Penguins lose 2nd game in row, this time at home to Sabres
On Thursday, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan questioned his team’s commitment to defense.
On Saturday, his players offered a succinct response to his criticism at PPG Paints Arena when they stymied a furious attack by the Buffalo Sabres.
For 14 seconds.
Allowing a goal in the early stages of Saturday’s contest, the Penguins staggered their way through a hideous first period that led to a poor 5-2 defeat at the hands of a team virtually eliminated from postseason contention.
It was the Penguins’ second consecutive defeat after a 4-0 road loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
After Thursday’s game, Sullivan was terse in his criticism of the team’s defense in recent weeks.
His sentiments Saturday were essentially unchanged, albeit more verbose.
“I know our guys know how to play,” Sullivan said. “But that’s not the issue. The challenge is the mindset. Are we thinking the right way before the puck drops? And are we committed and willing to play that way for 60 minutes? That’s a discipline we haven’t had in the last few games.”
His players didn’t disagree.
“We (have) not played great the last I think 10 games,” forward Evgeni Malkin said. “Same mistakes. We try to play easy. It’s not (the) right way.”
There was little to suggest the Penguins were prepared for the Sabres.
Off the opening faceoff, Sabres forward Kyle Okposo lobbed a wrister from the right wing that goaltender Tristan Jarry steered to the far corner with his blocker. Sabres forward Johan Larsson tried to rim the puck behind the cage but had it intercepted by backchecking Malkin, whose clearing attempt was swiped by Okposo.
From behind the cage, Okposo slipped a pass to the slot for wide-open forward Zemgus Girgensons, who put a wrister past Jarry’s left skate for his 11th goal of the season 14 seconds into regulation.
At 6:45 of the first period, the Sabres struck again when forward Sam Reinhart was gifted a turnover by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang at the Penguins’ blue line and converted it into a breakaway goal, his 22nd.
A power-play goal put the Sabres up 3-0 at 10:51 of the first period. Jack Eichel roofed a wrister from the left circle past Jarry’s blocker on the near side for his 34th goal.
After that, Sullivan called a timeout to get his team collected.
The Penguins appeared to be a more cohesive unit for the remainder of the first period and the majority of the second. That led to a goal by Malkin, his 19th, at 11:10 of the second period.
Any notion of a comeback was snuffed out by Sabres forward Jeff Skinner getting his first goal since Dec. 2 — and 12th of the season — with a redirection from the crease 5:39 into the third. That as followed by another power-play goal by Eichel at 12:12 of the period.
Malkin capped off the scoring by cleaning up a rebound on a goal-mouth scramble at 17:57 of the third.
Even after allowing an individual season-high five goals, Jarry professed optimism his team will sort out its porous defense.
“We just have to keep working on it in practice,” said Jarry, who finished with 21 saves. “It’s something that’s going to come. You see early on in the season, how well we’ve played and how well the team played together. It’s just getting back to that.”
Said Malkin: “We understand we’re a better team for sure. We understand we should play better. We talk every day. Coach shows us video every day. But I hope we understand it’s not easy to win every game. We have so (many) good players here. But we need (to) fight.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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