Penguins Find Goalie, Fall to Leafs 4-2

For our Penguins, last night’s 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena was a mixed bag of good, generously seasoned with a whole lotta bad.

First the good. Evgeni Malkin, one of the few bright spots, assisted on both of our goals, giving him 1300 points for his career. CONGRATS Geno!

Kris Letang scored a power-play goal, our second in two games.

Perhaps most significantly, we’ve found ourselves a goalie. And it ain’t Tristan Jarry.

For the second-straight game, kid goalie Joel Blomqvist was good bordering on excellent. In a numerical repeat of his outing against the Red Wings, he stopped 29 of 32 shots thrown his way, including eight saves on Leafs captain and Rocket Richard winner Auston Matthews.

After his teammates flatlined (again) for the final 40 minutes or so, the willowy 22-year-old netminder kept us in the hunt almost single-handed.

A tip of the hat to coach Mike Sullivan for having the conviction to go with Blomqvist rather than returning by rote to de facto starter Jarry. (More on that in a bit.)

Wish the other lineup decision worked as well. You gotta re-insert Bryan Rust, right? However, by chain reaction, I thought it detracted from the chemistry on the top three lines while parking Jesse Puljujärvi where he doesn’t deserve to be…in the press box. In a way, reinforcing Other Rick’s assertion that we’d be better off going with the kids instead of the same-old, same-old.

Speaking of, as the game wore on the Pens fell into some disturbing old habits. Namely risky play, bonehead mistakes, overpassing the puck on the power play, getting drawn into a track meet and just in general a lack of attention to detail.

Far more disturbing in my opinion? For the second time in three games, the Pens gave a less-than-inspired effort after they fell behind. While I won’t say they quit, it was pretty close to it. The mark of a fragile team and/or one that has heart issues.

By my estimation, we’ve played four good periods of hockey out nine, or 44.4 percent. Which is about what our points percentage is going to be if we don’t get our act together, and soon.

Put another way? If we aren’t willing to give a maximum effort, there are plenty of hungry, young teams around the league that will. They’ll gladly take our lunch money…and the two points.

What to Do About Jarry?

I know it’s early. Way too soon to anoint Blomqvist as our full-time starter. But the fact that Sullivan keeps choosing the other guy in net speaks volumes about Jarry’s status. To say nothing of how it might be affecting the dressing room.

I can easily envision a Jack Campbell-type situation developing. Good with the Leafs, Campbell bombed after signing a lengthy $5 million/per contract with the Oilers, leading to a costly buyout.

Could there be other options?

A quick glance around the league reveals that several teams are having issues in goal.

Avs goalie Alexandar Georgiev (.680 save percentage) has been more porous than a crumbling dam. With starter Thatcher Demko in injury limbo, the Canucks are off to an 0-0-2 start while making do with kid goalie Arturs Silovs and journeyman Kevin Lankinen.

Might old friend Jimmy Rutherford be developing an itchy trigger-finger?

Elvis Merzlikins wants out of Columbus. His cap hit is virtually the same as Jarry’s, albeit with less term.

Could a deal be struck?

Stay tuned.