When the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the host New York Rangers, 5-1, on Friday, it was their third game in four days. The Rangers hadn’t played since Tuesday.
When asked about the effect of that scheduling inequity, Coach Mike Sullivan said, “That’s the challenge of playing in the (NHL). You’ve got to manage the game appropriately.”
The Penguins didn’t. The Penguins don’t have a Plan B.
To be fair, most teams don’t. The NHL is about implementing your preferred style, with stubbornness often substituting for efficiency.
The Penguins attack constantly, relying more on speed than anything.
But perhaps Friday wasn’t the time for that.
The Penguins appeared to come out of the gate exhausted, then immediately fed the fresh-legged Rangers additional adrenaline.
Chad Ruhwedel joined the rush a few times early. That’s exactly what Sullivan wants his defensemen to do: activate. But the Rangers got the puck, beat Ruhwedel and the Penguins back up the ice for odd-man breaks and scored thusly twice in the first 3 minutes, 58 seconds.
You can’t start the game tired then go down 2-0 inside four minutes. (Or, 3-0, 18 seconds later, which is what happened.)
Reward didn’t seem likely for the risk the Penguins took. But they took it anyway and will again.
It’s how they play, with no consideration for circumstance — such as, say, playing a third game in four nights against a foe that hadn’t played in the previous two days.
The Rangers are fast, too. The Penguins should have slowed the game early, let the Rangers’ early push dissipate, then looked for counterattacks. Let Kris Letang activate, and maybe Mike Matheson. Ruhwedel and his 10 career goals can play it safe.
But the Penguins didn’t play it safe and won’t ever.
That’s no knock on Sullivan. He’s one of the NHL’s very best coaches.
But Friday showed the Penguins absolutely are married to a style that very usually will require them to be the better team on the night if they’re going to win.
The Rangers aren’t the primary concern. They are the Penguins’ likely opponent in the first round of the playoffs. They’re good but won’t have a scheduling edge in the postseason. (They will have a goaltending edge in Igor Shesterkin.)
But can the Penguins play Carolina, Florida or Tampa Bay in a best-of-seven playoff series and defeat them four times using their preferred method?
They’re going to have to.
