Penguins collapse in overtime loss to Red Wings

Less than 24 hours after what coach Mike Sullivan suggested was their worst game of the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed plenty of things to go right in their matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena.

And sure enough, a lot did.

For the first 20 minutes.

The final 42 minutes and 13 seconds, on the other hand, were a whole other cluster-bumble of a nightmare.

Despite racing out to a four-goal lead in the first period against an underwhelming foe that entered the day in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, the Penguins managed to give up five unanswered goals and lost 5-4 in overtime.

A goal by defenseman Jake Walman at 2:13 of the extra period was the difference.

This result came on the heels of a squalid 5-1 road loss by the Penguins to the New York Islanders on Tuesday that Sullivan indicated was low tide for his team’s 2022-23 season.

Sullivan stopped short of gauging how repugnant Wednesday’s defeat was.

Related:

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He simply outlined how bad his team — losers in four of its past five games — is at the moment.

“We’re not playing a collective game right now,” Sullivan fumed. “The game is too difficult if you don’t play in a five-man unit out there. For whatever reason, the last few games, we’re disconnected. That’s our challenge, is to fix it.”

One area in need of repair would appear to be puck management. For the second consecutive game, the Penguins surrendered north of 40 shots. On Wednesday, they allowed the Red Wings to put the puck on net 46 times. That was an increase over the 42 they yielded to the Islanders the night prior.

“We gave them too many chances and too many opportunities in that game to even it up,” Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said with respect to the Red Wings. “We’ve got to do a better job of eliminating their chances and playing on our toes a little bit.”

The Penguins appeared to be doing just that in the first period as their role players built up a four-goal lead.

An unlikely source generated the opening goal as Penguins forward Drew O’Connor recorded his first goal of the season 2:36 into regulation. After hassling Red Wings rookie forward Elmer Soderblom into a turnover on Detroit’s left half wall, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger played it up the boards to linemate Kasperi Kapanen. Deking his way through the left circle, Kapanen waited for O’Connor to surge up the right wing and fed a pass to the right circle that O’Connor stroked with a smooth wrister, toasting goaltender Ville Husso’s glove on the near side. Kapanen and Blueger had assists.

The Penguins took a two-goal lead at 10:15 of the first period thanks to a power-play score by forward Jeff Carter. After digging a puck out of the end boards near the Red Wings’ left corner, Kapanen slipped a short-area pass to the right of the crease where Carter elevated a wrister over the glove a hapless Husso. Kapanen and forward Bryan Rust registered assists.

Forward Jason Zucker put the Penguins up by a field goal at 14:15 of the opening frame with his seventh goal. Claiming a puck dumped in on his own end boards, Walman backhanded an ill-conceived pass to the left corner that defensive partner Filip Hronek failed to accept. Zucker gladly took the charity, sped past a discombobulated Hronek and drove to the net. Avoiding a poke check by Husso, Zucker pushed a backhander past the goaltender’s left skate that hit off the right post and deflected into the cage. There were no assists.

Another goal by Zucker on a power-play opportunity opened the floodgates late in the first period at the 19:27 mark. From the right circle of the offensive zone, Kapanen one-touched a pass to the crease for Carter, who jabbed at the puck a handful of times but was denied by Husso’s left skate and then the right post. A mass of humanity crashed the crease as if it were a Boxing Day sale and Zucker managed to push the puck over the goal line with his forehand before Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider scooped it out with his left hand. Officials blew play dead and did not signal a goal but quickly went to a review that confirmed Zucker scored. Assists went to Carter and Rust.

Husso was pulled after the first period having made only eight saves on 12 shots. He was replaced by backup Magnus Hellberg.

Seemingly inserted into the game strictly for mop-up duty, Hellberg was stout as he stopped all 19 shots he faced.

Perhaps his most vital denial was a save on a breakaway by Penguins forward Sidney Crosby 3:28 into the second period that would have put the hosts up by five goals.

Less than four minutes after that, the Red Wings began to chip away at the Penguins’ lead.

A power-play goal by forward Dylan Larkin at 7:17 of the second put the Red Wings on the scoreboard. Taking a pass above the right circle of the offensive zone, Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond fired a wrister that was deflected by Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen’s stick to the near side. The rebound bounced off the end boards and deflected to the slot, where Larkin gathered it then leaned down to flick a wrister that glanced off the right skate of Penguins defenseman Jan Rutta and fluttered past goaltender Casey DeSmith’s blocker for his 13th goal. Rasmussen and Raymond netted assists.

Penguins forward Brock McGinn broke his stick on the sequence while trying to clear the puck and was largely handicapped while defending.

It became a two-goal contest at 14:32 of the middle frame as the Red Wings took advantage of another broken stick for the hosts. Crosby handed his stick to Rutta — who broke his — and then tried to defend Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot at the left point of the Penguins’ zone. Chiarot took advantage of a hindered Crosby by faking a slapper and prompting the Penguins’ captain to kneel down for a block attempt. That allowed Chiarot to skate past Crosby into the left circle and then slip a clever pass to the slot for Red Wings forward Joe Veleno, who deflected the puck with his forehand past DeSmith’s left skate for his fifth goal. Chiarot and Soderblom had assists.

In the third period, the Penguins seemed content to let DeSmith do most of the heavy lifting as the backup goaltender stood tall on several quality chances.

The Red Wings broke the dam at the 15:00 mark, however, when rookie forward Jonatan Berggren scored his fifth goal.

Taking a pass in the Penguins’ slot, Soderblom tried to spin away from some pressure but lost possession on a poke check by Crosby. That defensive play backfired, however, as Crosby inadvertently pushed the puck to the right of the crease, where Berggren ripped an easy one-timer past the glove of an out-stretched DeSmith on the near side. There were no assists.

After the Penguins took a too many men on the ice penalty at 16:41, the Red Wings took full advantage and tied the score 4-4 a mere nine seconds later.

Rasmussen beat Carter on a draw in the Penguins’ left circle, allowing Hronek to claim the puck at the left point. Maneuvering to the high slot, Hronek fed a pass to Raymond above the right circle. Moving into the circle, Raymond slid the puck low to the right of the cage for Rasmussen. Fending off a check by Rutta, Rasmussen forced a backhand pass to the crease. DeSmith deflected the puck slightly but not enough to prevent it from sliding to the left circle, where former Penguins forward David Perron ripped an easy wrister for his 12th goal. Assists went to Rasmussen and Raymond.

The Penguins entered the game having been perfect (22 for 22) on the penalty kill in their previous seven games. On Wednesday, they allowed goals on two of the four Red Wings power-play opportunities they faced.

“First (goal by Larkin), just a tough break (with McGinn’s stick),” Dumoulin said. “That’s just going to happen. The last one, the game on the line, we’ve got to try to get that job done for our team.”

In overtime, the Penguins’ struggles continued.

Pushing play up the left wing into the offensive zone, Red Wings forward Andrew Copp generated a two-on-one rush with Walman against Crosby. As Crosby lunged towards him in the left circle, Copp fed a clever pass to the right of the crease for Walman who tapped the puck with his backhand past DeSmith’s left skate for his second goal and a resolute victory. Copp had the lone assist.

The Penguins’ record in overtime games fell to an unappetizing 2-6 this season.

But they appear to have much larger issues with simply offering a complete effort within the confines of regulation.

“It doesn’t matter how many goals you lead (by),” Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin said. “You need to play a full 60 minutes. They score one, they score two, and the game changed. Huge mistakes by (the) whole team. A great lesson for us. We have a lot of experience in here. We’re not young. We understand that we need to play right all game. It’s (a) huge mistake for everybody.”

Malkin’s coach suggested these errors aren’t limited to those in the lineup.

“When you look at the last few games, we’re beating ourselves in a lot of ways,” Sullivan said. “Give our opponents credit — not to take away anything from them — but I look at the way the games have played out and I just think the standard is higher and none of us are living up to it, myself included. We’ve got to do a better job coaching this group so that we understand what it takes to win.

“Right now, we don’t.”

Notes:

• Penguins reserve defenseman Mark Friedman made his season debut at the NHL level. Logging 13:40 of ice time on 21 shifts (including 41 seconds on the penalty kill), Friedman recorded one shot attempt and was credited with four hits.

• The Red Wings, a mere 96 years into their existence as an NHL club, recorded their first comeback of four or more goals for a road win in franchise history.

• Carter recorded his 400th career assist on Zucker’s second goal.

• O’Connor’s most recent NHL goal came in a 7-1 home win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 23, 2021. He scored twice in that contest.

• The Penguins’ last overtime loss to the Red Wings was a 4-3 defeat at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Oct. 23, 2014 (back when overtime was a four-on-four enterprise). Forward Justin Abdelkader scored the game-winning goal on goaltender Thomas Greiss.

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