defensive zone. Coach Sullivan – False, “those guys” have plenty of opportunity to get involved in the offensive zone.
The most common forward Carter squares off against is Brock Nelson and Nelson is one of the NYI top forwards as Sullivan tries to shield Carter. However, Mr. Sullivan, looking at Brock Nelson’s most common Penguin’s forwards he must skate against (5-on-5) I find Jason Zucker (23.75 min), Evgeni Malkin (22.05 min), and Bryan Rust (20.88 min), all with more than a minute more TOI against Nelson than Carter has (19.38 min).
As for Dumoulin, Pettersson (24.93), Kris Letang (22.70), exceed Dumoulin’s 21.20 minutes of TOI against Nelson.
Just excuses for failure Sullivan. It is time to make adjustments not excuses and the 1st adjustment should be to get in a Coach that makes adjustments not excuses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey TOR,
A good coach won't take down a player to the media. Wasn't that Michel Theriens M.O.?
It's getting harder and harder to stick up for Sully while he keeps Carter in the lineup. Sully's best option would be to only play Carter home games where he some say in avoiding really bad match-ups.
I do kind of get what Mike issaying that Carter's experience could be useful in the playoffs.
Hey Phil,
You mean a good coach wouldn't come out and say that a player wasn't hurt during the playoffs even though his GM said Kessel was hurt?
Having said that, I am not saying he has to repeat his insubordination from a few years back and call out Carter in the media. What I am saying though is that Sullivan's continual playing of both Carter and Dumoulin and then trying to justify his playing of those players by citing faulty logic is problematic and indicative of a Coach choosing players based on sentiment and not performance. I really don't like dumping on either Carter or Dumo it isn't their fault that their coach continual puts them in positions to fail. However, the facts are the facts. Both players start the vast majority of their shifts on the fly and not in the defensive zone as Sullivan tries to deflect and neither of the players are the primary Penguins matching up against other teams top players. And in Carter's case, as Rick B points out, with such a high Percentage of FO wins yet such poor TGA, Carter has really lost it.
Furthermore, the bias of continually playing Carter and Dumoulin, despite their poor play, has to have a deleterious effect on all those players that Sullivan benches in favor of those underperforming veterans. All the players have eyes and can see how poorly these guys are playing yet still getting TOI. It should come as no wonder the bottom 6 and D play so poorly, they aren't getting rewarded for their efforts and are often scolded as scapegoats for the failures of Sullivan's pets.
There is no way to prove it, because we can't go back in time, but I know that this team would still be playing at a higher level and with more fire had Carter and Dumoulin been benched months ago. The failures we are now seeing are the result of the Coach - that is why I have been calling for Sullivan's head. Had he been removed the black and gold may just be competing with the Rangers for 2nd in the Division rather than fighting to fend off the Isles, Cats, Wings, and Sens.
And I too understand what Mike is saying, I just don't agree with it. There is an old saying victory goes to the bold. Conservative, try-not-to-lose strategies only prevent wins. What are those quotes from Frank Herbert - "Fear is the mind killer" and "fear is the little death". Fear of losing is bringing about just that, losing.
Tor,
I hear you and agree with your facts over what Sully is saying. I had hope that there was a plan to work Kulikov in until he was comfortable with the system and then work out Dumoulin. I know he benched Pojo first but I believe that was just keep experience on that side of the D in the lineup. Once Kulikov got the hang of it and could take over for Dumo that was it. I'm really not sold on the Ruhwedel over Dumoulin argument that everyone is throwing out there. Whether they are aware of it or not every time someone says bench Dumo they are saying play Ruhwedel instead of Dumo. Friedman is smaller than Ruhwedel. Right now the defense is so banged up arguing this is pointless.
I still have high hopes that once Poehling is in full game shape, Carter gets that well deserved "rest" that he needs. If not Sully will be losing one of his most ardent supporters.
Hey Phil,
Not going to argue with you over Ruhwedel. I would rate him at best as an 8th or 9th Defenseman and he is a RHD. I am not a fan of RHD playing the port side. It is hard enough for a LHD to play the right, but they get far more practice than their opposites.
Also, I am not as big of a fan of Freidman as Rick B is, however, I do rate him better than Ruhwedel. And again, I don’t like righties playing LHD.
Perhaps you are right, and Sullivan was planning on moving Dumo out eventually, after Kulikov got some games under his belt. Unfortunately, we will never know since Kulikov is injured. However, there were and are more options than Dumo, Pettersson, and POJ as LHD available to Sullivan as our Pens muddle through this mire, instead, Sullivan and Hextall opted for Status Quo waiting far too long for Dumo to work his way back to a form that he will probably never again see. He should have been traded at the trade deadline to a team that overvalues aging veterans for their experience.
If you go back over the last 5 or so years you would see that the left side of the Defense would be manned by Nicholas Hague, Andrey Pedan, and maybe even Jamie Oleksiak (Not sure I would have given him his current contract). I would also have Alexander Alexeyev and Maveric Lamoureux waiting in the wings with Isaac Belliveau if I had my way. So, we could have easily moved on from Dumo.
You are right though, that is all water under the bridge. In today’s day and time, we aren’t that far away from falling far enough down the ladder to miss the playoffs, particularly if Sullivan doesn’t divorce himself from his same old, same old coaching style. If he doesn’t take a risk soon, our only hope may be injuries to key players on opponents vying for that last wildcard spot with us.
Hey Other Rick,
Loved, "It is time to make adjustments not excuses and the 1st adjustment should be to get in a Coach that makes adjustments not excuses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
If anything, the fact that Carter is so good on faceoffs only serves to magnify how bad he is in other areas. As in, we gain possession, lose possession and get scored upon...ad nauseam.
Again, I'm not trying to assassinate the guy...he simply physically can't get it done any more. To me, this falls on Sullivan. Hell, at least TRY Heinen-Poehling-Archibald for a game or two. I know Heinen's got his warts...streaky, not great defensively or in puck battles...but he can skate and find open ice and he did tally three goals and seven points recently over a nine-game stretch before being demoted to the fourth line and then scratched.
Mario-esque compared to Carter.
I truly don't understand Sullivan's obstinance in this matter, but it brings to light one of his flaws. If you're not a "Sully guy" you could literally score a goal one game yet find yourself demoted or scratched the next game (happened to both Heinen and Drew O'Connor this season.) And if you are a Sully guy?
Lifetime employment no matter what.
Rick
Happy Sunday Poopers, as we get closer to spring our playoff chances are getting slimmer!!
I like Jarry but two of the four he let in were his fault. In a big game we needed to win, he has to come up with those types of saves. If he is playing hurt, he needs to step back because it's actually hurting the team, not that Desmith has been much better.
I know it's a broken record but we can't compete with teams in East, they are bigger and fast, skilled and big.... we are not, slow, small and no defenseman that are able to push snd shove in front of our goalie.
And oh man the PP , is a joke but the #1 unit sure can pass , that's IF they can maintain possession and set up!!
The only bright spot if we miss the playoffs..hopefully Sullivan, Hextall, and Burke will be replaced. Plus a mid teens 1st round pick in a deep draft.
I love hockey but it's getting tough watching this team boys.
LET'S GO PEN'S
Hey pens4ever,
I like what you said, but I would add "If he is playing hurt, OR IF HE"S NOT PLAYING HURT he needs to step back"
I get that the Coach could be in a pickle there because Jarry may need to work through so stuff to get better. If that's the case, don't play him divisional games.
If Sully doesn't bench Carter soon, I may join TOR's team.
Hey Pens4ever,
Yeah, it's getting tough to watch. They just keep repeating the same mistakes, over and over and over (and over)...
Agree with your "only bright spot." I think it's time to clean house and make a fresh start. Don't know who we'd get as coach and GM, but I just think we need to make a wholesale change. A little while back someone mentioned former GM Ray Shero and, honestly, I don't think that would be a horrible move.
Hope all is well with you and your kids.
Rick