It was fairly evident during the early stages of what ultimately would be a 6-5 overtime loss to the Hurricanes that our Penguins didn’t have their ‘A’ game.
Indeed, our hosts pretty much poured over us like Escuminac maple syrup over a stack of flapjacks from start to finish. That’s bound to happen to a team on the tail end of a grueling, five-games-in-nine-days road trip that spanned three time zones.
Yet like a power pitcher in baseball who takes the mound without his best fastball, our guys relied on guts and guile and nearly grabbed two points in a game they had no business winning. Their never-say-die, fighting spirit is simply off the charts.
Enough preamble ramble. The ‘Canes grabbed the lead at 9:34 of the first period on a shorty by Jordan Martinook. Thanks to some stellar early work between the pipes by Stuart Skinner that prevented a blowout, the Pens rallied to knot the score midway through the second period on a goal by returning captain Sidney Crosby.
The ‘Canes retook the lead at 16:51 on Jordan Blake’s 20th of the campaign to set up a barn-burner third period.
While working on a 5-on-3 power play, Erik Karlsson tied the score at 2-all just 59 seconds in with absolute bomb from the high slot. Taylor Hall reclaimed the lead for the ‘Canes at 3:27.
Like a bolt of black-and-gold lightning, Bryan Rust blocked a Jaccob Slavin shot at our blue line and outraced the ‘Canes defender up ice before depositing a shake-and-bake backhander between Frederik Andersen’s wickets.
Three-three.
Cue the ‘Canes again, as Logan Stankoven beat Skinner with a snap shot on the power play at 12:59. Less than two minutes later, at 14:46 to be exact, Karlsson made an incredible (incredulous?) sprawling play at the ‘Canes blue line to keep the play alive. A good thing, because sniper Sebastian Aho was flying the zone in anticipation of a breakaway.
Then Erik the Great gathered in a pass from Parker Wotherspoon at the right circle, deked a flailing Aho out of his athletic supporter and buried another bullet from the high slot.
Before you could blink, Ilya Solovyov broke up a ‘Canes rush and sent Anthony Mantha and Ben Kindel scurrying away on a 2-on-1. Kid Kinde took a pass from Big Moe and lashed the puck past Andersen to give the Pens a 5-4 lead!
How I hoped (and prayed) we could hang on and complete the comeback.
Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Ex-Ranger K’Andre Miller beat Skinner through traffic at 17:09, knotting the score at 5-5 and forcing overtime.
Our Pens dominated the 3-on-3 action until we didn’t. With 29 seconds to go, Aho set up Sean Walker for the OT winner.
This was one time when a loss didn’t feel like one. As one of our TV announcers so aptly put it, our guys “emptied the tank.” Valiant in defeat, they gave every shred of themselves. In the end, that’s all you can ask.
Puckpourri
How dominant were the ‘Canes? They out-attempted us, 82-52, and out-shot us, 44-35.
It isn’t often you can single out a goalie who yields six goals for praise. Such is the case for Big Stu, who kept us in the game early and gave us a chance to win.
Crosby paced the Pens’ forwards with a goal and a helper. Welcome back, Sid!
Karlsson tallied three points (2+1) and continued with his absolutely masterful play. EK65 now has five goals and 17 points in his past 11 games. Mike, if you happen to read this, you were so right about Erik (and I was so wrong).
His dramatic return to Norris Trophy form reflects well on coach Dan Muse. Not so well on former skipper, Mike Sullivan. Give an assist to Wotherspoon, who’s freed Erik up to do his thing.
In the streaking Swedes department, Rickard Rakell (two assists) is riding a seven-game points streak. RikRak has a pair of goals and nine points over that span.
Like linemates Crosby and Rust, he brings a lunch pail mentality and does a lot of the dirty work that generally goes unnoticed but contributes on the score sheet.
Speaking of doing the little things that lead to success, we’re going to miss Blake Lizotte, out for at least a month with a hand/wrist injury. Especially on the PK.
Standings-wise, the Pens (34-18-16, 84 points) still hold second place in the Metro by a single point over the Islanders. We’re two points up on Eastern wild-card teams Boston and Detroit. Three ahead of the CBJ, who have a game in hand.
Up next, the Jets and ‘Canes again in back-to-back matinee matchups at PPG Paints Arena this weekend.
I’ll close with an observation and a quote. The Pens remind me a lot of…well…the Islanders. The ultimate compliment. Like the Isles, we simply don’t quit.
The quote?
After his Pens were vanquished by the Blues in the 1970 Stanley Cup Semi-Finals, coach Red Kelly said, “You feel bad about losing, but you never feel bad when you’ve given everything you have and that’s what this team did. This club has more heart than any club in the world.”
Ditto our current Pens.
Just some thoughts Rick,
Skinner finished the game with a 0.864 Sv% and a 5.54 GAA; those are horrible numbers and Big Stu earned them. He, more than anyone else, allowed Carolina to dictate play. According to Natural Stat Trick, Stu did face 44 SA (a lot), 37 of them 5-on-5 (still a lot), but 18 of those shots were LDSA, 17 of which came 5-on-5, coming from far outside of left field. The Average Shot Distance of the 37 SA that came 5-on-5 was 43.38 feet with an average GA distance of the 3 GA scored on those 5-on-5 shots being 39.67 feet. The Penguins, as a team, did their best to insulate Big Stu.
So why did the team lose? Ask big Stu.
Of the 44 SA (37 5-on-5) Stu faced 14 were HDSA with 11 of those 14 coming 5-on-5. The reason Big Stu faced so many HDSA was purely self-inflicted harm. Stu only face 2 SA off the rush but 8 from rebound SA, all of which came 5-on-5. More importantly, 3 of the 6 GA were directly related to Stu’s inability to control th blue paint, even over-and-above the rebound issue. Stu passively watched Blake walk into his Goal Crease and Hall cut across his slot. He then turned into a general admission audience member as Ehler’s passed the puck right through the crease to Stankhoven. All 3 of those GA were preventable by even an average GA, maybe 1 goes in, but not all 3.
Not going to argue with anyone who says that Skinner is better than Jarry, but I will argue with anyone that says Skinner is a competent Goalie.
But let’s get back to Stankhoven’s PPG; I read lots of chatter about Geno taking a “dumb” tripping penalty in his first game back from his suspension. That penalty didn’t result in any GA. However, at 12:17 of the 3rd Period last night, Sid took a “dumb” tripping penalty (Aho) and 42 seconds later at 12:59 Stankhoven potted Carolina’s 4th GA on the PP. Not reading anyone’s comments about a GA being scored due to that Penalty, hmm….
Now, me for one, I don’t blame either player, it’s a game, those things happen. However, I do find many people’s double standard very interesting.
Interesting. First person I’ve seen yet to criticize Stu for last night.
As for the rebound and shit distance…Carolinas game plan is to shoot from everywhere and try to generate rebounds. The defense did a terrible job of boxing players out, Carolina always had 1-2 people in stu’s face last night.
As for a goalie stopping that pass to stank…pls. The player waited till the last possible moment and faked out the defender and whipped a fast hard pass. No goalie is shooting his stick out fast enough to stop that.
I have played Goal. Yes a Goalie can shoot his stick out fast enough on that play to stop the pass. As for the rebounds, Goalies can control the rebounds far better than you may think, Skinner just doesn’t. There is a very good reason why his Sv% in a Penguins’ uniform is 0.889% and it isn’t his defense. If it hadn’t been for the 18 LDSA mailed in from the parking lot, Skinner’s Sv% for the evening would have been even lower.
For all of the not boxing out that you put on the defenders, not one of those GA were from rebounds. I only mention the rebounds as evidence that Skinner has no idea of how to control the game. He passively lets opponents dictate play.
Many of the people that I have seen give Skinner a pass and even praise him for last night’s performance are the same people who wanted and pushed for the team to give Jarry that 5 year $5.375/year deal that is now Edmonton’s problem; their opinions should be at the very least suspect, if not completely disregarded.
Hey Keeger,
I don’t have any experience tending goal like my PP colleague, but for what it’s worth I agree with your take. If Skinner hadn’t played as well as he did, we could easily have given up a dozen goals. Especially given our defensive lapses (and especially those of Letang…dear Lord).
I do think Skinner wore down a little at the end and could’ve stopped the OT winner. However, I give Big Stu high marks for keeping us in the game.
Rick
The last thing I will say about Stu’s performance last game is the Penguins’ offense supported their ersatz Goalie with 5 Goals. That is well above the league average for one team to score in a Game. When a team’s Goal output is well above the league average, and the team loses the failure is either on the team defense or Goalie. When the Goalies Sv% is 0.864% the loss is on the Goalie. The Team did give up 44 shots but even an average Goalie should have only given up 4 GA. Even differentiating between HDSA, MDSA, and LDSA, since the vast majority of the SA that big Stu faced was LDSA, it still adds up to 4 GA. With just an average Goalie, the team wins 5 – 4.
As for rebounds, modern Goalie pads are made to help redirect rebounds to the corners so that even average Goalies should face less rebounds. For the Canes to have 9 rebound attempts with 8 on Goal, it still directs attention to the Goalie as the main problem – particularly when the Goalie is as big as Stu, the puck is so close to Skinner that the percentage of Goals scored should have been much lower. Furthermore, as I wrote above, none of the GA were from rebound attempts (ass his size would dictate), they all came from clean shots, 3 of which should never have gone in – completely on Skinner’s incompetence in his own crease.
Hey all.
Just wanted to point out an excellent article by Adam Gretz on Pensburgh titled, “Kris Letang is really struggling, and it is becoming a problem.”
Gretz’s title pretty much says it all.
I was worried there’d be a drop-off in Letang’s play after Brett Kulak was traded. But apparently even Kulak wasn’t able to stabilize Tanger to the extent I’d thought.
A must-read.
Rick
Rick
Some of the passes Kris Letang made during that game raised questions about whether he was fully recognizing the distinction between our team’s jerseys and those of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Tanger’s an equal opportunity puck distributor…lol.
In his defense, I’ve read that our forwards are part of the problem. Basically, they’re not coming back far enough to take outlet passes cleanly from our defense.
Perhaps the mark of a tired team subconsciously taking shortcuts to conserve energy?
Rick