Penguins Lucky to “Earn” a Point in 3-2 Shootout Loss to CBJ

Back in the early 1970s, then-Penguins owner Tad Potter wryly noted that his team must’ve thought there was an energy crisis because they were only giving 85 percent.

While I don’t know if the same can be said of the current batch of flightless waterfowl, what energy our guys do expend is largely misspent on own-zone scrambles, neutral-zone follies and one-and-dones during the all-too-rare occurrences when we actually breach the offensive zone.

I’m not going to sugarcoat. Last night the Pens served up a stinker en route to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Blue Jackets.

A few sorry stats to chew on. According to Natural Stat Trick, the CBJ attempted 83 shots to our 49 and unleashed 45 shots on goal to our 22. And that was after a mild third-period push by our Pens. The numbers were much more lopsided through 40 minutes.

Only a brilliant, coming-of-age performance in net by Sergei Murashov (43 saves) enabled us to extract a point we otherwise didn’t deserve in the least.

For those keeping track, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin were our goal-getters.

At this stage, I’ll forgo a more traditional game summary and share some observations. Buckle your seat belts, it could get rough.

• Since the team doesn’t hit (nine last night), fight or engage in other forms of spirited play, the only way for it to gain energy is to score goals. If we’re not scoring? Languid doesn’t begin to describe our play. A classic “all-your-eggs-in-one-basket” approach to team building. Kyle Dubas gets an “F” for faulty roster construction.
• As PP colleague Other Rick suggested, Trevor van Riemsdyk is having his struggles playing on his off-hand, including a number of egregious giveaways. As Matt Meagher recently opined, when your babysitter needs babysitting, you’ve got trouble.
• Elsewhere on the blue line, Sam Girard can’t defend. His partner, Kaedan Korczak tends to wander. A match made in Dubas heaven.
• We negotiate the neutral zone as if it were a mine field, putting a serious crimp in the speed game we want to play.
• We have no net-front presence at either end of the ice.
• Sticking mighty mite Nick Robertson on the fourth line makes absolutely no sense. As PP colleague Caleb DiNatale noted, “If you’re not going to put the kid in a position to thrive why acquire him in the first place?”
• Speaking of acquisitions, Hendrix Lapierre is looking an awful lot like Philip Tomasino. Yet we kept him and dealt Filip Hållander, IMHO a much better player.
• Still no Elmer Söderblom. A complete mystery, since we’re woefully lacking in size and board play.
• Still no goals from Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell. Sid has two goals in his past 23 regular-season games. That’s a seven-goal pace over an 84-game slate.
• Wish we could clone Rust. One of the few Pens who goes full-bore each and every shift.
• I’ll finish on a high note. Houston, we have a goaltender in Murashov. Now, if Dubas can find a way to jettison Arturs Šilovs so we can call up Joel Blomqvist. Other Rick, you were right.

SOLOVYOV WAIVED

In our never-ending attempt to ice the smallest team possible, the Pens placed defenseman Ilya Solovyov (6’3” 229) on waivers, presumably to make room for recent acquisition Spencer Stastney (5’11” 196).

Apparently, our brain trust is agog over the fact that Stastney can skate. Never mind that he doesn’t hit, produce points or block shots.

TALE OF THE TAPE

Here’s the average weight of the Blue Jackets and Pens by position:

CBJ: Forwards (204 lbs.), Defense (204.5 lbs.), Overall (204.2 lbs.)

Pens: Forwards (192.5 lbs.), Defense (195.8 lbs.), Overall (193.6 lbs.)

UP NEXT

The Pens (2-2-1) host the Stars (2-2) tonight at PPG Paints Arena.