Penguins Rally but Fall to Isles in OT, 5-4

Good news faithful, PenguinPoop readers. Thanks to the tireless efforts of PP founding father and technical guru Phil Krundle, we’re back!

In an effort to play catch up, I’ve decided to post the game summaries for the Islanders and Canadiens games that took place last week while the site was down, as well as yesterday afternoon’s heart-pounding victory over the Flyers.

Better late than never!

############

“Missed it by that much.”

An old friend, Scott Delbridge, would utter that phrase while holding his thumb and index finger a millimeter apart following a failed attempt at a strike in bowling. It became a catch-all phrase among me and my friends for an effort that fell just short of the mark. Our version of “close but no cigar.”

So it was for our Penguins, who rallied from two goals down in the third period against the Islanders, only to let the all-important second point slip away. It seems we just can’t turn the corner or get a leg up no matter how hard we try.

And make no mistake, the effort was there. Shaking off a string of lackluster losses, our Pens skated hard and played on their toes for the better part of the evening.

We grabbed the lead at 12:48 of the first period on a goal from an unlikely source. Moments after Isles goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Bryan Rust with a pad save at the post, Erik Karlsson blasted a one-timer on net from a sharp angle. The rebound popped to Rickard Rakell to the left of the net. RikRak spied Marcus Pettersson slipping unfettered through the back door and fed him the biscuit. The Dragon beat Sorokin with a knuckler up high.

Swede goal. Sweet, too.

Having gained the early advantage, our guys seemed to fall back into a shell. A shift in tactics that proved costly. Early in the second period, noted black-and-gold killer Brock Nelson skated right down Main Street (and through our entire team) before beating Alex Nedeljkovic on the backhand.

Three minutes later, Matt Barzal popped out of the penalty box, scooped up a clearing nudge from Sorokin, sped in on Nedeljkovic and torched our goalie high glove-side to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

Simon Holmstrom made it 3-1 Isles at 13:15 of the frame, pressuring Karlsson into a ghastly turnover behind the net and then taking it to the house to coin a hoops phrase.

Dreadful goal to allow. Simply dreadful.

At this stage, our guys looked like toast of the burnt variety. Fortunately, our reconstructed third line brought us back from the brink with a goal at 16:35. After taking a pass from Ryan Graves, Chad Ruhwedel dropped the puck off to Lars Eller in the slot. With Reilly Smith providing a screen, the Great Dane let ‘er rip. The puck glanced off defenseman Adam Pelech and in to cut the Isles’ lead to 3-2.

Suitably inspired, the Pens dominated the opening 10 minutes of the third period. But the Isles forced a turnover, culminating in a backdoor goal by defenseman Mike Reilly.

Four-two, Isles, with just over nine minutes to play.

The Pens kept scrappin.’ Just past the 12-minute mark Eller and Valtteri Puustinen won a board battle and kicked the puck out to Smith. The ex-Golden Knight fed Kris Letang, who smartly skated to the top of the left circle and released a bullet. Parked on the doorstep, Puustinen whacked the rebound past Sorokin to make it 4-3.

Fifty-six seconds later we struck again, thanks to some tough work along the wall by Evgeni Malkin and Drew O’Connor. Geno fed a short pass to DOC, who curled away from the boards to the right circle. Spying Pettersson again slipping through the back door, O’Connor tried a pass that instead bonked off the stick of Anders Lee and in.

GREAT effort by Geno and his line.

Having fought so hard to tie the game, we promptly gave it away in overtime.

Fifty-seven seconds into the extra stanza, Pelech again took the Main Street route. Drained from an extended shift, Letang and Sidney Crosby ceded space to the light-scoring blueliner before parting like the Red Sea during the Exodus. Pelech rang one in off the post for the OT winner.

Once more, we’ll have to settle for a moral victory rather than an actual one. An ever-increasing occurrence.

Puckpourri

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Pens had the upper hand in shot attempts (65-55), shots on goal (41-33), scoring chances (28-26) and high-danger chances (12-11).

In a rare iffy start, Nedeljkovic seemed to fight the puck all night. The ultra-competitive goalie blamed himself for the loss.

“I just got beat (on the OT winner),” said Ned. “That’s not good enough. That’s really all it is. I just got beat.

“We played good the whole night. We deserve two points. We deserved to win in regulation there. I (expletive) the bed.”

Credit coach Mike Sullivan for shaking up his lines and hitting on at least one winner. The Eller-Smith-Puustinen combo was pure gold. In addition to scoring two goals, the trio dominated in 5v5 shot attempts (17-5) and shots on goal (11-1). Puustinen in particular provided energy and spark.

…and on the flip, raspberries to Sully for burying this kid after a promising start (seven points in his first 10 games). All the while offensive no-shows like Jansen Harkins and Colin White get penciled in every night, presumably because they can skate.

Sullivan’s personnel decisions (veterans über alles, kids be darned) contribute heavily to the team’s lack of spark and emotion.

Along those lines, it appears former first-round pick Jesse Puljujärvi (healthy scratch) has already been shunted aside after just six games despite solid underlying numbers.

Conversely, recent waiver pickup Matthew Phillips doesn’t look like the bargain of the century. Although he skates and hustles and displays some skill, his Corsi is awful (38.71) and his expected goals percentage isn’t much better (43.33). Following a brief and unsuccessful cameo on the second line, he was replaced by Jeff Carter (yikes).

Oh well. At least Sully’s trying to shake things up.

On Tap

The Pens (24-21-8, 56 points) host the Canadiens (22-25-8, 52 points) on Thursday night. I’d give my eye teeth to acquire the Habs heavyweight (6’4” 238) defenseman Arber Xhekaj (prounced Jack-I). He’s one tough hombre.

Although it was nice to get a point, we remain in a galaxy far, far away in terms of playoff hopes. Nine points behind the third place Flyers, eight behind the second wild-card Red Wings.