Penguins' playoff hopes dim following ugly loss to Blackhawks

On Feb. 20, Evgeni Malkin tried to rally the Pittsburgh Penguins and everyone with a rooting interest in his scuttling group.

“We have a great team here,” the superstar center implored. “I believe (in) everyone. If we play the same, we’ll be in the playoffs for sure.”

A mere 50 days later, Malkin’s tone and his team’s hopes to reach the playoffs inhabit a much more dour place.

Following an appalling 5-2 home loss to a Chicago Blackhawks squad with a lineup stocked full of American Hockey League-level talent at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins’ aspirations to reach the postseason for the 17th consecutive year are dependent on an epidermis-thin margin.

With the Penguins’ loss on Friday as well as the Buffalo Sabres falling on the road to the New Jersey Devils some six hours to the west in Newark, N.J., the idle Florida Panthers secured one of the two available wild card positions in the Eastern Conference.

The New York Islanders, also idle on Tuesday, can clinch the other spot if they claim at least a point in a home game against the non-playoff caliber Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.

Should the Islanders fail to accomplish that seemingly mundane task, a regular season-ending road contest a very drivable 186 miles to the west against the Columbus Blue Jackets – who, along with the Blackhawks, are leading contenders for the top overall selection in this summer’s NHL draft — at Nationwide Arena on Thursday is all that remains for the Penguins’ now bleak hopes of claiming a playoff berth.

“It’s tough,” Malkin said following Tuesday’s game. “No words. We should win here at home. We understand how important this game is for us tonight. Huge. We (did) not play bad. (The Blackhawks) played smart. They wait (on) mistakes and scored three goals. We had three mistakes and they scored three goals. It’s all about us. They played at home (Monday and had back-to-back games). We should win. No words, for sure. Tough loss.

“But now, we just hope.”

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The hopes of a lot more than just a playoff berth are potentially on the line. Should the franchise miss the postseason for the first time since captain Sidney Crosby’s rookie year in 2005-06, there would presumably be ample change to the entire organization, on and off the ice.

For the moment, the Penguins are just focused on Thursday’s game, hoping it will command any kind of gravity.

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves,” said Crosby, who was denied on all of his game-leading eight shots. “Hopefully, we get a chance. That’s out of our hands now. We’ve got to prepare to find a way to get two points in our next game and prepare accordingly.”

The Penguins seemed to be prepared for the lowly Blackhawks. They dominated puck possession with regard to shots (40-27) and attempted shots (81-42).

But journeyman goaltender Petr Mrazek offered a rapacious performance in denying the Penguins on several quality chances, even with a little bit of good fortune mixed in.

“He made some good saves,” Crosby said. “There were some pucks that laid there that would typically go in. For whatever reason, they didn’t seem to tonight. It’s one of those things, if you get those chances consistently, you think they go in most times. Tonight, they didn’t.”

The first one to go in Tuesday was off the stick of Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy, who tallied his seventh goal of the season 8:04 into the second period.

After Blackhawks forward Anders Bjork won a race to the offensive end boards to prevent Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry from claiming possession of a dumped-in puck, Blackhawks forward Austin Wagner jumped on it, curled around the back of the net to the bottom of the right circle and dished a pass to the right point. From there, Murphy leaned down and chopped a one-timer that beat goaltender Tristan Jarry’s left skate, clunked off the near post and deflected into the cage. Bjork and rookie defenseman Wyatt Kaiser had assists.

Malkin finally solved Mrazek at 5:28 of the third period with his 27th goal during a power-play opportunity.

Accepting a pass above the right circle of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Rickard Rakell wound up and clapped a slap-pass to the front of the crease. Malkin, reading the sequence like a novel, tapped his stick on the ice and re-directed the puck past Mrazek’s right skate. Rakell and Petry tallied assists.

The Blackhawks regained a lead, 2-1, for good at 10:22 of the third via forward Buddy Robinson’s first goal of the season.

From the left point of the offensive zone, Blackhawks defenseman Caleb Jones chucked a wrister toward the cage that wound up hitting Robinson, positioned in the slot. Robinson settled the rebound and whipped a wrister past Jarry’s glove. Jones and Bjork registered assists.

An indelicate display by Jarry led to Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou’s 19th goal only 26 seconds later.

Off a two-on-one rush, Athanasiou fired a wrister from the left circle that deflected off Jarry’s blocker and hit the end boards. Athanasiou claimed his own rebound and shuffled it into Jarry’s skates. As Jarry stumbled a bit, Athanasiou took another jab at the puck, pushing it into the cage. Bjork and Robinson registered assists.

“It goes off of me. It goes off the boards,” Jarry said. “He just kind of batted it out of the air. It kind of gets caught in my gear, so I had to press hard against the post. They’re just able to hit it in.”

Blackhawks Tyler Johnson scored his 12th goal on an empty net at 18:36 of the third period off assists from defenseman Seth Jones and forward Jason Dickinson.

Penguins forward Danton Heinen persisted and came up with his eighth goal at the 19:22 mark.

After Penguins forward Josh Archibald won a puck battle on Chicago’s right wing wall against Kaiser, Heinen jumped in and fed the loose puck to Petry at the right point. Winding up, Petry chopped a slapper that Mrazek rejected. Heinen claimed the ensuing rebound and swept a forehand shot behind a scrambling Mrazek. Petry and Archibald had assists.

The scoring was capped 15 seconds later when forward MacKenzie Entwistle found his fourth goal on an empty net. Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and forward Andreas Englund netted assists.

Stopping 22 of 25 shots, Jarry’s record slipped to 24-13-6.

“It’s disappointing,” Jarry said. “We had a chance to control our own fate. Now, it’s kind of other teams playing. We have to hope that we have another chance and we have another opportunity to still be playing.”

At this point, all the Penguins may have left is hope.

“We want to play playoffs this year for sure,” Malkin said. “We want to try again. I hope (Wednesday), something magic (happens) and we have a chance to play against Columbus and make the playoffs.”

Notes:

• Penguins defenseman Dmitry Kulikov was activated from long-term injured reserve and returned to the lineup after missing the previous 14 games due to a suspected left foot injury. With 9:54 of ice time on 18 shifts, he had one missed shot.

• Forward Nick Bonino remained designated to long-term injured reserve due to a lacerated kidney that has kept him sidelined for 17 consecutive games.

• Forward Drew O’Connor was scratched for the second consecutive game due to an undisclosed ailment.

• Defensemen Mark Friedman and Chad Ruhwedel were healthy scratches.

• Tuesday’s home finale was a sellout (18,435). It was the Penguins’ 20th sellout of the season out of 41 home games. They finished the season with four consecutive sellouts.