KANATA, Ont. — It did not take Ottawa long to push the fragile Pittsburgh Penguins (14-10-9). An early, albeit questionable tripping penalty on Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs quickly became another in a recent string of Penguins penalty kill defeats and an early goal for the Ottawa Senators (16-13-4).
At the beginning of the annual Dad’s Trip, the Penguins’ winless streak reached seven games. The futility has been an amalgamation of bad luck, bad plays, and Thursday’s loss was yet another unhappy collage with a new wrinkle: controversial calls.
The Penguins also inexplicably had a goal overturned on a second-period goalie interference in a 4-0 loss to Ottawa Thursday at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Penguins were in an early hole, and it obviously affected the flummoxed team.
Ottawa scored the early marker on a power play awarded when Tom Stutzle skated through the crease and was tripped (or tripped over) by goalie Arturs Silovs. On the advantage, Drake Batherson slipped a pass past defenseman Kris Letang, who did not take away the lane, to Brady Tkachuk on the opposite side of the crease. Tkachuk (3) easily slammed the puck into the net past Silovs at 2:16.
The recently fourth-ranked PK has fallen to 13th.
The Penguins began to find some spark early in the first period. Still, more bad luck was waiting as Ottawa defenseman Jordan Spence’s shot from the right corner hit David Perron (5) and caromed past Silovs at 1:34 of the second period.
A few minutes later, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson thought he had a loose puck, but before it got to his stick, it hit Ottawa forward Michael Amadio’s left skate. Amadio didn’t even know, but the puck deflected perfectly to Claude Giroux, whose turning wrist shot from just feet away from the net beat Silovs at 4:50 for a 3-0 lead.
It was that kind of night as an exasperated Karlsson simply waved his hand in frustration.
However, the hockey gods had even more frustration waiting for the Penguins. Midway through the second period, the Penguins began pushing to get back in the game. Kris Letang’s wrist shot from the point snaked through traffic and past Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark, but referees immediately ruled goaltender interference.
Penguins coach Dan Muse challenged. Even though replays definitively showed Rickard Rakell outside the crease through the entirety of the play, and Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson’s stick contacting Ullmark, and Sanderson shoving Rakell into the crease after the puck was across the goal line, the no-goal call inexplicably stood. And goaltender interference remained the NHL’s great mystery.
The Penguins yielded a couple of breakaways and odd-man rushes through the remainder of the second period, but Silovs made the saves.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby remains one point shy of tying franchise icon Mario Lemieux for the team’s all-time points record (1723).
The shot totals were low for both teams, but Ottawa did not lack scoring chances. Ottawa outshot the Penguins 19-12 after 40 minutes, and NaturalStatTrick.com showed an 18-9 scoring chance advantage.
Muse pulled Silovs with more than six minutes remaining, and Brady Tkachuk (4) added the empty-netter.
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