TAMPA \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins were playing with house money in Tampa Bay on Thursday.<\/p>\n
And they looked it.<\/p>\n
The Penguins sleepwalked through portions of their Eastern Conference showdown against the Lightning and were appropriately dismissed in a 6-3 decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of those nights where we just didn\u2019t come to play,\u201d Erik Karlsson said.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t particularly hurt themselves in the standings as Metropolitan Division rivals Columbus, Philadelphia and Washington \u2014 the Flyers and Capitals had a real opportunity to gain ground on an unlikely playoff spot \u2014 lost in regulation. Still, the Penguins had very little to be pleased about regarding their performance.<\/p>\n
The Penguins led 2-1 through 20 minutes but were ambushed by three Lightning goals in the second period. And as far as Karlsson is concerned, the Penguins didn\u2019t deserve the lead at the first period\u2019s conclusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey outworked us and outsmarted us right from the start,\u201d Karlsson said. \u201cWe were up 2-1 in the first but they were the better team. In the second, I don\u2019t know if we even played the game or if they were just that much better than us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game turned 11 seconds into the second period when the puck took a bad bounce over Bryan Rust\u2019s stick and sent Anthony Cirelli on a breakaway. As Muse noted, it was a bad bounce, but the Penguins weren\u2019t in a position to prepare for such a bounce, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can still react,\u201d Muse said. \u201cIt\u2019s been too much. We have to continue to look at it, address it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Karlsson, a key power-play performer, gave his two cents to the Penguins\u2019 recent tendency of allowing far too many short-handed looks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably different each time,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just certain situations when the puck is in certain spots, we\u2019re just a little bit reckless sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brayden Point and Zemgus Girgensons scored in the second period to put the score at 4-2, at which point the game was essentially over.<\/p>\n
Egor Chinakhov scored twice for the Penguins and Rickard Rakell added a goal. Stuart Skinner stopped only 27 of 32 shots in the loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a different time of the year,\u201d Karlsson said of the playoff race. \u201cThis was a good eye-opener for us. The really good teams are really starting to shape up. Tampa is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victories over the New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings earlier this week would suggest the Penguins are another one of those teams. Losses against the Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes (three times) in recent weeks might suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n
The Penguins will have a chance to write the script of their choosing soon enough.<\/p>\n
10 postgame observations\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2022 This was perhaps Sidney Crosby\u2019s most ineffective game of the season. The captain simply didn\u2019t look himself. He didn\u2019t have a shot, didn\u2019t have a shot attempt, and didn\u2019t have anything all night.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s safe to assume Crosby is operating at less than 100 percent. We know he\u2019s dealing with two leg injuries in the past six weeks. Moreover, just watch him play. There were two instances in Monday\u2019s game in New York when Crosby, in a battle for net front position, was knocked over. That never, ever happens, because he\u2019s in possession of two of the strongest legs in hockey history.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The top line of Crosby, Rust and Chinakhov struggled most of the evening despite combining for a goal in the first. I don\u2019t like those three together. It doesn\u2019t seem to be clicking. But Tommy Novak actually showed some flashes of coming out of his funk tonight, and were I coaching the Penguins, I\u2019d put Novak, Evgeni Malkin and Chinakhov back together. When that trio was together for about a month earlier this season, it was a spectacular line.<\/p>\n
Chinakhov was asked about playing with Crosby a couple of nights ago, and he said he naturally enjoyed it but that they were still searching for chemistry. Fair enough. That\u2019s perfectly reasonable. But the thing is, Malkin and Chinakhov already have chemistry and we know it. Sometimes it\u2019s best not to overthink line combinations. I\u2019d reunite those three, I\u2019d have Crosby play between Rust and Rakell, and I\u2019d place Ben Kindel in between Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The short-handed goals are becoming an epidemic. Tampa Bay also enjoyed a short-handed two-on-one in the third period, though that didn\u2019t result in goal.<\/p>\n
The Penguins are allowing breakaways and two-on-ones with great frequency. Why?<\/p>\n
Lots of reasons. They\u2019re making bad decisions. They aren\u2019t working hard enough. Malkin playing high in the zone is often a problem because of his relative lack of foot speed. The short-handed goal tonight was the result of bad luck more than anything, but Muse noted there were a couple of other shorthanded opportunities for the Lightning that he didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur recognition, it hasn\u2019t been good lately,\u201d he said, \u201cWe have to fix that part.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Lightning used the stretch pass to ignite their rush all game, and it gave the Penguins considerable problems. We\u2019ve seen this in all three meetings between these two teams this season. It\u2019s unlikely these teams will meet in the playoffs, but if they do, it\u2019s something to keep in mind.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rust missed Tuesday\u2019s game against Detroit with an injury. Given how he struggled in this game, like Crosby, I have to wonder if he\u2019s 100 percent. It was an uncharacteristically off night for a player who almost never has them.<\/p>\n
\u2022 There was some good news to come from this one: Sam Girard finally looks comfortable with the Penguins. He was good in the final two periods against the Islanders on Monday, he was even better against the Red Wings on Tuesday, and he enjoyed his best game with the Penguins on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Girard looks like he\u2019s no longer over-thinking. He had two assists in the first period, skated with conviction and was a positive on a night when there weren\u2019t many for the Penguins. His defense partner, Kris Letang, also enjoyed a fairly strong game as he continues to play better.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Chinakhov now has 20 goals on the season, and his goal in the first period was a work of art. He danced his way around veteran Ryan McDonagh and then fired a laser of a backhand shot over Andrei Vasilevskiy\u2019s right shoulder.<\/p>\n
That wasn\u2019t even a goal scorer\u2019s goal; it was just the kind of goal only the most talented of players produce.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Skinner wasn\u2019t overly sharp in this game. The numbers are what they are and I didn\u2019t like a couple of the goals he allowed. But I can\u2019t emphasize enough that the Penguins were utterly dominated in most of this game and blaming the goaltender would be foolish. They were beaten by a more physically gifted team and even worse, as Karlsson said, were outworked.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Eastern Conference playoffs are going to be fascinating because of how evenly matched so many of these teams are. In the end, I still think the Lightning deserve to be considered the favorite entering the playoffs.<\/p>\n
They have the best player in the East in Nikita Kucherov, perhaps the best goalie in the league in Andrei Vasilevskiy and perhaps the best coach in Jon Cooper. Their attention to detail in their breakouts \u2014 and in how they defend the Penguins\u2019 breakouts \u2014 was so impressive in this game. When you\u2019re that well-schooled, have that much top-tier talent and your goaltender is that good, you deserve to be the favorite.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay seems to have a different gear than anyone else in the East.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see how it goes, of course. The playoffs haven\u2019t been kind to the Lightning in recent years, but that\u2019s an impressive team.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Up next for the Penguins is a crucial weekend at PPG Paints Arena. They\u2019ll be hosting the two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Saturday at 5 p.m. and on Sunday at 3 p.m. in a strange scheduling quirk. About half of Florida\u2019s regulars are out with injury, but don\u2019t assume those will be easy victories<\/a>. The Panthers are as prideful as it gets and have beaten the Bruins and Senators in their most recent games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins were playing with house money in Tampa Bay on Thursday. And they looked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5113],"tags":[5,4,118,1469,100,5216],"class_list":{"0":"post-537810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-penguins","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-pittsburghpenguins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116338726326534336","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}