The Pittsburgh Penguins led with one second remaining, and yet for the 11th time since the beginning of last season, they lost in a shootout. The Anaheim Ducks accepted their neatly wrapped gift with grace by scoring with 0.1 seconds remaining to force overtime, and needed only one shootout goal for a 4-3 shootout win at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins bombarded Anaheim with a season-high 48 shots, including eight in the extra period, which absolutely should not have been necessary.
Not only did the Penguins give up a goal with fractions on the clock, but it was also a shorthanded goal featuring abysmal defensive collapses by D-men Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.
“I mean, there’s always going to be reasons. We’ve just got to find a way to close it out. When you get in those situations late in games, it’s it’s not usually pretty,” said Sidney Crosby. “In this case, with the power play and it just being even (5v5), yeah, we’ve just got to find a way to keep the puck out of our net.”
Make no mistake, the players were disgusted. So, too, was the coaching staff. They wore it on their faces as they marched to their offices. A few extra syllables were muttered, too.
Coach Dan Muse underwent his first postgame grilling. His answers were obviously shorter than usual, perhaps even a bit curt, though he stopped short of being brusque or any hint of imperious tone. He, too, was obviously some combination of exasperated, frustrated, and just plain angry.
Victory was theirs, but with the final few seconds ticking down, the Penguins broke down.
Letang turned his shoulders instead of squarely defending the player. He chased a puck that was already controlled by Beckett Senecke, getting walked in the process. Karlsson left his feet, sliding into his goaltender instead of making a simply stick-on-stick play. Karlsson acknowledged accidentally slapping the puck into his own net.
If either defenseman made a simple defense stand, the game ends. Penguins win. Instead, it was another miserable and frustrating loser point for a team that deserved much better.
“It’s definitely something that should not happen. You know, 17 seconds left, up a goal, (with a) power play. We win the face off, and they score a goal,” Karlsson said. “This was a game that shouldn’t have happened the way it did. We can sulk for a day or two and come back … Thursday and play again.
There is also the matter of having the two most offensive defensemen, and perhaps sometimes mistake-prone defenders, on the ice together in the final 15 seconds.
It was indeed a Penguins power play, but it’s also a fair question. Why?
“Both of those defensemen are out there in every situation. They’re out there, they play five-on-six. Both guys are used in defensive situations as well,” Muse said. “You get into a situation like that, if you have possession, you know pressure’s going to be coming. We feel like O-zone is key possession, and the goalie doesn’t come out of the net (if we have the puck). It didn’t happen.”
The new coach deserves plenty of leeway. As the emotions settle from the Penguins’ seventh extra-time loss and fifth shootout loss, the Penguins are still in a better spot than expected. But the bitter taste of being force-fed blown points can only cause frustration.
Muse’s trust in his top defensemen in a big situation is understandable, but being a little more conservative would have mitigated his risk and criticism.
If the Penguins were only average in extra time, they would be leading the division and have the best winning percentage in the Metro Division.
Penguins Analysis
With the black clouds of another loss rolling over the horizon, breaking down the game provides a head-snapping juxtaposition that only the Penguins could accomplish.
Tactically, the Penguins played extremely well. They held onto pucks both in the defensive zone and the offensive zone. The methodical breakouts exposed Anaheim’s forecheck attack, and the Penguins moved past either with skating or secondary breakout options.
The Penguins didn’t play chuck-a-puck into the zone and hope for the best. They showed puck poise and played to the defensive weaknesses of the Anaheim forwards by claiming the space through the neutral zone and into the Anaheim zone.
The Penguins again displayed puck skills with controlled zone entries. They got the puck to the net and created some chaos.
The Penguins outchanced Anaheim 43-19. The Penguins allowed just three high-danger chances. Three. They dramatically had more great chances by a mark of 18-3.
And yet…
We asked both Karlsson and Muse what needed to happen to get a few more across the line.
“I think the big thing that stood out was a lot of pucks right around the net that we didn’t get an opportunity to get to, but I don’t know,” Muse said. “To look again at what the final shots were, I think there were good chances. We probably passed up some opportunities to shoot. There were some times where we got moving around the outside, we had good zone time, we weren’t getting into the net, and as much as we could.”
Both seemed to be on the same page, even if they used different language.
“Good question. I think we did a good job in controlling the puck and tiring them out. It’s hard to defend when you’re tired, we all know that,” Karlsson said. “Maybe (we needed to) get a little bit more traffic in front of the net and get a few more dirty goals instead of shots from the perimeter with no one in front and needing a perfect shot for it to go in. So, maybe (we need to) create a little bit more chaos by the time that the players get tired, and we’re controlling play.
“It’s looking good sometimes, but it doesn’t really generate play.”
Penguins Report Card
Team: B+
You lose, you don’t get an A. They needed two more seconds. That lost point is going to stick with them, even if they want to take the positive.
“We know we’re a good team, but obviously we still have a lot of things to work through and figure out to be able to close games, because close, but not close enough.”
Arturs Silovs: B
It’s time to dial down the Silovs’ burial procession. He was solid, though unspectacular. It’s also worth noting that Silovs stopped one of two shootout shots, but the Penguins zonked all three.
Silovs largely made the saves he should have made, but there is one unique flaw in his game: His near refusal to cover pucks.
Tommy Novak: A
Novak played his second consecutive strong game beside center Sidney Crosby. The games have been the best two of Novak’s Penguins career by a country mile, or a few light years. Maybe he has found a home? It’s too early to say definitively, but early returns are quite interesting.
One goal and six shots. Not bad.
Ryan Graves-Connor Clifton: A
It seemed the pair was living dangerously a few times, but backchecking forwards and good recoveries settled their thirst in the offensive zone.
Graves and Clifton had a–wait for it–97% expected-goals for rate. That’s obscenely good. Clifton also delivered a few good hits and defensive stands to dislodge pucks in the defensive zone.
Clifton can be a little inconsistent, but it seems Graves-Clifton > Graves-Dumba.
McGroarty-Kindel-Koivunen: Send Antivenom
The trio is more snakebitten than a line in recent memory. The third line dominated their competition, having more scoring chances (15) and more high-danger chances (6) than any other Penguins line.
They could have, should have, nearly had several goals, but got none. Ville Husso made a few brilliant saves on Ville Koivunen, and Rutger McGroarty couldn’t finish a couple of rebound chances.
Dan Muse: He’ll Learn
Muse doesn’t seem to be the overly stubborn type who will pound and pound the square pegs. He put his top two defensemen out on a last-second power play. That was the right call on paper, but a mistake in the real world.
One of the reasons the Penguins have so many players excelling beyond previous seasons is Muse’s encouragement and lack of mitigation. He is unencumbered by the past, which in this case may have been costly.
Should he have had the third or fourth line on the ice with at least one defensive defenseman? Yes. Will he next time? Yeah, probably.
Categorized: Penguins Analysis
