The Pittsburgh Penguins stopped by Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night to battle it out with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After some earlier success in their previous two matchups, it was revenge season for the Maple Leafs. The Penguins had their four-game winning streak and their six-game road winning streak snapped in the 4-1 loss. Let’s dive into my three takeaways from the contest:
Penguins Power Play With a Horrible Performance
When your power play goes 0/5, it’s a bad night, but when it gives up a shorthanded goal, it turns to a horrible performance. The Penguins were down 1-0 to the Maple Leafs seconds into this game and never got anything going, and the dismal power play was a big reason.
As Sidney Crosby pointed out, with a team as high-powered as the Maple Leafs, you have to take advantage of your opportunities, and the Penguins could not capitalize on Thursday night. It went from bad to worse in the second period as you’ll see a lack of effort to get back in the play on this sequence:
The Penguins’ power play ranks 12th in the NHL, and on Thursday night, while at times they moved the puck around with some emphasis, they didn’t generate enough grade-A chances and could not get traffic in front of Maple Leafs’ netminder Jack Campbell.
Related: Penguins Have Options to Replace Casey DeSmith on Trade Market
Pittsburgh only got eight shots on net during the man advantage, and Campbell was up to the test. And while the first unit for the Penguins will only get better as the season goes along and they get more reps together, the team’s second power-play unit is concerning. We’ll have to wait and see how the special teams respond in the next game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
Shuffling the Lines Brought Mixed Results for the Penguins
Head coach Mike Sullivan recently moved Jeff Carter up to the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Danton Heinen. Meanwhile, Kasperi Kapanen was moved down to the third line as Evan Rodrigues gets a look at center with Brock McGinn on his other wing. While the move seemed to spark Malkin and company as his line showed great chemistry against the Maple Leafs, generating a ton of momentum and getting on the board in the third period, it wasn’t the same story for the third line.
Kapanen’s struggles continued on Thursday night against his old team as the demotion to the third line didn’t do much to spark his game. The 25-year-old has gone 10 games without a point and has one goal in his last 17 games. He’s become potential trade bait for Penguins management as he’s a pending restricted free agent whose role on the team keeps diminishing. I’ve never understood why Sullivan and company are trying to play him as a more offensive weapon and give him time on the power play when he’s much better suited in a checking role and on the penalty kill where he starred for the Maple Leafs for years. If general manager Ron Hextall and president of hockey ops Brian Burke decide to make a move before the March 21 trade deadline, Kapanen could be the piece to move.
Penguins Netminder Kept His Team in the Game
Maple Leafs’ superstar Auston Matthews scored 21 seconds into Thursday’s game, and it had Penguins fans wondering what the heck was going on. Tristan Jarry was back between the pipes after giving Casey DeSmith some time in the starter’s crease. Jarry ended the night with an up-and-down performance, stopping 25 of 29 shots. He made some sensational saves to keep things close and gave his team a chance to make things interesting.
Jarry beat the Maple Leafs twice already this season, including being the only goalie in the NHL to shut them out. However, lately, it hasn’t been the prettiest of pictures. In his last five starts, the 26-year-old has only won twice and given up four goals in three games. It’s certainly a down point of the season for him, and you can’t blame the coaching staff for trying to get DeSmith some more starts recently. The team has a couple of days off before the Hurricanes come to town. They will be a great test to see if their All-Star goalie can turn things around and get himself going as the second half of the season gets in full swing.
The Penguins didn’t have their best game in Toronto, visiting the Maple Leafs after a super emotional win earlier in the week. The power play was brutal, Jarry did his best to keep them in the game, and the coaching staff needs to find a way to spark Kapanen. The team will now get a couple of good practice days in before hosting the Hurricanes in what should be a hard-nosed close-checking game featuring two of the best teams in the league. It was a bad game, it’s not a bad season, onwards and upwards Penguins fans.
