Bruins Snap Penguins’ Ten Game Point Streak
Think of the 2023-24 Pittsburgh Penguins. Think of the flaws that continue to haunt them.
Power play struggles. Goals allowed in quick succession. Defensive lapses. Tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins had it all.
Let’s recap:
PIT 0-1: This goal started in Boston’s zone when Lars Eller failed to shoot the puck. Instead, he opted to pass to Reilly Smith, who fanned on the shot. Charlie Coyle collected, and the Bruins were off to the races. Coyle entered the zone and passed to Brad Marchand, who circled back before chipping the puck back to Coyle. Coyle found Andrew Peeke, who fired a shot on net. Alex Nedeljkovic appeared to have made the save, but Jake DeBrusk banged it in.
PIT 0-2: Just 14 seconds after their first tally, the Bruins doubled their lead. Matt Grzelcyk entered the zone and fired a seemingly harmless shot on net. Nedeljkovic made the stop, but in doing so produced an awful rebound. Unfortunately for the Penguins, Pavel Zacha is right there to make him pay for his mistake, and beats Nedeljkovic glove side.
PIT 1-2: Death, taxes, and Bryan Rust coming through in big games. Sidney Crosby tips a stretch pass from Erik Karlsson to Drew O’Connor, who speeds into the zone. O’Connor threads a pass to Rust, who deflects one in past Ullmark.
PIT 1-3: This Pittsburgh team loves to allow response goals; just over a minute after Rust got the Penguins on the board, Boston answered back. Pavel Zacha engaged in a puck battle against Jeff Carter and Marcus Pettersson along the end boards, and David Pastrňák swooped in to collect. Pastrňák swung behind the net and threaded a pass cross ice to Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk fired a wrister, which beat Nedeljkovic far side.
PIT 1-4: The Pittsburgh Penguins tied the Montreal Canadiens tonight for most shorthanded goals allowed this season with twelve. After winning the defensive zone face off, the Bruins pushed ahead, ever aggressive on their penalty kill. Hampus Lindholm passed up the middle to Charlie Coyle, who directed it in deep. Tristan Jarry— who had replaced Nedeljkovic after the third goal— played the puck with a gentle backhand around the end boards that eluded Erik Karlsson. Karlsson didn’t feel the pressure from Coyle, who passed cross ice to Brad Marchand. Marchand drove the net and sniped it in five hole.
PIT 2-4: Funnily enough, the power play broke even. Karlsson fed the puck to Evgeni Malkin, who skated unimpeded down below the goal line. He threw the puck towards the net, and Michael Bunting chipped it past Ullmark from his spot at the top of the blue paint.
PIT 3-4: Man oh man, this short handed beauty from Drew O’Connor gave the place life. Pastrňák established the zone and threw a pass towards Pavel Zacha. The puck hit Zacha in the skates, and bounced back to Marchand at the blue line. Marchand passed left to Charlie McAvoy, who fanned on a shot. McAvoy raced to recollect, but was hounded by Lars Eller. Eller stole the puck and fired it to O’Connor, who took off through center ice. O’Connor made a slick move around Marchand, and chipped one past Ullmark glove side.
PIT 3-5: More defensive lapses. Trent Frederic entered the zone and rimmed the puck around the boards for Jakub Lauko. Ryan Shea abandoned his post to chase the puck around the boards, which leaves Morgan Geekie alone at the right circle. Lauko tapped the puck to Geekie, who slammed it past Jarry glove side.
PIT 3-6: Even with the goalie pulled, Pittsburgh struggled with zone entries. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin battled with Pavel Zacha and Danton Heinen for the puck. Erik Karlsson scooped it up, but mishandled it at the blue line. Pastrňák pressured him and chipped sideways to an open Heinen, who didn’t miss the empty net.
PIT 4-6: Malkin got kicked out of the face off circle, and in his stead, Michael Bunting won it back to Marcus Pettersson. Pettersson chips it to Rickard Rakell, who danced around the zone and threw the puck towards the middle of the ice. Bunting slapped it on net, and it hit Evgeni Malkin on its way in.
The Good
There wasn’t much that I liked about Pittsburgh’s game tonight. But three players stood out for the right reasons:
Well, well, well, if it isn’t Big Game Bryan Rust! Although the comeback bid fell short, Rust never took a shift off. He never does. He scored Pittsburgh’s first goal of the night, and though he didn’t factor into the scoresheet again, he was phenomenal. He forechecked. He backchecked. He had seven shots on net. Rust is a warrior, and he leads by example.
Drew O’Connor was one of two Penguins with a positive plus-minus. Normally, I don’t put much stock into that statistic. But tonight I do. His shorthanded goal— a thing of beauty— gave the Penguins life. And his feed to Rust for the Penguins’ first tally of the night was perfect.
Even before the Bruins took their two goal lead in the second, I didn’t like Pittsburgh’s general lack of fight. Michael Bunting was the exception. He I think he and Rust are cut from the same cloth.
The Bad:
Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, and Erik Karlsson are crucial members of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s hard for Pittsburgh to recover when one of them plays poorly; tonight, they all did. Malkin appeared checked out. Letang remained in the funk he’s been in for over a month now. And Karlsson, who isn’t known as someone who makes good defensive plays, lived up to his reputation.
The Ugly:
This bottom six was, once again, a complete nonfactor. Lars Eller, who is usually a beacon of stability, suffered a few rare mental lapses. Valtteri Puustinen, who has a great shot, has seemingly forgotten how to use it. Emil Bemström and Radim Zohorna each played around 5:30, and were equally unimpressive. Just two days after a solid game against Detroit, Reilly Smith was back to appearing unengaged. Jeff Carter, I thought, played fairly well. But Boston scored five goals, and Pittsburgh was unable to keep up without contributions from the bottom six.
Defense as a whole was pitiful. Boston has a better team than Pittsburgh, but the Penguins made matters worse by beating themselves. Goaltending, which was one of Pittsburgh’s only strengths at the beginning of this year, has regressed significantly. In an area where the team couldn’t afford to make mistakes, they made many. And the Bruins made them pay for almost every one.
Here are some takeaways:
It seems fitting— unfortunate, but fitting— that the things that went right for Pittsburgh over their ten game point streak went wrong in the regulation loss that snapped it. Goaltending wasn’t always perfect over those ten games, but it was never as detrimental as it was tonight. The Penguins failed to simplify their game tonight, and overcomplicated things by looking for the perfect play instead of just shooting the puck. And after weeks of help from the league, today, nothing went right for them.
It was the worst case scenario for Pittsburgh today. The New York Islanders kicked the game slate off by losing to the New York Rangers in a shootout, and thus securing a point. The Philadelphia Flyers beat the New Jersey Devils in regulation, and the Washington Capitals prevailed over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even Detroit, who blew a 4-1 lead to the Toronto Maple Leafs, recovered to win it in overtime. On a night when Pittsburgh couldn’t afford to lose, they lost, and they lost badly.
From the get go, the Penguins played poorly. Their passes were off. Their response time was poor. Their heads just didn’t seem to be in it. Simply put, the Penguins were sloppy. Sloppy and careless. And you cannot afford to be sloppy and careless against one of the best teams in the league.
All hope is not lost. The Penguins sit just one point behind the Capitals, Red Wings, and Flyers. If the Penguins win both of their remaining games, they’ve still got a shot at making the postseason. But they’ll need some more help from around the league, and that means there will be more scoreboard watching in the future.
