Conventional wisdom suggests that teams play a smarter, tighter brand of hockey when they take the lead.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are anything but conventional, and it’s killing them.
Mike Sullivan’s team blew a two-goal lead for the fourth time in eight games on Tuesday, managing only a point in a 4-3 shootout loss against the New York Islanders.
Through 40 minutes, the Penguins played perhaps their finest hockey of the season and took a 2-1 lead courtesy of goals from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
“We just need to play better,” Sullivan said. “We should have played the way we did in the first two periods and we’d be fine.”
When Michael Bunting scored to make it 3-1 in the third period, a victory seemed at hand.
“I thought we dominated the first two periods,” Sullivan said.
However, a multitude of turnovers, bad penalties, lost puck battles and generally irresponsible play led to the Islanders tying the game and ultimately prevailing in the shootout.
This loss ends the Penguins’ modest two-game winning streak, though they do now have points in three straight games for the first time this season.
Still, at 5-7-2, the Penguins are in need of claiming as many points as possible, and this was there for the taking. The undermanned and struggling Islanders were no match for the Penguins’ speed and precision during the opening 40 minutes.
These Penguins, though, rarely put together 60-minute efforts and this one was no different.
Up next for the Penguins’ is a brutal back-t0-back stretch that will see them play in Raleigh on Thursday night and in Washington on Friday night.
Ten postgame observations
• The Penguins’ roster is flawed, as we’ve discussed many times in this column. We know where their deficiencies lie.
Still, they have no one to blame but themselves for this game. When they took a two-goal lead, they completely changed their approach. They had played a notably smart game through 40 minutes. I was planning on writing a glowing article about how impressive they were, how smart they played, how this is the way.
Then, Malkin threw a blind center pass that led to an Islanders’ rush.
Then, Crosby, for the second time in the game, lost control of the puck in the middle of the ice, giving the Islanders a rush.
Erik Karlsson, who was really good most of the evening, let a man get behind him.
This all happened while it was still 3-1, mind you.
A Drew O’Connor offensive-zone penalty started the problems, which led to Simon Holmstrom’s power-play goal.
J-G Pageau evened the game only 3:07 later, when some bad Penguins’ coverage in front of goalie Alex Nedeljkovic led to doom.
A minute later, for good measure, Bunting took an unacceptable offensive zone penalty to give the Islanders a glorious chance to prevent the Penguins from earning a point.
Really, really bad stuff all around.
• Blame Sullivan if you want. It’s fair that he should receive some of the blame at this point. His team is performing horribly defensively and horribly when it has a lead. That’s on the coaching staff to some extent.
I will say this, however: Hall of Fame players are making a lot of the mistakes in these situations. I’m not sure how much we can blame the coach for that. We don’t give him any credit when they do great things, right?
Either the message isn’t being received or the message isn’t good enough.
• It’s a shame that O’Connor took the penalty that swung this game. I thought he was the Penguins’ best player in the first period and I thought it was one of his best outings of the season.
Still, you can’t take that penalty in that situation. It was a borderline call, incidentally, but it’s still bad situational hockey. When you’ve got a two-goal lead in the third period, don’t give the referees an opportunity to make that call. They probably don’t call it in a tie game, but they typically officiate the score and one must be aware of that in the given situation.
O’Connor has five shots on goal, tied with Crosby for the team lead. He was a force, especially in the first period, which might have been the most dominant he’s looked at the NHL level. He was a microcosm of his team on this night.
• The Penguins had a wonderful opportunity to win the game in overtime when Karlsson drew a penalty, giving his team a team-minute, four-on-three power play.
It absolutely bombed.
The lack of intensity on the power play was really, really noticeable. No one wanted to shoot. Sullivan didn’t call a timeout before the power play, nor 30 seconds into it when there was a whistle, despite Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Karlsson having been on the ice from the opening puck drop in overtime.
None of it made sense.
Making matters worse, the top unit refused to leave the ice for the entire two minutes, and they were out of gas when the power play ended, which resulted in a big momentum swing.
• On the bright side, Crosby continued his recent rampage.
His first-period goal gives him five goals in his past three games and eight points in his past four games. He ripped a backhander to give the Penguins a lead, marking the 598th goal of his career.
Sidney Crosby 🤝 Backhand goals pic.twitter.com/D2qmmagd0A
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 6, 2024
So, we’re officially on 600 watch for Crosby. He usually records most of his milestones on home ice, and the Penguins do have two home games following their swing through Raleigh and Washington.
It would be pretty fitting if Crosby were to score No. 600 while playing against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. Those two have a bit of a history, you could say.
• The goal almost didn’t happen.
Patrick Roy challenged the play, believing it to be offside. It appeared to be offside indeed, as Noel Acciari was technically still on the ice while executing a line change, his blade touching in the offense zone as Karlsson’s lengthy pass sailed into the zone.
This is tough. On one level, yes, it did appear to be offside and I understand why Roy was irate.
On the other hand, it had absolutely nothing to do with the play. The fact is, there are eight players for one team technically on the ice every time there is a line change. We don’t call that too many men on the ice very often, right?
It all depends on how you interpret that one. But given the spirit of the rule, I think the correct ruling was made. (I hate when NFL teams get called for having 12 men on the field when the 12th guy is sprinting toward the sideline and one foot from the sideline when the ball is snapped. Technically a penalty, yes. But common sense should prevail. Same concept here.)
• Nedeljkovic was pretty good. Even though the Penguins controlled play, they still gave up their share of Grade-A looks, including two breakaways. It’s just who they are.
He was there to make a number of big saves. Nedeljkovic isn’t their savior, but he’s not their problem.
• I love Acciari’s game right now. He’s been menacing, he’s a big-time penalty killer and he’s even looked to be a bit of a threat offensively.
I’d argue his two last games have been two of the finest games he’s played in a Penguins’ uniform. He needs to stay healthy, which rarely was the case last season.
• If the Penguins don’t play smarter hockey, they’ll be handled by the red-hot Hurricanes. Carolina is the kind of team that makes you pay for such mistakes, and the Hurricanes also don’t make silly mistakes. They’re essentially the anti-Penguins, and the Penguins rarely play well at PNC Arena.
This strikes me as a very difficult game for the Penguins.
• Bunting’s goal was noteworthy because it marked the first time in six games that the Penguins have scored a five-on-five goal without either Crosby or Malkin on the ice.
This can’t continue. Given the Penguins’ considerable goal-prevention issues — and let’s be honest, I don’t see them going away — they need to produce even more offensively to have a chance.
The top line of Crosby, Malkin and Rakell has been sensational, yes. But can you afford to keep that line together if no one else is scoring?
Something to consider.
The decision to unite the big names was primarily made to jumpstart Crosby, and has it ever worked. But he doesn’t need Malkin’s help to perform, and the second line would seem to need Malkin badly. I think it’s inevitable that we’ll see a change at some point soon.
(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)
