Empty Thoughts: Lightning 3, Penguins 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

TAMPA, Fla. — There really isn’t a ton of intrigue to the Penguins’ goaltending situation.

It’s pretty simple to figure out.

Matt Murray is the starter.

Tristan Jarry is the backup.

Casey DeSmith is in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton because he makes too much money to be on the NHL roster.

What is curious is how they are using Murray and Jarry in games on back-to-back nights. No matter who the opponents are, Murray gets the first game and Jarry gets the second game.

On Tuesday, it was the ho-hum Panthers against Murray. On Wednesday, it was the electric Lightning (heh) against Jarry.

The Penguins could be playing a dek hockey team with a goaltender who shows up late because of traffic on one night, then the 1972 Soviets on the next night (with the offsides off). It’s going to be Murray then Jarry no matter what.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was asked about that dynamic and gave a low-calorie answer.

“We’re just trying to win the game in front of us. At the same time, we’ve got to make sure we manage the workloads and we keep both guys involved. That’s really the criteria we’re trying to use.”

Regardless of what kind of criteria you want to use, it’s becoming pretty clear that Tristan Jarry has developed into a really good goaltender.

He made a career-high 45 saves against the powerful Lightning and darn near stole this game for his hobbled team.

It took a one-timer from center point through a forest of bodies to beat Jarry with 57 seconds left in regulation to win this game. He made the Lightning earn this game.

In the process, he’s starting to prove with each game that he plays, that he’s not just on the roster due to the salary cap and DeSmith’s inflated cap hit.

Jarry belongs here.

“I’ve just been trying to get better with every day,” Jarry said. “That’s been my goal since day one, ever since I stepped into the organization. It’s just to improve and improve my game as a goalie and as a person. That’s been a big step for me coming from last year to his year is just making sure that I’m working on my habits and having a good practice. It will translate to my game.”

What happened

Tampa Bay struck first at 9:46 of the first period. Taking a pass above the right circle, Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov circled to the high slot and whipped a wrister towards the net. Lightning forward Alex Killorn was sliding through the slot, fending off Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz and deflected the puck downwards through Jarry’s five hole. Assists went to Kucherov and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.

Rookie forward Sam Lafferty came close to scoring the Penguins’ first goal at 15:45 of the first period on a short-handed breakaway but couldn’t beat goaltender Andrei Vasilevksiy:

The Penguins’ first goal came from an unlikely source at 14:54 of the second period. After Penguins forward Teddy Blueger forced a bad pass and lost it, forward Brandon Tanev picked it up in the slot and coasted into the left circle lifting a shot off the near side of the cage. Reclaiming the puck behind the net, Tanev emerged from behind the cage in the right circle. As he attacked on his forehand, Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh disengaged from a goal-mouth battle with Blueger and stuck his left leg out. Meandering towards the cage, Tanev deked to his backhand and lifted a dazzling shot over the left shoulder of Vasilevskiy on the near side. The unassisted score was Tanev’s second of the season.

A nine-second sequence led to the Penguins’ first lead of the game late in the second. After Lightning forward Yanni Gourde had a prime scoring opportunity to the left of the Penguins’ crease but pushed it under the right leg of a sprawling Jarry and off the far post at 18:52 of the period, the Penguins took the puck up ice and attack.

Forward Sidney Crosby chipped the puck up the left wing for forward Dominik Simon to chase down. Battling defenseman Erik Cernak, Simon tumbled to the ice but distributed a cross-ice pass off the wall to the right circle for Crosby. Taking just a moment to draw in McDonagh, Crosby fed the puck to trailing Penguins forward Jake Guentzel in the left circle. Guentzel leaned down and fired an immediate forehand shot past the blocker of Vasilevskiy for the go-ahead score at the 19:01 mark. It was Guentzel’s team-leading sixth goal of the season. Crosby and Simon recorded assists.

The game was tied at 2-2 off a turnover by the Penguins behind their own net. Defenseman Erik Gudbranson left a drop pass behind the cage for rookie forward Sam Lafferty who didn’t expect it. That allowed Lightning forward Luke Witkowski to jump on it. Taking a big hit by Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson, Witkowski fed the puck to above the left circle where McDonagh whipped a wrister which glanced off forward Cedric Paquette and squirted through Jarry’s gear. McDonagh and Witkowski netted assists.

After Guentzel took a hooking penalty on Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli at 17:55 of the third, the Lightning struck 1:08 later. Taking a pass at the center point, defenseman Victor Hedman boomed a one-timer through a heavy screen and past Jarry’s glove hand. Assists went to forwards Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson.

The Penguins mounted a last-second - almost literally - charge on the Tampa Bay net and a desperate shot by Kris Letang as snatched away from the net by a sprawling Vasilevskiy. A loooonnnggg review ensued but failed to overturn the non-goal call on the ice.

Statistically speaking

-The Lightning led in shots, 48-39.

-Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist and Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk each led the game with six shots.

-Jack Johnson led the game with 24:46 of ice time on 24 shifts. With the Penguins taking so many penalties, a lot of that came on the penalty kill (4:51).

-Hedman led the Lightning with 23:22 of ice time on 26 shifts.

-The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 35-29 (55 percent).

-Crosby was 14 for 20 (70 percent).

-Stamkos was 11 for 19 (58 percent).

-Penguins defenseman Kris Letang led the game with three blocked shots.

-Cernak led the Lightning with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

-Guentzel (168 points) surpassed defenseman Doug Bodger (167) for 51st place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

-Crosby (1,230 points) surpassed Norm Ullman (1,229) for 40th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

-The Penguins had gone a long time since their last regulation loss when leading after two periods:

Tonight also marked the first time in 3 seasons Pens lost in regulation when leading after 2 periods. They were 75-0-6 the previous 81 such games; previous regulation loss was @ Dallas on Feb. 28, 2017 (2-3).

— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) October 24, 2019

-Jarry made 45 saves, a career-high. His previous career-high was 35 in a 2-1 road loss to the Boston Bruins on Nov 21.

Randomly speaking

-Penguins forward Adam Johnson was scratched due to an undisclosed injury. He was replaced by defenseman Juuso Riikola who once again served as a fourth-line left winger. All three of Riikola’s games this season have seen him play the left wing.

-It would be a stretch to say this was Riikola’s best of the three games. Or the worst.

-This game got very chippy early on as the Penguins took objection to the antics of antagonists Patrick Maroon and Paquette. Gudbranson tried to punch Maroon’s face off after he hacked at Jarry in the first period. He appeared to say “punch me” to Maroon.

-Hornqvist got in the act too later in the first when a trio of Lightning players objected to him throwing a big hit on the boards.

-Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese got a rare throwing the stick penalty at 15:19 of the third period when the tried to give his stick to defenseman Marcus Pettersson, who had lost his on a blocked shot.

Publicly speaking

Crosby wasn’t happy with the officiating:

“We were right there. Back-to-back nights, we get a lead. Unfortunately, we’ve got to kill all those penalties. I don’t know if we deserved all of those. Shots are (48-39). It’s not like they dominated and had the puck that much more than we did.”

-The timing of Aston-Reese’s and Guentzel’s penalties was killer for Sullivan:

“It’s tough. You’d hope to gain some momentum down the stretch and you end up trying to kill penalties. I thought for the most part, the penalty kill was terrific for most of the night. We might have given up one chance and it was in the net.”

-Gudbranson on the penalties:

“They have a good power play. The best way to kill penalties against them is to not take any. Obviously, they’re plays that have to happen. If (Guentzel) doesn’t make that, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to have a clear-cut opportunity. A grade-A scoring chance. It’s just hockey.”

-Crosby wasn’t crazy with how the last-second scramble unfolded:

“I thought (it was in). That might be wishful thinking. But there’s got to be some way they can definitively tell. They’ve got to know for sure. There’s different angles they have that we don’t get to see. But it look likes it’s in his webbing. For a split second, it looks like his webbing is over the line. Maybe they can’t tell based on it being in his glove. I’d like to think there’s some technology out there that can tell you if it’s over the line or not.”

-Sullivan was happy all things considered:

“We played really hard against a team that’s a pretty deep team. This is another game that could have went either way. It didn’t go our way. That’s two nights in a row that we felt like we were right in the hockey game. We generated a fair amount of scoring chances. That team has a lot of firepower offensively. We defended hard and we got saves when we needed to.”

-Tanev broke down his artistic goal:

“Both Zach and Teddy made a good play in coming through the zone and (were) able to free up some space. I tried the initial shot and it didn’t work. I stuck with my rebound and was fortunate to get a bounce there. … Just kind of waited as much as I can and pulled the puck. Was fortunate to get it atop of him.”

-Sullivan spoke about Riikola replacing Adam Johnson:

“He was in the lineup because Adam Johnson was out with an upper-body injury. Jusso has done a good job under difficult circumstances. He can really skate. With each game he plays, he’s getting a little bit more comfortable with playing forward. But certainly, that’s not the easiest predicament that we put players in but he’s really done a good job.”

-Gudbranson felt bad for Jarry:

“It sucks. It sucks but it happens. We played hard. (Jarry) was really, really good. He played a hell of a game. That’s a good team.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

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