It seems we’ve seen this scenario play out before, haven’t we? Our Penguins take a lead, then score what appears to be a decisive goal to give them complete command. Then we promptly turn around and hand the game right back to our foe.
Indeed, last night’s soul-crushing (and playoff hope snuffing) 4-3 shootout loss to Columbus was a virtual carbon copy replay of our overtime loss to Colorado the previous Saturday night. Bookending our modest two-game winning streak.
To digress for a moment, in the 1981 hit movie Arthur, Dudley Moore’s wealthy, inebriated character famously warbled, “I wish I had a dime for every dime I have.”
Well, I wish our Pens had a point for every point they’ve given away. We’d likely be challenging for third place in the Metro instead of chasing the playoff-bound pack.
So many opportunities lost.
Unfortunately, such is the way of things for our 2023-24 Penguins.
For the second-straight game, Columbus hard-rock Mathieu Olivier notched the game-opening goal, this one of the short-handed variety at 7:47 of the opening frame.
The Pens drew even at 13:29 of the second, thanks in no small part to a heady bit of work by Lars Eller, who kept the play alive in the Blue Jackets’ zone during a line change. After Eller rimmed the puck around the boards, Marcus Pettersson fed the biscuit to Bryan Rust in the left circle. Rust wasted no time in delivering a slashing, cross-crease pass to Drew O’Connor in the far circle. DOC ripped it home for his third goal in as many games.
Speaking of the Rusty Razor, he was next on the black-and-gold scoring parade. Sixty-five seconds before the horn, he struck off a set play from the left circle following a gorgeous around-the-horn passing sequence, culminating in a crisp cross-ice feed from Sidney Crosby.
Rickard Rakell potted what for all the world appeared to be the game decider at 8:59 of the third period. Following a turnover in the neutral zone, Evgeni Malkin drove with purpose into the CBJ zone before dropping the puck off to Rakell. The silky Swede mesmerized Jake Bean with a forehand-to-backhand move before flipping the puck past Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins.
Up 3-1 and seemingly in command with 11 minutes to play, we exhaled.
And it cost us.
Big time.
On the ensuing rush, Damon Severson fed Kirill Marchenkov zooming into the black-and-gold zone. The CBJ forward proceeded to turn Kris Letang into a clump of wet noodles with a power move to the inside and beat Alex Nedeljkovic with a glove-side snipe.
Nine seconds is all it took.
You knew it was just a matter of time before we gave up another. Sure enough, with just over eight minutes to play, Johnny Gaudreau slipped a pass off the sideboards to an onrushing Zach Werenski. The star Jackets defender sliced through our inert defense like a knife going through warm butter before snapping the puck past Nedeljkovic.
Suddenly, it’s 3-3.
Ned made amends in overtime, stoning Gaudreau and Cole Sillinger on a pair of rapid-fire chances from point-blank range with his teammates out to lunch. However, the plucky Pens goalie couldn’t stave off defeat in the shootout. Leading to another head-hanging loss.
And Elvis has just left the building a winner…
Puckpourri
The Jackets held sway in the shot-based stats, according to Natural Stat Trick. The CBJ prevailed in shot attempts (80-63), shots on goal (38-33), scoring chances (36-28) and high-danger chances (13-12).
We yielded our league-worst 11th shorthanded goal (tied with Montreal for that dubious distinction). We’ve scored only 35 power-play goals, which gives us a net of 24.
Awful.
Whatever our problems are this season, Rust isn’t one of ‘em. With 24 goals and 46 points in 53 games, the hustling winger’s enjoyed a terrific bounce-back season. Still a great value at $5.125 million.
John Ludvig replaced Ryan Graves (concussion) on defense. Michael Bunting departed after skating 15 shifts due to an illness. Perhaps creating extra opportunities for young forwards Sam Poulin and Jesse Puljujärvi to step in, right?
Wrong!
Per his usual, Mike Sullivan kept ‘em tethered to the bench. Puljujärvi logged all of 6:34 of ice time, Poulin barely five minutes.
According to insider info gleaned by our Caleb Di’Natale, in Jesse’s case Sully’s apparently unhappy with the mistakes he’s making. The fact that Puljujärvi recently scored in back-to-back games and was arguably our best and most forceful player in our recent win over Carolina?
Apparently of little or no consequence to our “kid-friendly” coach.
Think our veterans get the same treatment when they make mistakes or take a dumb penalty? The dichotomy is too absurd for words.
Oh, and sparkplug forward Jonathan Gruden was shipped back to the Baby Pens.
Grrrrr.
On Deck
The goin’ gets considerably tougher for our Pens (32-30-11, 75 points) from here on out. We travel to the Big Apple to take on the Rangers Monday night, followed by a tilt with the Devils in Newark on Tuesday. Then it’s on to DC to face the Capitals on Thursday.
We’re seven points behind Philly in the wild-card chase with nine games to play.
Happy Easter!
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Happy Easter Rick,
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
In all honesty, there is no evidence as to whether or not this Penguins team is physically slow, or that the system is completely flawed. A perfect example is the PP. It is beyond static. The only player that ever attempts to skate is the player with the puck, and that includes our Captain Sidney Crosby. Furthermore, even the player with the puck tends to remain static, looking for a pass rather than to try and penetrate the high danger areas with the puck. Most fans recognize that they are playing perimeter hockey, but few ever mention the fact that the players are glue to their little 2 or 3 foot square of ice.
Hockey is about movement and skating. Our Penguins are boringly petrified in place. No one need look any further than the fact that Penguins' players need to over come inertia before trying to catch up with the puck, that more than anything else makes them look slow.
I watched the game over at my brother's house, or I should say the game was on over at my brother's house - almost everyone was in for the holiday. We did start watching the game, but it was so pathetically predictable that we could have all watched my brother's cuckoo clock's second hand move for more excitement than the game was able to provide.
I can't understand how Sullivan keeps getting votes of confidence from Dubas or that there are even still some fans that delude themselves into believing our HC can leads this team. Almost everything about this team has change but Sullivan and the core players that won without Sullivan, logic demands Management and Fans to open their eyes.
Sorry I meant the hour hand of my brother's cuckoo clock move