Struggling Penguins blown out by Hurricanes
The Penguins did several things correctly Sunday and avoided many of the issues that have plagued them lately.
• They got the game’s first lead.
• They cashed in on a vital five-on-three power-play opportunity.
• They got dazzling saves from their goaltender.
• They got contributions from several players.
But each of those positives were mostly exclusive to the first period.
The Carolina Hurricanes monopolized the final 40 minutes Sunday at PPG Paints Arena and dealt the Penguins an execrable 6-2 defeat.
It was the Penguins’ eighth loss in 10 games, and it might have been the worst of the bunch as the Penguins controlled the game during the opening period, then were overwhelmed during the final 40 minutes by a divisional opponent battling to stay in the Eastern Conference’s wild-card standings.
With 14 games remaining in the regular season, the Penguins are struggling.
Badly.
“Every game now is huge,” defenseman Justin Schultz said. “Our division is so tight. We need to come compete every night. We’ve got to start picking it up here.”
On Saturday, the Penguins fell behind early and lost to the seasoned Washington Capitals, 5-2. That opponent has several All-Stars, including forward Alex Ovechkin and goaltender Braden Holtby.
Sunday’s come-from-ahead setback was to a foe with goaltender Alex Nedejkovic, who recorded only his second career win in his sixth start, as well as forward Morgan Geekie, who collected two goals and an assist in his NHL debut.
“We had a pretty good start, then we started chasing the game after they got a couple,” forward Jason Zucker said. “Started forcing plays and trying to do things that are not like us and that got us into even more of a deep hole.”
The Penguins went ahead 9 minutes, 19 seconds into the game when forward Patrick Marleau scored his 11th goal of the season and first since being acquired via trade Feb. 24. But Geekie responded 33 seconds later with a redirection.
At 16:33, the Penguins seemingly were in control after forward Evgeni Malkin stroked a one-timer from the high slot for his 23rd goal on a five-on-three power play.
But then the second period happened.
After the Penguins failed to convert on two power plays that could have padded their lead, the Hurricanes got goals from two defensemen. At 13:07, Jaccob Slavin scored his sixth to make it 2-2. At 18:04, Jake Gardiner put Carolina ahead for good with his fourth goal of the season, which came on a power play.
The Hurricanes poured it on in the third with goals by forward Justin Williams, who had his sixth at 8:30 and seventh at 15:02. Geekie capped his marvelous debut with another score at 16:19.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry finished with 30 saves and suffered his fourth consecutive defeat.
The loss has entrenched the Penguins into a “no-man’s land” of sorts in the standings. They are in third place of the Metropolitan Division with 84 points, five fewer than the Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers, who are slugging it out for first place. The Hurricanes, New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets had 79 points each before Sunday night’s games and are scrambling for the two wild-card positions.
The Penguins will face division opponents over the next eight games and need a course correction, immediately.
“Right now, I think our team looks a little disconnected,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s not collective, cooperative play. You have to play together out there. You have to play as a group of five. The league’s too hard. It’s hard to take it by yourself and think you’re going to go through five guys and score a goal. It’s just too hard. We have to realize that and get back to our team game.”
Said defenseman Marcus Pettersson: “We hit a slump, and we’re the only ones that can get out of it. There’s nobody else. It’s us in this room. We’ve got to push back here and affect change.”
Follow the Penguins all season long.
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Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Justin Williams, not Jason Williams, scored for the Hurricanes.
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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