Senators Rule, Top Penguins in Penalty-Fest

Crazy.

And I’m not referring to the Patsy Cline crossover hit from 1961, but rather last night’s penalty-strewn 5-4 overtime loss to Ottawa in the Canadian Tire Centre.

Just a smidge over zealous, referees Dan O’Rourke and Ghislain Hebert doled out 14 minor penalties over the course of the evening, including nine to our Penguins. Some of dubious merit. The talented young Senators took full advantage, toasting our beleaguered PK for four power-play goals (we had two).

From a scoring standpoint, the contest was a see-saw affair that featured several lead changes. Jason Zucker got us off and running at 6:36 of the first period, pouncing on a juicy rebound from the doorstep. But Jeff Carter was whistled moments later on a four-minute high-sticking call and the Sens, boasting one of the league’s top power plays, cashed in on both ends of the penalty on goals by Alex DeBrincat and Tim Stutzle to go up 2-1.

Then it was the Sens turn to die by the sword, or more appropriately, the whistle. Josh Norris and Dylan Gambrell committed overlapping infractions against Evgeni Malkin and…how does that old Jim Croce song go? You don’t tug on superman’s cape, and he don’t mess around with Geno.

The big guy shoveled home a rebound at 15:23 to knot the score at 2-all and was a force the rest of the night.

The Pens retook the lead early in the second period on a tally from an unusual source…a defenseman (gasp). Mark Friedman teed up a pretty feed from Marcus Pettersson at the top of the left circle and drilled it off Cam Talbot’s glove and in. Three-two, good guys, except…

…somehow, you just knew the lead wouldn’t hold up. It didn’t.

Kasperi Kapanen was tagged for hooking at 7:55 and Drake Batherson scored the equalizer for the Sens on the ensuing power play.

Although the cavalcade of infractions continued, including a double-minor to Bryan Rust in the waning moments of the period, the power-play bonanza abated until 10:58 of the third period when Shane Pinto struck courtesy of a cross-checking call to Pierre-Olivier Joseph. However, in a Penguin-esque bit of largesse, the Sens promptly shot themselves in the foot by icing an extra skater, and Rickard Rakell made ‘em pay with a Spin-o-rama goal from the slot.

The teams and referees somehow conspired to play penalty free the rest of the way and the game went to overtime. Not exactly our domain this season.

I winced as an early Pens thrust fell by the wayside and the Sens countered. Shot, score, game over just 25 seconds in. Whoda thunk it?

To quote Darth Vader from The Empire Strikes Back, “All too easy.”

Puckpourri

While overall I was pleased with our effort and resilience, there’s not much question which team had the better of the play. The Sens dominated in shot attempts (68-42), shots on goal (40-19), scoring chances (41-28) and high-danger chances (23-14). Lest you think it was all power-play smoke and mirrors, they outshot us 25-9 at 5v5.

Sidney Crosby collected three assists, giving him a robust 52 points in 44 games. Malkin paced the Pens’ attack with a goal and two helpers. With 10 points in his past six games, Geno’s been on fire of late. It’s somewhat telling…and disturbing…that we’re only 3-2-1 during that stretch.

You can only drive on one of those inflatable spare tires for so long. We desperately need to get some guys back on the ice…pronto. To borrow from the Police, sendin’ out an SOS for Kris Letang, Jeff Petry, Jan Rutta, Josh Archibald, Ryan Poehling and, last but certainly not least, Tristan Jarry and his 10.5 goals saved above average (GSAA).

Rakell notched his third goal in five games, giving him 16 on the year. In my season preview, I opined he might finish closer to 15 goals than 30. Unless the silky Swede falls victim to a sudden deep freeze…WRONG.

Not sure what got into Joseph, but he was uncharacteristically chippy last night, using the lumber on several occasions. POJ’s ice time has been dropping of late (only 12:16 last night).

On Tap

The back end of an old fashioned home-and-home set with the Sens awaits on Friday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Despite our struggles, the Islanders have been that much worse (1-4-2 in their last seven). Thank goodness.