For 59:42 anyway, the Penguins played arguably their finest game of the season Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. They blitzed, and I mean BLITZED, a very good Ducks squad. In the process, piling up a staggering 91-52 edge in shot attempts and 48-29 advantage in shots on goal.
Scoring chances? Try 60-24 in our favor.
Noel Acciari, Tommy Novak and Anthony Mantha scored for the locals, the latter with 3:55 to play, to offset second-period goals by the Ducks’ Jackson LaCombe and Troy Terry.
All we had to do was salt away the final 18 seconds and the two points were ours. On the power play.
We couldn’t do it.
With roughly five seconds left, Beckett Sennecke took a pass from Cutter Gauthier at center red in full stride. Making like a Chris Boswell field-goal attempt, the Ducks’ rookie proceeded to split the uprights (aka Kris Letang and Bryan Rust) before driving to our net unimpeded and flipping a backhander on goal with about 0.6 seconds to go. A sprawling Arturs Silovs appeared to have the net closed off as the puck began to angle harmlessly through the crease.
But hold the phone. Erik Karlsson, diving to break up the play, inadvertently steered it through Silovs with literally a fraction of a second to spare.
In the blink of an eye, pfft goes our hard-earned victory. Hello overtime.
Likely stunned by the excruciating turn of events, the Pens’—still working on the power play—frittered away the man-advantage with perimeter passing. Perhaps an ode to 2023-24 and our 15.27 percent conversion rate.
Rookie Ben Kindel tried to save our bacon in the final minute of OT, oh how he tried, to no avail.
The game went to a shootout. Any guesses how we did?
If you answered we couldn’t score and Silovs couldn’t prevent the Ducks from scoring, you’d be spot on. (Well, Silovs did stop one. Or Terry shot the puck wide. The jury’s still out.)
Four-three, Ducks win.
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Hey Rick,
This lose was truly a team effort all the way from the top down. With 47 shots on Goal the Offense was putrid, managing only 3 Goals against Anaheim's third string Goalie; a Goalie whose Sv% even after last nights game is still under 0.900% (0.893). There is a Center on this team who hasn't picked up an even strength point since Nov 3 (No Goal or even an Assist). Of course there are those who keep trying to justify this pathos by saying he passes the eye test. Well the eye test is not providing any material results.
The 90 to 52 Shot Attempt edge the Pens had over the Ducks, isn't a sign of a strong offense. When the team only manages a 3 - 3 regulation result, that 90 to 52 is a disgrace of epic proportions in terms of inefficient Offense..
On that tying goal with only a fraction of a second left on the clock, four of the 6 players bear blame. Instead of dropping back and protect his own zone, Sid stayed too far up, jumping up to try and swat the puck back down, instead of back peddling to prevent a counter attack. The team didn't need another Goal, all it had to do was kill off seconds on the clock; seconds not minutes.
Rust could have tried pulling Sennecke down when the Duck beat him to the corner and turned up ice again, but there were still two defensemen and a Goalie between the puck and the Goal, so there was no immediate need for Rust to try and hook his opponent.
Letang did make a bad play coming over, once Sennecke beat Rust, he should have simply tried to keep the Duck PK to the outside, but he bit on an attempt to steal the puck and had Sennecke squeek the puck between Letang's legs and now turn what should have been a 3-on-3 short handed rush into a 2-on-1.
Karlsson did everything I would want for from my last Defenseman, if I was the one between the pipes. He kept himself between the two attackers, trying to cut of a cross ice pass. Even his trying to bump the puck with his open hands toward my pads to cover it was exactly what I would want. I would not want any loose pucks hanging out in front of me, or blindly thrown back across the play. Karlsson kept the play in front
In the end, sorry Rick, the last line of Defense failed. Once again Silovs made the wrong move. Just like on the two earlier Goals that he gave up short side, over his shoulder, Silovs came up short. His right leg was well outside the short side post, taking him too far behind the net, following Sennecke into the corner, so that when Sennecke threw the pass into the slot, Silovs stick was not in a position to block the pass, since too much of his body was now behind the net. Then rather only being on his knees and still in some level of control, Silovs sprawled himself on the ice, yet still find a way to leave room under his pads so that a slowly push puck slid under his pads.
Roster decisions have robbed this team of many points but I still say with just a couple of tweaks to the lineup (ahem Goalies to start) this team is capable of deep playoff run.
Hey Other Rick.
I wonder how long the Pens are going to stick with Silovs? Personally, I don't think he played all that badly last night, but he certainly has his flaws (rebound control, shootouts) and there don't seem to be any quick remedies. I don't know if we can continue to turn to him given his recent performance (1-3-5 in last nine starts), especially if we have designs on making the playoffs.
I'm sure Dubas fears another team will claim Silovs if we attempt to assign him to the Baby Pens. But it's a risk our POHO/GM may have to take, sooner rather than later.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I do not know what all is holding up a deal that would send Jarry to Edmonton, but if it is just Dubas trying to play hard ball too long like he did with Guentzel, it is time he needs to get over it. The team has tons of Cap Space, he can eat up to 50% of that contract for all I care, as long as he gets picks or prospects in return. I would only play hard ball in terms of taking a bad contract back in return.
Why I bring this up is Silovs. Once Jarry is traded then the chances of someone claiming Silovs off waivers diminishes greatly. Even if Jarry doesn't get traded, the way Silovs is playing also is reducing the probability of anyone claiming him off waivers. Last season Jarry cleared waivers. It seems the fear of someone claiming a player off waivers most often is greater than the actual probability. It just may be that our Organization values certain players far more than the rest of the league does.