Empty Thoughts: Hurricanes 6, Penguins 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 6-2 loss to the Hurricanes:

On paper, the Penguins’ power play has been productive as of late as it has goals in four consecutive games.

On the ice, it’s been costing them games.

While Penguins were 1 for 6 with the man advantage on Sunday, they failed to capitalize on repeated chances throughout the first and second periods and were defeated by the Carolina Hurricanes in a comeback fashion.

During the second period, they had two chances early on which could have allowed them to pad a one-goal lead but fell short. Eventually, the Hurricanes tied the game and took a lead before the end of the second.

“Those were really big penalty kills just to stay in the game at 2-1,” Hurricanes forward Justin Williams said. “Very important. That’s certainly not lost with us.”

On Saturday, they were 1 for 5 on the power play but failed to score on a crucial two-man advantage which could have tied the game, 1-1, in the first period. Instead, they allowed three first period goals and lost 5-2.

“It’s probably a microcosm of our overall game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re just a little bit disconnected. We’re not executing. We’re not anticipating. A lot of it is the play away from the puck. Just the puck support and coming to the puck and providing options for the puck carrier. When our power play is at it’s best, you see that instinctive play on display. These guys, they anticipate, they get to spots, they’re always one step ahead of the (opposing) penalty killers and right now, we’re not. That’s an important aspect of getting back to the power play that we’re all accustomed to watching. It’s a microcosm of where our game is right now. We’ve got to try to simplify the process so that we can get some of our swagger back.”

What happened

The Penguins scored first 9:19 into regulation. After his dump-in attempt was denied by Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin at the Carolina blue line, Penguins forward Conor Sheary recovered the puck in front of the visiting penalty box, turned back to the neutral zone and fed a pass to forward Patrick Marleau rushing up ice off the bench. Gaining the offensive zone with speed, Marleau cut through three Hurricanes defenders and lifted a smooth backhander from the right circle past the blocker of goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic on the far side. It was Marleau’s 11th goal of the season and first since joining the Penguins via trade on Nov. 24. Sheary had the lone assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Only 33 seconds later, the Hurricanes responded. Hurricanes rookie forward Morgan Geekie beat Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin on a faceoff in the Penguins’ right circle and got the puck back to the right point for defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk who pumped a wrister through traffic on net. Goaltender Tristan Jarry made the save but kicked out a big rebound that slid to the left half wall. Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner chased down the puck and whipped it to the slot where Geekie, making his NHL debut, deflected the puck past Jarry’s left skate. Assists went to Gardiner and van Riemsdyk.

(Video courtesy NHL)

A five-on-three power-play goal at 16:33 of the first period restored a lead for the Penguins, 2-1. Corralling a loose puck on the left wall, Penguins defenseman Schultz passed it to forward Bryan Rust in the left corner. Rust dealt it back to Schultz, who turned toward his right and fed a pass to the high slot right in the wheelhouse of forward Evgeni Malkin who cranked a one-timer past Nedeljkovic’s blocker for his 23rd goal. Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist provided a strong screen on the sequence. Assists were recorded by Schultz and Rust.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Carolina forced another tie, 2-2, at 13:07 of the second. After Malkin beat Geekie on a faceoff in the Penguins’ right circle, Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook won a puck battle with Dumoulin on the right wall and fed the puck to the right point. Slavin controlled the puck, surveyed the offensive zone for a moment then lifted a wrister through traffic, beating Jarry’s glove hand on the near side. It was Slavin’s sixth goal. Martinook and Geekie collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Hurricanes cashed in on a power play at 18:04 of the second to take their first lead of the contest. After Hurricanes forward Vincent Trocheck, a native of Upper St. Clair, won a puck battle with Dumoulin on the end boards, Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter recovered puck behind the Penguins’ net then fed a backhand pass to forward Martin Necas in the right circle. Necas then moved it with a forehand pass to the high slot where Gardiner boomed a one-timer past Jarry’s glove for his fourth goal. Necas and Niederreiter had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Victory was secured at 8:30 of the third. Hurricanes forward Hayden Fleury took a pass at the right point then snapped off a wrister toward the cage. Williams was positioned in the slot and deflected the puck past Jarry’s left skate on the far side for his sixth goal. Fleury and former Penguins forward Jordan Staal collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Hurricanes poured it on at 15:02 of the third. After Staal stole a puck off of Penguins defenseman Kris Letang in the Penguins’ zone, he fed a pass to the crease. The puck struck off of Dumoulin’s skates then was swept into the cage by Williams. The lone assist went to Staal.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Geekie capped off his fantastic debut by collecting his second goal of the contest with a forehand shot from a scramble in front of the crease at 16:19 of the third. Fleury took a pass at the left point and snapped off a wrister toward the cage. Martinook was battling defenseman Jack Johnson in front of the crease and re-directed the puck on net. Jarry made the initial save but allowed a rebound to the left of the blue paint. Martinook claimed it and dealt a pass to the right of the crease where Geekie kept the puck free from Schultz’s stick then whacked in the rebound as Malkin slammed him to the ice. Assists were recorded by Martinook and Fleury.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Hurricanes led in shots, 36-30.

• Hornqvist and Williams each led the game with five shots.

• Slavin led the game with 23:08 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 23:06 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 41-29 (59 percent).

• Crosby was 16 for 20 (80 percent).

• Trocheck was 10 for 22 (45 percent).

• Geekie and Hurricanes defenseman Joel Edmundson each led the game with four blocked shots.

• Letang led the Penguins with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Marleau is the 532nd player to score a regular season goal for the Penguins.

• Marleau became the seventh player at the age of 40 or older to score a goal for the franchise. His predecessors:

-Matt Cullen — 18 goals

-Gary Roberts — 10 goals

-Mario Lemieux — seven goals

-Joe Mullen — three goals

-Tim Horton — two goals

-Ken Schinkel — one goal

• Rust (169 points) surpassed forward Tyler Kennedy and defenseman Moe Mantha (168 each) for 49th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Schultz (112 points) surpassed defenseman Mario Faubert (111) for 79th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Malkin (960 penalty minutes) surpassed defenseman Rod Buskas (959) for third place on the franchise’s career penalty minutes list. Only forwards Kevin Stevens (1,048) and Troy Loney (982) have more.

• Geekie, who was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Saturday night, joined forward Brad DeFauw (March 10, 2003) as the only players in Hurricanes/Whalers franchise history to net two goals in their debuts

• Geekie also joined forward Dan Bourbonnais (Dec. 30, 1981) as the only players in Hurricanes/Whalers franchise history to record three points in their debuts.

Randomly speaking

• The Penguins have lost eight of their past 10 games.

• Jarry made 30 saves in the defeat which was his fourth consecutive. Over those four games, Jarry has a 4.53 goals against average and an .844 save percentage.

• It seems like every game in this funk, there’s one defenseman for the Penguins who stands out with a bad game. It was Letang against the Capitals on Saturday. Against the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 28, it was Zach Trotman. Versus the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 26, it was Jack Johnson.

On Sunday, it was Brian Dumoulin’s turn as he lost a few puck battles on sequences that led to goals and just looked slow in reacting to some plays.

• Penguins forward Jared McCann has gone 21 games without a goal.

• Evan Rodrigues returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch against the Capitals. He drew two penalties and took one as well.

• It didn’t lead to anything other than a nice save by Nedeljkovic, but Crosby pulled off a pretty nasty move behind the cage to set up a solid scoring chance for defenseman Marcus Pettersson:

(Video courtesy NHL)

• What a day for Geekie. The native of Strathclair, Manitoba had his family in town for the game and did a postgame television interview with them afterward:

Morgan Geekie did a family interview after his 2-goal @NHL debut ? pic.twitter.com/8G21LVna4i

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 8, 2020

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan is circling the wagons:

“The answers are inside our dressing room. We’ve just got to make sure that we bring the right attitude to the rink so that we can work ourselves out of this. We’ve got to rely on one another, we’ve got to trust one another. But it comes down to a certain attitude, a level of enthusiasm. We’ve got to make sure we respond the right way to the adversity. That’s the most important takeaway. We’re obviously not thrilled with the position we’re in over the last few weeks. We all have to take ownership for it. Now, we’ve got to take responsibility for pulling ourselves out of it.”

• Penguins forward Jason Zucker says his team’s power play needs to keep things basic:

“We can be tighter on pucks and better support. Make it a little bit more simple. Start shooting pucks from bad angles and bad areas and get dirty goals. Not every one is going to look like (Malkin’s) today, with one-timers from the point going in. We’re doing some good things but we can do a lot more better.”

• Schultz realizes the weight of these losses:

“Every game now is huge. Our division is so tight, we need to come compete every night. We’ve got to start picking it up here.”

• Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson mentioned how the blue line felt the pressure of the Hurricanes’ forecheck:

“They put (on) a lot of pressure. We needed to play a little bit faster from our backend in order to beat their pressure. And kind of get on the hunt on ourselves. We were a little bit too slow from the backend and that allowed them to stay on top of us and kind of suffocate us in the neutral zone. We’ve got to play a little bit quicker. When you face adversity, you’ve got to come together as a group and you’ve got to help each other out and communicate with each other.”

• Williams talked about how his team forechecked the Penguins’ defensemen:

“Not giving their (defensemen) time. If a quarterback sits back and he’s got seven, eight seconds to make a play, he’s going to find someone. But if he doesn’t have time, he’s probably going to turn it over. That’s what we did. We didn’t give them time to get some speed, gather speed. We were on their (defensemen) and that’s how we need to play.”

• Williams kind of said it all about the atmosphere in the building:

“That third period was as super quiet as I’ve heard this arena. This arena gets really buzzing. We definitely did something right.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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