Home Sports Yohe’s 10 observations: Evgeni Malkin’s penalty turns tide as Penguins get crushed

Yohe’s 10 observations: Evgeni Malkin’s penalty turns tide as Penguins get crushed

Alexandra Williams
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Yohe’s 10 observations: Evgeni Malkin’s penalty turns tide as Penguins get crushed

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NEWARK, N.J. — A microcosm of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ season took place at the Prudential Center in Newark on Tuesday.

The Penguins endured a horrific first five minutes, responded to carry play for large chunks of time, couldn’t score on the power play, took a terrible penalty at the wrong time and couldn’t bury the vast majority of their considerable scoring chances.

Same as it ever was.

The Penguins’ extremely faint postseason aspirations took something of a death blow as the Devils erupted in the third period, coasting to a 5-2 victory.

With 14 games remaining on their schedule, the Penguins are now seven points out of a playoff spot. Their next two games are on the road against Western Conference heavyweights Dallas and Colorado.

Marcus Pettersson and Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins, but Jake Allen stopped 36 of their 38 shots.

While Allen certainly played well, the Penguins have made lesser goaltenders look just as impressive this season on a regular basis.

“He played well,” Rust said. “He obviously made big saves. But sometimes what looks like big saves is just guys not finishing. I think I had a few more chances that I would have liked to have scored on. Other guys feel the same, too.”

Sidney Crosby did set up Rust’s late goal but was robbed in the first period. Crosby created a turnover and looked to have a slam dunk, only to get denied by Allen, who somehow got his stick on Crosby’s shot.

“There’s going to be momentum shifts,” Crosby said. “Obviously when we carry it, it would be nice to cash in a little more than we did. If I put that one in late in the first, we probably end up with the lead.”

Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier each scored twice for the Devils.

The Penguins weathered a first-period storm and evened the game on Pettersson’s goal in the second period.

However, an utterly unnecessary Evgeni Malkin penalty opened the floodgates for the Devils in the second period.

Meier gave the Devils the lead on the power play and they never looked back.

New Jersey scored twice within 16 seconds in the third period to put the Penguins out of their misery.

Ten postgame observations 

• The Malkin penalty couldn’t have come at a worse time. He needs to be better than that.

It was late in the second period and the Penguins were utterly controlling play. They fired 17 shots on goal in the second period and looked poised to take the lead.

Jack Hughes had the puck, skating in the neutral zone toward the Devils’ blue line. Malkin, late on a shift, attempted to steal the puck from Hughes and was correctly called for hooking. I appreciate that Malkin is an accomplished pickpocket and plays an aggressive game, but it was a selfish and ill-advised penalty. What exactly did he think he was going to do? Pull away from Hughes after stripping him of the puck? Malkin needs to acknowledge his limitations at this stage of his career. That penalty was undeniably the game’s turning point.

Sure, it would have been great if the Penguins would have killed the penalty, which they did not. But it was still Malkin that put them in that position.

• Say what you will about Mike Sullivan. It hasn’t been his finest season behind the bench, obviously.

You can’t, however, say that Sullivan isn’t loyal to the players who helped make him a two-time Stanley Cup champion, not to mention a very wealthy man.

There’s no way that Sullivan wasn’t seething about the penalty that Malkin took. I asked him about it following the game. Sullivan wouldn’t call him out. He never calls out the Big Three. Right or wrong, he won’t do it.

This was his answer when I asked about Malkin’s “unnecessary penalty.”

“Well it was (unnecessary),” he said. “It started with our lack of puck management in the offensive zone. We make a play in the high ice instead of making a play on the goal line. That feeds their transition game. We spend 25 or 30 seconds defending. Then we get tired. When you get tired, that’s when you make mistakes. You tend to take penalties. That was the result of it. It was a snowball effect. It wasn’t just one thing. It’s a cumulation of events.”

I understand what Sullivan is saying. He’s right. But if Malkin was tired, what on earth is he doing trying to strip one of the best players in the league of the puck when he’s still 80 feet away from the New Jersey net?

• The Penguins’ defensive work in front of their net was less than impressive.

With the Devils ahead 2-1 in the third period, Alexander Holtz simply got the better of Kris Letang in front of the net. This can’t happen.

Only 16 seconds later, Erik Karlsson and Pettersson got lost in front of the net and Mercer put the game away.

Sullivan wasn’t impressed with this facet of his team’s game.

“We have to defend harder,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t defend hard enough. We had inside position. We didn’t control our net front nearly as much as we should have.”

• Then, there is Ryan Graves.

Yeah.

Mercer started the scoring by beating Graves soundly in a one-on-one rush. Graves was in position. He’s bigger than Mercer. He’s got more reach. And he just let him go. That’s just horrid defense and we’ve obviously seen this from Graves far, far too many times this season.

This guy just needs this season to end and regroup this summer. He continues to be a weak link in almost every game.

• The Penguins were absolutely terrible in the first five minutes of this game. They’re lucky they didn’t fall behind by a big margin, but Tristan Jarry was there to bail them out in the early going.

This actually came as something of a surprise. Oh, the Penguins have been no strangers to slow starts. Still, given how much energy they displayed in their victory against the Red Wings on Sunday, and given that the Penguins were shockingly still very much in the playoff conversation entering this game, it would have been reasonable to expect to see some passion early in this one.

Instead, they looked like they were playing a preseason game. The players, from the top on down, and the coaching staff all need to share some of the blame for the lethargic start. It was a bad look.

• Crosby finished with one point, so if you’re keeping track of him in his bid to finish a 19th straight season with a point per game or better average, he’s now sitting at 69 points in 68 games.

Crosby was actually really, really good in this game and easily could have had three or four points. He was creating loads of offense all night.

Which begs this question, and it’s something I’ll ask Sullivan about: Why, given the desperation of the situation the Penguins are in, is Crosby not playing the full two minutes on the power play? Shouldn’t he be on both units right now? Just a thought.

• New Jersey’s speed is simply too much for the Penguins. This has been a trend for the past couple of seasons when these two play. I’m not sure how it translated on TV, but in person, it was painfully obvious how much faster the Devils are than the Penguins. It was absolutely not a contest.

• Some good news for the Penguins: The third pairing of P-O Joseph and John Ludvig continues its solid play. I thought both were good against the Devils.

Joseph’s defensive work, long his biggest issue, has been better lately and I liked his game. He skated the puck out of trouble on more than one occasion.

Ludvig’s biggest weakness is his play with the puck, but he actually made some really nice decisions in the offensive zone. He’s got a good feel for getting pucks on net and I think his skill level is just high enough — it’s not high, but hear me out — that he’s going to have a nice career as an NHL defenseman. He plays a physical game and the Penguins need so much more of that.

• Jeff Carter missed Tuesday’s game with an injury and is considered day to day, according to Sullivan.

He was replaced in the lineup by Jonathan Gruden, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the day.

• Up next for the Penguins is a game in Dallas on Friday, followed by a matinee in Denver on Sunday. There are brutal road trips, and then there is that one.

(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)



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