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.
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Hey Rick,
Excellent point about the supporting cast!!!!
I had/have no problem with having signed the Core back, however, both Hextall and Sullivan screwed up royally in the supporting cast, particularly on Defense.
Hextall was the one that gave Carter his less than earned contract extension, however, Sully is the clown that keeps giving him TOI.
I did think Blueger was going to have a decent season but he has been pathetic in the O-Zone all year.
Now, I won't completely criticize Smelly for moving Carter and Blueger to the same line. At least our coach reacted. However, as bad as those two are playing, I can't imagine how our resident Archaeologist thought Blueger could resurrect the fossil when he (Blueger) himself is struggling.
On defense, as far as I am concerned the team could waive the entire group (except Letang, he has a NMC) and we would never miss them. I am not surprised by Joseph's, Petry's, and Pettersson's drop in play. Joseph and Pettersson are lucky to be a combined 200 lbs soaking wet and Petry is old enough to star in the next Jurassic World movie as a clone from some caveman's DNA. Whether due to lack of size or age, the pounding of playing against NHL calibre fore-checkers could only have worn them down. With luck, the 9 day break will allow them to recoup a little energy, but the stretch run could be murder, particularly if Rutta doesn't get back to lend a little more size.
Your preference for Freidman in the lineup over Ruhwedel should be obvious to anyone with eyes and whose ego doesn't blind them.
Sorry, Heinen, after having a great season last year, has stunk out loud this year. He went Goalless from Oct 22, 2022 until Jan 24, 2023. This is one of the cases that drives me crazy when some one will issue the inane statement that a rookie has to earn their chance to play when a veteran like Heinen was an 0fer since the 8th 8th grade picnic. Worse is when those issuing that silliness can't seem to understand how hypocritical they are.
I will agree about O'Connor, He should be the 3rd line pivot until Carter and/or Blueger proves they can still play and contribute
Rick & The Other Rick
I know the two of you will probably disagree but I still stand firm on my opinion that Hextall should not of
resigned Malkin & Letang. By signing them to long term deals he pretty much locked us in to mediocre
hockey for the next 5 or 6 years. This was the Pen's one chance to stay ultra competitive and continue to
massage the roster without taking a large dip in play on the ice. I will agree Malkin has played better than
I expected but he's the same old Gino in the Defensive zone and his passing on the PP drives me absolutely
crazy. He leads the team in giveaways with ( 67 ) and almost doubles the next closest teammate.
Not sure if you heard Phil Bourque after the game with the Sharks but he spoke his mind about this Penguin
team and basically said it was a disgrace.
Regarding Carter - I agree he hasn't played his best hockey but in a lot of ways I feel he's a victim of this
line mates - I think Sully should slide him into Rust spot with Malkin if for no other reason than to get him
going. Bottom line is Pen's need some major moves to rectify everything that's wrong with this team
I look forward to your feedback.
Hey Mike,
I do like Geno but I don't completely disagree with you about him or Letang. However, after watching JR, Sullivan, and now Hextall run this team into the ground, I am not sure that they could have used the money wisely.
If the team wasn't going to sign Malkin, I would have liked to see them deal him at last season's trade deadline. If you recall I wrote, when there was all the trade deadline hubbub that I would be okay if the team had traded Geno to FLA for Anton Lundl.. I wanted to find a way to draft him when he came out.
In the end I do think the Carter and Blueger have been the worst disappointments on this team. Just behind those two, Rust is next in line as a disappointment. He has scored a lot more than Carter and Blueger but he has not come close to his contract and finally, most recently Rakell has been disappointing through the month of January.
The real problem though has been on Defense - they are atrocious. If someone told me Letang had been having TIAs leading up to his stroke, I wouldn't question them. He had made some serious mental mistakes in the first half of the season. Although I understand why GMRH did resign him, 58s resigning looks very questionable.
As for the lines, sorry, I do have to disagree with you here. It seems to me that Carter has been the anchor on his line. and Blueger the anchor on his line. Sullivan should have sat both of them long ago and replaced Carter with O'Connor and Blueger with Poehling. Unfortunately, Sullivan doubled down on hte problem and put Carter and Blueger on the same line totally destroying the 3rd line.
With Geno, Sully should ever have broken up Zucker-Malkin-Rakell until they went cold. Instead when Rust suffered from his ice age, he ruined the 2nd line by sending Rust down there and moved Rakell up. Sully should have brought up Puustinen and inserted him on Sid's line until Rust found his game. I feel fairly certain the young Finn would have scored in droves with real line mates and at worst we could have had a trade chip
Just some random thoughts
Hey Guys
if i may add my two cents worth. Mike, I too would not have signed Malkin and Letang would only been signed for 2 or 3 years .Not 6 years. This contract will come back to haunt us.
FYI the new NHL power rankings came out over the weekend and said Pittsburgh moved up 1 spot from 16rh to 15th. Respectfully I agree that we are a bottom feeder to make the playoffs. We are not top 8 in any sense of the imagination. The NHL writers mentioned that the Pens need to add more forward scoring depth and not just 1 or 2 players if we are to succeed in a Cup run.
The real problem for the Pens are the teams that are rated 12th to 20 th and who can improve their team the most coming trade day. We have no Cap space and very few pieces that other teams would want. It has been said publicly that,Toronto, Panthers,Sabres,Islanders, Capitals, Rangers,Boston and New Jersey are all looking to add talent before trade deadline. We are the weak sister in terms of ability to secure top end talent to make a Cup Run. I also agree with Coach that we have issues on the blue line that needs to be addressed. Maybe a Goalie as well.
Cheers
JIM
I agree with you Mike.
Jim
Hey Rick,
You and me with the Forward of our choice? Hmmm, I don't think Sully would have ever given me a chance to play. I normally played Goal and I defended my crease aggressively. As I got older I did play Center but again, I never fit Sully's smurf mold. I never was a whiner or retaliator. I always initiated physical play. I hit people, I tied up sticks, I pushed opposing defenders out of the way to get position in front of their Goalie. I made an art out of running picks to spring teammates. Most importantly, I got opponents to take retaliator penalties.
Not only would Sully not let me see the ice, I doubt his clone, Forrest in WBS would let me even get out of the press box, let alone sit on the bench.
I can't stand this ice-capade team that Sully has built. And make no mistake this toothless bumble is Sully's doing. If you paid close attention, my near constant criticisms started pretty close to Sully's defanging of t his team but forcing GMs to trade, demote, and otherwise not give contracts to tougher players but his simply not using them.
I don't yearn for the same pugilist team that you always espouse, Rick. However, I hate purse slapping defensemen. I despise whiners and players that don't initiate, only retaliate. I get nauseous watching smallish (whether in size or in playing style) athletic Goalies that take themselves out of the play with over reaction, forcing them to have to try and make spectacular play. Those plays may make the highlight reels and endear those players to the naïve fan, whose short term (3 second fish) memory quickly forgets that the Goalie took himself that far out of the play,
I yearn for big forwards who will drive the net and set up camp. I wish for a big positional Goalie that intimidates shooters, getting them to try and make the perfect shot, slowing the play progression long enough for the team's defense to get back and possibly even eliminate the shooter before they fire the puck.