Penguins/golden Knights Recap: Special Teams Ineptitude Fails Pens Again

Pregame

A couple of debuts for the Penguins tonight, Justin Brazeau is in the lineup for the first time this season and the newest jersey hits the ice for the first time.

The Golden Knights will match that lineup with Adin Hill in net and this group.

First period

The Penguins get two power plays early in the game, they don’t score on either but keep puck possession and get a few looks on net with nothing against – so that’s not nothing for them.

Hendrix Lapierre takes a penalty later in the period and the Vegas power play shows how it’s done. Mitch Marner shoots from deep and the puck kicks out on the rebound right to Tomas Hertl. That’s bad, as is the fact the closest player to Hertl is a fellow Golden Knight. Hertl lifts the puck past Arturs Silovs, 1-0.

Sidney Crosby makes a little overeager of a back check on Marner and takes a penalty for tripping near the end of play.

Shots are 10-7 Vegas after one. Familiar story where Pittsburgh wasn’t bad, but couldn’t cash in on their power play and the Golden Knights did which leads to the difference on the scoreboard early on.

Second period

Vegas gets nearly a full two-minute power play to start the period, the Pens handle it much better and barely let them get setup.

The Pens’ first line puts on some pressure and causes Trevor Connelly to lift a puck over the glass. Crosby sets Ville Koivunen up for a glorious chance but he shoots in wide. (Kinda wish that was Evgeni Malkin or Bryan Rust, eh?)

Rest of the period drains out. Vegas looks like a team that played in Boston last night. The Pens, well, not sure what their excuse is for a sluggish opening 40 minutes. Silovs has kept them within striking distance.

Third period

The Pens come to life early in the third, Crosby wins a faceoff against Jack Eichel in a strength-on-strength matchup. Kaeden Korczak generates a goal against his former team by throwing a point shot down that Eichel gets a piece of, but the puck rolls right to Tommy Novak who is able to knock it in from in front. 1-1.

The goal helps open up the game and make it more entertaining with chances at both ends. Vegas goes back to the penalty box when Blake Lizotte gets his stick chopped out of his hands. The Pens keep zone possession for the full two minutes and work a number of nice passes but can’t find a goal.

The pressure mounts and it’s Rickard Rakell who puts the Pens ahead. Novak drives strong to the net and slides a puck across the crease. The Vegas defender made a false step towards Novak, leaving Rakell wide open to almost scoop the puck to the top of the net. 2-1, 10:02 left in the game and Vegas doesn’t even have a shot on goal officially in the period.

Vegas gets their first chance and they make it count. The Pens are still super-aggressive and get burnt when a pass from low to high goes past Kris Letang and Connelly has a breakaway. Connelly puts a heck of a forehand deke to tie the game at 2.

Jeremy Lauzon gives the Pens a power play with 4:03 to go and things are looking promising. Even more so when a high-stick hits Crosby and Pittsburgh gets a long 5v3 to score the potential game winner. They don’t really even come close.

You could almost sense an even up call would come if the situation presented itself, and wouldn’t you know it that Novak gave the refs a chance to send him to the box just seconds after the Pittsburgh power play ended. They did and Vegas was looking at a late power play to make the most of it. Wouldn’t you know who won the pony. Declan Carlile has Tomas Hertl in front of the net, until he doesn’t. Hertl’s second of the night puts the Golden Knights back in front late.

And that does it, no time really for a comeback effort. Pens fall in regulation.

Some thoughts

• What did everyone think of the new jerseys from seeing them on the ice? Everyone’s always got their own subjective take on it, for us it’s a forced smile and ‘looks nice’. The 60th anniversary logo super-imposed for TV on center ice was pretty cool (couldn’t put something like that down in reality?) and the blue matte helmets were a good touch. Maybe it’s just a dark blue concept jersey that wasn’t truly a replica of the past carries a little too much baggage, but hey, surely they’ll sell a few and serve their purpose.
• The good news for the Pens is their top line is in fine form. Rakell now has goals in five of his last six games, including four straight. Sidney Crosby is starting to look more like Sidney Crosby when it comes to creating chances in the last week or so. Novak played an inspired game and recorded two points. Good signs there.
• That said, the other side of the sword is those three players are the majority of the power play, and it still isn’t clicking right. ‘Fun’ little quirk of the game where they can look so good at 5v5 and not carry it over to when they should have more time and space to operate.
• To pile on, just can’t go 0-for-6 on the power play and let a golden opportunity of a 5v3 with time running out and the win just sitting there. Just can’t happen if you want to win a game.
• Further, the PK has been a strong point early in the season but giving up two goals, including one near the death of regulation, is a bitter pill to swallow. I’d still put the disappointment/anger level deserving on the power play group at least 90/10 as a split, but in the bigger picture that PK group still got picked apart (to be fair by some extremely talented stars on the other side).
• Carlile has had his minutes and role reduced, aside from inexplicably still being trotted out for the top PK group. 14:39 played tonight and two total goals against. I dunno, maybe try Ilya Solovyov or Jake Livanavage next time? Neither of them are going to fix the penalty kill but Carlile’s drifting into unplayable form at this point.
• Chinakhov did get three shots on goal, but his biggest impact in his limited 11 minutes and change was turning the puck over for a goal against. Tough sledding for him right now, might be a little harsh but it seems like he’s drifting back into ‘inconsistent Columbus’ version more this season than the sensation from the change of scenery boost seen last year.
• I’m sure Letang will get crushed for his part in the second goal against, simply for the optics of being aggressive when the Pens finally took a lead, but you know what? I don’t knock the idea behind it. It was only a 2-1 score, Pittsburgh had all the momentum and was sensing the chance to double the lead and really take control of the game. Things went off the rails when Chinakhov’s back pass got deflected up in the air and the end result stunk, but sometimes keeping the pedal down is the right idea, wrong ending. Most of the Vegas players were at the tail end of a shift there. It’s about context and situation there, if there’s 2-3 minutes left, the right play is to be conservative. Almost nine? I’m chalking that up here for any defensemen in that situation to attempt to support the attack.
• Feel rough for Silovs, gave up two power play goals scored by a former 35-goal scorer from point blank range with no resistance from the defense (those guys aren’t going to miss out on those types of chances..). Then a breakaway goal by a former first round pick known for his offense. In between, thought he was very good. Other than the first line forwards (at even strength only) can’t say too much more positive for the rest of the boys in those blue jerseys.
• Tonight kicks off four games in six days for the Pens, they played most of the game like it was already their fourth game in six nights. Then again, they have only played three times in the last 10, they looked a lot more in the rust than rest category with this performance. Perhaps getting into a more regular rhythm will do them well.
• Tough, tough ending. It was looking likely that the Pens would get one point out of this one. Even two for a while with how great they looked in the first half of the third period. Unfortunately for them, the second half of the period was rough and they end up taking another L.

This one will sting, at least the 11-4-1 Boston Bruins aren’t up next on Thursday night. Oh wait, they are.