As often as not, I tend to be bad luck for our Penguins. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned away from the TV to converse with a gym member, only to have the black-and-gold score at that precise moment.
Well, last night seemed to be the exception to the rule. Due to a lull in activity at Wright’s Gym, I was able to watch the first two periods of last night’s game in Toronto.
Needless to say, I was uber-impressed. Skating with a laser, north-south focus and WARP speed, we ran up a staggering 55-20 edge in shot attempts and an equally eye-popping 25-8 advantage in shots on goal through 40 minutes. All the while, methodically building a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Total domination. Easily our most impressive hockey of the season.
With victory all-but-assured, I turned away from the front desk TV early in the third period to attend to my closing chores. Just as I did, I heard the horn blare signaling a goal, accompanied by a loud cheer from the Maple Leaf partisans.
I glanced back over my shoulder in time to see a replay of Auston Matthews’ goal.
Okay, 3-1, I thought. We still got this. Just need to stick to our game.
I left to attend to my chores. As I busied myself in the main weight room, filling spray bottles and such, I glanced at one of the TVs.
Three-two. Oops, things are tightening up a bit.
I returned to the front desk just in time to catch William Nylander’s second goal of the game, knotting the score at 3-all. Only then did I get a grapefruit-sized knot in the pit of my stomach. We could lose this thing.
A few minutes later my worst fears were realized when Bobby McMann, called out by coach Craig Berube earlier in the day, pounced on a rebound and drilled it past Tristan Jarry from the doorstep to bring the Leafs all the way back from oblivion. In the process, completing the Pens’ epic collapse.
Puckpourri
The terrible finish overshadowed a terrific, two-goal performance by Ben Kindel. Late in the first period, the hot-shot rookie scored from a net-front scramble without actually shooting the puck. He saved that for his second goal of the night, which came at 11:50 of the second period on the power play. Taking a slick feed from Evgeni Malkin at the edge of the left circle, the precocious rookie drifted through the circle to change the angle before ripping an absolute rocket off the near-side post and in.
My word, can Ben shoot the biscuit!
Erik Karlsson scored our first goal (and his first of the season) at 13:08 of the first period on a similarly wicked snipe from the right circle, courtesy of a cross-ice feed from Sidney Crosby. I’ve noted this before, but EK65 is deadly from the circles on down.
Now for the bad.
Shades of last season, Jarry got pinched for four goals on 20 shots. It’s hard to fault him on Matthews’ breakaway goal. The Leafs’ captain makes a lot of netminders look bad. But the others, especially Nylander’s long-range slapper to tie the score, were more suspect.
Not to pick at them (no pun intended), but the PicNic defensive pair was on the ice for two of the Leafs’ goals. On the game-winner, Owen Pickering lost a puck battle along the wall to the much smaller Nick Robertson, who then drove to the net with impunity.
The big boys weren’t airtight, either. Bryan Rust finished a minus-3, Sid and Geno minus-2, each.
Noel Acciari exited after two shifts with an upper-body injury, causing Dan Muse to juggle his lines. Speaking of, the Pens’ coach judiciously called a timeout to settle the troops after the second Leafs’ goal, to no avail.
Justin Brazeau sat out again. Philip Tomasino once again subbed and picked up his first assist (and point) of the campaign, as did Ville Koivunen. Geno still leads the league with 16 assists.
With two losses in a row, it’s safe to say adversity has landed with a pronounced thud. It’ll be interesting to see how we respond.
Next up, the Pens (8-4-2) return home to face the Capitals (6-5-1) on Thursday night.
Oh, Harrison Brunicke played in his ninth game. One more and the first year of his entry-level contract will kick in, a la Kindel.
Interestingly enough, our Baby Penguins lost last night to the Toronto Marlies (the Leafs farm club) almost the exact same way the parent club did against Toronto’s parent club, 4-3. The WBS score 3 quick Goals (Broz 15s into the game) only to let their opponents reel off 4 straight. The only real difference was that the Baby Pens still got a point out of the debacle. They took the Marlies into OT. Oh, and Larsson stop 3 more shots.
Without Murashov down there, they couldn’t stop the puck either.