Script is all too familiar
This time, Carolina ties score late in third period, then wins in shootout
RALEIGH, N.C. — There has been plenty of talk around the Penguins over the past month or so about consistency, about doing the same things from game to game.
Here’s guessing this wasn’t what anybody meant.
Two days after blowing a late lead at home against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Penguins had a similar sort of game against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena — they did some good things in regulation, then found a way to blow a late lead and lose in overtime or shootout.
The 3-2 shootout loss Tuesday night against Carolina won’t obliterate the Penguins’ playoff chances.
They’re still very much in the thick of the Metropolitan Division race. But it has to cast some doubt, as a few alarming trends have emerged.
“We’d like to believe we can defend leads better,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We have in the past for a long time and been very good at it. I know we’re capable. Having said that, I thought it was a hardfought point for us [Tuesday].”
Sullivan isn’t wrong. The Penguins were terrific in the third period, and Hurricanes goaltender Petr Mrazek stood on his head, making several outstanding stops.
Then again, the Penguins also have themselves to blame.
For example, ahead, 2-1, late in regulation, Justin Williams scored off a faceoff play, Dougie Hamilton’s shot bounced in and out of Matt Murray’s catching glove and
right to Williams. Asked what happened on the goal, Murray seemed miffed by the question.
“Uh, did you miss it?” he said. “It was a shot, rebound. You know.”
At 2:56 of overtime, Kris Letang was called for slashing Sebastian Aho when the latter enjoyed a breakaway. Letang made his displeasure known and picked up a 10-minute misconduct, disqualifying him from the shootout.
“I think I gave him like a tap on the [butt],” Letang said. “I didn’t change anything on that play. I didn’t even touch him. I don’t know why he called that.”
Sullivan didn’t levy an opinion on the call, but he didn’t exactly back Tim Peel’s work, either.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think about the penalty because I’m not the referee,” Sullivan said. “His opinion is the only one that matters. The impact that it had on the game was it took [Letang] out of the shootout. He’s one of our best shootout guys.”
Without Letang, the Penguins went 0 for 3, with Phil Kessel, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel all failing to score.
But the shootout isn’t something in which the Penguins — or many other teams — put a ton of stock. It’s a crapshoot. Randomness rules.
Where the Penguins sunk themselves was another five-on-six goal allowed, the second in as many games and seventh this season. That’s one shy of the NHL lead, which is shared by three teams.
“It’s obviously something we need to get better at, especially in these tight games,” defenseman Jack Johnson said. “There’s going to be goalies pulled in tight games like this. It’s definitely something we need to improve on.”
Scoring goals at this juncture might fall into that category, too. The Penguins have four over their past three games, as the offense has suddenly dried up.
Guentzel and Letang suppled the offense on this night, but they simply aren’t getting enough fiveon-five.
Sullivan tweaked his top line in the first period. Kessel doesn’t have an even-strength goal since Jan. 30, a span of 24 games. Patric Hornqvist doesn’t have an even-strength goal in 28, since Jan. 6.
Nevertheless, like the Flyers loss, the Penguins gave themselves a chance. Murray, outside of the Williams goal, was really good in overtime.
On the sequence where Letang was penalized, his right pad save might’ve prevented the game from ending right there.
The Penguins also got a couple of key penalty kills — on a Johnson roughing minor late in regulation, then on Letang’s penalty.
“We killed one off at the end of regulation going into overtime, then another one at the end of overtime,” Murray said.
“We battled hard. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get that second point.”
Somehow, the point might not turn out to be overly costly.
If, of course, the Penguins can snap out of this current funk; they’ve now lost three in a row for the first tme since early February.
The Penguins (39-24-11) are two points up on the Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division, although Carolina has two games in hand. And the Penguins got a gift as the Islanders suffered another loss, this time against Boston.