Are tweaks on tap after two games?
Sullivan, Penguins have a few days off to consider what changes might need to be made going forward
If there is good news after the Penguins got outskated and outworked Saturday at home by a squad that many predicted to finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, it’s that they get five days to figure out what happened.
Plus, coach Mike Sullivan, who was understandably irked after a humbling 5-1 loss to the young Montreal Canadiens, might not mind after looking at the big picture that his players will have to dwell on that dud of a performance until Thursday against the Vegas Golden Knights at PPG Paints Arena.
“It’s never a good thing, but I’d rather have [a wake-up call] now than later,” forward Patric Hornqvist said. “But we have to be better. That’s the bottom line.”
With 80 games left, it’s definitely too early to panic — but not too early to tweak.
And with a couple of practices and a rare off-ice workout before the Golden Knights come to Pittsburgh, Sullivan can consider lineup changes, tinker with X’s and O’s and make his players skate their tails off if he feels like going old school.
“We’re going to look at everything,” Sullivan said. “We’ll put everything on the table, try to digest it and see where we go from here in order to get better. I think that’s the most important thing. It’s Game 2. I’m not going to sit here and overreact. … But more so than the result [Saturday], what’s concerning to me is the process.”
So what might Sullivan have been mulling Sunday? Here are our five best guesses.
• Who should Jack Johnson skate with?
The newcomer performed well in his debut Thursday in a 7-6 overtime victory against the Washington Capitals, holding his own against Washington’s two lethal top lines and getting some time on the penalty kill and the second power-play unit. In that game, he was the only Penguins defenseman without a turnover. But on Saturday, the Canadiens picked off one of his passes in the neutral zone, and Paul Byron split Johnson and his partner, Olli Maatta, before burying a breakaway. That wasn’t the only time Johnson and Maatta weren’t on the same page. Sullivan had Johnson with Justin Schultz at the start of training camp and into the preseason, and they looked like a pretty good combination. Perhaps two games are enough for Sullivan to give it another shot.
• Is it time to give Juuso Riikola a shot?
Another way to shake things up on the blue line is inserting Riikola, a rookie defenseman from Finland who impressed in camp and the preseason with his slick game and quick acclimation to the NHL’s speed and smaller ice surfaces. Sullivan praised Riikola yet again Saturday after a morning skate, adding that Riikola, twice now a healthy scratch, would get an opportunity to play for the Penguins at some point. Sullivan might not have had this upcoming Thursday in mind, but he is surely considering it after watching his defensemen give up a bunch of pucks and leave way too many opponents open in high-danger areas. So if Riikola is in, who sits? Maatta or Jamie Oleksiak might be the odd man out if Sullivan wants to get a glimpse at Riikola.
• Stick with Daniel Sprong or sit him?
The Penguins were dissatisfied with the 21-year-old’s preseason performance, and the winger acknowledged he put too much pressure on himself and thus tried to do a little too much. That has carried over into the first two games of the season, with Sprong holding the puck too long and getting knocked off the puck or making blind passes to where he thinks his teammates probably will be. Sprong did make a simple play Saturday that set up the team’s only goal, fending off a Canadiens player along the wall to get a pass to Kris Letang at the point. But with Sprong still looking a little lost, and Sullivan wanting his team to play with more responsibility and spunk, he could sit Sprong in favor of Derek Grant, a solid two-way forward who came from Anaheim.
• Is it too early to shake up the top lines?
Sullivan lamented after the loss that too many of his players are only worried about scoring goals, and that led to quality chances the other way in both games. Among the stat-chasers are some of Sullivan’s best forwards. The line of Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin was on the ice for three opposition goals. The Crosby line allowed a 2on-1 goal against the Capitals. Plus, the big guns gave up a back-breaking short-handed goal Saturday, making it 4-0. But you can’t shuffle one line without impacting another. So Sullivan could opt to keep his top three trios intact — especially since he was feeling good about the Derick Brassard-Bryan Rust-Dominik Simon third line as of a couple of days ago — and limit the tinkering to the fourth line.
• What can you do about Matt Murray?
If it were up to a small but vocal chunk of the fan base, the Penguins would send their two-time Cup-winning goalie to Wilkes-Barre — unless, of course, there’s room for him in Wheeling. Sure, Murray looked shaky in both games and gave up a bad goal in each. He then raised eyebrows after the loss Saturday when he said, “I honestly felt pretty good.” Two of those eyebrows belonged to Sullivan, who uncharacteristically snipped, “Matt’s game is in the same place where our team is,” which is to say far from its peak. But Murray allowed 11 goals in his first two games last season, too, then reeled off seven consecutive wins. The Penguins just have to trust that he is, like he says, “trending in the right direction,” even if it didn’t look like much progress was made Saturday.