Lifeless Penguins Get Absolutely Crushed by Stars

PITTSBURGH — The first 10 minutes were not kind to starting goalie Joel Blomqvist or the Pittsburgh Penguins (6-9-2).

Blomqvist allowed a couple of leaky goals, and the Penguins’ defensemen were caught flat-footed on the third goal before some fans had settled into their seats, the Dallas Stars (9-5-0) had a 3-0 lead, cruising to a 6-1 win at PPG Paints Arena.

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Things didn’t get better for the Penguins after coach Mike Sullivan replaced Blomqvist with Alex Nedeljkovic. The Penguins fourth line left defenseman Miro Hieskanen alone on the weak side and he chipped a shot between the lunging Nedeljkovic and the post for a 4-0 lead at 13:09.

The lethargic Penguins didn’t necessarily deserve to be a 2-0 hole in the opening minutes. Sometimes, rookie goalies indeed perform like rookies.

Matt Duchene was able to get ahead of the Penguins backcheck. His long wrister appeared to be absorbed by Blomqvist, but it trickled past the goalie for the first goal at 2:23.

The sad beginning became a horror film.

At 7:13 of the first, Logan Stankoven’s spinning wrister from the left circle didn’t have a lot of power behind it, but it surprised Blomqvist for a 2-0 Dallas lead.

Three minutes after that, the Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and Matt Grzelcyck were slow to a Dallas dump-in, and Mason Marchment (4) was gifted a point-blank chance, which he buried, of course. It was 3-0 at 10:16 and the end of Blomqvist’s night. Marchment also had three assists in the first period (1-3-4).

Nedeljkovic was treated worse. He didn’t allow any soft goals, but instead, the lifeless Penguins watched as defenseman Miro Heiskanen scored a pair of goals in rapid succession.

The Penguins’ fourth-liners and defensemen paid Heiskanan no attention in the low zone, and Heiskanan (1) was wide open for a quick chip shot between a lunging Nedeljkovic and the near post for a 4-0 lead.

A minute later, Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk passed it to no one at the offensive blue line, springing Heiskanen (5) for a breakaway goal at 14:37.

For comic relief, the Penguins had a short-handed chance. Lars Eller led a three-on-one, but his saucer pass was just over defenseman Kris Letang’s stick, and Dallas counterattacked with a two-on-one. Tyler Seguin (7) easily tapped it past Nedeljkovic for a 6-0 lead at 18:39.

The Dallas power play was courtesy of Sidney Crosby, who flashed his frustration and roughed up Dallas grinder Sam Steel.

It was the first time in the Penguins’ 57-year history they allowed six goals in the first period of a home game. Considering some of the truly awful teams that occupied the Civic Arena, it was quite a dubuis feet. It was probably worse than their 7-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs last December.

The Penguins managed just six shots in the second period, too. However, the hockey gods threw them a crumb and one of them lit the lamp. Valtteri Puustinen pulled up on the left mid-wall and snapped a cross-ice pass to Anthony Beauvillier (4), who roofed a wrist shot past Jake Oettinger.

The letdown effort came two days after the Penguins dominated their arch-rival Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena Friday. Unfortunately for the flightless birds, none of that third period translated to the game Monday. The Eastern Conference remains jumbled, as the Penguins began the night just one point out of a playoff spot but just two points out of last place.

Wyatt Johnson added the chili goal at 15:10 for Dallas.

Joel Blomqvist stopped five of eight shots. Nedeljkovic stopped 27 of 31.

Marcus Pettersson and Blake Lizotte led the team with four shots each. Kris Letang was a minus-4.