Last March 27, nearly a year ago to the day, the Penguins lit up Detroit goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for seven goals en route to an 11-2 massacre of the Red Wings on home ice. For good measure, we destroyed the Red Wings, 7-2, in a return match at Little Caesars Arena on April 23.
What a difference a season makes. Indeed, you could say the speedy, determined Wings have redressed the balance, rallying from four goals down to beat us in OT on December 28 and pummeling us last night by a 7-4 count. In the process scoring eight unanswered goals against us.
How the mighty have fallen.
It was one of those games where every sin of a deeply flawed black-and-gold team reared its ugly head. A somnambulant start, exacerbated by two Mark Friedman penalties that put a sluggish group even further back on its collective heels. Atrocious d-zone coverage and penalty killing, fueled by a near-total lack of attention to detail cumulated into an all-too-familiar toxic stew. (I swear this team has ADHD.) The requisite penalty at precisely the wrong time. And porous goaltending, especially at crunch time.
Taking full advantage of our tepid start, not to mention Friedman’s offenses, the Red Wings coasted to a 3-0 first-period lead. I won’t go into the gory details except to say the first two goals by Jonatan Berggren and Andrew Copp came mid-period and only 34 seconds apart. Copp’s marker and Dominik Kubalik’s tally at 16:07 were aided by heavy traffic in front of Casey DeSmith.
Can you say, “Hit ‘em with your purse, Stackhouse?” (Old-timers will get the reference.)
Then, as they are wont to do, our guys magically found their legs in the second period. Jason Zucker, God bless his soul, struck from the slot at 4:40 following heavy pressure by our second line.
Aided by a 5-on-3 advantage, we did a little rapid-fire scoring of our own. At 7:46, Evgeni Malkin ripped a shot from the high slot that went in off Jake Guentzel, who was parked on the doorstep. Fifty-five ticks later we cashed in on a disputed goal by Jeff Carter, with a little help from Zucker, who nudged Nedeljkovic’s left pad (and the puck underneath) over the goal line.
Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde issued a challenge for goaltender interference…then went berserk when the goal stood…earning himself a rare game misconduct. However, the Pens failed to capitalize on the ensuing power play.
As is so often the case, an old “friend” came back to haunt us. Four minutes into the third period, Wings captain Dylan Larkin found David Perron wide open in the left circle. The ex-Pen whipped the puck past DeSmith to make it 4-3.
Just under a minute later, Josh Archibald countered for the black-and-gold on a wraparound to knot the game at 4-all.
And there the score stood until 3:48 remained, when Bryan Rust took what has become the now obligatory late-game penalty to open the door for our foes. Rusty’s high stick wasn’t intentional, a sin of commission rather than omission, but still…
…it took all of eight seconds for Perron to strike for the go-ahead (and game-winning) goal, again unfettered from the left side, this time through DeSmith’s exposed five-hole.
Forty-five seconds later Perron completed his one-man demo job, slipping through our lax defensive coverage like a knife through hot butter before lofting a backhander over DeSmith’s right arm.
A deserving Larkin pounded home the final nail with an empty-netter at 19:23 to complete the late-breaking blowout.
Puckpourri
As always, our Pens controlled the process but little else. According to Natural Stat Trick, we held the advantage in shot attempts (70-59), shots on goal (39-25), scoring chances (39-28) and high-danger chances (20-12).
Following a string of solid-to-very-good outings DeSmith…to be charitable…had a rough night, yielding six goals on 25 shots. For the record, the Wings aren’t exactly an offensive juggernaut (25th in goals).
As for Perron? He’d scored only two goals in his previous 29 games.
Is any team victimized more by its former players than the Pens?
Does anyone else cringe at the sight of Pierre-Olivier Joseph doing just about anything in the defensive zone? And we thought Mike Matheson was an adventure in his own end! He’s got nothing on POJ.
Jeff Petry returned to the lineup, but was hardly airtight. Although he somehow finished the game with an even slate, he was on the ice (and out of position) on at least two goals against. Seems we were better off with no-frills veteran Taylor Fedun, who was returned to the Baby Pens following four solid games.
The Mikael Granlund-to-the-second-line experiment lasted one miserable period. Mike Sullivan returned “Granny” to the third line and elevated Rickard Rakell, who collected two assists.
Speaking of erstwhile third-liners, Kasperi Kapanen now has seven goals and 11 points in 15 games with the Blues.
Puckpourri
Nashville (37-28-8, 82 points) comes a callin’ on Thursday night. Stripped down at the trade deadline, the undermanned Preds are incredibly making a playoff push under coach John Hynes. The Pens (36-28-10, 82 points) had better get their heads out of their collective keisters.
Despite our near-continual bumbling, we’re still ensconced in the second Eastern wild-card spot, three points up on the Panthers.
For the zillionth time this season, one of the Pens (Zucker) remarked, “We’ve got to play better.”
If we miss the playoffs, that’ll be our epitaph.
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View Comments
Does anybody know where Big Game Bryan Rust is??? 3 Points in March, a real nice backhand pass in front of our own net last night too, which lead to a scoring chance.....yeah let's put him on the top line.
You guys wanna put Carter down... Rust had a career year , signed his big deal and now what??
Letang back to his ways of turnovers and giving the puck up to the other team....can't stand him.
I am so ticked at this team, the front office and some players.
The fourth was probably the best last night.. I want them to get in playoffs but why...to be embarrassed.
Hey Pens4ever,
Yeah, Rusty's been struggling, no doubt. He has one goal in his last 13 games, and that was an empty-netter. There are persistent rumors, similar to Jarry's hip, that Rust's been playing through a hand/wrist injury for most of the season, which would certainly explain the drop-off.
I remember Blake Comeau had a similar injury/issue several years ago and his production dried up, too. But I digress.
I'd be tempted to move him to a "speed" line with Drew O'Connor and Ryan Poehling and just let them forecheck and buzz bomb the heck out of opponents. But Sullivan seems determined to keep Rust in the top six. Understandable, given his track record.
Funny, but a lot of people were against us signing Rust for comparatively big $$$, given his age and grinding, hell-for-leather style of play.
I'll just toss in that I like Rust...if the results aren't always there he always gives you everything he's got. It just hasn't been as much as we'd like this season.
Rick
Hey Pens4ever,
I like Rust but that doesn't keep me from calling him out. I wanted him demoted earlier this season when he went ice cold and Puustenin inserted in his spot in the top 6. Now I think he (and Carter) need to be healthy scratches. Rust doesn't need to retire like Carter, but he needs a wake-up call.
Rick
Also, this goes back to one of my previous comments - players leaving here improve their
offensive contributions. Again, I blame this on Sullivan's system - it's all about puck control
and possession which has a negative impact scoring wise with our bottom six.
Hey Mike,
Agreed, but would like to add the Penguins' full Coaching staff's concept of driving the offense thru the defense and asking the forwards to cover for wayward D-men. With so many odd man breaks per game it would seem systemic, D getting trapped because the Coaches want them jumping up even when it doesn't make sense.
Rick
I still blame Sullivan for our lack of scoring especially with our bottom six forwards. I counted at least
10 times last the Pen;s having all three forwards digging for the puck "- I hate to break it to them but
your not going to score from behind the net unless your name is Crosby. Come on, I sat and watched
the game with my son who played Junior Hockey, and he was telling me they teach you in Pee wee how to
rotate while keeping someone in front of the net. Sullivan's theory that possession of the puck wins Hockey
games is flawed - putting the puck in the net wins Hockey games. We have three. players that try to stay
in front of the net consistently.........Zucker, Crosby & Carter.
Our goaltending has been horrible - 6 goals on 24 shots in a game as crucial as last night. I don't know who
was more responsible for Detroit goals, the Pen's "D" or DeSmith. I would say it was a combination of both. A
friend of mine asked me last week why is Letang always standing in front of the goalie and screening him. I
had no answer - my guess is he prefers to block the shot, or give up a goal than physically moving his man out
of the crease.
Once again the Pen's drop the ball when they had a chance to separate slightly from other teams in the playoff
hunt.
Hey Mike,
Judging by Kapanen's breakout since leaving town, you might be on to something. In Kappy's case, I think it was just a bad fit. He doesn't do especially well in traffic or in a cycling game, which of course is Sullivan's bread 'n' butter. I don't think Kappy has a ton of hockey sense, either.
When I think back to the highlights of his time with Toronto, most of his goals were scored in open ice. We never seemed to learn how to spring him loose so he could use his speed and shot.
Frankly, it didn't help that he was playing with Carter, who looked used up until recently.
Rick
Hey Mike,
I hear ya and I feel your pain.
We just keep making the same mistakes over and over and over and over ... Literally like a broken record.
DeSmith sure didn't have a stellar night. But I thought our team defense (or lack of) was atrocious. We ceded the Wings all kinds of time and space, especially early and late. On Perron's first two goals, none of our guys was in the same zip code. On the first one, Petry was way over on the other side of the ice, and wandering around on the second one. And POJ has all kinds of trouble deep in our zone and around the net.
Nobody can seem to make a hard play to just bang the puck out of our zone. They're constantly trying to set up an offensive play from the defensive zone (I'm sure as instructed by the coaches). Sometimes you just have to clear the friggin' puck, regroup and live to fight another day.
Grrrrrr.
Rick
Agreed Mike,
Rick B, another friend of ours and I were just saying something similar to what you write earlier today, Sullivan's offense is skate the perimeter, taking long distance shots or bad angled shots to pump up your CORSI numbers but don't go to the paint taking the Goalies eyes away, deflecting shots or looking for rebounds. His offense is all about looking like you are trying with CORSI without getting your hands dirty.
My question for Rick is, do you still want to defend Casey DeSmith? If so, how many more disasters like last game do you need to witness before you move on?
And let's face it, the proto typical Sullivan player is too small to be effective at either end of the rink, earning goals in Hornqvist's shop, or defensively protecting their own Goalie and House.
Hey Other Rick,
Yeah, I'm fine with DeSmith. Dan Kingerski on Pittsburgh Hockey Now wrote, "At 31, he is a solid NHL backup with flashes of brilliance and bouts of leakiness. ... He was worth a start Tuesday because he was unbeatable for much of Saturday against Washington and has been the better of two Penguins goalies this month. ... To blame DeSmith for the Tuesday loss vs. Detroit would be a gross oversimplification."
I agree with Dan's assessment. Is he the best backup in the league? No. But he's far from the worst. And he's been pulling extra duty this season...behind a porous team defense to boot.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and therefore Kingerski is entitled to his, and can expressed it all he wants. However, his opinion rarely influences mine, at least not proportionally; maybe inversely proportionally but not proportionally. March may have been the only month in which I did not read him beating the drum for the Penguins to sign Jarry to a long term extension at all costs ($6 million for 6 yrs? Ah, hard no please). I may read PHN for updates on player status or to see what this player or that had to say, but certainly not for Kingerski's hockey acumen, at least not the opinions he expresses (perhaps he does know hockey and is only too worried about pandering to express his real thoughts, lest he be denied access to the locker room).
I do believe in playing the hot Goalie and when your option is Jarry, then it could be a toss up. Both Goalies are killing this team. You saw some of the data I have been collecting. Yes, DeSmith has had an occasional highlight reel film save (due to his own folly taking himself out of the play and having to lunge back to make a save or sheer luck) but his average play has been miserable. When you average his Sv% game by game and not divide gross numbers DeSmith's (and jarry's for that matter) volatility is plainly apparent. A full 16 of the 37 games he has played DeSmith has turned in a Sv% of less than 0.900. His average Sv% by game is 0.887 with a standard deviation of 0.102 (the worst I have seen so far), meaning he is inconsistent as all get out.
Kingerski's assessment of flashes of brilliance with bouts of leakiness is either well beyond naive or a deliberate attempt at political spinning. Putting DeSmith in goal is like shooting dice, the outcome is seriously random.
DeSmith may not be the worst backup in the league but is that really the narrative you want for your team - at least we aren't the worst? is that comforting to know you are not the worst?
(Also, keep in mind he does have the worst standard deviation I have recorded so far, so he just might be the MOST inconsistent)
Sorry, I would rather confront the problem and try to get better.
Hey Other Rick,
I hear what you're saying about the inconsistency. But let's not forget the role that our team defense (or lack of) plays in all this. Our goalies routinely face down a cavalcade of odd-man breaks and foes breaking loose for clean shots from point-blank range.
It's a rare game when the team collectively pays attention to its defensive duties.
Rick
Rick,
Not going to argue with you about the Pens defense, they are not good, although I am not sure how much of their mistakes is due to the system and how much is their own inabilities. Letang may be the only Defenseman I would keep if I had my druthers.
However, the poor defense does not explain inconsistency in Sv%. The Defense is the same game to game, so the Sv% should be equally bad game to game. In Fla Knight's mean Sv% is 0.894, a hair better than DeSmith, but his Standard Deviation is 0.061. Knight's Sv% could be related to his D but not DeSmith. DeSmith's and Jarry's erratic play are self-inflicted.