Penguins Report Card: Players Speechless; Sullivan Rips Lack of ‘Pride’

The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a multiple-goal lead vanish before their eyes eight times in 21 games. They’ve won a few of those games and extended several to overtime, but blowing leads has become more commonplace than winning games.

Eight blown multi-goal leads and seven wins don’t exactly speak well of a team’s mental composition, talent, or roster construction. One could toss coaching onto that bonfire of calamities. The Penguins have a major problem, if not several, and they’re running out of excuses.

Through a lowered brow and clenched jaw, coach Mike Sullivan blistered his team’s attitude.

“Because we have to compete harder. We need more guys to compete harder and pay more attention to detail,” Sullivan said. “And we need to take more pride in playing defense.”

The words might not leap off the page as read, but for everyone in the room, the tone was pure and unadulterated accusation and anger.

Sullivan did not hold a lengthy postgame press conference as he sometimes does. That’s on us, the media, for not asking more questions, but there was no need to ask anything more. That statement said it all, and after a couple of short answers about Jesse Puljujarvi and Tristan Jarry, Sullivan marched off the platform stage like he was walking down the runway for a fight.

The Penguins may very well get bag skated on Wednesday. Sullivan is no fool, and he saw Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins get canned Tuesday after a tumultuous start to the season that is still better than the Penguins’ beginning.

Sullivan’s team isn’t just a league-worst with the lead; they’re essentially arsonists upon their own game and fortunes. Overall, the Penguins have lost eight games when leading and five when holding a multi-goal lead.

It’s absolutely horrific, and Marcus Pettersson said it best, or rather couldn’t say it best.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to say,” said Pettersson. 

“It’s frustrating, you know. You certainly don’t want to be here, but we’ve got to find solutions to what’s going on out there. Well, you know, everybody knows two goals leads aren’t easy–we’ve got to be on the right side more than where we are right now … we kind of give them a little bit too much room to make plays and get momentum back.”

The team the Penguins were in the first 40 minutes bore little resemblance to the timid and ineffective team that occupied the ice in the third period. The transformation is as incredible as it is inexplicable. In sullen tones, captain Sidney Crosby could only shake his head and offer generalities.

“I wouldn’t say it’s trying to protect (the lead). I think it’s just … teams are going to push, and we’ve got to find a way to elevate,” Crosby said. “I don’t think we’re trying to sit back. I think it’s just we’ve got to realize that and find ways to get momentum shifts back.”

Can anyone but Crosby accomplish that feat?

Where’s the hit or the goal? The fiery play on the wall or the shift to pin the other side deep?

Maybe it’s a lack of talent? But the Penguins are finding ways to get lots of leads, which only makes the terrible team they become with one all the more bewildering.

By the end, a goaltender who played a very good game but bit on a fake shot and left the cage empty was far too symbolic.

Penguins Report Card / Xs and Os

Team: D

Ace the mid-terms and flunk the final? You get a D. The Penguins found space with a couple of well-executed timing plays. Puljujarvi converted a good, high-pressure shift with a well-timed run to the back post for a tip-in goal. The Penguins kept the puck in the zone, and Sidney Crosby snapped a perfect pass to Rickard Rakell for the second goal as the puck traveled from the blue line to below the goal line to Rakell in the slot in the blink of an eye.

However, Tampa Bay made a concerted effort to take away the middle of the ice. Even down 2-0, Tampa kept working the Penguins, taking away space in the good ice until the Penguins gave up fighting for it.

The Penguins had nine shots in the first period, six in the second, four in the third, and zero in nearly four minutes of overtime.

Crosby is correct that the team must find a way to reclaim momentum, but the lack of fight when things get tough is unspoken in the locker room. When the Penguins lose momentum, it can very quickly get ugly as swaths of the bench slump to go through the motions as if it’s already over.

Jesse Puljujarvi-Drew O’Connor-Sam Poulin: A

If there’s one line that worked, it’s the third line. After some exemplary work, they connected for the first goal. In three games, they’ve hit the scoresheet twice and dominated in a third. However, Sullivan reconfigured his bench after Vasily Ponomarev was caught miles out of position on a couple of occasions, and Sullivan had to sit the rookie–using O’Connor as the third-line center and fourth-line winger.

Owen Pickering: A

I liked Pickering’s foray into penalty killing. His long reach broke up a sure goal. He held tight to Nikita Kucherov, which probably caused a few butterflies during or after that proper defense.

Pickering was a victim of the bad second-period change that allowed Brayden Point several moments in front of the net. He was slapped with a minus, but he had little to do with the play. His breakouts are good. He’s keeping his game simple.

Evgeni Malkin: D

Malkin was a turnover machine in the first period and further handed his defensemen a couple of grenades in their skates which became turnovers, too. He missed Bryan Rust on a three-on-two, which became a Tampa Bay counterattack. Malkin was all out of sorts.

Matt Nieto: Adrenaline wearing off

Nieto had several failed clears on the penalty kill and a few other missed passes. He hasn’t played much hockey for a year, so he’s going to go through this as the adrenaline wears off. He was far from a significant problem, but he could have helped more than he did.

Vasily Ponomarev: Ouch

He was fastened to the bench for long stretches. As an example of his mistakes, in the final minute of the second period, he was the high forward as Tampa Bay transitioned to offense. As the F3, his job is to get back on defense. However, he stood at the blue line hoping to make a play—but he was nowhere near the play—and Tampa Bay had an easy three-on-two rush.

It was an extreme gaffe, as Sullivan had to pull the rookie from his regular rotation against Tampa Bay’s surge.