Penguins Grades: Sullivan Slams Defense, Team Commitment to It

“Slow start? Slow game. We had one guy. Period. I thought our goaltender was terrific,” said Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who was only getting warmed up.

The goaltender was Tristan Jarry: “The rest of it, it’s hard to find a positive,” Sullivan concluded.

Sullivan skipped past the particulars of yet another marshmallow soft Penguins defensive effort and indirectly slammed his team’s commitment. Without raising his voice or projecting that steely-eyed stare which have been too common this season, Sullivan matter-of-factly excoriated his team following a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena.

“(When we were playing well), I think it was a collective effort. I think it boils down to a conscious choice that you make and if you’re committed to playing defense. And then it’s about details. And when we are at our best and we’re capable,” Sullivan said. “I think it was a collective effort and a commitment to play the game the right way (when we were playing well earlier in the season). I think that’s a conscious choice, that’s an attitude, and that’s the decision that players make.”

The Penguins’ only goal was Rickard Rakell’s late second-period power-play tally. Yet there was little conscious effort to play the game that would have been successful against the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

Disappointment might be a kind adjective to describe Sullivan’s broadside of his teams’ consistently poor defensive zone coverage. For the first time, he sounded like a coach who was disgusted with his team. He’s been mad before, quite often this season, but this sounded a little different.

Without any bombast, this still had just a whiff of Michel Therrien’s famous 2006 “They don’t care” rant.

It’s a subtle but large shift and perhaps a pleading message to general manager Kyle Dubas, who has otherwise assembled an unplayable group of defenders and enough forwards who are not exactly known for cleaning up their zone with any sort of zeal. Or competence.

Perhaps Sullivan should have also acknowledged Sidney Crosby and his line, though it was mediocre by it’s high standards.

Crosby has been dominating the competition all season, especially since the Four Nations Face-Off. The tournament may have rejuvenated Crosby, who has points in 14 of his last 15 games and a 14-game home scoring streak.

He also had seven goals in his last seven games before being skunked Sunday.

Rakell did notch his 35th goal this season, a career high, but there were few positives.

Jarry was exceptional. His unbeaten five-game streak (4-0-1) was snapped, but his performance kept the Penguins in the game. He stopped 28 of 31 and might be dizzy for a couple of days after standing on his head for 58 minutes before being pulled for the extra attacker.

Jarry has started all but two games since March 9. His home shutout streak extended to 148:05 until the Penguins’ defense broke again. In the final seconds of the period, Kris Letang took neither puck nor body as Elias Lindholm cut across the crease.

Jarry made at least one save before Lindholm’s final whack fluttered into the net at 19:57 of the first.

The unofficial PHN notebook circled Jarry six times for high-danger saves in the first period alone before the goal bounced across the line. We lost count after the first.

Chalkboard Analysis

It’s hard to analyze a team that had just 13 shots until a late second-period power play. The Penguins remain a tale of two teams wearing one sweater. With Crosby’s line on the ice, it is the best of times. With everyone else, it’s the worst of times.

Crosby’s line outshot their opponents 6-2 but only outchanced them 6-4 and were outchanced with high-danger chances 2-1. And that was the best Penguins line. Stats from NaturalStatTrick.com.

There were two stress points that showed why the Penguins will have a top-10 draft pick in June. First, their inconsistent F3 coverage. The Penguins forecheck wasn’t on point, but neither did the high forwards consistently join the defensemen in muting the Boston rush.

The Penguins’ defensemen remain the biggest problem. The loose coverages, lack of disrupting plays on the wall, and most importantly, allowing the Bruins’ best forwards to get behind them was affirmation of every criticism we’ve hurled in the last couple of months.

“We couldn’t really get on the forecheck the way we wanted to. I felt like they broke the puck out way too easy,” Rakell said. “And yeah, it kind of felt like that was the thing tonight. We couldn’t keep any pucks in their zone and sustain any pressure and offensive zone time to create more scoring chances.”

Penguins Report Card

Team: D

The Penguins started with energy, albeit a bit sloppy. However, the sloppiness grew, and the energy waned. By later in the second period, it looked more like a George Romero project.

Again, the defensemen were maddeningly ineffective at key moments, allowing the Bruins’ best players to zoom past, and there were far too many clean rips at Jarry.

Perhaps Tom Savini had the day off; there was a definitive lack of blood.

Tristan Jarry: A

Don’t let the scoreboard override what happened. Jarry kept his team in the game for as long as he could. Once again, his stat lines will take a beating, but he deserves a pat on the back.

Conor Timmins: B+

Tough near the net. Anchored coverage well. Unlike in recent games, big mistakes did not override his contributions.

His cringy mistake on Sunday was a momentum-killing turnover at the offensive blue line later in the second period, but it didn’t end in the back of the Penguins’ net. However, the Penguins’ top line was buzzing, and his giveaway reset the game. That’s the difference between an A and a B.

Timmins clearly has an upside and will likely be back next year, but he must limit those moments because he doesn’t possess the offensive upside to atone for them.

Ryan Shea: A

He had a couple of standout shifts in the first period in which his tight gaps nullified Boston’s attack. He stopped a few plays on the wall and kept the play from advancing deep into the Penguins’ zone. He’s still playing hurt, but he’s adding a solid game on the third pairing.

Ville Koivunen

There’s just so much to like about his game. He makes slick passes, goes to the net, and isn’t lost in his own zone, though the Penguins rarely are in the defensive zone with him, Bryan Rust, and Sidney Crosby on the ice.

We didn’t grade Koivunen because he passed up at least two, if not three, good scoring opportunities Sunday. He made good passes instead of shooting.

In fairness, the passes were sharp, and they connected, but he could have put good shots on the net. If he’s looking for the perfect play to score a goal, he’s going to wait quite a while.

Still, love his game.