There were some hopeful signs for our Penguins during last night’s 5-4 loss to the Mammoth in Salt Lake City. Our fourth loss in a row for those keeping track.
The slumbering power-play went 2-for-2. That makes three goals with the man-advantage over the past two games on the heels of a ghastly 0-for-19 slump.
Egor Chinakhov, of whom much is expected, returned to the lineup following a two-game absence and scored his first goal since the season-opener. Snake-bitten Rickard Rakell broke through with his first goal of the season. Ditto Erik Karlsson.
Too, the team even played with some of the spunk and spirit that’s generally been lacking.
Unfortunately, there weren’t enough positives to offset the negatives, chief among them lax team defense, or to overcome the Mammoth.
The Pens actually grabbed the lead 71 ticks in on a power-play goal by Karlsson. However, the Mammoth soon countered on goals by Clayton Keller (6:00) and Kevin Stenlund (10:10) while dominating the latter portion of the opening period.
Cue Rakell’s power-play marker at 7:01 of the second period, thanks to some slick puck movement and an excellent feed by Bryan Rust, who rejoined the top unit.
Alas, the Mammoth pushed back in a big way. Nate Schmidt (11:44) and Kailer Yamamoto (14:40) struck in the second period to make the score 4-2. Nick Schmaltz added a power-play tally at 1:36 of the third.
To their credit, the Pens refused to do an el foldo. Sprung on a nifty setup by Andrei Kuzmenko, Chinakhov beat Sebastian Cossa from the inner edge of the left circle 79 seconds later to close the gap to 5-3.
At 14:55, Declan Carlile rambled into the slot to pound home a rebound. Five-four, and suddenly we had us a game.
Unfortunately, the Pens would get no closer. Ben Kindel fired a shot into Cossa with our goalie pulled in the waning seconds. Typical of our rotten luck, had Kindel not pounced on the biscuit, it might have gone to Sidney Crosby, who had an open look.
Such are the (mis)fortunes of a losing team.
PUCKPOURRI
Stats-wise, it was pretty much all Mammoth. Our hosts held sway in shot attempts (62-48), shots on goal (29-19), scoring chances (30-27) and high-danger chances (12-9), according to Natural Stat Trick.
Seeking to shake things up, coach Dan Muse placed his lineup in a blender, set on puree. Chinakhov opened the game on the top line, with Ville Koivunen filling the vacancy on the second line. Rakell bumped down to the third line and Nick Robertson returned to the fourth line, displacing Elmer Söderblom.
Muse continued to shuffle the deck as the game evolved, especially after Rust exited at the end of the second period with an undisclosed injury.
On defense, Spencer Stastney was promoted to the top pairing beside Karlsson. Carlile was paired with fellow newcomer Kaedan Korczak. Ilya Solovyov saw his first game action of the season on the third pairing next to Kris Letang.
With three goals and five points in 10 games, Carlile has been a pleasant surprise offensively. But my, oh my, has he struggled in his own zone.
Arturs Šilovs got the starting nod in net and yielded five goals on 29 shots for a porous .828 save percentage. However, after reviewing the Mammoth goals, I have a hard time faulting him on any of them, the exception being Stenlund’s when he coughed up a rebound. Our defensive work desperately needs work, especially down low around our net.
UP NEXT
The Pens (3-6-1) return home to host the Panthers (5-2-2) on Thursday night. Don’t look now, but the Flyers have won two in a row and have tied us for sixth place in the Metro, one point ahead of the cellar-dwelling CBJ.
Hey all,
Just wanted to point out a really good article on Pittsburgh Hockey Now titled, “Penguins’ Biggest Problems Aren’t Fixable, Bring Up The Kids.”
Well worth the read.
Rick
Man that game was so hard to watch. I was cringing.
I have to say, Novak stood out to me. He was playing very well, and I think was the best center on the ice tonight. I think now that chinakov is off the sneid, put the original line 2 back together.
For sids line, seriously I kinda think he should be getting 4th line minutes. Our 4th line set the tone and refused to give up and made an impact. Sids line just is a black hole.
How did solovyov look? I kinda got a mixed vibe watching last night, but I think he’s better than current carlile. If girard comes back Thursday, I think sit carlile for solovyov.
I feel like Sid is failing the team. His demeanor looks uninspiring, his play is all over the place. As constructed, the team follows him. He needs to find a way to step up. I don’t get the sense it’s age as much as mental … Whatever
Hey Keeger,
Unfortunately, I think games that are hard to watch are going to become the norm for this group. I didn’t think we were going to make the playoffs, but I honestly didn’t envision us being this bad. We have the makings of a bottom-10 team. Goodness knows, maybe even bottom five.
I guess the decline was going to start sometime. Like you and a lot of folks, I just wasn’t ready for it to start so soon. I was hoping to maybe squeeze one more season out like last year. Forlorn hope, as it’s turning out.
Part of the problem is this team is so poorly constructed. Just a lot of ill-fitting pieces with some important elements lacking altogether. Like defensemen who can actually defend and forwards who can backcheck.
Agree about Sid’s line. Gretz over on Pensburgh did a 10-game review (well worth the read) and he really underscored how poorly that line is playing. When your first line is arguably your worst line…
Sid’s no dummy. I’m sure he’s painfully aware how bad this team is. Not to make excuses for him, but he’s probably having difficulty finding any motivation. Or wondering why he didn’t request a trade…
Rick
While Silovs had plenty of help in the porous dept. he still shared blame on most goals
GA1: I have no idea why Stastney was chasing the puck up to the point in an effort to help Rust double team the Point, but he is a defenseman leaving Crosby and Chinakhov to try and do his job – which they couldn’t. However, Keller’s shot was hardly blistering, it was a backhand. Furthermore, Silovs was slow to move off the post; he shares in the responsibility of that Goal – it was stoppable.
GA2: Carlile and Korchak were ridiculously ineffective at keeping the crease clear of Mammoth, but the original point shot was slow and significantly tipped, it never got to the net. The shot just dribbled in front of Silovs for far too long; you or I could have tapped in that shot. More importantly, Silovs had just as much time too cover the puck, but like usual, he let the play come to him rather than aggressively protect his crease he passively let the Mammoth pounce.
GA3: The Mammoth did have a player in the crease to try and screen but Silovs low hockey IQ took him out of the play. He was looking on the right side of the play to see the point man drifting toward Center Point as the pass came up, but Silovs moved to the short side even though he saw the eventual shooter drifting in. Sorry but Silovs shares on this GA as well.
GA4: I will give Silovs a pass on this one. Yamamoto’s tip was stoppable, but it would have been a tough save. The Mammoth made a great play.
GA5 the GWG: Silovs had help from Karlsson in giving up this Goal; Karlsson, for the 2nd time this season that I can remember, pushed a puck that was drifting out of harms way back in front to an opponent. However, Silovs passivity in HIS crease also contributed to that GWG.
Dubas’ poorly constructed defense bears at least half the blame for last nights loss, but so does Silovs; just one more aggressive play, one faster reaction or better read and the game goes a different way.