Light-Switch Penguins Fall in OT to ‘Canes, 3-2

Our on-again, off-again, light-switch Penguins were on-again, off-again last night. Or should I say vice versa.

Repeating a pattern that led to Thursday’s overtime loss to Vancouver, the Pens started abysmally, dramatically rallied to tie the game in the last minute of regulation and fell short in overtime. Once again forfeiting an all-important second point.

Actually abysmal doesn’t do the Pens’ start justice in terms of sheer awfulness. Pathetic is more like it. We crawled out of the starting blocks, forcing Tristan Jarry to make three 10-bell saves in the first 83 seconds, including a breakaway chance by Sebastien Aho 16 seconds in.

As our guys continued to lurch about like so many drunken sailors on shore leave, the Hurricanes proceeded to pound pucks on net. At 6:12, Brett Pesce snuck through the back door unattended following a cross-ice pass off the boards by Aho and whipped a shot home off the glove of Lars Eller.

The ‘Canes upped their lead to 2-0 less than three minutes later. As the black-and-gold forwards prepared to fly (flee?) the zone, Jalen Chatfield picked off an attempted outlet pass from Chad Ruhwedel along the wall and fed Jordan Martinook all alone on Jarry’s doorstep. Nothing our netminder could do.

Still, Jarry hunkered down and kept us in the game with 14 first-period saves, many of the high-danger variety. His courageous effort in the face of blatant non-support from his teammates afforded us a chance to regroup and stabilize during the first intermission.

Which, remarkably, we did.

While the Pens began a determined second-period pushback, the ‘Canes obliged by handing us a pair of power plays, including a late period 5-on-3 for 27 seconds. Once again, our collection of future Hall-of-Famers bungled the opportunity.

Still, we continued to battle, finally breaking through at 6:45 of the third period. Bryan Rust made a hustling play to keep the puck alive at the left point and chip the rubber to Sidney Crosby, who spotted Jake Guentzel slipping through the back door. Sid placed the puck on a platter for Jake and No. 59 converted in bang-bang fashion to close the gap to 2-1.

However, it appeared our rally would fall short as the clock ticked down to under a minute to play in regulation. That’s when Kris Letang slid a short pass into the wheelhouse of Erik Karlsson at center point. EK65 promptly blasted away. As if drawn by an invisible puck magnet, the rebound careened off Antti Raanta and onto the waiting stick of Rust, perfectly positioned at the bottom of the right circle. Rusty ripped a sharp-angle laser past the ‘Canes netminder to knot the score.

And once again with the momentum squarely on our side we frittered the game away in overtime.

At 1:41 of the extra stanza Sid made an ill-advised change following an extended shift, buying the ‘Canes just enough time and space to make a play. Teuvo Teräväinen smartly teed up the puck for Pesce in the high slot and the ‘Canes defender did the rest, whipping it past Jarry stick side for the OT winner.

Puckpourri

The Pens overcame a sizeable first-period deficit to claim the edge in shot-based stats, according the Natural Stat Trick. We held sway in shot attempts (65-61), shots on goal (40-35), scoring chances (33-30) and high-danger chances (15-13).

Love our grit and stick-to-it-ness. But, man, could we be ready to start a game once in a while?

Although Jarry was passed over in the three-star selection, he earned us our point, plain and simple. Had it not been for his brilliant work early on, the game could’ve easily gotten out of hand.

At the risk of picking on him, I’ve seen enough of Pierre-Olivier Joseph to know I’ve seen enough. On Pesce’s first goal POJ was stuck on the wrong side of the ice, prompting a demotion to the third pairing (and hopefully press box when John Ludvig gets healthy). The kid really struggles to defend.

Speaking of, does anyone else feel like our defense is held together by Letang, Marcus Pettersson, bubble gum, spit and baling wire?

Mike Sullivan flip-flopped Rust and Rickard Rakell to begin the third period and the former promptly sprang to life. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Although Evgeni Malkin’s personal stats are strong, nobody seems to score on his wing.

In addition to our punchless power play (13.87 percent conversion rate), add our ultra-weak overtime play to the list of culprits should we fail to qualify for the postseason. We’re 1-5 in overtime play and don’t seem to have the foggiest notion of what we’re doing out there. An unfortunate carryover from last season.

Sullivan and his staff can’t let this go on unchecked.

Radim Zohorna replaced Reilly Smith, was a bystander on the Martinook goal and spent the rest of the game virtually tethered to the bench (a team-low 4:26 TOI). Following a promising start, Valtteri Puustinen (minus-2, 7:04 TOI) seems to have fallen out of favor as well.

Colin White, recalled from the Baby Pens, replaced a banged-up Noel Acciari. He skated 12 nondescript shifts for a total of 7:21 TOI.

In a reference to yesterday’s article, if you’re not going to play “Big Z,” who’s obviously deep in Sully’s doghouse, then for goodness sake call up Sam Poulin.

As for Sam’s alleged lack of foot speed? Mark Stone of Vegas isn’t the fastest skater around, but he’s one of the Golden Knights’ most valuable players. Ditto Ryan O’Reilly in Nashville. Both were linchpins on Stanley Cup champions.

On Deck

The Pens (20-15-6, 46 points) host the surging Kraken (19-14-9, 47 points) in a matinee tussle tomorrow afternoon.

Winners of nine straight, the red-hot Kraken are another haven for former Pens, with Brian Dumoulin, Jared McCann, Jamie Oleksiak, Justin Schultz and Brandon Tanev all sporting the triple-blue and red and Ron Francis running the show from the front office.

At the halfway mark, we’re two points out of the second Eastern Conference wild-card slot.