Tim Benz: Old storylines emerge in season-opening loss for 'whole new group' of Penguins

So the Chicago Blackhawks came to Pittsburgh and spoiled a Penguins party.

If Mike Lange was still doing play-by-play, this would be a perfect spot to drop in, “I’ve seen that fish before.”

There was one significant difference between the Blackhawks winning 5-2 at PPG Paints Arena in the Pens’ home finale last April and their 4-2 victory here Tuesday night in the 2023-24 season opener.

Last year, they were tanking to draft Connor Bedard, and they still managed to win. This year, the NHL’s top draft pick was actually on the Blackhawks, and he helped them win again with an assist and five shots.

Aside from that, though, far too much of what happened Tuesday night was reminiscent of issues that haunted the Penguins last year — all the way up to that inexplicable defeat at the hands of the Blackhawks in Game 81 that ostensibly ended their run of playoff berths at 16 straight years.

Tuesday featured a blown two-goal lead. There was a goal allowed just a few minutes after one was scored. A talent-packed but underachieving power play went 0 for 2.

The Penguins generated 40 shots but allowed 35. And for all the shots the Penguins mustered against journeyman goalie Peter Mrazek, only two got past him.

Is this ringing any bells?

“We gave them an opportunity to play with the puck and come on the rush and make plays. As defensemen, we have to be way harder to play against. Be faster on pucks,” Letang said.

For as much as this Penguins defeat felt like many of a year ago, head coach Mike Sullivan attempted to tamp down the narrative that last year’s problems quickly bled into this year’s opener.

“This is a new year. It’s a new team. There is a whole new group of players,” Sullivan said. “I’d like to think we are a better team than what we showed tonight. It was a loose game, a high-event game on both sides. … We’ve got to play a more responsible game.”

Eh, it’s not an entirely new team. Letang, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are back for an 18th year together. They all played at least 18 minutes, 28 seconds of ice time. Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter and Drew O’Connor are all back up front. Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Chad Ruhwedel and Marcus Pettersson are all familiar faces on the blue line. And Tristan Jarry is still the No. 1 goalie.

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But Crosby is also of the belief that weaving in the seven new Penguins was a factor, citing timing and an inability to “check close” that led to too many grade-A chances from Chicago.

“It’s the first game. I don’t think anyone is firing on all cylinders,” Crosby said. “We definitely have some stuff that we can do better and be tighter defensively. We’ll look to improve that.”

That said, Jarry also referenced some themes from last year that cropped up to bite the Penguins.

“Our puck management,” Jarry said. “They were getting a lot of pucks deep on us. They were trying to get the puck to open space. A couple of breakdowns, and they put the puck in the net.”

Not only did Tuesday provide an instant look at the past, but it may have also provided a glimpse into the future. The Penguins got fans out of their seats a bunch of times with some highlight-reel stick handling, passing and scoring chances, but walked away with just two goals. The ability to finish was something that also waned as last year trudged along, especially relating to the star players.

Karlsson picked up his first minus-2 in Black and Gold. Crosby and Guentzel skated away with the same. Letang had one shift with two turnovers. Malkin had a questionable puck decision or two. And Jarry, who for the most part was quite good, couldn’t hold the lead and at least get the game to overtime.

But, hey, this is what the Pens signed up for when they kept the top of the roster together and augmented its offensively oriented personality by adding Karlsson to the mix. We all knew their personnel would occasionally turn out defensive games like this one.

Now, they just need to generate more results where the score ends up in the other direction. There are 81 chances left to prove that last year didn’t just trickle into this one.

They’d be best served to advance that theory quickly.