Looking for a rebound
Players hope to quickly forget poor showing
Don’t discard the details of Saturday’s 5-1 loss to the St. Lous Blues. Then again, try not to freak out, either.
The Penguins did plenty wrong on an afternoon at PPG Paints Arena in which they saw their winning streak end at three games.
Their start was lousy, and they afforded St. Louis — which had lost three straight and scored that many goals while doing it — way too many Grade A chances in front of the net.
But the takeaway from this one won’t be the loss itself.
It’ll be how the Penguins bounce back.
“I think our mentality has to be a playoff one,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. You’ve got to be able to forget about it.”
Moving past Saturday’s loss — just their second in
regulation since Feb. 23 — will be important for myriad reasons.
One, the Metropolitan Division outlook. The Penguins (39-24-9) actually remain in a pretty decent spot, their 87 points offering a fourpoint edge on Carolina and Columbus entering Saturday night’s games.
Two points ahead in second, the Islanders lost Saturday, and the Capitals — who have a four-point edge for first — faced the high-powered Lightning in a Saturday night showdown.
“It’s all about perspective,” said Matt Murray, who allowed four goals on 13 shots in 22 minutes, 41 seconds before he was pulled. “We have to move by this one.”
Also, look at the Penguins’ recent history.
The previous time they lost was a week ago, in Columbus, in a similar sort of stinker. The Penguins reracked quickly, came home and ended the Bruins’ 19game point streak.
Before that was an overtime defeat in Buffalo on March 1, and the Penguins quickly righted themselves the next night in Montreal, clobbering the Canadiens 5-1.
The same sort of bounceback will be needed Sunday, especially from the start — which was a problem spot against the Blues.
St. Louis had more urgency during the first few minutes and surged ahead 10 on a goal by former Penguins prospect Oskar Sundqvist at 4:56 of the first period.
After defenseman Colton Parayko won a battle with Zach Trotman and left the puck for left wing Jaden Schwartz, the Penguins failed to pick up Sundqvist at the top of the circle.
The next goal might have been worse, and it continued a trend for the Blues (37-27-7) this season.
Jake Guentzel turned it over. Center Ryan O’Reilly dug the puck out of the corner, and the Penguins allowed defenseman Vince Dunn to creep into the slot and blast a shot past Murray.
“We don’t want to give up the quality chances that we did,” Crosby said.
To do that, coach Mike Sullivan explained, the Penguins need to be more aware in their own zone.
“If we track back into our end zone and there’s a question of control, we have to think defense first,” Sullivan said. “We have to protect the scoring area.”
The inability to do this continued in the second period, as the Blues put the game out of reach with two goals in 70 seconds.
On the first, right wing Robert Thomas curled around the net and threw a backhander in front. Left wing Pat Maroon, allowed to hang out there, scored while tied up with Justin Schultz.
On the fourth St. Louis goal, Maroon did the dancing around the net and found defenseman Jay Bouwmeester all alone in front.
“We left guys open in some Grade A areas in front of the net,” Schultz said.
Dunn added a power-play goal in the third to give the Blues 43 goals by defensemen this season, best in the NHL. The Penguins countered with Dominik Simon’s first goal in 21 games, although rookie sensation Jordan Binnington was tremendous in a 40-save effort, denying the Penguins on a few terrific chances.
“We couldn’t find a way to execute around the net,” Crosby said.
That’s been a rarity for this team of late. Their past week includes wins over the Bruins and Capitals, two of the big boys in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins have also knocked off the Blue Jackets twice recently, part of a 14-game run in which they’ve averaged 3.4 goals per game.
So, take what happened Saturday and think critically about it. Fix some stuff. But don’t dwell on it. Because the Flyers are here Sunday, and the Penguins need points.
“It wasn’t our day,” Schultz said. “This time of year, we just have to forget about it and move on.”