I confess, life kept me otherwise detained yesterday afternoon, so I didn’t watch the Penguins’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils on TV. I did listen to a good portion of it on radio, however, which I confess provided a fresh perspective.
I especially appreciated Phil Bourque’s, call-it-like-he-sees-it approach. The “Old Two-Niner” isn’t afraid to be critical, which is kind of refreshing.
By most accounts, our guys played a pretty good hockey game…for 60 minutes. Before the dark times. Before overtime. (Yes, I’m borrowing from Star Wars.)
The Devils got off to a brisk start, testing Tristan Jarry on the opening rush. Following a counter by Sidney Crosby, rising star Jack Hughes used Brian Dumoulin as a screen to beat Jarry from the top of the right circle 56 seconds in.
Refusing to let his team go down without a fight, Crosby evened the score at 6:25. While working on a 4-on-4, Jeff Petry cycled toward the right point and slipped a soft pass into Sid’s wheelhouse. The Pens’ captain beat Vitek Vanecek glove side with a rising one-timer from the high slot.
Following a scoreless second frame, the Pens had a glorious chance to snag the lead two minutes into the third period. Back in the lineup after missing the last nine games with an upper-body ailment, Ryan Poehling took a short pass from Drew O’Connor and tried a jam shot at the side of the net that didn’t go. A follow-up try by Bryan Rust was denied as well, but the rebound came directly to Poehling parked on the lip of the crease. With Vanecek turned around and hopelessly out of position, the big forward snapped the puck toward a yawning net, I’m sure expecting to see the red light flash. But the Devils’ goalie corkscrewed around at the last millisecond to somehow get an arm on the shot and change the trajectory. The puck glanced harmlessly off the crossbar and out.
Jarry returned the favor mid-period, gobbling up a drive by Dougie Hamilton from the slot with his glove. Speedy Jesper Bratt skirted the Pens’ defense with six minutes to go, but again Jarry said no.
Then…overtime. On cue, any semblance of structure or organized play on the part of the black and gold dissolved into a puddle of errors. The Pens barely touched the puck for the first 90 seconds before Rust fed a breaking Marcus Pettersson for an apparent game-winning goal from the left dot.
Alas, the lanky Pens d-man had hopped over the boards too soon. Not only was the goal immediately waved off, but the Pens were penalized for too many men on the ice.
The end result was all-too-predictable. After the Devils moved our penalty killers around like pawns on a chess board, Hamilton beat Jarry with a scorching one-timer from the top of the left circle on the ensuing power play.
A disappointing end to an otherwise solid effort by our guys.
Puckpourri
Stats-wise, the Pens had the slightly better of the play. We had the edge in shot attempts (56-55), shots on goal (26-25), scoring chances (32-24) and high-danger chances (16-6). Overtime was a far different story. The Devils had five shot attempts and three shots on goal to our none.
Petry and Jake Guentzel assisted on Crosby’s goal, his team-leading 22nd of the campaign. Poehling skated with O’Connor and Danton Heinen, while Teddy Blueger centered for Brock McGinn and Jeff Carter.
Former Pens assistant Rick Tocchet has replaced embattled Bruce Boudreau as the head coach of Vancouver. Sergei Gonchar will join the Canucks’ staff as well. While I’m happy for them both, I have to say the handling of the coaching situation wasn’t Jim Rutherford’s finest hour. He left Boudreau twisting in the wind at the end of a rope since the opening weeks of the season.
Speaking of coaches, is it too much of an understatement to say Mike Sullivan and his staff need to get a handle on the fiasco that is our overtime play…pronto? We’re a dismal 2-8 in extra stanzas, bleeding off valuable points and looking awful in the process.
Telling stat. We’re presently 17th in the league in goals scored (13th in goals allowed).
On Tap
The Pens (23-15-8, 54 points) host Florida (23-20-5, 51 points) tomorrow night at PPG Paints Arena. On a 7-2-1 roll, the Panthers have clawed back into the Eastern Conference playoff race.
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Hi Rick!
I agree with most of the points you've just mentioned above. Yes, losing in OT seems to be a relentless karma...
My final words will be on the current situation in Vancouver. Since the Sedin twins and Roberto Luongo left the Canucks, the erosion of the leadership is palpable. There is no clear direction, the hockey culture implemented by the three players is gone. I don't think that Horvat, as a captain, has lived up to the expectations. He certainly had big shoes to fill but he was not well supported for this role. I agree with you that GMJR's best days are well behind him. I was totally against his nomination as the Canucks president. And now he brings his former Pittsburgh friends; if it doesn't look like a country club, I'm wondering what it could be! The Boudreau's situation was completely mishandled. By the way, I watched the game Saturday night and it was quite moving to hear the chants from the crowds. The Arizona Coyotes were the NHL's laughing stock for quite a few years (and still is!). Well, guess what? The Vancouver Canucks just took over!
Rick
That was a tough OT loss to watch - One of the things that bothered me was Blueger losing (2) straight important
face-off's in our own end while short handed in OT. As you know I'm not a big numbers guy especially when it comes
to faceoff percentages - to me it's more about when you win and lose a faceoff and we had (3) centers on the bench
who have had more success on face-offs. Sully strikes again.!!
Other than that I thought we played really well and deserved to come away with 2pt.
GO PENS
Hey Mike,
Always good to hear from you.
Re: Sullivan...you and I defend him more than most on our blog. But, as Other Rick pointed out to me this morning, you start to catalog stuff and things start to add up. Our issues with sluggish starts and 3-on-3 overtime continue unabated. The reluctance to adjust at times. The reluctance to give kids a shot unless they're absolutely a sure thing. Of course, the aversion to anything resembling a tough guy. Not to mention being outcoached on three seperate occasions by Barry Trotz in the postseason.
You add all this up and you start to wonder.
Personally, I think doubling down on Sully and extending him over the summer was a big mistake. Every coach has a shelf life and he's been here an awfully long time. I just wonder at times if his message is getting through...
Rick
Hey Rick and Mike,
Sorry to jump in here but I want to tie Rick's discussion in to some news from earlier,
As Rick pointed out, he and I had a conversation earlier today about our Pens Coach and I am sure every reader here knows my opinion by now. They won't have to read what Rick wrote above. However, the longer management drags its feet, the shorter the list of options dwindles - RIck Tocchet was signed on in Vancouver to replace Boudreau.
I have never been one to shy away from thinking outside of the box, but I have seen very few GMs and Hockey owners give a new guy a break, they always seem to recycle the same worn out faces, particularly when they are dreaming about Lord Stanley's Cup.