The Pittsburgh Penguins opened up their 2024-25 campaign Wednesday night (Oct. 9) on home ice against the New York Rangers. A few milestones were the story for the Penguins coming into the season as long-time captain Sidney Crosby began his 20th season in the NHL, the big three of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang kicked off their 19th season together, and Rutger McGroarty began his NHL career. However, all of these were overshadowed by the dreadful on-ice display the team showed in their 6-0 loss against their Metro Division rivals. There were a ton of mistakes that were made and need to be sorted out quickly.
The game was not pretty for Penguins fans at all. The boo birds came out early as the team trailed 3-0 after one period of play, and rightfully so as that is not the standard of hockey they expect from a team they love so much. Even with big losses like this one, there are some good takeaways from the game.
Mistakes All Over the Ice
The first few moments of the game I thought the team was looking good. The speed was there, they were getting some chances, and chemistry looked to be there as well. Until the first goal went in. From that point, it almost seemed as though they were defeated by giving up the first goal of the game just 2:24 in. Leading up to the goal, there were a few mistakes made. The first was that all five players on the ice in black and gold were puck-watching. They all were tunnel-visioned to the puck, even the wingers who should have been covering their points. The second was a 2-on-2 board battle which the New York Rangers came away with seemingly too easily. Though this instance led to a goal, it was all game this was happening. For a team to win hockey games, they have to be a much harder team to play against, and the Penguins were making the lives of the Rangers easy.
The second issue was the ridiculous number of odd-man rushes the Penguins gave up. Just in the first period alone, they gave up three odd-man rushes, one of which led to a goal to make it a 2-0 game. It all started in the offensive zone for the Penguins. When no one was yelling at Lars Eller to let him know Artemi Panarin was right behind him, he was able to strip him cleanly to send Alexis Lafrenière on a 2-on-1 break. It does not hang on Eller alone, however. Marcus Pettersson timed his slide perfectly as the last man back for the Penguins, but the execution after the slide was poor as the swipe of his stick to try and knock the puck away was too late. Now, the good that came from it was the hustle back into the zone by Eller and Jesse Puljujarvi. Rather than lallygagging back into their own zone because they were 20 feet behind the puck, they busted their butts to get back, and almost broke the shot up.
Through the first 35 minutes of the game, the Penguins allowed six odd-man rushes, which is not good enough at this level. They were not because of a shot that missed the net, but solely because of lackadaisical play, minus a 3-on-2 shorthanded rush for the Rangers in the second period which was caused by a bad bounce off the Zamboni doors. Luckily for the Penguins, Tristan Jarry came up with a huge glove save on the play.
The thing the Penguins need to do a better job at is making their opponent’s goalie’s lives difficult. Igor Shesterkin is a top goalie in the league, so allowing him to see everything that comes his way will not give you success against goalies like him. They need to do a better job at getting a body in front of the net when a shot is being taken. It did happen a few times as McGroarty showed he is willing to get in that dirty area, but it needs to happen more frequently if they want to have any success this season.
The Little Good From This Game
Now for the good, and many people are going to strongly disagree with me on this one, but Jarry played well in this game, despite six goals against. You may be asking “How can a goalie play well and allow six goals?” It is simple. He made the saves he needed to, ones he should not have made but was left hung out to dry with a lack of defensive coverage and a ton of running around in their own zone. There were many sequences throughout the game where he was called upon to stop not one, but two and even three shots straight because the defense allowed the Rangers to get those chances. Yes, rebounds are bad for a goaltender to give up, but for the most part, he did well to bail himself out of those bad situations. In the end, he made 35 saves, which could have seen the game go way worse than it did.
Related: Penguins’ Tristan Jarry Will Be Under Pressure This Season
The Penguins’ penalty-killing units looked solid, granted they only saw the ice twice. From what was seen, though, they were able to manage the Rangers to the outside, keeping what is usually a very good powerplay silent as they allowed just three shots. Their stick positioning was good and a big reason the Rangers could not get anything to the middle of the ice easily.
With a quick turnaround, as the Penguins play Oct. 10 in Detroit against the Red Wings in the second of a back-to-back, they will need to forget about this game and turn things around. They have the players to be a good team, but every guy on the roster needs to pick their game up, especially if they have a goalie making his NHL debut in Joel Blomqvist.
