Sharks Attack, Bite Penguins in the End

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The Penguins were supposed to cruise to a feel-good win over weak-sister San Jose in their final game before the All-Star break.

Instead, they face nine long days of soul-searching following a ragged 6-4 loss to the Sharks before a disappointed Saturday night throng of 18,417 at PPG Paints Arena. A game in which our myriad sins were on full display.

How bad was it? Let me recount the ways.

True to form, we got off to a languid start and for the most part stayed in neutral for two periods before a pour-it-on-push in the final 20 minutes. We gave up goals early in periods (Michael Eyssimont’s wide-open slam-dunk just 1:25 into the contest) and late (Erik Karlsson’s ridiculously easy and uncontested net-front tap in with 6.5 seconds to go in the first).

D-zone coverage, if you can call it that, was atrocious. The erstwhile reasonably reliable tandem of Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry had a particularly rough go, registering a combined minus-5. They had help. The Evgeni Malkin line was a collective minus-9, with Rickard Rakell taking the booby prize at minus-4.

I’ll stop short of judging Casey DeSmith too harshly. His teammates hung him out to dry like bed linen on wash day. But I will say that sometimes you need to make a save and leave it at that.

Perhaps the worst thing about this loss? It occurred despite a combined three goals and five points from our aging but still productive Two-Headed Monster.

Minuses aside, our stars are doing their job. Pretty much have been all season. At age 35, Sidney Crosby has 24 goals and 60 points in 49 games. That’s exemplary output, folks. Hot on his heels, Malkin has 19 goals and 50 points in 49 games. No way I thought a 36-year-old Geno would be this productive, or dialed in, especially with major knee surgery in his not-too-distant rearview mirror.

Jake Guentzel has 20 goals, Rakell 18. Jason Zucker’s Lazarus-like comeback has been well-documented.

As for the rest of the team? We’re getting next to nothing. The third line, in particular, is a black hole. Fading Jeff Carter, pointless in 10 games. Teddy Blueger (Dear Lord, what’s happened to him?) pointless in 14. Brock McGinn, pointless in 16 following a nice hot streak.

You might as well stick me and Other Rick out there with a forward of our choice.

There’s no spark, no sizzle. No fight. We have to be shoved into a ditch, often of our own digging, before we show any real emotion or urgency.

The lapses. The letdowns. The appalling lack of attention to detail.

You can thank Mike Sullivan to a degree. No, he didn’t assemble this bunch. That onus falls on GM Ron Hextall. But you can best believe Sully had a say in how the pieces were put together.

Hence, per his specs, the almost total lack of aggression. Chad Ruhwedel over Mark Friedman every time. Not to mention his ridiculously quick hook with kids and players outside of his trusted core. Carter will get ice time from now until doomsday. But guys like Drew O’Connor and Danton Heinen get manacled to the bench at the first hint of a drop-off. Sometimes before.

I’ll give Sullivan credit for one thing. He put the responsibility for the team’s recent putrid play on his shoulders.

“It starts with me,” he said. “I’ve got to do a better job of coaching these guys and getting it out of them and making sure that the message is being heard. We’ve got to learn through the experiences.”

It shows what a stand-up guy and class person he is. I just don’t know if he’s the right man to coach this team.

Hextall doesn’t get off scot-free, either. He constructed this group, in the process backing us into salary-cap gridlock. His trades this summer, while well-intentioned, were probably ill-conceived.

No GM is perfect, and Hexy’s made his share of mistakes, the onerous Carter and Kasperi Kapanen extensions the most egregious. It’s how you recover from those mistakes that matters.

It’s time to do something. Anything. Buy Carter out or bench him. Waive a couple of guys. Call up a couple more. Swing a trade if you can.

The present team (and scheme) is really stale.

The Goals

Malkin knotted the score 5:45 of the first period, just eight seconds after Jacob MacDonald got whistled for holding. Not to be outdone, Crosby struck just nine seconds after a mid-period penalty to Evgeny Svechnikov, pouncing on a Geno rebound off the post to hand us our only lead of the night at 2-1.

Ryan Poehling scored a shorty at 14:54 of the second period thanks to a beautiful breakout pass by Brian Dumoulin. At 10:06 of the third, Malkin rambled through the right circle and beat Sharks goalie Kaapo Kahkonen off a pretty feed from Petry to knot the score at 4-all.

Love the way No. 71’s driving to the net and shooting, reminiscent of what Carter did when he first arrived.

In addition to goals from Kyssimont and Karlsson, Noah Gregor, Alexander Barabanov and veteran Logan Couture (two) lit the lamp for the Sharks. Couture had a five-point night to earn top-star honors.

Puckpourri

Thanks to our strong finish, we held the edge in most statistical categories according to Natural Stat Trick, including shot attempts (79-63), shots on goal (41-32), scoring chances (49-38) and high-danger chances (25-23).

Sullivan juggled his top two lines in the final period, flip-flopping Rakell and Bryan Rust.

Petersson fought Sharks tough guy Jonah Gadjovich at 7:49 of the second period. Like the old Timex watch, Marcus look a lickin’ but kept on tickin.’

On Tap

The Pens have nine days off before they host the defending Cup champion Avalanche on February 7. Since our victory over the Rangers on December 20, we’re 5-7-5 (5-12 if you count our overtime and shootout losses for what they are). And that’s with a fair sprinkling of cupcakes on our schedule.

I hate to say it, but my article posted back on January 10 comparing us to the 2017-18 Blackhawks is looking prophetic.

We enter our All-Star break with a record of 24-16-9 and 57 points, good for fifth place in the Metro. We’re clinging to the final Eastern Conference playoff spot by our fingernails. Buffalo has 56 points, the Islanders 55 and the Panthers 54.

Expected to be a laughing stock, the Flyers have 51 points. John Tortorella’s done a helluva job with what was thought to be a threadbare team. He’s developing some young talent to boot.