Trouba shoulders primary blame for Rangers’ loss to Penguins
NEW YORK – Jacob Trouba was standing alone at his Madison Square Garden locker as reporters filed in following a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, waiting to put the blame squarely on his own shoulders.
The Rangers’ captain has struggled mightily since returning from an 11game absence due to a lower-body injury, with those concerns coming to the forefront 18 seconds into Monday’s game. His very first shift ended with a brutal turnover that put New York in a quick 1-0 hole.
“It’s a big mistake that cost us a big goal in the game,” Trouba said. “That can’t happen. That’s not on anybody but me.”
A tough start snowballed from there. Trouba was on ice for all three of the Penguins’ even-strength goals and five of their eight high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Through two games back, in which he’s combined for a minus-5 rating, he’s been sloppy with the puck and far from his usual physical force in the defensive zone.
Rust could be an obvious factor, and it’s possible the 30-year-old is dealing with lingering effects from the injury. But he didn’t want to hear any of that.
“I’m not going to make a bunch of excuses about it,” he said. “The positive, I guess, for me is it’s a lot of things that are easily fixable for myself that are kind of holding the team back since my coming back. If my game improves, this team’s going to be in good shape.”
That accountability resonated with head coach Peter Laviolette, who didn’t dance around Trouba’s poor play but made sure to back his captain with conviction.
“Listen, somebody comes back from injuries, it takes a minute. It’s happened to just about every player,” he said. “I have no doubt in my mind that when it comes time for the playoffs and we need warriors on the ice that he’ll be there in full force.”
Sidney Crosby remains a Blueshirts’ killer
The Penguins are a long shot to make the postseason, and maybe that’s a good thing for the Rangers (50-21-4).
Even at the ripe-old-hockey-years age of 36, Sidney Crosby remains a
Blueshirts’ killer.
He reminded everyone of that while racking up three points Monday, including a primary assist and a goal in the opening period.
The first point was the direct result of a Trouba giveaway. No. 8’s breakout attempt was easily intercepted by Reilly Smith, who then setup Crosby for a onetimer. The shot caromed off Igor Shesterkin’s left pad and right to Bryan Rust for a juicy rebound that handed Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
“I was trying to get it through to (Vincent Trocheck) and it hit (Smith’s) skate,” Trouba said. “It’s a mistake. It’s probably going to happen again in my career, but I’ve got to move forward. I’ve got to learn from it. I know I can be a better player and a more impactful player in a positive way on this team.”
Crosby nearly doubled the lead on a breakaway attempt that hit the post, then got another chance with 9:21 remaining in the first period. He cashed in for his 36th goal of the season, scoring on a redirect from the slot off a pass from Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
That put the Rangers in a 2-0 hole that they were never able to dig out of.
“You can’t spot a team two goals and expect to win in this league,” forward Jimmy Vesey said. “I think going down two that early kind of changes the whole dynamic of the game. You’re chasing the game and that kind of opens it up a little bit. Just few too many mistakes tonight.”
Inside the matchup game
Both of Pittsburgh’s first-period goals came with the same five Rangers’ skaters on the ice − Trouba, Trocheck, K’Andre Miller, Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière. Laviolette gave them the majority of first-period shifts against the Rust-Crosby-Smith line and it did not work out in their favor.
This came after the coach spent a chunk of his pregame press conference explaining why he values keeping the framework “intact” for the lines and defensive pairs he’s used all season. And while the Blueshirts can live with some of the breakdowns the Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière line is prone to given how dangerous they’ve been offensively − that trio has been on ice for 49 goals scored this season, according to moneypuck.com, which leads the league by a significant margin − it’s probably best to avoid matching them up with opponent’s top forwards.
Beginning in the second period, Laviolette made the switch to using Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jack Roslovic as often as possible against Crosby. They were effective in slowing down No. 87 while outshooting the Pens, 9-3, and limiting them to zero high-danger chances, but the Rangers couldn’t muster enough offense to make up for the poor start.
“He’s a top player and he’s tough to stop,” Laviolette said of Crosby. “I thought Mika’s line was doing a pretty good job against them and I had that matchup, which is where we’ll be oftentimes through the rest of the season and in the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, the cries for Laviolette to consider changes on the blue line are growing louder.
It’s been back-to-back rough outings for the Miller-Trouba pair − this coming after Miller’s best stretch of the season while playing alongside Braden Schneider in Trouba’s absence.
Laviolette wouldn’t completely rule out going back to Miller and Schneider in the future, but he doesn’t sound inclined to do it any time soon. His preference is to build Trouba back up and keep his physically imposing captain in that important role.
“I can’t guarantee anything with regard to a round in the playoffs or a game of the playoffs or the last game of the year,” he said prior to the game. “That’s down the road, but I know where we’ve been, I know where I’m at tonight and I know what I’m comfortable with.”