Penguins Grades: A Problem that Can’t Be Fixed; Why the Rookies are Sparkling

ST. LOUIS — The Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to put a scare into the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center, but the reasons for the deficit were entirely the Penguins’ fault.

The Penguins lost in overtime after the refs gave Penguins defenseman Kris Letang a disputed slashing minor, and St. Louis scored a power-play goal to win 5-4 in overtime.

Read More: McGroarty Scores Late; Penguins Can’t Overcome Mistakes in OT Fall

The game showcased a few reasons for Penguins fans to be optimistic about the near future. The rookies played extremely well, again. Sidney Crosby is still Sidney Crosby, while Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell are talented cohorts.

Rutger McGroarty finished a pass from Ville Koivunen to tie the game in the final minute. Yes, both were on the ice in such an important situation, and they came through.

However, while some of the Penguins’ problems have fixes and hope, others are obviously terminal. Unfortunately for the team, their biggest issue clearly falls into that latter category.

The Penguins’ biggest problem remains the defensemen’s bewildering play that sometimes ventures into absurdity, and after six months, it must be declared that there just isn’t a cure. No coach could correct the repeated mistakes of ghastly turnovers, loose gaps, blown coverages, and puck watching, which appear time, and time … and time again.

If forced to coach the Penguins group, perhaps even the Dali Lahma might let loose a series of unprintable expletives.

Letang had an especially rough night, even before the questionable overtime penalty. Continuing a run of spotty play, which has extended for weeks, he did not cover Jake Neighbors well early in the second period. Neighbors got a good rip from the low slot for the first St. Louis goal, which tied the game just 39 seconds into the period.

Midway through the second, Letang didn’t realize Jordan Kyrou had bolted behind him and casually waved at an arcing 100-foot pass that landed behind him for Kyrou’s breakaway goal.

“I thought we were really solid in the first (period). I thought we were really solid in the third. We gave up six odd-man rushes in the second period, and four of them were off just little puck possessions where we didn’t make good decisions with the puck, and we started their transition game and it’s hard to win when you do that,” said coach Mike Sullivan with a deepening scowl. “You’ve got to take care of the puck in the critical areas of the rink.”

Six?! Six odd-man breaks in the second period alone.

Defeneman Ryan Graves’s struggles are now compounding into destructive territory. Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry stopped Kyrou on a short breakaway after the Blues forward treated Graves like an annoying traffic cone just seconds after St. Louis’s first goal in the second period.

Jarry couldn’t save his lumbering blue liner six minutes into the third period when Graves inexplicably left his coverage on rookie Jimmy Snuggerud to double-cover the puck carrier crossing the offensive blue line, which sprung Neighbors for another St. Louis breakaway goal and a 4-2 lead.

Graves had fine coverage on the two-on-two rush but then turned it into a breakaway against. It looked like the backbreaker goal until the Penguins’ furious late rally.

Film study just ain’t gonna fix that.

In the words of every great infomercial host, “But wait, there’s more!”

Conor Timmins’s haphazard turnover at center ice sprung Pavel Buchnevich for a breakaway goal early in the second period. A bad Timmins pinch gave Zach Bolduc a breakaway a bit later, and a Timmins turnover in the offensive zone created another odd-man rush later in the period.

“If you don’t have plays, if the plays aren’t there to be made, or there’s no ice to play on, you have to be willing to put pucks below the goal line. And you can’t make blind plays, you know, you end up starting their break out. We did all of those things,” Sullivan said. “And I was happy with the group because I thought we responded well in third and obviously fought our way back in. But for me, the lesson learned is that we have to manage the puck.

“We talk about it daily, but it requires discipline and diligence and an awareness and a willingness to do it all the time. And that’s such an important element of winning in today’s game.”

Jarry was able to stop the latter two chances, but these aren’t complicated plays the defensemen are being asked to make. They’re simple hockey plays that were botched so badly that they left the goaltender completely exposed.

At some point, it becomes goaltender abuse, and NHL jobs or roster spots should be lost.

Matt Grzelcyk and Erik Karlsson were not innocent, but they didn’t specifically lead to goals. Perhaps that makes them the best of the bunch on Thursday.

St. Louis plays aggressively and with speed, and a couple of mistakes happen in every game, but the number of mistakes and their extreme gravity are as jaw-dropping as they are apparently unfixable.

The crew brings out the worst in each other rather than the best. The blue line construction multiplies their weaknesses rather than covering for some of them.

Grades?

Penguins Defensemen: F-

Penguins Rookies

The Penguins’ rookies are playing pretty well, eh?

McGroarty scored the tying goal with 25 seconds remaining, but it wasn’t a lucky goal or the result of others’ hard work. McGroarty did the heavy lifting, too.

“Ville makes a nice play, but there was more to it than that. Rutger chased the puck down. Prior to that, where if we gave them the separation, they might have hit an empty net,” Sullivan said. “(St. Louis didn’t score) because McGroarty puts pressure on them. I thought they were terrific in that circumstance.”

Koivunen assisted on the goal for his first NHL point. The marker was McGroarty’s first NHL goal.

“It’s pretty cool (to score the goal), especially like that at that point in the game against a team like that and how hot they are,’ McGroarty said. “It was pretty cool for Ville and I to (get our firsts) on the same goal. We might have to split the puck in half. I’m not sure. Obviously the outcome sucks. But it happens. It’s hockey.”

The effects are easy to see. McGroarty and Koivunen are not only avoiding mistakes but also playing hard at both ends of the ice. Sullivan admitted the only reason McGroarty isn’t killing penalties is that the team is trying to manage his ice time because he’s playing heavy minutes with Sidney Crosby.

While most would assume the duo are playing well because, quite simply, they’re good players, there’s far more to it. Sure, they are probably living on more adrenaline than a case of Red Bull could provide, but both players excel in one crucial aspect: Hockey IQ.

Both are smart players who anticipate play very well. For that reason, both appear to be players who could be more successful at the NHL level than the AHL because the NHL game is more structured, more predictable, and even more consistent.

So, players like the Penguins’ rookies are able to quickly adjust and go to the areas where the puck should be or will be going because chances are- it will.

The cleaner game seems to be unlocking the final pieces of Koivunen’s game. He’s been really, really good. His skating has shown well, and his defensive game is better than anticipated.

The hockey people around Wilkes-Barre/Scranton told PHN that Koivunen had a lot more to offer than we’d seen. They were correct.

Of course, we’ll see where the players rest when the adrenaline wears off, but there’s no reason to think either player will regress too much. Perhaps the greatest challenge for the coaching staff will be inoculating the rookies against the ghastly mistake disease that has become an epidemic.