The Pittsburgh Penguins were handed their third straight loss by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the shootout on Tuesday despite putting forth a good all-around effort
During the Pittsburgh Penguins' six-game winning streak at the turn of the new year, they were finding the back of the net with regularity and scoring goals with ease.
Well, all of that has changed in the last three games.
Despite a clinical defensive effort - and another commendable goaltending effort, this time by Arturs Silovs - the Penguins were handed their third straight loss, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the shootout, 2-1. Egor Chinakhov scored for the Penguins in the shootout, while Gage Gonclaves and Nikita Kucherov capitalized for the Bolts to seal the win.
Throughout regulation, it was a battle of goaltending, as both Penguins' netminder Arturs Silovs and Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy kept everything tight. Both teams played pretty well defensively, limiting chances, but it felt like the Penguins had, perhaps, even more high-danger opportunities than the Lightning. Silovs ended up 30 for 31 on the evening, while Vasilevskiy was 26 for 27.
It was a scoreless game until the waning minutes of the third period, when J.J. Moser poked home a loose puck in the crease that Silovs couldn't handle to put Tampa Bay up, 1-0, with just under six minutes remaining in regulation. After that, the Penguins were getting a ton of chances, too, and they finally broke through with the goaltender pulled when Evgeni Malkin sniped one past Vasilevskiy to tie the game with 2:16 to go.
The overtime period was a nail-biter, too, as Pittsburgh controlled most of it and came close to ending it on a few occasions, but they couldn't finish. The Penguins went with Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby, and Chinakhov in their shootout lineup, but Chinakhov's lone goal was not enough to give them the two points.
As it stands, the Penguins still sit one point out of the final wild card spot in the East, as the Toronto Maple Leafs won on Tuesday. Even if they haven't gotten the results they've wanted in the last three games, they're generally happy with the way the team is playing, and they know they need to continue to create more offensive opportunity - even if the opposing goaltender was the main reason they couldn't follow through against the Bolts.
Here are some thoughts and takeaways from this one:
- Chinakhov can really, really rip the puck. And, honestly, it's impressive.
Like Rakell, Chinakhov is, historically, proficient in the shootout, as he is a career 50 percent shooter in it. And when you see how he can shoot the puck, this is no surprise.
I continue to be impressed by this guy, and I'm eager to see him use that shot more at five-on-five. He and Malkin seem to be developing some chemistry.
- In the absence of Erik Karlsson - who was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a lower-body injury - Brett Kulak and Kris Letang were counted upon to take on top-pairing minutes, as Parker Wotherspoon was bumped to the second pairing with Jack St. Ivany.
And - aside from a bit of a lapse on Tampa's lone regulation goal - they did a pretty excellent job on Tuesday.
In general over the last couple of weeks, Kulak and Letang have been settling in as a pairing. I think this stretch with Kulak is the best Letang has looked all season, and they seem to feed off each other's strengths.
Karlsson's loss is s seismic one. He's been good on both special teams units this season, and he drives so much offense from the blue line that it's silly. Replacing him really isn't possible, so it's paramount that the entire defensive corps - but, especially, Letang and Kulak - step up in his absence and put their best game forward.
And Kulak thought - for the most part - they did against the Bolts.
- I'm not loving what I'm seeing from Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha in this last handful of games. I mentioned Sunday that moving Brazeau up with Crosby wouldn't be the worst thing, but with Bryan Rust back after a two-game absence - and the top line pretty much remaining a fixture - Dan Muse may have to consider some other options to get his middle-six going again, because the Penguins need offense.
The easy thing to do would be to reunite the "mutant line" of Brazeau, Mantha, and Malkin. But I do think it's a bit complicated because of the chemistry that Malkin and Chinakhov are building and because the second line has, arguably, been the Penguins' best in the last two games. Still, their third line has been somewhat ineffective, and that's a bit of a problem when the entire team's scoring has dried up.
I think, right now, that's the best solution. Reunite the big guys, and give Tommy Novak, Ben Kindel, and Chinakhov some runway - maybe sprinkled with a bit of Tristan Broz now and again. It can't hurt to try when the team has only mustered two goals in the past nine periods of regulation.
- This was not one of Crosby's better games. I think his line did okay for the most part, as they were generating chances and had a few nice looks. Rust looked good in his first game back, too.
But Crosby is being way, way too passive with the puck right now. There were a few instances on odd-man rushes Tuesday where there was a clear shot, and he tried to force a pass. And, on top of that, his passes were simply off all night long, and he lost a handle on the puck in the shootout.
Crosby has always gone through spells like this throughout his career. He always pulls out of it. But he really needs to get more pucks on net, and he needs to find a way to produce through the team's dry spell.
And, hey, the Penguins play the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, so that may be happening at just the right time.
- The Penguins started a grueling stretch against Tampa Bay because - including Tuesday's game - Pittsburgh plays six games in 10 days.
That's a lot of hockey in a short period of time.
I keep beating this drum, but the Penguins need to bank as many points as possible during this stretch, especially without their No. 1 defenseman. They need all the traction they can get heading into the Olympic break in a few weeks.
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