It was evident from the outset of last night’s Eastern Conference tilt with the Lightning our Penguins didn’t have their A-game. Perfectly understandable in the wake of their inspired, not to mention emotionally charged, victories over the Islanders and Red Wings earlier this week.
There’s only so much juice in a battery.
Yet despite the odds being stacked against us, to say nothing of the quality of opponent, the Pens clawed their way to a 2-1 lead through 20 minutes on goals by piping hot Rickard Rakell and Egor Chinakhov.
For a brief moment, I had dreams of snagging a point or two dancing in my head.
Then Anthony Cirelli picked Erik Karlsson’s pocket at the far blue line before racing up ice and beating Stuart Skinner on a shorthanded breakaway to open the second period. In the process irretrievably shifting the momentum in favor of the Bolts.
Brayden Point and ex-Sabre Zemgus Girgensons tacked on second-period tallies, followed by third-period markers by Nikita Kucherov and Cirelli to turn the game into a rout.
Chinakhov struck again just before the final horn to make the final tally 6-3.
Puckpourri
The game pretty much followed Monday night’s Islanders script in reverse, with the tide turning on a shorthanded goal.
At their diligent, detailed best, the Lightning piled up huge advantages in shot attempts (67-46), shots on goal (33-24), scoring chances (41-20) and especially high-danger chances (21-5) per Natural Stat Trick. At times Skinner appeared to be tending goal in a shooting gallery while fending off Lightning strikes almost single-handed. Despite yielding five goals, it’s hard to fault him for the loss.
Among the few bright spots, Samuel Girard (two assists, plus-1) played a terrific game, easily his best since his arrival. He was fast, gritty and decisive with the puck. Sam also blocked a game-high six shots. He and partner Kris Letang, who likewise finished a plus-1 with two assists at long last seem to be jelling as a pair.
Although I still think it unbalanced our defense to a degree, I’m beginning to see why Kyle Dubas made that trade.
At the risk of repeating myself, my word can Chinakhov fire the biscuit. Even his backhander, which he used to stake us to a brief 2-1 lead, had flames trailing from it. With his two-goal effort, “Chinny” reached the 20-goal plateau. Incredible when you consider he had just three goals when he arrived in late December.
The sky’s truly the limit for this kid.
When foes yield the neutral zone to us and allow us to gather speed and play our connected game, we’re downright lethal. However, when opponents disrupt us in the neutral zone and apply a smothering forecheck like the Bolts did last night, it’s a whole different story. We’re likely to see a lot more of the latter should we make the playoffs.
To that end, Tampa’s fourth line of Girgensons, Yanni Gourde and Pontus Holmberg completely throttled our top line. Indeed, Sidney Crosby’s unit managed just four shot attempts to 20 against while logging an anemic 5v5 expected goals for percentage of 13.45.
A troubling observation. Crosby just doesn’t look like himself, and to my eye hasn’t for quite some time dating back to a six-game stretch prior to the Olympic break when he tallied just two assists. Since January 25, he has just one goal and 10 points in 14 games. Positively mortal.
For lack of a better way to describe it, Sid just appears slow to me and off his game. Which makes me wonder if he’s been dealing with an underlying injury in addition to his recent knee issues. Or is it possible at age 38, that Father Time is beginning to catch up with our captain?
Mercifully, last night’s defeat didn’t cost us in the standings. The Pens (38-22-16, 92 points) still hold second place in the Metro by a three-point margin over the third-place Islanders. The CBJ (88 points) lost for the fourth time in five games and dropped out of a wild-card spot. The heretofore streaking Flyers also lost and remain at 86 points.
Up next, an unusual back-to-back home set against the Panthers this weekend.
On the personnel front, defenseman Caleb Jones, back from a suspension, will miss the rest of the season with an undisclosed injury. Arizona State scoring star Cruz Lucius, acquired in the Jake Guentzel deal, opted not to sign with the Pens.
With Ville Koivunen faltering, Vasily Ponomarev back in the KHL and Guentzel thriving with the Bolts, needless to say that trade hasn’t aged very well.