For 59 minutes and 58 seconds on Tuesday, it looked like a Pittsburgh Penguins' resounding victory over the Anaheim Ducks was a given.
But, hockey is a weird game. And these Penguins are a confounding team.
With 0.1 seconds left in regulation and the Penguins on the power play, the Ducks tied the game at 3-3 and went on to defeat the Penguins in a shootout, 4-3. Penguins' goaltender Arturs Silovs stopped 25 of 28 Anaheim shots, and he - once again - failed to make a save in the shootout.
This one was a dominant effort from the Penguins, which made what happened even more baffling.
The Penguins opened the scoring midway through the first period when Noel Acciari shot a puck toward the net and behind Ville Husso right off the faceoff from the left circle. The score remained 1-0 heading into the second period.
And, in the middle frame, the chances were a bit more split. Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe scored a little more than five minutes int the middle frame, as he walked down the left side and put one top-shelf above Silovs and into the back of the net. Troy Terry did a similar thing on the right side with a little more than five minutes remaining in the period, beating Silovs short-side high.
Then, in the waning seconds of the period, Tommy Novak - who came into this one with two goals and six points in his last five games - got his own rebound around the net, went below the goal line, and banked a puck off the back of Husso to tie the game at 2-2 with 19 seconds left in the second period.
And the score remained that way until late in regulation. The Penguins were pressuring in the offensive zone, and Sidney Crosby found Anthony Mantha on the doorstep with a cross-ice pass to put Pittsburgh up 3-2 on the power play with 3:55 remaining in regulation. And, to make matters even better, they got another power play at the end of the game when Chris Kreider took a tripping penalty with 18 seconds left, pretty much guaranteeing a win, right?
Well, not so fast.
In the last seconds of regulation, Anaheim's Beckett Sennecke gained the offensive zone shorthanded, walking around Penguins' forward Bryan Rust and defenseman Kris Letang. The puck ended up in the goal crease, and so did Erik Karlsson, who fell and slid in toward Silovs and the puck. The puck hit Karlsson's hand, and somehow, it crossed the goal line with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock.
It was a good goal. All tied up, 3-3. Overtime didn't prove to be enough, and the Penguins went on to lose their fifth shootout in as many attempts this season.
Shock was prevalent in the locker room following the game. The Penguins outplayed the Ducks for the vast majority of regulation, and shots ended up 47-28 in favor of Pittsburgh.
But the Penguins blew their seventh lead in 14 games, and those precious points lost are starting to become a problem - as is their ability to hold leads, something that has haunted them the past couple of non-playoff seasons.
“It’s obviously a very frustrating feeling right now,” Karlsson said. “That was a game that we all thought we had in the bag. Scoring a late power-play goal, putting all the pressure on them. They still created a fair amount of chances. [Silovs] played great for us and bailed us out when we needed to.
“Being up a goal like we were with 18 seconds left, that’s a game that we should win 99.9% of the time. This was a game that shouldn’t have happened the way that it did.”
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Here are some notes and takeaways from this one:
- Let's just get the elephant in the room over with right off the bat.
The Penguins have blown too many leads lately. They've been sloppy and/or outplayed in most of those efforts.
But to lose this way? Absolutely unacceptable. No two ways about it.
That play just can't happen. Not only were the Penguins 18 seconds away from a win, they were on the power play, and they were, once again, the better team. Rust blew coverage. Letang blew coverage. Karlsson needs to be more careful there. Crosby can't pinch on that play.
Those are four of your best, most veteran players. Oftentimes, it is the veterans making these kinds of mistakes.
If the Penguins are going to make the playoffs, that has to stop. They are outplaying legitimately good hockey teams and are a legitimately good hockey team themselves. So they need to find a way to close out games like they were in October.
Penguins Call Up 2 Forwards As Injury Bug BitesThe Penguins have called up two forwards from the AHL. - That aside, this game was a very sloppy one in a general sense for both sides. There were a lot of mishandled pucks, misfired passes, misfired shots, big rebounds, neutral zone play, and puck/stick battles.
I suspect the ice wasn't great, but this could also just be the result of two tired teams playing against each other. The Penguins travelled back from Dallas Sunday and cancelled practice Monday, and it showed that they just looked a little off, even if they outplayed the Ducks.
- It would be malpractice not to mention Novak, who has been on a tear lately and has three goals and seven points in his last six games.
His goal at the end of the second was huge. He's crashing the net more and using the middle of the ice more. He's getting pucks to the net and led the Penguins - along with Rust - in shots on goal Tuesday with six. He's a good complementary player to Crosby's line or the second line.
He has been legitimately good lately, and his lineup versatility makes him even more valuable.
"Tommy's playing well," head coach Dan Muse said. "You can see he's attacking the game with the puck. He's making plays. I think he's playing well at both ends of the ice. I think he's a guy that, if you go out throughout the course of the year, he's gotten a lot of chances. He's been pretty consistent in terms of getting those areas. I think he's getting to the inside even more. He's getting a lot more looks from right around the net. And so, we're happy with this play.
If he keeps this up, it should make for some interesting decisions as far as lineups when Rakell and Malkin return.
- The "kid line" of Rutger McGroarty, Ben Kindel, and Ville Koivunen were - once again - good from the jump in this game. They were the Penguins' best line in the first period, and they continued to generate scoring chances throughout the game.
Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse Needs To Play The "Kid" Line MoreThe third line of McGroarty-Kindel-Koivunen has been great, but they need more minutes. The one issue with this line - if you even want to call it that up to this point - has been that none of the three have really taken charge as a "trigger man." All three players have a playmaking-first mentality, and they could benefit from getting more pucks to the net.
Well, McGroarty changed that Tuesday. He had five shots on goal - including four in the first period - and was getting the puck to the net anytime he could.
Once again, this could be a dangerous third line for the Penguins. They're already responsible in their own zone, so once they start producing with regularity - it's bound to happen - look out.
- The Penguins' power play didn't look bad Tuesday by any stretch. They held zone time for the most part and didn't give up any chances against.
But there just doesn't seem to be as much movement and quick passing as there was before. The Penguins are best as a power play unit when they're moving with expediency and getting penalty kills out of structure. And they are able to get more pucks to the net that way, too.
The power play has been a huge threat all season long. It needs to stay that way.
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- This was a really good effort from the Penguins against a young, fast team. They were getting their way as far as possession, scoring chances, and shots, including outshooting the Ducks 16-8 in the first period.
Once again, there is a lot to be said about the way the Penguins have been playing so far in the month of December, especially against some of the league's best teams. They deserved two points in Dallas even though they came away with the shootout loss. They beat the Tampa Bay Lightning by the skin of their teeth, but they got it done. They dominated the Phildelphia Flyers in a 5-1 win on Dec. 1. And they outmatched a Ducks team that they should have beat in regulation.
They're playing well-structured, opportunistic, and sound hockey against good opponents. That's what good teams in this league normally do.
But they also lapse at the worst times and in the most critical moments of the game. They shouldn't have lost Tuesday. They know it. The fans know it. Muse knows it. Everyone knows it.
To say the game Thursday against the Montreal Canadiens is a must-win feels like an understatement. The Penguins need a response - and a good one.
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