Prior to the 4 Nations Face-off break, the Pittsburgh Penguins were playing some relatively inspired hockey.
Since return-to-play, it has been nothing short of disastrous.
Their struggles continued Tuesday, as they dropped an absolute dud to the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-1. Heading into this one, the Flyers were just two points in front of them in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Now? The Penguins are not only four points back of their closest Metro competition, they are also only two points out of the basement of the East, and the team behind them – the Buffalo Sabres – have four games in hand and are 7-3 in their last 10 games.
And their goaltender is taking complete responsibility for it.
“We weren’t that bad,” Penguins netminder Alex Nedeljkovic said. “I got beat clean on five shots [against the Washington Capitals Saturday]… we had six more tonight in not even five periods of play. So, it’s hard to look at these games and say we’ve played well, but we have. I just can’t stop anything right now, and it’s pretty frustrating. These guys deserve better.
“The first shot of the game goes in from a crappy angle, the second shot beats me from thirty, forty feet away… we start to get some momentum back, and then I can’t come up with a save, and then they score two quick ones again off a faceoff. So, it’s, like… I’m just frustated right now. I don’t know what else to say. It’s disappointing.”
He wasn’t done blaming himself and the goaltending in general, either. The Penguins have been outscored 19-7 in the last three games.
Ned: “I can’t stop anything right now. It’s frustrating. These guys deserve better.”
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) February 26, 2025
“The guys in front of us are playing really well,” Nedeljkovic continued. “They played fine tonight. It kind of wasn’t a 6-1 game. If you put anybody else in the net tonight – I don’t know if we win – but it wasn’t 6-1, I’ll tell you that. So, I don’t know. We’ve got to find a way to be better in net for them… just go back to basics and just making the saves that you need to make. We’re not even making those right now.”
This game was very close at one point. The score was 2-0 after one period, as Rasmus Ristolainen and Noah Cates put the Flyers on the board. Penguins forward Philip Tomasino potted his eighth of the season a little more than six minutes into the second period, and Pittsburgh was starting to get some momentum.
But then, the breakdown ensued, just as it did in the second period against in the 8-3 loss to the Capitals on Saturday. Tyson Foerster scored just past the midway point of the second to make it 3-1, and then Cates and Bobby Brink scored two goals in 10 seconds near the end of the period to put the Flyers up, 5-1.
At that point, all momentum had been lost. Owen Tippett added the Flyers’ sixth goal in the third period, but the game was well out of reach at that point.
The Penguins were lifeless. They looked deflated. And they looked like a team that had given up.
But, despite Nedeljkovic taking the blame and the fall for the loss, head coach Mike Sullivan did not agree with his assessment.
“Listen,” Sullivan said. “The goaltending had nothing to do with it tonight. We simply weren’t good enough as a team.”
He doubled down: “Ned’s a good goalie. Goaltending had nothing to do with it tonight.”
Instead, he blamed the team’s inability to play responsible hockey. Sullivan – and the team – thought they played pretty well against the New York Rangers on Sunday, despite the loss.
Tonight, not so much.
“Clearly a different team,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard to win when you don’t manage the puck. You turn it over in the wrong areas of the rink, and you don’t win a puck battle in any zone. For me, it makes it hard to win.”
He continued: “I thought we had good energy off the start. We get down early in the game, but there’s a lot of hockey to play. We make it 2-1, or whatever. We’re right there. And then, we proceed to not win puck battles, be careless with the puck… It’s just not a recipe for success. If you don’t manage the puck in this game and you don’t play straight-ahead, you’re going to give teams easy offense. And that’s what we did.”
The hardest part about all of this is those standings points. The players are well-aware of where the team is at, and they’re also well-aware that time is not their friend. In fact, there isn’t a whole lot of it left.
Still, they believe in the group they have and are confident they can claw their way back if they take things one game at a time. And, really, that’s all they can do right now.
“We’ve just got to look one day at a time and game-by-game,” defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “We know the position that we’re in, and if you start thinking about the big picture… it might get a little bit discouraging, and we can’t let that happen.
“We’ve still got a lot of hockey left, and we’ve got a good group of guys in here. We’ve just got to stay in the moment and try and find it for each day. Today, obviously, we fell short on that.”
Just a few thoughts and observations from this one:
– I think both things are true.
The goaltending wasn’t nearly good enough in this one, and the defense was putrid.
On the first two goals, Karlsson – on a turnover – and Kris Letang – because of terrible gap control – made consecutive mistakes. On Foerster’s goal, Rickard Rakell turned the puck over in the neutral zone on an ill-advised pass. On the fourth goal, Matt Grzelcyk got beat in a battle at the net-front. P.O Joseph got beat on the fifth goal driving the net.
And on the last goal, a terrible breakout pass by Vincent Desharnais right to Tippett and then a subsequent turnover by Danton Heinen right in the slot to Matvei Michkov led directly to the tally.
Every single goal was a consequence – direct or not – of a defensive misplay, a turnover, or a mistake. That being said, the goaltending simply needs to be better.
Nedeljkovic is a great guy in that locker room. He was playing at a very high level before the break, and he has not been good in two games since.
If I’m the Penguins, rookie Joel Blomqvist is getting most of the starts for the rest of the season. It’s nothing against Nedeljkovic. But with the Penguins where they are in the season, they need to see what they have in Blomqvist and how he handles the adversity.
It’s needed for his development. This should be his net for a while.
The #LetsGoPens are in unfamiliar territory, as they actually have some legitimate talent developing at the AHL level.
But once they get the NHL call – like goaltender Joel Blomqvist – the development doesn’t stop.
Patience is required:@TheHockeyNews https://t.co/2hINtRMAT5
— Kelsey Surmacz (@kelsey_surmacz4) February 25, 2025
– Joseph, in particular, is getting beat pretty badly right now.
And, yes, that includes physically. He isn’t winning puck battles. He’s getting beat at the net-front. He’s turning the puck over. He’s often out of position.
The Penguins recently claimed young defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok off waivers from the Utah Hockey Club. I think it’s worth a shot to give him some minutes over Joseph right now so the team can see what they have there.
– This is the most heartless game I’ve seen the Penguins play all season.
They were playing like a deflated team. I said it before, but it felt like they simply gave up after the Flyers went up 4-1. There wasn’t any hustle by – yes, the first line – on the fifth goal, and they just look like a sullen, defeated team.
After a rematch against the Flyers on Thursday, the Penguins will play non-division opponents for a string of seven straight games. While that’s probably a good mental reset for them, it’s not great for their playoff hopes, as they seem to be losing the most important games.
It’s certainly not out of the question that the Penguins could have a lottery pick this season. But something folks have to remember is that you can never force a team to lose.
These guys care, and they’re going to care until the regular season ends. Or, at least until they’re mathematically out of it.
If you’re out there hoping for a tank, no, it’s not happening intentionally. These guys are wired to want to win. And they’ll keep trying – even if the talent simply isn’t there.
Buckle up. We’re a week and a half out from the NHL trade deadline. I’d expect this team to look quite a bit different by then.
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