Penguins’ Pathetic Effort Began in Morning; Get Crushed by Tampa Bay

TAMPA, Fla. — The sun was shining on the Pittsburgh Penguins (29-33-11), but a storm was brewing over the bay. When the dark clouds parted by the end of the first period, the Penguins were doused in an ugly pathos.

An energetic and structured start quickly became a blowout loss, ending Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry’s recent run of stellar play. Later in the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four goals in 3:47, claiming a 4-0 lead and ultimately a 6-0 win at Amalie Arena Tuesday.

Perhaps the participants saw this coming. Coach Mike Sullivan stopped the morning skate Tuesday to tear into his team for “going through the motions.” Sullivan used a few more colorful words, and several began with the letter F, but you get the idea.

The dud also followed a Penguins off-day on Monday. The team has been almost uniformly bad following unscheduled off-days this season.

“My experience being around this game is that it’s very difficult to read into a morning skate, but having said that, obviously we weren’t pleased with the focus of the execution,” was all Sullivan had to say on the matter.

Alex Nedeljkovic replaced Jarry after the fourth goal, though the Penguins didn’t respond to the goalie flip. The Penguins were shotless for nearly 11 minutes from later in the first period until a 44-foot wrist shot from Kris Letang at 3:57 of the second.

Tampa Bay began the onslaught at 12:13 of the first period. Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was caught on the ice for nearly two minutes (1:53) and very loosely guarded Anthony Cirelli (25), whose turning wrist shot from the low slot sneaked through Jarry’s five hole.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby’s line was matched up against Cirelli’s line.

“It wasn’t like a lot of zone time, just quick, quick hits and and chances,” said Crosby. “Obviously, our line gets that Cirielli matchup. We’ve got to be better. We were on for three (goals against). You know, three of the first four. Yeah. We’ve just got to be better against that line.”

Just 77 seconds later, Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh used Penguins winger Rickard Rakell like a backboard. Rakell was closely guarding former Penguins winger Jake Guentzel, who was skating to the net. McDonagh whipped a pass toward Guentzel, but it hit Rakell and caromed past a dismayed Jarry.

The Penguins’ track-back collapsed on Tampa Bay’s third goal as a nothing play became a wide-open shot. Three Penguins converged on Brandon Hagel at the defensive blue line, leaving Cirelli open on the left flank. He sneaked a short-side shot past Jarry, and despite the open chance, it was one the goalie should have had at 15:12.

Tampa Bay cleaned up the storm 48 seconds later when the Penguins again chased the puck like a learn-to-play clinic as three defenders chased the puck, leaving Guentzel wide open, and then three defenders chased Guentzel, leaving Karlsson to defend Point at the net front. Point’s stick was free to poke a rebound past a scrambled Jarry at 16:00.

Nedeljkovic replaced Jarry, but no one replaced the Penguins’ defensive lethargy.

Or their offensive hopelessness. The Penguins mustered just eight shots in the first 40 minutes. The flat stat line meant the Penguins earned just 13 shots in their last 65 minutes of hockey, going back to the start of the third period Sunday against the Florida Panthers.

If not for an energetic penalty kill later in the second period, the Penguins would have been at only 11 shots. The PK snapped a couple of surprising shots on Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevski, who otherwise could have kept the team’s beers cold by storing them in his net.

However, Nikita Kucherov ripped a power-play goal from the right circle at 15:31 of the second period. Then, Hagel beat Blake Lizotte to the Penguins’ net at 19:19 of the second goal No. 6.

Penguins tough guy Boko Imama attempted to exact some justice for Hagel’s thundering hit on Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk on the first shift of the second period. Early in the third period, Imama challenged Hagel but didn’t get a reaction, so Imama slashed him and took a little poke.

The referees reacted harshly, delivering a four-minute slashing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct.

Later in the third period, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby moved one point away from setting the NHL record for most consecutive seasons with at least a point per game. He assisted when Bryan Rust scored at 14:15 of the third.

Crosby has tied Wayne Gretzky with 19 consecutive seasons; the next point will give Crosby 20. The assist also extended Crosby’s scoring streak to eight games.

The Penguins totaled only 17 shots.

Penguins Notes

Jarry stopped three of seven shots before being pulled. Nedeljkovic stopped 12 of his first 14 shots and 19 of 21.

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin was a late injury scratch with an upper body injury. The absence forced coach Mike Sullivan to shuffle the lines and insert Emil Bemstrom into the lineup.

Penguins Starting Lines

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Danton Heinen-Kevin Hayes-Philip Tomasino

Connor Dewar-Blake Lizotte-Noel Acciari

Boko Imama-Joona Koppanen-Emil Bemstrom

Defense

Matt Grzelcyk-Kris Letang

Erik Karlsson-Conor Timmons

Ryan Graves-Vladislv Kolyachonok