We had this one. Had it in our hip pockets.
Then we let it slip away.
Like sands through the hourglass, as the intro from the old soap opera went.
Perhaps an all-too-appropriate metaphor for our season as well. Indeed, last night’s 4-3 loss to the Flames in come-from-in-front fashion seemed to sum up our season…and team…in a nutshell. A group that, for whatever reasons, just couldn’t (and can’t) get it together. At least not for any length of time.
Win three in a row. Lose the next two. Up and down. Like a yo-yo.
Last night’s defeat was the latest in a seemingly endless string of last-gasp opportunities to climb back into playoff contention. Most ending in failure.
As if to atone for a weak third period against the Kraken, we were dominant right out of the chute, piling up a commanding 14-3 edge in first-period shots on goal and, better still, a 2-0 lead. At 16:42 rookie Jonathan Gruden stole the puck from Dennis Gilbert on a hustling play following a neutral-zone turnover and fired off a shot from a sharp angle. Jacob Markstrom appeared to have the post secured, but somehow the puck trickled in.
Then, working on a power play in the final minute of the period, Sidney Crosby fed Lars Eller to the right of the Calgary cage. Lars bumped the puck to Valtteri Puustinen in the slot, who chipped it toward the net. Eller bunted the fluttering puck home.
A near perfect period of hockey and a 2-0 lead. I don’t know about you, but I felt pretty good about our chances of garnering a much-needed two points.
The first wobble…and hint of trouble…occurred early in the second period. After chasing down the puck along the wall in the neutral zone, Puustinen flubbed an attempted diagonal pass to Kris Letang back in our zone. With Tanger hung out to dry like the laundry day linen, Yegor Sharangovich swooped in like a giant bird of prey and beat Jarry to close the gap to 2-1.
An unfortunate harbinger of darker moments to come.
Yet for a time our Pens hung tough and continued to carry the play. Our diligence paid off early in the third period thanks to some hard work by Noel Acciari and the fourth line. After retrieving a carom off the boards, Ryan Graves fired a shot from the left boards that found the stick blade of Jeff Carter and sailed past Markstrom.
You know what they say about hockey and a 3-1 lead.
Exactly.
For whatever the reasons, we seemed to stop skating, managing a measly four shots on goal the rest of the way. As the storm clouds gathered, the Flames struck for a pair of lightning goals mid-period. Boom boom. The ol’ one-two.
Gathering up a pass in his own zone with Emil Bemström in the box, Nazem Kadri knifed between Acciari and Gruden, sped up ice, bolted around Letang and beat Jarry to the far post. Brilliant individual effort.
Thirty-two seconds later Blake Coleman beat Jarry from the slot to knot the score at 3-all.
Somehow you knew this wasn’t going to end well for our boys.
It didn’t.
With 50 seconds left, Letang had his pocket picked by Mikael Backlund along the wall after taking a short pass from Graves. With the latter swimming in the slot, the Flames’ captain fed Sharangovich, who laced the puck past Jarry glove side for the game winner.
A crushing way to end the night but perhaps appropriate given the way this season has gone.
Too, perhaps POHO/GM Kyle Dubas now has a clear-cut direction as the trade deadline looms.
Puckpourri
The Pens had the early jump, statistically, but the Flames closed ground. According to Natural Stat Trick, we had a slight edge in scoring chances (29-28) and high-danger chances (10-9), and a sizeable one in shots on goal (30-20). Shot attempts were even at 58-apiece.
It wasn’t Jarry’s finest hour. Nor Letang’s (minus-2), who appeared to be uncharacteristically sluggish…except when he smashed his stick over our goal cage following the game winner.
Graves appears to handle the puck like a live grenade…especially in our zone. He seems intent on moving it to his partner at the earliest opportunity. To digress, I recall glancing at his JFresh WAR chart after we signed him and thinking…uh oh…he might not be the defensive stalwart we think we’re getting. Sadly for both player and team, my apprehensions appear to be well founded.
Although I’m sure he’ll play tonight, I don’t get why Mike Sullivan has suddenly moved away from Alex Nedeljkovic in goal. Yes, Jarry had some really strong games recently, punctuated by a weak one against the Flyers. But inconsistency has always been a hallmark of Jarry’s play, and he seems to do better when challenged by a strong partner, which Ned is.
If it’s a matter of “going with our guy?” (I.e., the one who gets paid the most.) Dumb move. Kind of like managing by the book in baseball.
Bleep the book. Go with what works. In this case, using Jarry and Ned in a 1-1a rotation.
Gruden replaced Jesse Puljujärvi. Nice to see the kid get that goal. He actually got a little bit of ice time (9:35) and finished a plus-one with a team-high four hits.
I’ve always admired Kadri. He plays about 10 sizes bigger than his generously listed 6’0″ 185-pound frame. Needless to say, would love to have him.
On Deck
The Pens (27-23-8, 62 points) have little time to staunch the bleeding. They face the Oil (36-20-2, 74 points) in Edmonton tonight. Connor McDavid. Leon Draisaitl. It could get ugly.
Speaking of…we’re nine points behind the third-place Philly and 10 out of a wild-card spot. And we’re done. No way we’re making up that ground. Not with Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust on the shelf.
Time to shift our focus from making the playoffs (kind of like the Pirates shooting for .500) to maximizing our return at the trade deadline and positioning ourselves for a top-ten pick in the draft.
With 23 games in the next 48 days, the positioning part may take care of itself.
