Empty Thoughts: Lightning 4, Penguins 2

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-2 loss to the Lightning:

Tampa, Fla. - First things first, Penguins rookie defenseman John Marino is expected to be fine according to coach Mike Sullivan.

A 15:50 of the third period, Marino took a deflected one-timer on the left side of his face and left the game.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Sullivan indicated team medical staffers felt Marino escaped any serious injury.

As far as the game is concerned, the Penguins’ maddening power play did them in against a potent Lightning team.

It went 0 for 5 with the man advantage, including a lengthy five-on-three sequence which lasted 1:34 late in regulation. This comes on the heels of them going 0 for 6 in Sunday’s 4-3 road win against the Capitals.

If they get just one goal, this game is different. They probably get at least one point out of this contest.

And they nearly did when forward Bryan Rust put a wrister off the left post at 13:05 of the third during that five-on-three sequence.

(Video courtesy NHL)

A goal there ties the game late and potentially sends it to overtime.

It’s hard to figure out what’s faulty with the Penguins’ power play aside from just consistency. There are games where it looks lights out, such as last Friday’s 4-3 home win against the Philadelphia Flyers when it went 2 for 2.

Then there are games where it looks like the lights are out, as was the case against Washington and Tampa Bay.

“I just think we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to execute, we’ve got to make better decisions, we’ve got to shoot the puck when we’ve got an opportunity. We had some looks five-on-four. You’d like to see us score a goal when we get that five-on-three opportunity. That’s an important point in the game. We’ve got to work to improve in those areas.”

What happened

The Lightning opened the scoring only 9:04 into regulation. Corralling a puck at the left point, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman fed a “D-to-D” pass to defenseman Mikhail Sergachev above the left circle. As Penguins forward Sam Lafferty approached to front the shot, Sergachev released a wrister which deflected off the shaft of Lafferty’s stick, hit off the ice and caromed through goaltender Matt Murray’s five hole. It was Sergachev’s eighth goal of the season. Hedman and forward Tyler Johnson netted assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 2-0 game at 12:55 of the first period when Lightning forward Steven Stamkos recorded his 25th goal. After an offensive zone turnover by Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov poked the loose puck into the neutral zone and allowed Stamkos to generate a two-on-one rush with forward Brayden Point against Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel. Stamko fed a pass from the left circle to Point in the slot. As Ruhwedel got jammed up in reacting, Point dealt it back to Stamkos who lifted a wrister from the left of the crease over the right leg of a helpless Murray. Point and Kucherov collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins got on the scoreboard at 9:25 of the second period. After Penguins defenseman Kris Letang chipped a puck into the offensive zone, Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist claimed it on the right half wall then lofted a wobbly pass above the crease. Malkin was able to direct the puck with his right knee past the glove of goaltender Andre Vasilevskiy for his 17th goal. Hornqvist and Letang were credited with assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Only 32 seconds later, Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli netted his 14th goal. Pushing a puck up ice from his own zone, Hedman fed a pass to Cirelli on the left wing. With Letang caught pinching, Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson was left to defend a three-on-one sequence against Cirelli, Johnson and Hedman. Cirelli opted to rip a wrister from the left circle which clunked off the near post past Murray’s blocker and into the cage. Assists went to Hedman and forward Ondrej Palat.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins pulled within one goal at 3:20 of the third period thanks to some poor passing by the Lightning. After Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev botched a two-on-one rush by firing a pass from the left wing behind forward Mitchell Stephens on the right wing, the puck bounced off the wall and created an outlet for Malkin. Claiming the puck and lugging it up up the left wing, Malkin swooped behind the cage and fed a pass to the right circle for Marino who ripped a wrister to the far side past Vasilevskiy’s blocker for his fifth goal. Malkin had the only assist.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Tampa Bay secured victory when Kucherov scored his 25th goal on an empty net at 19:27. Hedman and Vasilevskiy collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 31-29.

• Letang led the game with nine shots.

• Cirelli and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk each led the Lightning with four shots.

• Hedman led the game with 27:24 of ice time on 31 shifts.

• Letang led the Penguins with 27:16 of ice time on 28 shifts.

• The Penguins had a 38-36 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).

• Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was 20 for 32 (63 percent) in faceoffs.

• Tyler Johnson was 8 for 14 (57 percent).

• Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson led the game with five blocked shots.

• Defenseman Erik Cernak led the Lightning with four blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Hornqvist (254 points) surpassed forward Pierre Larouche (253) for 32nd place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

Randomly speaking

• Murray took a tripping penalty at 12:05 of the second period against Cirelli. It was the Penguins’ first penalty by a goaltender since Murray took an unsportsmanlike conduct minor in a 3-2 road win against the Arizona Coyotes, Jan. 18, 2019.

• Murray now has eight career penalty minutes. Tom Barrasso is the franchise’s career leader in penalty minutes among goaltenders with 251.

• Murray was fine. Not great, but adequate. He had to stop two breakaways, including one by lumbering reserve Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn at 8:27 of the first period. That was just bizarre.

(Video courtesy NHL)

• After getting the Penguins’ first goal in Washington Sunday, the Penguins’ fourth line of Lafferty, Anthony Angello and Alex Galchenyuk was a non-factor, aside from being on the ice for Sergachev’s goal. Galchenyuk paced that group with a mere 5:10 of ice time.

• It’s still a bit confusing as to what management sees in Ruhwedel and Justin Schultz as a pairing. Neither are benefiting between the odd coupling, especially since both are right-handed. On Wednesday, Sullivan was asked about the duo and pretty much said the current six defensemen they are using, sans the regularly healthy scratched Juuso Riikola, are the best they have.

• Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh left the game at 16:53 of the second period after blocking a shot by Malkin. There was no word on his status.

Publicly speaking

• Crosby on the slow start:

“We were on our heels a little bit. They play a fast game. We gave them some time and space. They took advantage of it. We understand how they play and how we need to play.”

• Rust on the slow start:

“They just came out a little bit hungrier, a little bit more determined, a little bit more disciplined that we did. We got on our heels a little bit. They had a really good first period. I just don’t think we were good enough in the first.”

• Murray on the slow start:

“We battled hard, apart from the first period where it felt like they had us on our heels. Other than that, we battled hard. It’s just unfortunate that we came up short.”

• Rust on the five-on-three power-play opportunity:

“Right there I hit the post. If that’s two inches left … it’s a goal and the whole game is different. We’ve just got to try to learn from that and we’ve got to learn to capitalize on those better.”

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

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