Empty Thoughts: Flyers 3, Penguins 2 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime exhibition loss to the Flyers at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena:

The Penguins’ 2019 offseason — between Game 4 of their humiliating sweep at the hands of the New York Islanders in April and their first preseason game in September — lasted 153 days. That’s a very long time for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

In contrast, their break between their previous game — a 5-2 road win against the Devils on March 12 — and Tuesday’s loss was 140 days. That also is a long time for any team.

So it’s easy to see why there were several bad passes, sloppy zone entries, a woeful power play and even a too many men on the ice infraction which involved a whopping 10 skaters. The Penguins looked exactly like a team that was playing its first game in nearly five months.

The Penguins acknowledged that as much during their postgame media availability via video conference.

“It’s something that we expected,” forward Jason Zucker said. “Some hiccups and some little things that you’re not necessarily going to feel and see in an intrasquad (scrimmage). So it was good for us to get out there, get the feel and see what we need to shore up before (Game 1 of the qualifying round against the Montreal Canadiens) Saturday.”

The power play was particularly dreadful, even by shutdown-by-a-worldwide-pandemic standards. It went 0 for 3 and was probably worse than that figure would suggest.

It will remain a work in progress, starting with a practice at the Ford Performance Center, the practice rink all NHL teams in Toronto are operating out of during this endeavor.

“My impression of the power play is we need to be a whole lot better,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We have a ways to go to get it firing on all cylinders. And I think we all have to just go back to work tomorrow in practice and make sure we get better at it. I think it will improve.I know these guys are proud guys, they want it to be successful. For me, the solutions are lying in simplifying the game. I don’t think we moved the puck as quickly as we needed it to. And I don’t think we were shooting the puck when we had opportunities to put the puck on the net. We’ll go back to work with it and we’ll get it moving in the right direction.”

All of this — the NHL getting back to action — is moving in the right direction, even if it took a strange route to get there.

Regardless of the bizarre environment with a mostly empty building with fake, soulless, ambient fan noise on the broadcast, it was good to see actual live hockey.

What happened

The Penguins opened the scoring 5 minutes, 6 seconds into regulation. Lugging a puck up from his own left corner, Penguins rookie defenseman John Marino fed a cross-ice stretch pass to forward Jake Guentzel racing up the left wing. Gaining the offensive zone, Guentzel dished a cross-ice pass to the right circle for forward Conor Sheary who ripped a wrister by goaltender Carter Hart’s glove hand on the near side. Assists went to Guentzel and Marino.

Things were tied, 1-1, at 11:32 of the first period. From the left point, Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov fed a pass up the wall to forward Claude Giroux. Looping above the left circle, Giroux dished the puck to the slot for forward Sean Couturier who swatted a one-timer. Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson fronted the shot but had the puck glance off of his left skate and deflect past goaltender Matt Murray’s blocker on the far side. Assists went to Giroux and Provorov.

Philadelphia took a 2-1 lead thanks to a dreadful turnover by Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin trying to center a puck from out of his own left corner. Malkin fired a perfect pass to forward Kevin Hayes, who happens to play for the Flyers. Accepting the charity, Hayes was able to deke to his backhand and tuck a shot past the left leg of a helpless Murray. The score was unassisted.

Following a scoreless second period, the contest was tied, 2-2, at 16:05 of the third. Winning a draw against Flyers forward Nate Thompson in the Flyers’ left circle, Malkin tried to snap the puck back for that “quick draw” play he used to pull off with former forward James Neal, but with Zucker behind him. Flyers defenseman Phillipe Myers crashed in on the sequence and kind of held the play up, forcing Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson to push the puck to Zucker at the top of the circle. Zucker swatted a quick forehand shot on net. Goaltender Brian Elliott made the initial save but allowed a rebound. Malkin followed up on the play and lifted a wrister on net which Elliott fought off. Zucker darted in and chipped the puck from above the crease over a scrambling Elliott. Assists went to Malkin and Johnson.

Overtime was played with regular season rules. So the crazy reality of three-on-three play took over. At one point, the Penguins had a three-on-one rush snuffed out. Ultimately, a breakaway goal by Flyers forward Scott Laughton on goaltender Tristan Jarry at the 2:40 mark determined the outcome. Forward Travis Konecny and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere had assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 26-22.

• Penguins forward Bryan Rust led the game with seven shots.

• Hayes led the Flyers with five shots.

• Provorov led the game with 25:39 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Defenseman Kris Letang led the Penguins with 23:43 of ice time on 26 shifts.

• The Penguins had a 29-28 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).

• Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was 13 for 21 (62 percent).

• Former Penguins forward Derek Grant was 6 for 10 (60 percent).

• Malkin led the game with two blocked shots along with Flyers defensemen Matt Niskanen, Travis Sanheim, forwards Michael Raffl and Thompson.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins played a game in July. That’s historic, right?

Randomly speaking

• Guentzel played his first game, even if it was an exhibition, since suffering a serious right shoulder injury Dec. 30. He logged 18:45 of ice time on 26 shifts and recorded one shot attempt.

• The Penguins’ new third line of Patric Hornqvist, Jared McCann and Patrick Marleau did not exactly distinguish itself. It’s fair to say it remains a work in progress.

• Crosby worked a lot on the left side of the top power-play unit which isn’t exactly his strength. Perhaps Sullivan was just conducting a little research and development.

• Murray and Jarry split the game, by design. Murray allowed two goals on 12 shots in 29:55 of play. Jarry allowed one goal on 10 shots in 32:45 of ice time.

• As mistake-prone as the Penguins were, the Flyers didn’t exactly do things by the book either. There were plenty of gaffes to their game as well. It’s been a long layoff for all 24 teams in this tournament.

• The Penguins’ only penalty at 9:55 of the second period was something else. They had approximately 10 skaters on the ice and were nabbed for (way) too many men on the ice:

• The venue had a unique set up. There are blue/gray tarps set up over the seats in the lower bowl with banners and electronic boards on the sides with the benches. It almost looks like how a professional wrestling company might dress up an arena for a show.

• The fake crowd noise the broadcasters are mixing into the presentation is disingenuous, at best.

Publicly speaking

• Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin on the environment:

“It was definitely a little bit different without the crowd noise in warmups and also during the game. Other than that, I didn’t really think about it too much as the game was going on. You could still feel the energy and the shift in momentum from where the game was being played in the offensive zone and the defensive zone. It still had the same competitiveness. It’s definitely something that we get used to more and more that we play. But for the most part, for the first game, I didn’t think it was as bad as I first thought it was going to be.”

• Zucker on how the arena is dressed up:

“I thought they did a nice job. It looks really nice with the video boards (behind the bench). As far as sight lines go, I didn’t really see any issues with it. Having a lighter backdrop there, you were able to see the puck in the glass. So I didn’t really see any issues.”

• The Penguins gave a positive rating to the ice surface. Crosby:

“The ice was pretty similar (to normal circumstances). Pretty much what you expect whether it’s a full house or not. It seemed to be pretty similar to what we usually play on.”

• The Flyers were a little bit more luke (ahem) warm about the ice. Couturier:

“It was all right. It wasn’t the best. But I’ve seen worse in the league at times. It’s the same thing for every team. I wonder how it’s going to be for the second game (of the day). It was OK. Playoff hockey, you play in May, June. At some places, it gets ugly. It’s no different here.”

• Flyers coach Alain Vigneault suggested the ice needs more usage to get better:

“I don’t think a lot of people had skated on this ice lately. There’s been no games. Usually, it takes a good week of skating on an ice (rink) for the ice to be good. So I see it getting better, even though it is hot, it is humid and there’s going to be a lot of activity. This was the first game in a while. Obviously, it got a little chippy as the game went on there. Hopefully, they’ve got some good people here working it and I think it’s going to hold up.”

• Dumoulin on his team’s play:

“We got better as the game went on. Especially in the beginning, there’s a little adjustment playing in that type of game. Especially with it being our first meaningful game in a while. I thought we played really well. We started coming there in the second and third. Obviously, we’ve got to get better in some areas. I thought we were really competitive.”

• Sullivan on his team’s play:

“We got better as the game went on. I thought it was a sloppy game, especially in the first couple of periods. I guess it’s probably to be expected given the fact that these guys haven’t played in quite a while. The second half of the game, we improved. We started to execute. In the first part of the game, I don’t think we handled the forecheck of their pressure as well as we could have. We had opportunities to make plays, to beat the pressure and we hit a skate or a stick or things of that nature. Those are the subtleties that I’m talking about that these guys will get better with the game action that they get themselves in. It’s hard to simulate that stuff in a game environment. It’s the one opportunity we had to assess where we’re at, look at some of the areas where we think we were good and find areas where we know we can improve and get better. We’ll go to work on those starting tomorrow.”

• Crosby on that cruddy power play:

“It’s going to be a challenge for everybody. There’s going to be rust and we have to understand that. So we just have to simplify things and make the most of the time we have leading up to Game 1 (against the Canadiens). Practice is a big part of that. But it could definitely get better. But that will just come with time.”

• Sullivan gave a rousing endorsement of Guentzel’s first game back in the lineup:

“I thought it was a good first game for Jake. An exhibition game in this environment is very different than an intrasquad game that you have amongst yourselves. The intensity level is heightened even more. The fact that Jake hasn’t played in a real hockey game in six months, when you take all those things into consideration, I thought he played extremely well. He’s only going to get better as he gets more comfortable and he gets his timing and all the subtleties that are so important to his game. With each game that he plays, we think he’ll improve and get better. He makes a terrific play on Conor Sheary’s goal. That just shows what he’s capable of. Overall, for his first game back, I thought he did a pretty good job.”

• Prior to the game, both teams stood together on each blue line during the national anthems for what was termed as a “Moment of Solidarity” in recognition of various social justice causes. While Major League Baseball has displayed signage for the Black Lives Matter initiative at its playing venues, the NHL did not appear to have any specific ties to any organized groups recognized based on the broadcast views.

Crosby on the gesture during the anthems:

“A lot has happened since we last played our last game. We felt both teams, that was important to show unity, given what’s gone on and just wanted to be part of the solution moving forward. That was kind of the thought behind it.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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