After team losses, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan rarely lets his emotions get the best of him.
But following Pittsburgh’s 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday – a loss that saw a 2-1 lead spiral into a 3-2 deficit in just a 50-second span during the third period – he had a hard time holding back.
“What needs to change is a commitment to play defense,” Sullivan said. “That’s what I think. We weren’t willing to play defense. We didn’t spend a lot of time in our end tonight, but the time that we did, we weren’t committed to playing the right way.
“They score two goals in the third period on non-event scenarios. It wasn’t like we were under siege. It wasn’t like they were coming at us in waves — it was none of the above. It was two plays or two scenarios that were in my mind, were non-events. But we didn’t pay attention to details, we didn’t stop, we didn’t protect the good ice, we didn’t get stops in the corners, win puck battles, block shots — it boils down to details. We weren’t willing to do it tonight.”
As was the case against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, the Penguins were the better team for the majority of the game on Tuesday. They outshot the Kraken, 16-2, in the first period, but they had just one goal to show for it – as was the case against the Lightning.
This time, however, the Kraken had a goal of their own on one of their two shots in the first, which came in the form of a shorthanded goal by Chandler Stephenson. Philip Tomasino scored on a no-quit play around the net-front that the Kraken thought was dead – which came near the midway point of the first – and the Penguins took a 1-1 tie into the second.
Bryan Rust tallied his 17th of the season early in the period, which was the result of a beautiful passing play by Erik Karlsson and the rest of the cycle in the offensive zone. They held the 2-1 lead until just over eight minutes into the third, when former Penguin Jamie Oleksiak and Eeli Tolvanen scored 50 seconds apart. Kaapo Kakko added an empty-netter to seal it near the end.
Two defensive breakdowns led to both goals-against, and the Penguins know they have to be better than that.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to digest,” defenseman Matt Grzelcyk said. “We just didn’t execute well enough defensively. I think we controlled play for pretty much all of the first two periods, and we were looking to play too much offense and weren’t committed enough going the other way.”
Defenseman Marcus Pettersson took it even a step further, questioning their effort in the defensive parts of their game.
“I think it’s two games in a row here… We gave up way too much easy offense,” Pettersson said. “We’ve got to be way better in our [defensive] zone. We’re not nearly as close as we want to be to our checks. We spin away. We gave up the slot to them way too many times. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror here and ask ourselves if we want it enough.”
They need to find a way to want it enough, and find it soon. Here are just a few other notes and observations from this game.
– Pettersson was spot-on in his assessment of the specific details of their defensive game that were lacking.
On Seattle’s second goal, Oleksiak walked right between and through Evgeni Malkin and Michael Bunting, and then Pettersson committed to block a shot from Oleksiak too early. Oleksiak walked to Pettersson’s right and ripped a shot past Jarry.
Then, on the go-ahead goal, Tolvanen was left uncovered at the net-front when P.O Joseph failed to take away the passing lane and was too far out-of-position. Rickard Rakell didn’t recognize the play soon enough, and that’s when Tolvanen came in all alone.
Simply put, the Penguins don’t seem to be displaying the same level of effort in the defensive zone as they are in the offensive zone. And that’s been true for a lot of their losses since the holiday break.
“We’ve got to keep playing with details in our game,” Grzelcyk said. “I think we’ve had good starts in pretty much all of [the losses]. We’re always ready to play. But we’re not willing to do what it takes on the other side of the puck in order to keep it out of our net. We’re breaking down at the wrong times, and it’s not a recipe for success.”
Effort is something that is never questioned on this team. But Sullivan, Pettersson, and Grzelcyk all seemed to be suggesting that the defensive effort just isn’t there right now.
If that’s the case, it’s a big problem. Their 173 goals against this season are the most in the league by a good margin, and their goal differential of minus-36 is the third-worst mark in the league.
When they were on their winning stretch, yes, they were scoring a lot – but they weren’t bleeding grade-A chances and odd-man rushes like they are now. They need to figure out a way to get back to that attention to detail they had during the month of December before it’s too late.
– Malkin made his return to the lineup on Tuesday, and he was definitely very noticeable. In fact, it was obvious that the Penguins missed him.
His line was good throughout this game, aside from that shift on the tying goal. Cody Glass went down briefly in the first period with what appeared to be an injury, and Anthony Beauvillier took his place while he was gone. Glass came back in the second period.
I’m fine with either guy on that line, but Beauvillier has produced in a top-six role for the Penguins this season. I’d like to see him slot back in there.
– The first line generates a whole lot of offense for the Penguins, and it did again tonight.
But they are also on for far too many goals against, and it’s becoming a bit of a problem.
Yes, they eat a lot of minutes, and many of those minutes are turned in against the opposing team’s best players. Plus/minus is hardly a reliable stat in a lot of ways, but consider these marks:
– Rickard Rakell: minus-12
– Rust: minus-22
– Sidney Crosby: minus-17
When you consider that those three have scored 51 of the team’s 137 total goals this season – which accounts for 37 percent of Pittsburgh’s scoring – and that all three players are on the Penguins’ fifth-ranked power play unit, those plus/minus numbers look a whole lot worse.
Rakell is the only one on that line who has pretty consistently been playing responsible defensive hockey. Rust is in the midst of the worst defensive season of his career, as is Crosby. They both need to be better in their own zone.
– Rust’s goal during a delayed penalty situation, however, was a beauty. And the pass from Karlsson was pretty special:
Although Karlsson made a perfect pass on this play – and he did, generally, play very well in this game – he passed up several good shooting looks. There was a bit of hesitancy in his game that hasn’t been present for several weeks now, during which he’s played the best hockey of his Penguins’ career.
The Penguins are a better team when Karlsson is at his best. He was good on Tuesday, but the couple of games before, that hesitancy started to creep back in, and that’s when he tends to make mistakes. Hopefully, he can get back to being a bit more decisive and selfish on this road trip.
– Joseph has been a bit of a mixed bag since his return to Pittsburgh. He’s, kind of, a hard player to get a read on right now.
There are times when he makes really nice plays in the offensive zone and forces guys to the outside in the defensive zone, and there are other times – like on Seattle’s go-ahead goal – where he overcommits or completely breaks structure and exposes vulnerable areas of the ice.
I don’t want to say he hasn’t been good for the Penguins. But he hasn’t really been great, either.
– There were not a lot of people at this game. But, given the decent crowds recently, I think this had little to do with team performance.
It had everything to do with the weather.
Pittsburgh got an unexpected snowstorm on Tuesday evening, and the city was not prepared for it. The roads were untouched and terrible. Traffic – especially around the arena – was a nightmare. My normal hour-long commute took me over two hours.
So, just in case you’re wondering, that’s why no one was at this hockey game.
– I can’t imagine GM and POHO Kyle Dubas was very happy after this game.
The Penguins are now seventh in the wild card race and just seven points out of the basement in the East again. The team in last is Buffalo Sabres – who have 37 points to Pittsburgh’s 44 with three games in hand – and they play Buffalo on Friday.
In fact, all three teams below them – the Sabres, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers – all have three games in hand.
The Penguins need to win a lot of games on this seven-game road trip. That much is clear. But Dubas is also well-aware of this team’s situation, and a loss like this isn’t likely to sit well. It’s very remniscent of the time leading up to the Lars Eller trade earlier this season.
In other words – don’t be surprised to see a move within the next couple of days.
