The Penguins were no match for the Golden Knights last night, dropping a lopsided 6-2 decision at T-Mobile Arena.
I confess, life kept me otherwise engaged, so I wasn’t be able to watch the game. From what I can glean from the box score, I’m kind of glad I didn’t witness the carnage.
Like the proverbial knight on a white charger, our hosts scored on their first shot of the game and galloped to a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals by Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin and Mark Stone.
Sidney Crosby struck on a net-front deflection at 5:54 to briefly provide the black-and-gold with a spark and a fighting chance. A power-play goal, to boot.
Alas, Trevor Connelly and Shea Theodore soon scored for the Golden Knights to run the score to 5-1 and render the outcome academic.
To their credit, the Pens didn’t just roll over and die in the final 20 minutes. Evgeni Malkin scored his team-best fifth goal with a diving effort at 4:43 following a play he largely helped create to keep our flickering hopes alive. However, Brett Howden was awarded an empty-netter at 17:47 after being tackled en route to the net by Kris Letang to provide the final margin of victory.
PUCKPOURRI
Needless to say, it was a rough night for rookie goalie Sergei Murashov (14 saves on 19 shots). Judging from the video replays, it wasn’t all his fault. The Pens’ lack of structure, not to mention effective forechecking or backchecking, certainly didn’t help the cause one iota.
Great to see Crosby and Malkin tickle the twine again. But, man, can you help a brother out? The Pens have only three goals by someone not named Sid or Geno in the past four games.
Speaking of, in the where-have-you-gone-Joe DiMaggio department, Rickard Rakell’s deep dive off a cliff continues with no goals and a mere two assists in nine games. GM Kyle Dubas is rumored to be shopping some veterans. I’d assume the heretofore productive forward is one of ‘em.
Hey, at this point, bring on the kids. They can’t do much worse. And even if they do, at least you’re building something.
On the bright side, Ville Koivunen has an assist in each of the past two games.
Nine games into the season, a Penguin finally engaged in a fight. Declan Carlile rushed in to defend Ben Kindel after the latter was flattened on a booming check by Jeremy Lauzon. The fact that it’s taken this long for one of our guys to drop the gloves is only part of the miasma that ails this group.
While I give Carlile an A+ for stepping up, he and fellow newcomers Kaeden Korczak and Trevor van Riemsdyk have not been suitable replacements thus far for Parker Wotherspoon, Ryan O’Shea and Connor Clifton.
I’m reminded of something PP colleague Other Rick has often noted. Specifically, that Dubas has not had much success constructing an effective defensive corps (last season being the outlier) dating back to his tenure in Toronto.
Sam Girard exited early after being tripped into the boards by Howden during a race for the puck.
Statistically, the Pens held the edge in shot attempts (47-45), shots on goal (24-19), scoring chances (25-21) and high-danger chances (9-6). But games aren’t contested on paper.
Given our overall sloppiness and disconnected play, could we be trying to play a style under coach Dan Muse we don’t have the personnel to support?
This bunch is beginning to remind me a lot of the 2005-06 squad that went 22-46-14 despite the presence of Crosby (then a rookie), Mario Lemieux and a passel of accomplished veterans, including Sergei Gonchar, Mark Recchi, John LeClair and Zigmund Palffy.
Indeed, it looks like it’s going to be a similarly long season. Make that a l-o-o-o-o-n-g season.
UP NEXT
Losers of three in a row, the Pens (3-5-1) finish their road trip against the Mammoth (6-3) in Utah on Monday night. Then we return home to play the Panthers (5-2-2) on Thursday night. Neither game looks winnable.
