Penguins/Senators Recap: Pens fall in big early hole, lose to Ottawa

Early goals against strike yet again in Pittsburgh’s 5-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators

Pregame

No Evgeni Malkin for a third straight game, so the Penguins stick with what was working against Edmonton.

The visiting Ottawa Senators have this lineup.

First period

Ottawa jumps on Pittsburgh early. Noel Acciari deflects a point shot, which is a problem since he’s in his defensive zone. The Sens are on the board with their first shot.

Pittsburgh challenges for goalie interference, since who knows what that means in the eyes of NHL officials. In this case, it turns out Matt Grzelcyk being a defensive liability is not a disallowable offense for Tim Stutzle. Probably as it should be. 1-0 early, and Pittsburgh goes to the PK as a result of the failed challenge.

They almost survive, but almost doesn’t count. Shane Pinto releases into space and then fires quickly, and Ottawa scores on their second shot too. 2-0.

Physicality increases at this point, centered around Michael Bunting and Nick Cousins trying to get in after one another and various teammates coming to their aid. Lots of penalties coming from physical scrums, Nedeljkovic even gets into the mix.

Ottawa puts one more on the board before intermission, on the Pittsburgh power play. Erik Karlsson falls away on the 2-on-1 and gives Pinto plenty of space on his short-handed rush, so he uses it and fires it in. 3-0.

Ugly stuff from the Penguins, it’s not like they lost composure like they did against NYI back in the day but they weren’t terribly focused on playing hockey either.

Second period

Sidney Crosby took a penalty that was enforced at the end of the period for slashing an opponent’s stick in two (again with the lack of focus/composure) and the Sens strike 41 seconds into the period to further extend their lead. It’s a net-front scramble, and even though Brady Tkachuk loses his helmet he continues playing for the puck and in the crease (whatever happened to that rule, eh?)

The refereeing stacking up against the Pens continued when a shot disappeared under Nedeljkovic. But there was no whistle so Stutzle fished out the puck from under him and poked it home. 5-0.

Tristan Jarry comes into replace Nedeljkovic at this point. The first shot Jarry sees trickles through him too, but Bryan Rust is there to sweep it away before it rolls over the line.

Third period

About the only way this game could get worse would be an injury to a key player, so whaddya know, Rust appears to hurt his hand/arm and leaves the ice in extreme discomfort early on. He’s able to come back shortly after.

The nasty tone of the early part of the game has gone away. The Pens push to break the shutout and get one goal for respectability’s sake, but it comes up empty on a day like today.

Some thoughts

• The opponent scored on their first shot for the ninth time this season, per Bob Grove. Many people are tired of hearing about it (as if some unfair indictment or picking on someone specific), but it’s a real story line and influence on the games when it repeatedly happens, regardless of frequency at other places or times. Give up a shot on the first one of the game, the odds to win go down. Give up two goals on two shots and the path narrows all the further.
• Didn’t like Sullivan’s challenge on the goalie interference. Also per Grove, Sullivan won six of his prior eight challenges for goalie interference, but there wasn’t a lot there on this one. It’s true for the “ya never know what they may see”, however when there’s not much to see in the first place it’s going to be unlikely to overturn a call on the ice. That decision also deepened the whole on this one.
• But while that gray-ish area didn’t look too promising, the refs letting Tkachuk continue to play without his bucket. He was making no attempts to get it back on, maybe it was viewed the “help” he had in losing it merited allowing the play to continue, but these days they usually crank down more on that rule about players continuing on sans helmet.
• The third in the triumvirate of calls that didn’t go the Pens’ way was the slow whistle on the puck that was mostly out of view but not frozen. On the surface, correct call. In the context, you’ve got a game already mostly out-of-hand (4-0), a goalie who has been involved in physicality with the other team and a game getting a nasty tone. Is it good judgement for the ref to let play go on for what easily could have been more goalie contact and crease play in that circumstance? One would think not. But, hey, then again perhaps after Nedeljkovic’s antics the refs weren’t as quick to look for his protection by that point. The officiating wasn’t the reason Pittsburgh lost, but it didn’t help that the narrow and key calls that had to be made ended up breaking all the other way. Sometimes it goes like that.
• Nick Cousins is one of the true villains of the league these days with his antics and that was on display today, mixing it up with affinity. Fittingly he and Bunting were attracted to start harassing one another. Cousin’s head shot (which he only got a two-minute minor for at the end of the second) wasn’t as fun and games part of physical hockey. Looked like Bunting might have made that look a little worse than it was, too.
• Rust missed a shift but was able to return in the third. Now let’s just hope this isn’t an instance where post-game some injury pops up.

The Pens get right back at it with a game tomorrow against Tampa. Sounds daunting, but Pittsburgh somehow matches up very well with pretty strong recent results against the Lightning so we’ll have to see it that holds up to salvage a weekend that’s going to need some salvaging after the big loss suffered today.