Weary team falls to Devils
The Penguins on Sunday were skating in their fifth game in seven days, this one another against a young New Jersey Devils squad that wants to go, go, go.
They are still without four of their top eight forwards, forcing them to rely on a few players who were on their taxi squad or the minors earlier this season.
And for the second time in this three- game miniseries, they couldn’t get a single goal from somebody not named Sidney, Bryan or Jake.
Tristan Jarry, as is typically the case at PPG Paints Arena, put them in position to win, anyway. But Jesper Bratt scored on a wraparound with 2:10 left in overtime to give the Devils a 2-1 victory against the Penguins in Sunday’s matinee.
The Devils took two of three games, the first two played in New Jersey, against the Penguins. Prior to that, they had just two wins in their previous 11 games.
“Every game is huge,” Penguins defenseman John Marino said. “How tight our division is, we’re always reminded of that. We know we have to bring our game every night in order to compete, especially in this division. Obviously, we need to get more production.”
From the drop of the puck, the
Penguins looked like a tired bunch, both physically and mentally. Understandable given the unrelenting schedule and mounting injuries leaving coach Mike Sullivan little choice but to tax his top players.
There were a few anxious moments defensively for the Penguins in the early going, including a shot off the post. But they got the game’s first goal 3:37 in.
To set it up, the Penguins methodically worked their way up the ice with a series of crisp passes. Jake Guentzel eventually whipped a pass through the crease to Sidney Crosby, who dropped to his left knee to bury an acute-angle one-timer.
That was the 12th goal of the season for Crosby, who must take on more of the scoring burden with Evgeni Malkin sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Crosby picked up a pair of assists Saturday afternoon in a 3-1 win against the Devils as his linemates, Guentzel and Bryan Rust, each lit the lamp once. Those three scored five times, including on the power play, in the three-game set against the Devils.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Penguins mustered just one goal. Zach Aston-Reese swept in a shot Saturday on a busted play in front of the New Jersey net.
“It would help if we could get some more from the bottom nine,” acknowledged Sullivan. “That’s one of our challenges right now. We’ve got a fair amount of guys out of the lineup. It’s a great opportunity for other guys to step up here and contribute. And that’s what we need if we’re going to get consistent results.”
Crosby was diplomatic when asked about the burden his line has had to carry in the past few games, with Malkin, Brandon Tanev and Teddy Blueger all out and Jason Zucker on long-term injured reserve.
“We generated some decent chances, every line, and didn’t capitalize,” the captain said, adding, “I think if you want to win consistently, everybody’s got to chip in.”
Still, even with just that one goal on the scoreboard, Jarry helped them get a point in the standings by keeping them in the game through the first two periods.
He made a few pointblank saves in the first as the two teams swapped chances. In the second, he shrugged off a Bratt blast on a New Jersey power play. The Devils had a whopping 16 shots from the slot through 40 minutes, per Sportlogiq.
“Tristan was real good in the first two periods. He made some big saves for us,” Sullivan said. “Our third period was our best. I don’t think we managed the puck as well as we could have in the first two periods and Jersey got some quality chances off the rush in particular. … He gave us a pretty good chance to win.”
Jarry finished with 33 saves but couldn’t get across to deny Bratt in overtime.
The only shot that beat Jarry in regulation and was Sami Vatanen’s blast from the point a few minutes into the second period.
“He’s been playing great for us,” Marino said. “He’s always giving us chances to stay in the game. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to help him out too much.”
MacKenzie Blackwood was up for a battle at the other end. His 35 saves included a Kris Letang shot that he snatched with his glove with 2:05 left in regulation.
Now the players get a welcome breather. Monday and Tuesday will be the first time in a month that they go two days in a row without a game. They are scheduled to host the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday and Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
“It’s come at opportune time,” said Sullivan, who looked a little tuckered out, too. “We just went through a stretch where we played an awful lot of games.”