The Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to New York on Nov. 5 to take on Metro Divison rival the Islanders. After playing a solid first two periods, helped out by strong goaltending from Alex Nedeljkovic, the Penguins fell apart in the third period. This allowed the Islanders to come back from a two-goal deficit and eventually take the win in a shootout, 4-3.
All 4 Lines Rolling
Head coach Mike Sullivan continues to shuffle the forward lines around, trying to find something that works. It seemed to work in the loss to the Islanders, as all four lines could get themselves going and create offensively. The line of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Evgeni Malkin tallied two of the three goals (Crosby and Malkin both scored).
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Along with that came the offseason acquisitions of Blake Lizotte, Kevin Hayes, and Anthony Beauvillier, who caused havoc on the forecheck and created chances for themselves. Seeing all four lines be able to contribute in their own way is a much-welcomed sign for Sullivan and the Penguins.
Penguins Fail to Play a Full 60 Minutes
In the first 50ish minutes of the game, the Penguins controlled the pace of play thanks to the strong forecheck of players like Lizotte and Rakell. Along with that was the strong play of Drew O’Connor. He has had a sluggish start to the season but was all over the ice and was one of the most active players in the offensive zone. Although he did not cash in on Ilya Sorokin at any point, the play in the offensive zone from O’Connor is a positive, and the hope is he can break through sooner rather than later.
The Penguins once again blew a third-period lead after taking a two-goal lead just about halfway through the final frame. The loss marked the seventh blown lead loss of the season, the most in the league. They controlled the pace of play for the majority of the game and kept Sorokin busy all night. Still, the biggest problem seems to be that they take the foot off the pedal when they get a lead and allow teams to get back into games. This was the case against an Islanders team currently missing the likes of Mathew Barzal, Anthony Duclair, and Adam Pelich. The Penguins just seemed to almost go into auto-pilot mode, and it ended up costing them a win they should have had.
Special Teams Get Plenty of Work
The Islanders have one of the worst power plays and penalty kills in the league, and the Penguins’ power play has been much better than last season. So when they got four chances on the man advantage in the game, fans expected more than just the one goal they scored (Malkin’s second-period goal). Although they only got one goal, the unit looked strong but continued to try and get a bit too overcomplicated with their play instead of taking what the Islanders gave them.
Malkin was a prime example of trying to get too fancy with the puck (and a bit overly selfless) when he passed up an open shot on Sorokin in the slot by trying to force a pass over to Crosby. The Islanders cleared the puck following a missed play by Crosby. On the flip side, when the Penguins simplified their play, it ended up with Malkin scoring off a nice pass from offseason acquisition Matt Grzelyck for a one-timer that beat Sorokin five-hole.
On the four times that the Penguins were on the penalty kill, it again looked solid enough to hold the Islanders to only one goal (Simon Holmstrom’s third-period goal).
Other Game Notes
- Crosby’s second-period goal marked the 598th in his career, and he finds himself two away from 600 and three from tying Jari Kurri for 20th on the all-time list. He also pushed his point streak to four games.
- Michael Bunting ended his 12-game scoreless drought by scoring his first goal of the season in the third period off an excellent feed from Jesse Puljujärvi.
- Nedeljkovic looked strong in the loss, making 23 saves on 26 shots.
On to the Next One
The Penguins will look to return to the win column when they travel to Carolina to face the Hurricanes on Nov. 7.
