The Penguins entered this afternoon’s matinee matchup with Calgary riding a six-game winning streak that included thumpings of some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. The Flames, smack in the middle of a five-game road trip and losers of four-straight by a combined score of 17-6, were mired in the doldrums.
If ever a game had TRAP stenciled all over it, this one surely did.
According to script, the Pens, who’d played so darn well since the Christmas break, reverted to some bad old habits that conjured up memories of that horrendous 0-4-4 slide in December.
Namely, a flat-as-a-pancake start that featured more turnovers then your local bakery. We had difficulty transitioning out of our zone, due in no small part to the Flames’ chippy, badgering style. Passes clanked off stick blades or missed the target altogether.
No great surprise that the Flames snatched the early lead on a breakaway goal by Connor Zary at 2:33 of the first period.
To the Pens’ credit, they woke up in the second period and pushed back hard against a very determined foe. Midway through the frame we knotted the score off a turnover in the neutral zone. Egor Chinakhov and Evgeni Malkin burst into the Flames’ zone on a 2-on-1. After working a give-and-go with his countryman, Chinakhov ripped the puck past netminder Devin Cooley high glove side to knot the score.
The two teams pretty much slugged it out from there, giving no quarter and asking none.
Unfortunately, it was the Flames who broke the tie just 42 seconds into the final period. With our defense pretty much melting in his path, Matt Coronato struck on a wrister from inside the right circle off the rush to make it 2-1, Flames.
After the PA system piped out Renegade mid-period to stoke the crowd, the Pens got fired up, too. We appeared to net the equalizer when Tommy Novak punched the puck past a down-and-out Cooley, sprawled on the ice courtesy of a bump from Sidney Crosby and a swell acting job. It appeared that hulking Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl had shoved Sid into Cooley, but the refs quickly waved off the would-be tally.
With game entering the home stretch and having been burned on at least two previous occasions involving goalie interference, coach Dan Muse elected not to challenge.
Didn’t matter. The Pens soon found themselves shorthanded anyway on a dubious tripping penalty issued to Brett Kulak. (Those darn zebras get us every time.) By the time we killed it off and pulled Arturs Silovs for an extra attacker, there was barely two minutes to mount an attack.
Give credit where credit is due. The Flames deserved this one.
Puckpourri
Bryan Rust sat out with a lower-body injury, forcing Muse to juggle his lines. He shifted Novak to the top unit alongside Sid and slotted Kevin Hayes in as center on the Big Line. The unit had its typical solid metrics, but was on the ice for Zary’s goal, courtesy of a giveaway by Ryan Shea.
Shea would make amends by forcing the turnover that led to Chinakhov’s goal.
This isn’t meant to come off as mean as it sounds, but there’s no way to sugar-coat it. The Pens are 6-9-7 with Hayes in the lineup and 15-4-2 without him. Try as he might and good guy that he is, his slower style just doesn’t mesh with the speed game the Pens are trying to play.
Rafaël Harvey-Pinard was recalled from the Baby Pens but didn’t dress. The 27-year-old left wing and former Canadien has seven goals and 13 points in 32 games this season at Wilkes. Avery Hayes is out with an injury, in case you were wondering.
The “New” Line of Geno, Chinakhov and Ben Kindel once again struggled, metrics-wise. But man, oh, Manischewitz, can Egor fire the pill. Elite release, accuracy and speed. I heard through the grapevine that his wrist shot has been clocked at 100 mph. Talk about getting on you in a hurry!
Oh, and notice I called him Egor and not Yegor. Apparently we’ve been misspelling the poor guy’s name since he entered the league.
Back to Malkin. He was whistled off for roughing Zary immediately following Chinakhov’s goal. The Flames’ forward appeared to purposely skate into the big guy’s path as Geno skated behind the net to join the celebration and got run over for his trouble. Yet No. 71 was the one issued the penalty.
(Those darn zebras, part 2.)
Silovs stopped 23 of 25 shots and generally acquitted himself well. His .920 save percentage marked the first time he’s breached the .900 in a game since December 9 covering seven starts.
As of this post, the Pens (21-13-9, 51 points) are in fifth place in the Metro, one point out of a wild-card spot.
Tomorrow, the Bruins in Boston. The Beantowners are fresh off a 10-2 thrashing of Mike Sullivan’s poor Rangers. Let’s hope/pray they used up their allotment of goals for the weekend.