Penguins Swept Away by Hurricanes, 5-1

Since returning to action following the Olympic break with a 4-1 win over the Devils on February 26, our Penguins have played a staggering 14 games in 25 days. Including yesterday’s matinee matchup with the Metro-leading Hurricanes, they’ve gone 6-4-4 in those games. Including 5-3-3 sans captain Sidney Crosby and 2-1-2 minus Evgeni Malkin.

Respectable enough, given the circumstances.

Yesterday the weight of playing such a demanding schedule, to say nothing of a second of afternoon back-to-back contests, seemed to catch up to them. Our guys were methodically dismantled, 5-1, by the ‘Canes, who grabbed the lead 47 seconds in on a power-play goal by Sebastian Aho and never looked back. Followed by a three-goal second period outburst.

There would be no dramatic comebacks for the fatigued Pens on this day.

Egor Chinakhov saved what little face he could for the locals, snapping a sharp, diagonal feed from Bryan Rust past Frederik Andersen at 14:56 of the third period to avert a shutout. But it was far too little, too late.

Former Pen Mark Jankowski applied the finishing touch with an empty-netter at 18:56.

All-in-all, a thoroughly forgettable drubbing at the hands of Rod Brind’Amour’s swarming crew.

Puckpourri

The Pens managed just 50 shot attempts to the ‘Canes 66, and 19 shots on goal, according to Natural Stat Trick.

I mentioned this in my last recap, but it bears repeating. We’re going to miss Blake Lizotte, but plenty. Sans our crackerjack penalty killer, we yielded three power-play goals on five chances. With an expected goals for percentage of just 17.67, the fourth line struggled for the second game in a row.

With Lizzo, we’re 31-12-12. Without him, 4-7-4.

Geno’s line was virtually invisible, managing just one shot on goal 5v5 and yielding five. In particular, Tommy Novak seems to be struggling of late following an extended productive streak.

Fresh from a conditioning assignment with the Baby Pens, Ryan Graves replaced Ryan Shea, out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The rangy blueliner took a penalty on the opening shift that led to Aho’s early power-play tally.

Although he and partner Connor Clifton would recover from the rocky start and produce solid enough metrics, our defense was a problem, especially the oil-and-water combo of Sam Girard and Kris Letang. Putting an enormous strain on the top pairing, especially Erik Karlsson, to perform the heavy lifting.

Breakouts, in particular, are proving to be problematic. The fast, connected play we exhibited for much of the season seems to have dissolved under the weight of tired legs. As a result, the team as a whole is resorting to taking short cuts. And when that happens…

…it sure doesn’t help to face a relentless forechecking team like the ‘Canes.

As for the standings? Despite the loss, the Pens (35-19-16, 86 points) maintain the slimmest of holds on second place in the Metro, one point up on the CBJ and the Islanders, who now occupy the second Eastern wild-card slot. That’s how microscopic our margin for error has become.

Dial ‘M’ for Murder

Unfortunately, the load doesn’t get any lighter. In rapid succession, we face a murder’s row of matchups over the next couple of weeks, including the Avs (here on Tuesday), the streaking Sens (away on Thursday) and the Stars (at home on Saturday). Followed by the Isles away (3/30), the Red Wings at home (3/31) and the Lightning away (4/2).

At this stage, especially with our defense in disrepair, a playoff berth is anything but a given.

Speaking of, if a schlub like me knew trading Brett Kulak would have an unsettling effect, I don’t know how Kyle Dubas and his staff couldn’t see it. The Girard-Kulak trade could prove to be our undoing before all is said and done.

The Pens were 15-7-3 with Kulak (including 15-4-3 in his last 22 games here). We’re 4-3-2 with Girard.

In case you’re curious, we’re 8-5-7 with Graves in the lineup, 6-2-3 with Ilya Solovyov.