The Penguins’ plummet continued last night at the Bell Centre in Montréal. Taking full advantage of black-and-gold blunders, the Canadiens blanked the locals, 4-0, behind a 31-save shutout performance by rookie Jacob Fowler to extend our losing streak to eight games (0-4-4).
Add horrible puck management and decision-making to our ever-growing list of woes. Perhaps in an effort to manufacture offense, we committed a staggering 19 giveaways according to NHL.com, including 11 in the opening 20 minutes. Thirteen by the forwards and another half-dozen by the defense. In the process, leaving goalie Stuart Skinner virtually awash in a sea of odd-man breaks and scoring chances against.
Our special teams, until recently a strength, were anything but. The power-play was 0-for-3 and coughed up a second-period shorty to Josh Anderson for good measure. The penalty kill yielded a first-period goal to hulking Juraj Slavkovsky on the Habs’ only opportunity.
In a virtual replay to their loss to the Sens on Thursday night, the Pens did manage to carry the play over the final 20 minutes, right down to yielding the only goal of the period (an empty-netter to Anderson).
Puckpourri
The Pens had the better of the play if you believe the stats, including a 69-50 advantage in shot attempts, a 31-21 edge in shots on goal and a 60.9 proficiency rate in the faceoff circle. However, they need to play smarter and not just harder.
I’ve mentioned this before. But sans Blake Lizotte, our penalty killing has collapsed like an unreinforced mine shaft. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe our PK was fourth in the league when he went on IR. Now it’s somewhere middle of the pack.
Whatever our myriad issues were last night, Skinner wasn’t one of ‘em. Yeah, Big Stu’s numbers weren’t pretty (17 saves on 20 shots, .850 save percentage). But two of the Habs’ goals came on breakaways, the other on the power play.
He faced down 10 scoring chances in the first period and 10 more in the second.
Coach Dan Muse gave the deck a concerted shuffle in an effort to end the skein. He replaced Danton Heinen with Kevin Hayes on the fourth line and bumped Tommy Novak back to the top line. Rickard Rakell centered the second line for Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha. The unit had great metrics (90.91 Corsi, 89.92 xGF%) according to Natural Stat Trick, but like the rest of the team, couldn’t finish.
Ville Koivunen (two shots on goal) rejoined the “Kid Line” with Ben Kindel and Rutger McGroarty. On defense, Connor Clifton (a game-high six hits) paired with Ryan Shea while newcomer Brett Kulak slotted next to Kris Letang. Jack St. Ivany was the odd-man out.
Keeping Up with Jones
Speaking of our defense, I wonder how much longer Caleb Jones will be out? He was expected to miss eight weeks when placed on IR back on October 25 with a lower-body injury.
Regarded as a journeyman, I thought Jones did a nice (and perhaps undervalued) job as Harrison Brunicke’s partner early on. In particular, the duo provided speed and puck movement from the back end, which helped fuel our connected, north-south play. Elements on the wane during our recent skid.
Musing About Dan
I was exchanging texts with PP colleague Caleb DiNatale during the game as we often do when I broached the following question.
“At what point do we think about replacing Muse?”
To be fair, much of what’s transpiring seems beyond his control. The seemingly un-ending string of injuries to key personnel for one. More so than most other teams, it appears the Pens need to be reasonably intact in order to be successful. Especially given the way the club has collapsed without Lizotte and Evgeni Malkin.
Too, there’s no question the players are pressing and gripping their sticks too tight as our descent intensifies. Not something a coach can readily fix.
However, while you certainly can’t blame Dan for being a little deer in the headlights at this stage, I can’t help but get the sense he may be in over his head.
Nor does there seem to be much in the way of player development going on with the kids, which is supposed to be one of his strengths. Yes, Kindel has been a real bright spot and McGroarty has shown flashes. But Koivunen appears to have stalled out and Brunicke quickly regressed following a promising start.
Again, not all of this falls on Muse. However, in some ways it’s beginning to feel like a continuation of the Mike Sullivan era, with an overreliance on veterans like Hayes and Heinen at the expense of promoting kids like Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes. Choices that may be driven by the front office and not Muse.
While hindsight’s 20/20, getting off to that 8-2-2 start may have been the worst thing that happened to the team and our rookie coach in terms of setting expectations too high. Expectations that may not be warranted given the talent level.
Still, the situation in general feels chaotic and out of control.
Let’s say Kyle Dubas does give his new hire a quick hook (unlikely in my view, especially at the holidays). Who would replace him?
Both Caleb and I agreed that current Pens assistant Todd Nelson might be a good choice, at least on an interim basis. At one time Nelson was considered prime head-coaching timber. In addition to his extensive experience as an NHL assistant with Atlanta, Edmonton and Dallas, he’s won three Calder Cups as a head coach in the AHL.
Nelson has gone on record as saying he wasn’t pursuing an NHL head coaching job. But perhaps he’d agree to an interim assignment.
Anyway, some food for thought.