Penguins Report Card: Pens Regressing Fast, Even Sullivan Discouraged

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins decided not to let down the 12,000-13,000 fans who showed up at PPG Paints Arena Tuesday. Instead of playing the stuff off their new album, they resorted to the greatest hits. The Penguins gave up a goal on the first shot of the game, limped to the end, and gave up a two-goal lead in the final eight minutes.

The Columbus Blue Jackets scored a pair of goals in the shootout and hit the post on the other against goalie Tristan Jarry and Columbus helped the Penguins rescue defeat from the jaws of victory.

For many, including those inside the locker room, the game was eerily similar–far too similar–to the debacles that lowlighted the first six weeks of the season.

Read More: Penguins Start Slow, Wilt Late in SO Loss to Columbus

For the record, that was the sixth time this season Jarry has surrendered a goal on the first shot. In fairness, Dmitri Voronkov was wide open feet from the net.

“It’s tough. There’s not much different I would do on that,” said Jarry before changing his answer, slightly. “That guy comes down there and shoots it … he has a lot of time, and he’s able to make that play quickly, and he’s able to get it through my legs. Obviously, it’s tough. It’s hard. I don’t think anybody wants the first shot to go in, but it’s something that I think if I defend a little better on it, maybe playing a little bit deeper, I think I could have that.”

PPG Paints Arena and the Penguins failed to attract thousands of fans to their seat Tuesday. Perhaps they were glued to their phones in the concourse or sought things more interesting, like watching paint dry. The Penguins found the energy for a mighty three shots on goal in the first period, further enticing the paltry crowd to disengage.

Fans and team were stuck in second gear. It wasn’t their day, their week, or month, or even their year.

The highlights to circle or analyze were few.

Michael Bunting scored a goal on an excuse-me assist from Sidney Crosby in the second period. Crosby fanned on a wrist shot, but it fluttered past defenders to the back post, where Bunting needed little effort to tap it in.

The teams picked up the pace in the second period, but neither was at its best. The Penguins held a less-than-commanding 11-10 edge in shots.

It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes the team began to look like it cared about the outcome. Suddenly, the Penguins’ strategy emerged. Xs and Os crystalized where once it looked more like drudgery.

Rickard Rakell got behind the Columbus defense on the first shift of the third period and cleanly beat Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins over the glove from the left dot.

After Rakell’s goal, the Penguins slowed the game not through apathy or heavy skates but by controlling it with a defensive structure.

And then, they succumbed to the second of their deadly vices. They wadded up and threw away a late third-period two-goal lead with head-scratching mistakes.

Unacceptably bad mistakes, including a botched handle by Jarry and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and then confused defense by forwards racing back to the zone to theoretically help out.

Coach Mike Sullivan thought the referees gifted Columbus a late power play.

“(The call on Lizotte) was a headscratcher for me,” Sullivan said, then later added, “It was a stick lift.”

However, the previously unbeatable penalty kill suddenly looked 10-ply soft. Columbus netted a pair of power-play goals, including the tying goal during the power play earned on Lizotte’s slashing minor.

Yep, a 3-1 lead with victory approaching instead turned to overtime against a division rival against whom they’re fighting for the second wild-card spot. The Penguins gave Columbus a point and life by trying to coast to the end.

Then they gave Columbus another point by not finishing their chances in overtime. Relying on Jarry in the shootout is usually a bad idea, and it was again Tuesday as Columbus.

“It’s discouraging because the irony of it is, is we give up two goals and the third period was our best period that we played all night,” Sullivan said. “Having said that, you know, our penalty kill wasn’t nearly as good as it’s been. That’s part of it … And, you know, I just felt like we didn’t control the momentum the way we were capable of in those last minutes. And so they get it within one. Then they get a power play, and anything can happen.”

Penguins Xs and Os

We’ll skip the first period. It’s not useful in polite public discourse. Good luck to coach Mike Sullivan’s video team in finding instances of hockey that could be analyzed.

We’ll skip to the third period, in which the Penguins used stretch passes early in the period to open the game. From there, the Penguins were able to (sorry, Dan Bylsma) get to their game. They began to work the puck in the low zone, force Columbus to defend, and apply more pressure.

It looked like they would pull away.

Oh those mistakes.

“No (we didn’t relax). Mistakes, mistakes. And I don’t think any of us, any of the leads that we’ve given up, has been about us taking an exhale and being nonchalant.”

Playing well for only a genuine 10 minutes isn’t a recipe for victory. I cannot say what happened to the team’s mindset. It was dialed in and proper in the weeks leading to the holiday break.

Since then, it seems like someone rebooted the computer, and we’re back to Square One. The Penguins are 1-2-3 in six games. At worst, they should be 3-2-1.

Penguins Grades

Team: D

We’ll give them a few points for the much better play in the first 10 minutes of the third and something resembling professional, though uninspired, play in the second.

“We gave ourselves a chance. Yeah (long pause). It stinks,” Rakell said. “You know, we fought back in this game. And yeah, there’s we lose another shootout.”

They may have deserved a better fate only because Columbus wasn’t any better, but that’s not a reason to smile.

Tristan Jarry: D

He didn’t have to make many tough saves. He could have stopped all three Columbus goals, but any of the three would have been exemplary saves. He was the turnover culprit on the second goal, too.

His shootout work continues to be abysmal.

Penalty Kill: F

Teams used the break to dig into video and diagnose the Penguins’ PK. Or the Penguins’ PK is regressing to the mean. Whatever the root cause, the Penguins’ penalty killing is being exposed by seam passes, open men getting good looks, and uncovered players near the net.

Rakell-Crosby-Rust: B

They have become the liferaft on which the team is floating. Rakell scored a pair of goals and the line was the only line to have more than a brief moment of offensive flair.

Sidney Crosby also set the record for most faceoff wins ever.

Cody Glass: B?

It’s hard to evaluate Glass because he operates almost exclusively under the radar. He was shoved into second-line duty but the line largely controlled their opponents. The second line had a muted five scoring chances, but allowed zero.