Back in the 1960s, beloved sitcom character Gomer Pyle was often heard to utter, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” Usually directed in a good-natured way toward his exasperated squad leader and foil, Sergeant Vince Carter.
Well, in a facetious or even sarcastic sort of way, Gomer’s favorite saying is a wholly appropriate descriptor for the Penguins’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena Saturday night.
Ergo, game ends in regulation tie. Pens fail to score in overtime. Game goes to a shootout. Pens lose shootout.
Like I said…surprise, surprise, surprise.
As for the opening 60 minutes? The game resembled a teeter-totter, or a see-saw if you prefer. The Pens took the lead. Philly came back. The Pens snagged the lead again. Again, the Flyers came back.
Third time a charm? Yep and yep.
Poor puck management on the part of the locals would play a huge part. So would sloppy defensive zone play.
The game oozed promise at the start. While working on a power play three minutes in, freshly recalled Ville Koivunen worked a give-and-go with Kris Letang, skated to the left circle and delivered a sharp pass to Justin Brazeau down low. The big guy quickly fed Tommy Novak in the slot, who rifled it past Philly netminder Dan Vladar.
The buzz among the 18,342 partisans in attendance had scarcely subsided when Avery Hayes turned the puck over inside our blue line while attempting a tricky backhand outlet pass to Koivunen. Cam York moved the puck to Trevor Zegras, who fed an onrushing Owen Tippett.
One-one.
Early in the second, newcomer Samuel Girard broke up a play along the wall and nudged the puck to Bryan Rust, who scurried over the line and fed Egor Chinakhov. “Chinny” relayed the biscuit to Rickard Rakell, who whipped it past Vladar.
Sixty-eight seconds later, Ben Kindel inexplicably tried to reverse the puck along the wall to Connor Clifton in the corner and wound up feeding Philly’s Nikita Grebenkin instead. Grebenkin wasted no time in setting the table for fellow rookie Alex Bump, who ripped it past Stuart Skinner from inside the right circle.
Two-two.
Sixty-nine seconds after that, the Pens grabbed a third lead when Erik Karlsson lasered home another gorgeous Chinakhov feed from just above the left circle.
You guessed it…lather, rinse, repeat. Although this time it took Philly a little over four minutes to respond on a goal by Denver Barkey, fueled in part by an ill-advised, up-the-gut outlet pass by Letang.
Both teams had their chances over the final 25 minutes. Connor Dewar narrowly missed on a breakaway near the 15-minute mark of the third. Jamie Drysdale completely gagged on a golden opportunity with yawning net in front of him in overtime, shortly before the Pens were awarded a power play that misfired.
Leading to the inevitable “surprise, surprise, surprise” finish in the shootout.
Puckpourri
This felt like a game the Pens needed to win, didn’t it? Especially with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin out of the lineup.
We’re now a ghastly 1-9 in shootouts. Radio color man Phil Bourque questioned why coach Dan Muse holds Chinakhov until his third shooter. I concur.
Speaking of the Russian marvel, he looked right at home on a line with Rakell and Rust. The trio registered a Corsi of 87.50 as well as a stunning expected goals for percentage of 99.03.
Chinny’s two helpers were a thing of beauty. Demonstrating fine playmaking skills to go with that world-class shot and release.
His acquisition may go down as the greatest heist in franchise history.
The Flyers managed just 15 shots on goal, the 11th time this season they’ve been held to under 20 shots. Apparently head coach (and former Pens assistant) Rick Tocchet likes to play it close to the vest.
Philly’s a bit less intimidating after peddling heavyweight slugger Nicolas Deslauriers to Carolina at the trade deadline.
While we’re talking pugilism, Drysdale jumped Avery Hayes late in the first period after the peppery Pens’ rookie took York hard into the boards. The all-but-forced Drysdale-for-Cutter Gauthier (32 goals and counting for the Ducks) trade has to sting the Flyers.
On the home front, the Girard-Letang pairing continues to experience its share of troubles (each was a minus-1). Tanger’s a minus-6 in six games with his new partner; Girard’s a minus-2 with no points.
On the flip side? Brett Kulak’s a plus-2 for the Avs.
At what point do you separate them and go with Ryan Shea-Letang and Girard-Connor Clifton?
The difficulties experienced by Kindel and Hayes but also Koivunen, the intended target on two of the picked-off outlet passes that led directly to goals, underscores why you don’t want to force-feed a mass youth movement. Particularly if you have designs on making the playoffs.
As of this post, the Pens (31-17-14, 76 points) hold a one-point lead over the Islanders in the race for second place in the Metro. Three points better than the fourth-place CBJ.
On deck, the nettlesome Bruins at PPG Paints Arena tomorrow afternoon.
Did anyone tell Skinner he was allowed to stop a puck or two? On that first GA, A. Hayes did make a dumb play but Skinner looked like he was frozen, facing down the hypnotic stare of a Cobra while Tippett nonchalantly tucked the puck into the net. Skinner just stared at Tippett until the red light went on then he flashed his lumber out at the thin air.
On the 2nd GA, Kindel did make a great pass to Grebenkin; the only problem is Grebenkin is on the other team. Kindel looked like Neil O’Donnell passing straight to Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl. However, once again, Skinner was nowhere to be found. Yes, he was screened, but he was so far off his post when the puck and play were all going to that side; Skinner’s hockey IQ looked well below avg, not being able to read what was happening.
On the 3rd GA, Skinner completely over-reacted and was playing passively on his own Goal-Line. He clearly sees Barkley coming from right to left on him and still kicks off hard from the post, and not toward the puck, but lateral to the net.
Skinner may be a hair better than Jarry (that is not saying much) and UFA this summer, so his salary can disappear, but he may be the worst Goalie in the system. Like Jarry, he technically unsound in his play. He Defense did its best to insulate him, yielding a paltry 15 shots but Skinner could stop a beach ball softly rolled at him. Kindel, Hayes, and Koivunen did make couple of mistakes, but as I wrote at the outset, Skinner is allowed to stop a shot or two.
Four High Danger Shots Against, One High Danger Goal Against. Three Mid-Danger Shots Against, Two High Danger Goals Against. The only time Skinner really stopped the puck was on the Low Danger Shots (6 of 6). The average Shot Distance was from left field 40.73 feet. The Kids may have made couple of mistakes, but Skinner was nowhere to be found.