There have been a handful of tough losses this season for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as there are for any team in the NHL. And, typically, the Penguins have been able to respond well when things aren't going their way.
After two tough shootout losses to the Dallas Stars and the Anaheim Ducks - both of which featured blown leads very late in regulation - the Penguins hoped to bring their best effort against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, a team they will face three times in the month of December.
And - a game delay and three periods later - they found themselves on the wrong side of the result again.
The Penguins fell to the Canadiens, 4-2, in what felt like one of the least energetic efforts of the season from the Penguins. Part of that could have been a byproduct of the fact that the game's original start time of 7:00 p.m. ET was delayed by a half hour due to a serious accident inbound to the city that delayed players getting to the rink.
But it's fair to wonder how much of Tuesday's loss still rang in their heads - and it's also worth noting that both teams had to deal with the delay. At the end of the day, the Penguins just couldn't seize any sustained periods of momentum in this game, and it was a lackluster response to two hard-to-swallow losses in a row that should have probably been won in regulation.
"I don't know. Honestly, we just had zero jump from the start," Penguins' defenseman Ryan Shea said. "They were all over us, and we didn't respond to start the game, but we didn't even have a response mid-game. I think we had a couple good shifts we put together after we took that timeout, but other than that, we just let them bring it to us, and we just sat back.
"No one wanted to be a difference-maker, and we were just flat."
The Canadiens were ready from the jump in this one, as a defensive zone turnover by Kris Letang near the left point turned into an early goal by Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier. The Habs held the Penguins to just four shots on goal in the first period, and things didn't get much better in the second for the Penguins.
Brendan Gallagher scored less than five minutes into the second period, and Cole Caufield registered a power play goal at the midpoint of the period to put the Canadiens up, 3-0. Pittsburgh got a little bit of momentum in a late push at the end of the second after a disallowed goal by Montreal that was deemed offside after the Penguins challenged.
And they did carry some of that into the start of the third period. Bryan Rust scored just 44 seconds into the third to cut the Habs' lead to 3-1. It looked like the Penguins had some life, but just like that, Oliver Kapanen scored just 15 seconds later to put Montreal back up by three.
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The Penguins played a pretty flat game after that fourth Habs goal, even as they had a five-on-three power play that they failed to convert on a few minutes later. A holding call on Adam Engstrom with five minutes remaining in regulation resulted in the Penguins pulling goaltender Tristan Jarry for a six-on-five, which Erik Karlsson quickly converted on to make it 4-2. And Pittsburgh did push hard in the final five minutes, with Sidney Crosby making it 4-3 with around 40 seconds left.
However, it was too little, too late for the Penguins, who have now dropped three straight games after winning five of their previous six. They have a busy stretch of schedule ahead for the rest of December, which can, hopefully, help to pull them out of the funk they're in.
"In two days, we've got to come out and bring our best game, then do it again back-to-back," Shea said. "It's a quick turnaround. [Friday], we've got to have a good practice, review this, see what we did wrong, then flush it and move on, because we've got two fast teams - two young teams - coming in that like to play offense.
"So, we've got to clean up things if we want to be able to stay in those games."
Here are some takeaways from the Penguins' latest loss:
- This is some of the most lifeless, sloppiest hockey I've seen the Penguins play this season. And it was so, so strange considering the fact that they've followed up some of their worst games this season with some of their best games.
I do think the game delay may have played a factor in the team's start. But, after that, the Penguins still failed to put together any kind of big response until it was far too late in the game.
They play Montreal three times this month. They play the San Jose Sharks and the Utah Mammoth back-to-back this weekend. It's critical that they don't let the results of the last three games spiral into something worse, as they can lose ground very quickly in such a tight Eastern Conference.
And it starts with the Penguins simplifying their game.
"When it comes to stuff like that, we've just got to be patient," Shea said. "We can't force stuff when it's not there. I think we've played too much east-to-west, and a team like that... it just fuels their game. I think they came out hot, they were on top of us, but we don't have to spiral out of control.
"We've just got to bear down. Usually, teams come like that for the first period, then they slow up. So, we've just got to learn how to withstand their best and bring ours right after."
Yes, Shootouts Are A Problem For The Penguins - But They're Not The Biggest ConcernIf you've been paying any semblance of attention to the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> this season, you've probably heard a thing or two about shootouts.
- Letang's turnover in the defensive zone was something that just cannot happen.
He had puck support right in front of him, and he just whiffed on the puck. It rolled off the heel of his stick and right to Texier, who brought it back into the slot and put it home.
It's tough to keep piling on Letang. He has been a staple for a very long time with the Penguins, and he has been a large part of their success in the Crosby era.
But his play is becoming a legitimate problem. These kinds of plays are starting to happen with frequency, and he isn't doing enough on the other side of the puck to make up for the defensive gaffes. It just seems like the game is happening too fast for him at times, and he tends to hold onto the puck a hair too long.
I don't know what the solution is. It's not like the Penguins have a plug-and-ready right defenseman on their roster who would fare better than Letang on the second pairing. Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton have been unspectacular this season. Jack St. Ivany was just activated from injured reserve and hasn't seen a game this season. Youngster Harrison Brunicke is about to head to the World Junior Championship and didn't even practice with the team Thursday, as he was working with Penguins' skills coaches on the other rink.
Unless Brunicke shows out at the WJC, rejoins the NHL team after to activate his entry-level contract, and shows a degree of readiness that wasn't there at the start of the season, I don't think there is a replacement for Letang on the second pairing that could allow him to slide down in a reduced role.
So, yes, his play is an issue, and I do think the Penguins need to address it in some way. I'm just not sure how they even do that at this point.
- I don't think this was a particularly strong outing from Jarry. While the Penguins were certainly not at their best in this one, Jarry let in a few goals that I'm sure he'd like to have back - including a bit of a leaky goal against from Caufield on the power play.
That said, your goaltender is entitled to an off-day every now and again, especially in the midst of a largely positive season. I imagine Jarry probably gets the net again on Saturday against the Sharks, but we'll see how the Penguins decide to handle the weekend split between he and Silovs.
NHL Rumors: Penguins Goalie On Latest Trade BoardThis Penguins goalie is once again creating noise as a trade candidate. - The third line - or "kid line" - is brought up in pretty much every recap at this point, and it's for good reason. Ben Kindel, Rutger McGroarty, and Ville Koivunen simply look comfortable out there with each other, and they definitely have chemistry.
Outside of maybe the Crosby line, they were the best line for the Penguins again on Thursday, and I'm not so sure they shouldn't simply be the second line in the absence of Evgeni Malkin. They had their moments against the Habs - including a botched three-on-one where Kindel fed a center-breaking McGroarty a perfect pass that he just couldn't handle - but they were still generating offense.
I do think McGroarty looks a bit rusty, and Koivunen is still gripping his stick a bit too tight. But once the line's production begins to meet its chance generation, I do think the floodgates will open.
New 'Kid Line' Might Be Just What Penguins NeedThe Pittsburgh Penguins debuted their new "kid line" of Rutger McGroarty, Ben Kindel, and Ville Koivunen against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday - and it paid off. - It goes without saying that the Penguins really, really miss Evgeni Malkin and Blake Lizotte.
As far as Malkin, the impact is pretty obvious. The Penguins have lost all threee games that he's missed, and they're just 2-for-13 on the power play in his absence. The second line is not the same without him, either, as Kevin Hayes can't provide close to the offensive output that Malkin can for both himself and his linemates.
And as for Lizotte, he's obviously missed on the penalty kill. But there is a drastic difference between the way Danton Heinen centers the fourth line and the way Lizotte does. And it's a much better line with Lizotte on it.
If neither are going to be back within the next few games, I think it might be in the Penguins' best interest to give Tristan Broz an extended look down the middle. He only played in one game against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 26 before sitting as a healthy scratch for two games and being optioned back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), where he has a goal and three points in his three games since the demotion.
He's a two-way center, and he's young. The Penguins could use that right now. If they want to stop the bleeding, they need to try to address some of the deficiencies in their lineup where they can. Getting Rickard Rakell back soon should help, but they could still use some extra help.
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