Penguins lose grip, succumb to penalties against Blue Jackets
COLUMBUS, Ohio — “Black Friday” is a term that evokes plenty of themes. Few of them are uplifting.
In many ways, it was a fitting description of how the Penguins, particularly their sagging penalty kill, performed at Nationwide Arena.
The Columbus Blue Jackets’ power play struck for two goals on four chances and dispatched the Penguins, 5-2, on Friday.
The Penguins’ struggles on the penalty kill were nothing new. Including Friday, they have allowed an opposing power-play goal in five consecutive games, going a hideous 12 for 17 (70.5 percent) over that span.
“We’re not good enough on the penalty kill, and we have to be better,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
Their issues in killing penalties in the past five games come in stark contrast to the preceding 10 games in which they didn’t allow any opposing power-play scores on 23 consecutive opportunities.
“We started out so well on the (penalty kill),” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “We’ve just got to get back to where we were. We were really tight when we needed to be, and we were really aggressive when we needed to.”
The Penguins managed to find some consistency Friday by matching their woes on the penalty kill Friday with a thorough display of ineptitude during even-strength situations as well as on their own power-play, which was 0 for 4.
In that respect, this was a remarkably complete game.
“We just weren’t good tonight, overall,” defenseman Jack Johnson said. “We just weren’t good all night. It wasn’t just the (penalty kill). The whole night, we weren’t good.”
Almost from the start, the Blue Jackets appeared to control the game by taking the first lead 5 minutes, 21 seconds into regulation. After Columbus forward Gustav Nyquist forced Penguins defenseman Zach Trotman into a turnover in the Penguins’ left circle, Blue Jackets forward Oliver Bjorkstrand claimed the puck and launched a wrister from the high slot. Nyquist had moved into position above the crease and allowed the puck to deflect off his derriere and past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s glove hand.
The Penguins tied the score when forward Evgeni Malkin created a two-on-one rush and fed a pass to forward Jake Guentzel, who feathered a wrister through the legs of goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for his team-leading 15th goal of the season.
Any notion of the Penguins being competitive quickly dissipated at the start of the second.
After Malkin and defenseman Brian Dumoulin botched a drop pass at their own blue line, Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno converted the sloppy turnover into a goal off a wrist shot only 26 seconds into the period.
Nyquist scored the eventual winning goal on a power play at 2:52 of the second with a wrister from the left circle.
Foligno got his second goal of the contest on a power play at 15:09 by claiming a rebound off a blocked shot by Johnson and whipping a spinning wrister from the right circle between Jarry’s legs.
“Just a couple of lucky bounces I think,” Jarry said. “You see that one that Jack blocks. We can’t find it, and we’re scrambling a little bit. Sometimes, those happen and sometimes they get (cleared) down the ice.”
The Penguins made things interesting at 5:20 of the third when defenseman Kris Letang clapped a one-timer from above the right circle that hit the crossbar and deflected into the net. But the Blue Jackets turned away the Penguins’ meager attacks the remainder of the contest.
Nyquist recorded a hat trick with an empty-net score at 19:01 of the third.
As if their flat play wasn’t melancholic enough, the Penguins also lost one of their most effective players in Bryan Rust, who suffered an undisclosed injury during the morning skate. Sullivan did not provide any details as to the nature of his ailment.
His assessment of the Penguins on Black Friday was thorough, however.
“We didn’t play hard enough. We didn’t play smart enough,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard to win when you get outplayed the way we did early in the game.
“I just don’t think we played well enough tonight. We didn’t play well enough to win. It’s as simple as that.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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