Special Teams Failures Played Deciding Role in Penguins Loss
It's been the story for the Pittsburgh Penguins for a majority of the season; the special teams need to be better.
PITTSBURGH - The Boston Bruins are in the midst of a record breaking season thus never making them an easy opponent, but the Pittsburgh Penguins kept up with them.
Despite staying right on their heels, the Penguins never got over the hump and ate a third one-goal loss to the Bruins this season.
Special teams usually play a factor in most hockey games, but it was the deciding factor in this one.
The Penguins went 0/6 on the power play while their penalty kill let in two goals on just three chances.
Sure, the Bruins are a good team, but you can’t let six chances slide by like that; nor is is okay for your penalty kill to perform that poorly.
Bryan Rust is one of the few forwards that play on both the power play and penalty kill, and he knows they both need to be better.
“Obviously our penalty kill needs to be a little better,” Rust said. “Our power play would like to score a goal.”
The Bruins penalty kill is running at an 86.43% success rate, which is good for tops in the NHL; their power play is humming at around league average, but they took advantage of opportunities.
“We’re playing against a really good team over there,” Rust said. “It’s just one of those things where a couple little breakdowns end up in the back of our net.”
Within those six power play chances against the Bruins, there was a 45-second 5-on-3 opportunity which the Penguins only managed one shot off of.
Through the 10:12 of total power play time, the Penguins only recorded seven total shots.
“You think we’re not trying shooting?” Evgeni Malkin asked. “Sometimes you can see the line, they’re blocking shots. Maybe shoot more, we’re trying.”
The Penguins power play is also sitting around league average, but they’re failing to come show up at the most important times.
“Tonight I think we played well,” Malkin said. “Power play doesn’t work, we’ll listen to you and shoot more, for sure.”
As for the penalty kill, it’s been a rough go for a few weeks now as the Penguins continue to lose games thanks to power play goals against.
“We just didn’t execute,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “A lot of it on the penalty kill just boils down to decision making. Details and execution. We had failed clears that ended up in the back of our net.”
The Bruins are the best team in hockey right now, but even one power play goal could have swung the momentum into Pittsburgh’s favor.
Even one extra kill while a man down might have pushed the game the Penguins way.
Special teams is one of the biggest momentum changers, especially this time of year and even more so into the postseason.
“Our penalty kill was disconnected tonight,” Sullivan said. “Our power play just didn’t execute.”
The Penguins will hope to find some footing not only in the playoff race but also in the special teams department as they will have to keep fighting tooth and nail for a spot in the postseason.
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