If you've been paying any manner of attention to the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, you may have heard about their immense struggles in shootouts.
And, unfortunately, those woes continued on Saturday in a key divisional matchup against the cross-state rival Philadelphia Flyers.
All three Penguins' shooters failed to score in the shootout, and Flyers' forward Trevor Zegras was able to capitalize to give his team the 5-4 shootout win. After this shootout loss, the Penguins are now 1-9 in shootouts this season, and they are in third place in the Metropolitan Division after a New York Islanders overtime win.
At this point, the shootout is legitimately costing the Penguins precious points in the standings. The team practices it frequently. The players can get the job done in practice, as can their goaltenders.
But 1-9 when it actually counts? Just seven goals on 28 attempts? Only a whopping 11 saves on 27 attempts against?
At this point, it's not a matter of effort, or even skill. The Penguins have three historically good shootout performers in Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov, and Bryan Rust.
No. It's, probably, mostly a psychological thing at this point.
"Yeah, I think it might be," said Rakell, who missed on his attempt Saturday. "I mean, everybody knows it. Everybody really wants to score in the shootout, but it might one of the instances now where we're gripping the stick a little bit too tight and not really doing what we want to."
Even Erik Karlsson, who rarely gets an opportunity in shootouts, agreed that they might be in their own heads at this point.
"Yeah, probably," Karlsson said. "Overtime and shootout usually go one way or another. Obviously, we've been on the short end of things for most of the season. I don't think it's for a lack of effort or trying. It's just the hand that we've been dealt, and hopefully, we can find a way - if we get in these situations again - to turn it around.
"And we're trying to. Obviously, today, again, we had a good opportunity to and couldn't capitalize on it. And that's the way it is sometimes."
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Tommy Novak opened the scoring on the power play with a shot from the slot three minutes into the opening frame to make it 1-0 Penguins. However, 54 seconds later, Owen Tippett one-timed a pass from Trevor Zegras and past Stuart Skinner to tie the game.
Then, three and a half minutes into the second period, the story was the same. Rickard Rakell notched his 12th of the season on a top-shelf snipe from the high-slot area to restore the one-goal lead. But, again, the Flyers responded a little over a minute later when Alex Bump, all alone at the net front, made a nifty move to beat Skinner for his first NHL goal in his first NHL game.
The Penguins responded 59 seconds later, though, as Rakell won a faceoff back to linemate Egor Chinakhov, who fed a one-timer to Erik Karlsson. He slammed it home to put the Penguins back up, 3-2.
But, once again, Philadelphia responded. Denver Barkey scored his third of the season to tie the game at 3-3 a tick past the midway point of the third, which sent the game to overtime.
And, in overtime, the Penguins had a prime opportunity to end the game when Flyers' goalie Dan Vladar interfered with Karlsson and sent the Penguins to a four-on-three power play. But the Penguins were unable to convert and, clearly, had tired bodies on the ice near the end of it, as they kept all but one member of their first power play unit on for the entire two minutes.
Once the game went to a shootout, things felt inevitable. Anthony Mantha, Rakell, and Chinakhov all missed their opportunities for the Penguins, and Zegras - as he usually does - put them away and gave Philly the 4-3 shootout win.
Head coach Dan Muse, too, understands that the shootout struggles are probably getting to the players quite a bit. But he was also willing to shoulder some blame.
"It's a factor," Muse said. "I'm not going to say it's the only one. I think any time a part of your game's not going well consistently, then there's conversations about it. And then, there's buzz about it. And then, it wears on you. And then, you get in these situations, too, and rather than attacking them, rather than being excited for them, there's some of that.
"And some of that falls on me. I've got to do a better job of helping these guys with it. I'm not throwing just on the players or just on the shooters or just on the goalies, it's collective. I mean, the record is what it is. So, collectively, it hasn't been good enough, and I'll take some blame on that, too."
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Here are a few quick observations from Saturday's loss:
- As much as shootouts are a problem for the Penguins, so is closing games in regulation and overtime.
The Penguins had plenty of opportunities to put this game away, and they just didn't do it. It's been an issue for them all season long in what has, otherwise, been a magical season. They barely showed signs of life on that overtime power play opportunity.
If the Penguins aren't going to get any better at shootouts, they need to find ways to prevent it from ever getting to that point in the first place.
- The defensive effort was lacking in key moments during this game. Ben Kindel experienced a particularly rough outing, as he was on the ice for all three goals against and lost his man on two of those. Penguins' defensemen were allowing Flyers' players to break through the middle and to the net-front far too easily as well.
The shots don't really tell the story in this one. Yes, they only surrendered 15 shots on goal, and yes, they mostly kept play to the outside. But, in those few moments where they did let down their guard, they were burned every time.
- The Sam Girard-Kris Letang pairing has been a nightmare in these few games for the Penguins. Both try to play the same brand of high-risk, offensive-minded hockey, and they are always out-of-sync and caught out of position relative to each other.
Trading Brett Kulak when he was meshing so well with Letang is the only gripe I have about a move that Kyle Dubas has made this season. I understand the intent of getting a second-round pick and a puck-moving defenseman with term as opposed to keeping a rental. But Kulak and Letang had legitimate chemistry, and he was bringing the best out of Letang.
But, what's past is past, and I think Muse needs to swap Girard and Ryan Shea.
Evgeni Malkin Suspended Five Games By NHL's Department Of Player SafetyEvgeni Malkin has been suspended for five games for slashing Rasmus Dahlin. - As rough as the third line had it Saturday, there was a pretty good sequence of events in the first period for them.
First, a nice zone keep by Girard led to an offensive opportunity, as Ville Koivunen - playing in his first game back from the AHL and waiting for the puck below the goal line - made a ridiculous pass to set up Kindel in the slot, who simply couldn't finish the play. Then, Avery Hayes came in and leveled Cam York on the wall, and Jamie Drysdale took exception to it.
Hayes and Drysdale fought, and Drysdale took the insitgator and sent the Penguins to the power play. The building went nuts for Hayes' fight, as he clearly understood the rivalry and the assignment.
I'd like to see more of the kid line on Sunday.
- Speaking of Sunday, to say this game is a must-win is probably an understatement. The Penguins have lost four straight games to the Boston Bruins, who are in the final wild card spot in the East and beat Pittsburgh 2-1 on Mar. 3.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are just three points behind the Penguins. The Islanders are one point up, even though the Penguins have two games in hand on them. Boston is just one point down on the Penguins.
Of course, every point matters. But the Penguins really, really need two on Sunday.
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