NEWARK — Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang intently studied a crumpled score sheet outside the Penguins’ locker room Saturday following the Penguins’ 2-1 shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center.
The Penguins deserved a better fate … a much better fate, but Letang’s ghastly turnover in the final minute of the first period provided all of the offense New Jersey needed, and the Penguins’ dismal shootout performances continued, as well.
They dominated the game but lost a point.
“You’re always unhappy when you lose,” Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Muse said, before trying to take a little solace from the myriad of positives.
Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs was very good in regulation, didn’t face a shot in overtime, and didn’t stop a shot in the shootout. Silovs has faced eight shootout attempts this season and stopped … just one.
It was a disappointing end to a game the Penguins should have won. In the irony of a hockey season, the Penguins outshot their opponents just four times in the first 13 games but had an eight-game points streak; Saturday, they significantly outshot New Jersey and lost.
The Penguins got the short end of the stick with referee Garret Rank, too. Rank worked the game in Minnesota last week with some controversial calls and no-calls, including an awkward no-goal for interference and a penalty on Bryan Rust for tripping following a shoulder check.
Yeah, Sidney Crosby noticed Rank, Saturday. The Penguins’ league-leading power play got just one opportunity.
“That’s the way the game goes sometimes … I mean we we pushed hard and had some big kills there.
“It would have been nice to draw a few more penalties. And I thought we were working to do that. You know, only one and carrying the play like that, typically you’ll get rewarded a little bit more, so you know, I think just we stuck with it and we didn’t get that point.”
The Penguins were badly outshooting New Jersey deep into the third period (30-19) before Evgeni Malkin took a cross-checking penalty with just over seven minutes remaining. New Jersey peppered Silovs on the power play and the final few minutes.
The Penguins still outshot New Jersey 34-24, outchanced them 26-18, and doubled their high-danger chances, 8-4.
The Penguins considerably dominated play for most of the three periods and had all four shots in overtime.
Yet, they are now one point behind New Jersey atop the Metro Division.
“We defended way too much,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe, who may have lamented his team’s performance, but probably wouldn’t trade it for the extra point.
New Jersey’s only goal was a bewildering turnover by Letang. Arseny Gritsyuk quickly converted Letang’s blind drop pass in front of his own. Whether Letang was attempting to drop the puck to Silovs or thought defense partner Ryan Shea was close was unclear.
The Penguins have been the PDO kings of the NHL this season (PDO is the stat that tries to measure the number of goals a player or team should have scored). The Penguins’ vastly positive PDO got a bit of a course correction Saturday.
Tactically, the Penguins were largely on point, from the top line to the fourth line. It was quite a clean effort with precious few mistakes. When the Penguins did make a mistake, they were quick to clean it up.
Their tight puck support allowed them to travel the length of the ice and sustain offensive zone pressure. Of course, it didn’t hurt that a few players to dominion of the walls, including rookie Ben Kindel, who seemingly didn’t lose a puck battle through the entirety of 65 minutes.
The Penguins’ backcheck was energetic. It appeared New Jersey had more than a few odd-man rushes, but they typically became evened attacks, and the Penguins’ neutral zone set up kept New Jersey to the exterior until the latter part of the third period.
It was a game in which the Penguins’ mistakes stood out because they played cleanly.
And note: Keefe largely kept the matchup with top center Jack Hughes against the Penguins’ fourth line and third pairing of Ryan Graves and Connor Clifton. Hughes had five shots, but no high-danger chances. Zero.
Aside from Silovs’s theft at the end of the second period, Hughes was not very noticeable. That’s a big win for the Penguins.
They outplayed New Jersey for most of the game. What else can you say?
One of his best games as a Pittsburgh Penguin. That’s not hyperbole or exaggeration. Graves did a pristine job of boxing out at the net; he even skated the puck away from trouble several times, and a goal off an opponent’s face counts as a goal.
“I don’t know (if I’ve scored like that before), but a few have gone off my face,” Graves joked to PHN.
Graves had a day.
He’s a step ahead, nay, streets ahead. Hockey nerds might enjoy an iso on Kindel for the little plays he makes, and casual fans can enjoy the overt scrappiness on the walls and at the net front. The 18-year-old rookie aided, extended, or created several of the Penguins’ best shifts.
The stat sheet belied how well he played and how many pucks he stole and won. He had one shot on goal and three others that didn’t get to the net.
He is seeing the ice as if he were watching from the press box. He is controlling the play with the puck on his stick and putting pucks on the net.
He is also defending with some intensity. He shut down a would-be three-on-one in overtime with some inspired backchecking and anticipation.
Letang’s giveaway was inexplicable. But Letang had a few other rough shifts, including a third period shift in which he ended offensive pressure with a pass into New Jersey traffic, and followed it up with a bad pinch but was saved by Ryan Shea’s hard skating defense. Letang wasn’t on his game.
Silovs was quite good in the game. He robbed J. Hughes in the final minute of the second period with a highlight reel glove save.
He was on top of the crease absorbing pucks and also did something he’s struggled with: he controlled rebounds fairly well. But how do you reconcile a goalie who is playing well, but has given away three points with three abysmal shootout performances?
Muse has a Midas touch at the moment. The Penguins were beginning to snooze in the second period, and as he often does, Muse juggled the lines for a couple of shifts. The temporary line of Tommy Novak-Ben Kindel-Ville Koivunen snapped a few scoring chances, and the Penguins tilted the ice for the remainder of the second period.
Muse is getting the best from his third pairing (Graves-Clifton) and assembled a very workable bottom six from what might seem spare parts.
And his system is getting the very best from Karlsson. It’s quite fun to watch.
If there’s a little bit of advice for the new coach–work the refs. The Penguins got the very short end of the stick in the first period when Brendon Dillon tried to knock Novak’s head off, and there was no penalty. Ben Kindel was high-sticked in the face in the second period in front of both refs without a call (Rank was about 15 feet away staring directly at the play). And there were other moments in which the Penguins could have had a power play.
Muse has largely kept his cool and argued with refs without going full Mike Sullivan (You never go full Mike Sullivan), but he needs to work them harder. The Penguins are not getting calls, and it’s time to be heard, but not in the media–in hockey circles, that’s considered whining.
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