Penguins/Kraken Recap: Pens blow third period lead, lose third straight

Tough one to swallow for the Penguins, who see their home-stand end with a discouraging thud against Seattle

Pregame

The Penguins get much needed reinforcements, Evgeni Malkin and Michael Bunting rejoin the lineup to add some firepower to the team.

First period

It should have been a good start for the home team. Just 1:11 in, the Kraken were whistled for too many players on the ice. Rickard Rakell got a chance and couldn’t score, Seattle took the puck the other way. Chandler Stephenson didn’t get a lot on it but still beat Tristan Jarry. Second shot of the game for Seattle, first goal.

Deflating as that is, the Pens are nothing if not used to early goals against and were able to continue on. Well, Cody Glass wasn’t able to continue on for a bit. Glass got deposited on his keister by Jamie Oleksiak and stayed down for a while. He eventually left the ice, very slowly and with help, he would come back later in the period with all his pieces apparently still attached.

The rest of the Pens stayed at it, after Seattle goalie Joey Daccord made a few nice saves, the home town finally got one by him. Kris Letang fired from the point with Drew O’Connor posted up in front of Daccord. No one in front knew where the rebound went, save Philip Tomasino who swooped to the loose biscuit and poked it in. 1-1 game.

Pittsburgh continues to pile up shots, up to 16-2 by the end of the first. Play goes the other way for a heartbeat and Jaden Schwartz’s high shot catches the crossbar.

The horn sounds to end the first period, Pittsburgh was way better (Moneypuck had expected goals at 3.1 - 0.4) but the actual score that counts has it as a tie game.

Second period

Sidney Crosby got dumped behind the play a few minutes into the period and on the delayed call the Pens snapped the puck around. Erik Karlsson made a great pass to Bryan Rust and a quick one-timer found the back of the net. 2-1 Pens but they pay for it by Crosby leaving the ice and going to the locker-room in pain.

Luckily, it looked like Crosby just needed a minute to shake off getting cross-checked on his lower back and would return soon. P.O. Joseph was in the cross-checking mood too, committing a penalty to send Seattle to their first power play of the game, but Pittsburgh kills it off without much trouble.

Second comes to an end and the shot clock reads 28-10. Only three of those 10 shots for Seattle coming from their forward group.

Third period

Seattle strings a great shift together and ties the game. Jamie Oleksiak gets on the ice from a line change, Michael Bunting takes his pass away so Oleksiak skates further into the zone. Marcus Pettersson drops down to take away the middle of the ice, so Oleksiak takes what he’s given and snaps a shot short-side on Jarry. 2-2 with 11:56 to play.

The Kraken score another on the next shift. Shane Wright picks the puck off the wall and drives to the net. Joseph hits the deck but Wright is able to pass through him and Eeli Tolvanen is there to chip it in from in front. 3-2 game just like that.

The Penguins don’t show a lot of urgency or much of a push. They pull Jarry with two minutes remaining and after narrowly avoiding giving up the empty netter, Karlsson turns over the puck and Kaapo Kakko scores. 4-2.

Some thoughts

• After only giving up one goal while on the power play in the first 43 games of the season, the Penguins have now coughed up two goals in the last three games while up a player up, including the first goal of the night. That’s not encouraging.
• Another potentially unbelievable stat: Pittsburgh drops their first game of the season in regulation when leading after two periods, falling to 10-1-1. Doesn’t seem that way, does it?
• The Pens were up 16-2 in shots in the first period, and had another couple of glorious chances with shots just wide (Evgeni Malkin couldn’t handle a rolling puck in one extra memorable look, Crosby missed another on a bang-bang play, Rakell on yet another in the closing seconds of the first).
• Speaking of Malkin, nice to see him back in the lineup after missing four games with a hand/wrist injury. Also something to keep in mind when he can’t quite finesse a rolling puck into an open net like he otherwise might have.
• Anthony Beauvillier got the shifts in the first period after Glass got injured. That move allowed the Pens to keep their third line in tact, and is one good reason to play someone like Beauvillier on the fourth line instead of the scratched Matt Nieto. In theory, anyways, Beauvillier only has one point in his last 14 games.
• How about this nugget, from Bob Grove: “This is the first time Pens have ever allowed 2/fewer shots in the opening period of consecutive GP (2 tonight, 2 v. Tampa).” (Our note: the Pens also had 30 total shots for in the first period of the last two games; combined first period score: only 2-1).
• Troubles abounded for this game and night. Some bad weather and worse traffic hindered much of the crowd’s timely arrival. Further from the game, ESPN+ was having log-in issues related to demand with some sort of golf event stressing their systems. The clock on the scoreboard didn’t start for the last 38 seconds of the second period, leading to an odd ending where no one knew what was going on for a little. It’s a tough grind out there in mid-season for us all.
• When Noel Acciari took a high-stick in the second period, Colby Armstrong pointed out on the broadcast that marked the sixth consecutive game in a row Acciari has drawn a high-sticking penalty. That has to be some kind of record, but one he can’t mind the streak getting broken.
• Pittsburgh only got one power play tonight, in the second minute of the game — and in which the Kraken scored short-handed. That’s a bad turn of events there, this team has been living (to amount they’ve been living) on power play contributions and it ended outright costing them a goal in what was a pre-empty net one-goal game. That’ll sting.
• The Pens finish 1-3-1 on a five-game home-stand (featuring losing to three teams below the playoff line) in what just might put a fork in their season and certainly long since derail any momentum they had going in December. Now staring at an extended seven-game and over two week road trip, the path ahead looks mighty bleak for a team with just a 6-10-5 road record this season.

Tough one all around, this team isn’t built to win 2-1 games, they haven’t given up two or less goals since December 29th (and only twice in the last month). Pittsburgh suppressed shots and did great for about 50 minutes at playing that type of tight style, but can’t defend enough to get results. Add in not being able to get to the power play enough to help fill in the gaps of their scoring deficiencies and it comes to a bad loss to absorb. They now head out to Buffalo on Thursday with a long, long road ahead of them in more ways than one.