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Penguins Grades: Where is Their Fire? Inside ANOTHER Bad Loss
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- Penguins Grades: Where is Their Fire? Inside ANOTHER Bad Loss
Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
KANATA, Ont. — Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs was given a tripping penalty for an attempted poke check just a couple of minutes into Game 33 against the Ottawa Senators , who quickly capitalized. And the Penguins' hearts visibly sank.
Here we go again. Ottawa beat back a few Penguins spurts and got some game-changing breaks from the referees for a 4-0 win at the Canadian Tire Centre.
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Oddly, the uniqueness of the game may be the sort of anger-building loss the Penguins need. After upping their streak to winless in seven, they badly need something to change.
There was little question that they were the inferior team through the first period, and as soon as they pushed at the beginning of the second, an unlucky bounce of Ottawa's David Perron 's foot and across the goal line was waiting.
They pushed in the second period, too. But one thing to notice–the middle six is shockingly invisible without Evgeni Malkin . The first line with Sidney Crosby , Rickard Rakell , and Bryan Rust created numerous chances and some momentum.
Perhaps that's why Sidney Crosby had a somewhat optimistic take on the game that looked at so many points to be bland or lifeless.
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"You know, we controlled the puck for a lot of the game and created some good chances," said Crosby. "We've got to find a way to put it in."
Crosby's line created four high-danger chances in the first 40 minutes of the game. The remainder of the Penguins' lines creates … ZERO POINT ZERO.
The rest of the team earned a few in the third period, but the game was largely decided by then.
The middle six with Tommy Novak between Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau , and Ben Kindel between Rutger McGroarty and Kevin Hayes , were not good enough.
There were some good shifts, but that's two games in a row in which the middle six did not stack good shifts on top of top-line pressure, and the result was an absolute lack of momentum.
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Goalie Interference
And referees doused the Penguins' big chance to mount a comeback with one of the most botched reviews in recent memory. Refs denied Kris Letang a goal on goalie interference that was definitively caused by Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson 's stick and not the body of Penguins winger Rickard Rakell–who was demonstrably in the white paint and didn't contact goalie Linus Ullmark until after the puck had hit the net.
It was a shocking uphold that had the Penguins management still talking about it after the game. Rightfully so.
"I thought (Rakell) got bumped into it. I don't know, I also thought it went in before that all happened," said defenseman Ryan Shea . "So it's a weird one. I mean, if that goes in, in my mind, I think that probably changes things."
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After Thursday's review, no coach should challenge goalie interference again. Perhaps a coach with deep pockets would simply lament–if the NHL can't figure it out, how can I?
Penguins coach Dan Muse didn't say that. With a little bit of dismay, Muse stated clearly what everyone else saw, too.
"I thought that (Rakell) was outside the blue paint. (He was) pushing towards the end, but even there, I didn't see the way they did."
In fairness, no one else did, either.
Here's the simple graphic I crudely created for X during the game. You'll notice Rakell's stick well away from Ullmark as he danced around the red line demarcating the crease. You'll also notice that it was Sanderson's stick that turned Ullmark. To miss it in real-time is forgivable. To miss it on replay is ridiculous.
To the game…
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Penguins Analysis
There can be no denying the Penguins' penalty kill failed them on the first PK that allowed Brady Tkachuk 's goal at 2:16 (Defenseman Kris Letang didn't close off the passing lane, leaving Tkachuk open on the back post), which wounded the team.
And the no-goal call denied them the momentum they so badly needed.
But there was a lot of hockey played in between the calls. It was hockey in which Ottawa had breakaways, odd-man rushes, and point-blank chances.
When Claude Giroux scored Ottawa's third goal, Erik Karlsson threw his hand in dismissive frustration.
Tactically, Ottawa dumped the puck into the zone and pounced on the Penguins' defensemen. They swarmed them, and the Penguins' breakouts were relatively non-existent.
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"Obviously, they were pressuring hard. I just think some of the support there to be able to relieve some of that pressure, it wasn't consistent enough," Muse said. "We're spending too much time in the D zone. And then I think even when we got on the offensive side of the ice, we could have done some things to extend that time more than we did."
In this matter, a third pairing of Brett Kulak and Jack St. Ivany is not necessarily the quick-to-get-back, puck-moving types the Penguins needed.
Kulak and St. Ivany had an abysmal 33% on-ice shot attempt ratio. They played the night in the defensive zone, with few escapes.
Broken Psyche?
The emotional toll of a winless streak is clearly beginning to wear them down. From Karlsson throwing his hand in a dismissive way to hanging heads and a general lack of pushback, it very much looked like the Penguins expected to lose.
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Their lack of fight back in the first period was also a sign of much greater issues in the current moment. They allowed 10 scoring chances according to NaturalStatTrick.com, and the eye test was worse.
This writer has been around teams going through longer winless streaks and worse stretches. November 2018 comes to mind, but that room was experiencing a dark frustration. They had answers, but with two straight Stanley Cups and very short offseasons in the recent past, they didn't have the legs or the intensity to get there. The team was stale, and they knew it.
This team seems rattled and unsure of its ability. They're not suffering from a lack of confidence; they're suffering from negative expectations.
"Sure, you want to win. Even looking at the past games where we have a lead, and then we don't manage to bring the win–it's not easy," Silovs said. "It's not easy to come in every day, knowing that the last couple of games weren't great and we haven't won. So I think it's just like, now, we have to just stay on our details."
Penguins Report Card
Team: F
A team with some swagger overcomes a terrible call and a bad bounce, or at least puts up a fight.
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Penalty Kill: C
Muse quickly defended his penalty killers, citing their kill after the disallowed goal. That kill was indeed stiffling, but Ottawa was essentially one-for-two (We're not counting the late-game roughing call on Anthony Mantha in the final minute).
The Penguins have been scored upon in four of their last six power plays (not counting the 54 seconds of keepaway at the end of the game). Ottawa gained a lot of momentum on the first power play goal, and the Penguins lost a lot.
Mantha-Novak-Brazeau: D
The line was largely invisible. Novak had the worst on-ice Corsi of the team, at just 31%.
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McGroarty-Kindel-Hayes: F
The line had six offensive one faceoffs and just one in the defensive zone, but generated only one scoring chance.
Arturs Silovs: B+
The goalie stuffed a couple of breakaways and several odd-man rushes. His scorpion glove save on Drake Batherson late in the first period was a beaut, too. Silovs hasn't won a game since Nov. 6, but he played well enough to win Thursday.
The Penguins had 99 problems Thursday, but goaltending wasn't one.
The post Penguins Grades: Where is Their Fire? Inside ANOTHER Bad Loss appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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