Tim Benz: Plenty to anger Penguins fans in Game 1 loss to Islanders

What does it mean? Big picture. That Game 1 loss of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs for the Penguins against the Islanders.

For me, it means a series that I thought would go Pittsburgh’s way in five games will now end in six.

That’s all.

Otherwise, that 4-3 overtime defeat essentially was an opening scene of a multi-act play that went exactly as we expected.

Close. Back and forth. No lead ever greater than one goal. A tie that forced overtime.

Overall, we saw a few more scoring chances and shots on goal than expected. And for as good as Islanders goalie Robin Lehner was — boy, was he ever, with 41 saves — if coach Barry Trotz’s highly touted defense keeps giving the Penguins that many chances, they’ll crack him eventually.

None of that is to say Penguins fans should be content with how that defeat played out, though. Because plenty went awry.

Let’s start at the end.

Anatomy of a heartbreaker

How many things went wrong on Josh Bailey’s overtime winner?

The sequence started with the Penguins getting away with murder, and karma caught up to them. Phil Kessel kept the puck in the zone by blatantly cross-checking Tom Kuhnhackl from behind to regain possession. Then he dropped a pass to Brian Dumoulin, who made a fabulous play to shake Kuhnhackl. Dumoulin created space to open a backhand shooting lane, got Lehner to go down and had tons of space to roof a shot.

But he missed. That electrified a break the other way for the Islanders. The Penguins got fortunate again immediately, when Dominik Simon intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and pushed the puck to Kris Letang.

That’s where it came off the rails.

Letang attempted to go one-on-three against the Islanders defense on the counter with a partial Penguins change occurring behind the play.

When Letang turned over the puck, that left Mathew Barzal walking in against Penguins goalie Matt Murray.

“I’m not sure we had the awareness we needed in that situation,” Mike Sullivan said.

Letang hustled back. Murray tried to take away the net by lunging with his stick. Dumoulin flailed for Barzal’s shot that went off the post. But Bailey scored on the rebound.

That's one.

Game 1 goes to the @NYIslanders after Josh Bailey's OT winner! #YESYESYES #LGI #Isles pic.twitter.com/8xAOd6Guzq

— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) April 11, 2019

The Penguins reviewed the play for offsides and goalie interference. But — appropriately — the call held up, and the Penguins left losers.

After two reviews on potential goals went against the Islanders before the OT winner, this one stood as indicated on the ice.

Lineup decisions

With Dumoulin and Zach Aston-Reese ready to return from injury, Sullivan needed to bench two players.

I disliked both decisions.

Olli Maatta stayed dressed despite Dumoulin’s return. Jack Johnson got benched. I would’ve reversed that. And nothing I saw from Maatta last night changed my mind. He was a minus-2, didn’t get credit for a hit, had two giveaways, committed a bad icing, didn’t block a shot and didn’t get one shot on goal.

Maatta couldn’t track down a puck in his end on the Islanders’ first goal, and, later in the game, he lost possession which led to another Isles score.

POLL: Do you agree with #Pens coach Mike Sullivan's decision to sit defenseman Jack Johnson for Game 1 of the #StanleyCup playoff series vs. the #Isles? Vote below and tell us what you might have done differently. https://t.co/QR6BdHp3XI

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) April 10, 2019

Meanwhile, I don’t have a problem inserting Aston-Reese, but I would’ve done so at the expense of Garrett Wilson, not Teddy Blueger.

When I see Wilson trying to make passes between his legs as he did in the first period, I’ve seen enough.

Blueger, though, can make that kind of play. And others. But not from the press box.

Sid wasn’t Sid

It wasn’t the usual dominant performance from Sidney Crosby against the Islanders, aside from the first shift of overtime, in which he owned but didn’t score.

His line was almost scored on at the seven-minute mark of third, down 3-2. His line got blown off the ice in the first minute of play, but Kuhnhackl’s first disallowed goal of the night came off the board for offsides.

Crosby ended up a minus-1, had three giveaways and no takeaways, lost 14 of 24 faceoffs, and only registered two shots in 22:43.

The penalty kill

New York scored on its first power-play chance and was effective on its other one.

Maybe Johnson can help the Penguins if he is put back in the lineup Friday.

Hopefully, that decision is made.

The start

The Penguins were supposed to be the polished, poised, experienced team within the matchup against New York.

But they looked nervous, jittery and overmatched in the opening minutes.

The beginning of the game resembled the 2007 playoff opener against the Senators when the Penguins didn’t even appear like they belonged on the ice, getting down 6-1 and losing 6-3.

Two pucks got by Matt Murray in the first 100 seconds. Luckily for the Penguins, only one counted. But for the first few minutes of the game beyond that, they were badly outplayed and lucky to be tied 1-1 by the time the six-minute mark hit, thanks to a Phil Kessel goal.

Aside from all that … it was a great night.