STOCKHOLM — It was not a new experience for any reporter who has covered the Pittsburgh Penguins, but it was a new experience this season.
As the media entered the Penguins’ dressing room Friday evening following their third straight squandered third-period lead, the room was silent. Not a piece of equipment slammed. Not a whisper or background conversation.
The Nashville Predators scored with 70 seconds remaining, when Sidney Crosby tried to tap a loose puck off the faceoff back to Ryan Shea, but Shea had sagged back, and Bryan Rust was just out of reach. Filip Forsberg pounced on the loose puck, quickly snapping it past Silovs.
Then, just 43 seconds into overtime, Stamkos scored for Nashville to abscond with a 2-1 OT win.
“I just don’t think we were we are sharp. I think there were open passes that we missed. Open plays that were there, but then we didn’t see them or were late to see them,” said Bryan Rust. “I think we just weren’t nearly sharp enough. And I thought we were on our heels a lot.”
Sure, the Penguins got a point–their second point in the last three games– but the reality is they should have earned six points in those last three games.
And they knew it.
“They sting when you grasp how the game shapes. We had a chance to win that game with a minute left. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the job done,” said defenseman Ryan Graves. “I think there’s more that we can do. There’s more that we give, and we gave that game to them. I think we feel like we’re a better team than we showed tonight, so I think that’s a bit of the sting.”
A chance to win vs. not deserving the win. It’s been a running theme.
The Penguins have scored just four goals in their last three games, but Friday was the first time they stunk for the majority of the game.
Goaltender Arturs Silovs was the reason they earned a point. He very well might start again Sunday as the team begins to get desperate for points before a rough patch becomes a spiral.
Following the game, there was an eerie silence in the locker room as players stared straight ahead. Some players simply and solemnly exited the room, a grim look replacing the smiles and laughter of the previous few days.
The Penguins again failed to close out a game.
“I think tonight was–if you go back to some of the more recent games there that were close, I liked a lot of our game. I didn’t feel like that was the case tonight,” said coach Dan Muse. “I think we were off in terms of our details. I think we were off in terms of the execution. You look back there, it ends up going to a situation where they score with the goalie pulled, but at the end, we gave him way too many opportunities. Way too many.”
For a moment, time stood still inside the Penguins’ room as the specter of another wasted opportunity stared back.
“Like, you’re leading 1-0. And then they score in the last minute of the game, and then they score — like after they score in overtime, for sure it is going to sting.”
Penguins Analysis
The Penguins’ lone goal was an “excuse me” centering pass by Evgeni Malkin, which deflected off a Nashville defenseman and behind goalie Juuse Saros.
The Penguins were never very good on Friday. They started slow, they stayed slow, and their disconnected play never connected. Yet, they again had a chance to steal two points.
The Nashville Predators weren’t great. They didn’t dominate the Penguins or tilt the ice in an unrecoverable fashion, even if the 30-17 shot total reflected a beatdown.
Tactically, the Penguins didn’t connect. Passes might as well have been bricks. The defensemen weren’t able to pressure Nashville from the top of the zone, and the game had a feeling of frustration.
But it wasn’t Nashville’s success; it was the Penguins’ failure.
“I don’t know if I would use the word flat. I think we had energy. I think we just weren’t able to connect on a lot of things. We just couldn’t get things going in the right way. And when that happens, you just have to simplify it,” said Graves. “And yeah, you want to play the game where you’re snapping the puck around, you’re connecting passes, you’re playing on the rush. But the reality is that it doesn’t happen every night. And so we’ve got to find a game that was able to create a little momentum. And then maybe from that we could build on it. But we didn’t find that tonight.”
It was a busted night. Even the league-leading power play disappeared like Saab, registering zero shots on two opportunities. The power play wrinkle with an over-the-top rotation from the mid-wall, behind the point, into the slot trajectory they tried in practice with little success on Thursday didn’t work in game action either.
The Penguins weren’t flat, but more like stuck in second gear.
Penguins Report Card
Team: D
There were no great performances aside from goalie Silovs. There were passable performances, some high points, but a lot of nothing.
Muse didn’t juggle or shuffle the lines as he likes to do, either. Friday might have been the game to put Evgeni Malkin with Crosby for a spell, bumping Ben Kindel to second-line center.
They might have also done well to bulldoze a path to the net and let their defensemen just blast away. Something–anything–had to change.
Silovs: A+
He was quite good. He stopped a couple of breakaways and tight scoring chances. His glove was working, along with the flippers.
Kris Letang: Rough Night
Letang was not skating particularly well on Friday. He was caught a couple of times, pinned a couple of times when he could have skated to freedom, and his breakouts were inconsistent. His leap forward on a lobbed puck should have been a few strides backward, but it became Justin Barron’s breakaway.
Erik Karlsson: B
Like the rest of the team, Karlsson didn’t have his best. There were some nifty plays–his stickhandle around a forechecker at the blue line in the first period brought a good cheer from the Swedish crowd. His end-to-end rush in the second period brought “oohs” and “ahhhs.” But the power play splat and lack of offense mitigated his performance.
Blake Lizotte: A
He hasn’t gotten enough credit this season. His game is constant energy and motion. He was quite good on Friday.
Philip Tomasino, Third Line: F
Tomasino nary touched the puck. No shots, no attempts. He can’t disappear like that. As expected, the
The Penguins’ third line with Kevin Hayes, Tomasino, and Villie Koivunen was invisible. Koivunen also failed to register a shot attempt. Hayes had one shot on goal. That looked like a line set up for failure, and it delivered.
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