Just like every Cypriot alpine skier, Hungarian speed skater and Romanian luger representing their respective countries, Rickard Rakell is excited about going to Italy next week for the Olympics as a member of Sweden’s entry into the men’s hockey tournament.
But he still needs to attend to some professional concerns as an employee of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Rakell and company failed to do that Monday as they bumbled their way through a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena. The Senators unofficially outshot the Penguins, 31-16.
A goal by Senators forward Claude Giroux that required a lengthy review late in regulation was the difference. The result snapped a six-game winning streak.
Rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs, who will suit up for Latvia in the Olympics, was stout as he unofficially made 28 saves on 31 shots. His record fell to 10-7-8.
The Penguins have a pair of road games against the New York Islanders (on Tuesday) and Buffalo Sabres (on Thursday) before the league’s Olympic break starts and Rakell, along with a select few, compete for gold.
“It’s obviously in the back of your head,” Rakell said following Monday’s morning skate in regard to the Olympics. “At the same time, just trying to play good hockey here with our team here and doing everything I can for us to help our team win hockey games.”
Penguins forward Yegor Chinakhov’s 10th goal of the season opened the scoring 7 minutes, 57 seconds into regulation.
Rushing into the offensive zone on the right wing, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin slowed down slightly above the near circle, then feathered a pass past the stick of Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot to the slot. An onrushing Chinakhov accepted the offering and buried a forehand shot through goaltender Linus Ullmark’s legs.
Senators forward Michael Ammadio tied the score with his eighth goal 95 seconds into the second period by smoking a wrister from between the hashmarks past Silovs’ glove.
A mistake by the hosts led to the visitors’ first lead at 6:46 of the third period via forward Tim Stutzle’s team-leading 26th goal.
After a neutral-zone turnover by Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea and an ill-timed change at the bench by Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, Senators forward Drake Batherson took possession of the puck and generated a breakaway. After Batherson’s wrister was denied by the glove of a sprawling Silovs, Stutzle followed up on the sequence by cleaning up the rebound with a forehand shot past a helpless Silovs.
Penguins forward Tommy Novak tied the score with his 10th goal only 122 seconds later.
Accepting a pass in Ottawa’s right circle, Shea pumped a wrister to the far side of the cage. Ullmark made a fundamentally sound blocker save but directed the rebound to his right, directly into the left leg of Novak. Fending off Chabot, Novak allowed the puck to drop to the ice then swept in a forehand shot.
Giroux, a long-time nemesis of the Penguins, restored a lead for the Senators at 14:52 with his 11th goal.
Sprinting in on a breakaway, Giroux crashed into the cage — literally — dislodging it. During the process, the puck slid past Silovs’ left skate and crossed the goalline. Officials initially ruled no goal and assessed a tripping penalty to Erik Karlsson. As Giroux took a few moments to recover to his skates, officials initiated a lengthy review of the sequence and determined a valid goal was scored.
The Penguins issued a coach’s challenge, alleging goaltender interference. Officials found no such evidence of malfeasance and upheld the goal and issued a delay of game penalty to the Penguins.
Notes: Penguins forward Bryan Rust served the final contest of a three-game suspension. … Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves and forward Kevin Hayes were healthy scratches. … Before the game, the Penguins activated Graves from injured reserve. He had missed the previous four contests because of an undisclosed malady.
