Penguins Find Reasons for Optimism After Loss
The Pittsburgh Penguins lost all momentum against the Dallas Stars, but found some positives to look at.
After a pretty solid first 20 minutes of hockey, the Pittsburgh Penguins couldn’t maintain momentum and suffered their third straight loss.
Despite letting early momentum slip away, the Penguins left their loss to the Dallas Stars with their heads held high and found reasons for optimism.
“I think during two periods, I really liked our game,” Lars Eller said. “Good enough to win, but we got some holes that we got to shore up.”
When the Penguins were still up 1-0, Eller was inches away from breaking the game open with a short handed goal; rather the puck rang off the post.
“Sometimes those go your way, sometimes they don’t,” Eller said. “Today, they just didn’t. We go up 2-0 there, I like to think we find a way to get those two points.”
Alex Nedeljkovic wasn’t given his second start of the season between the pipes for the Penguins, and he played a fair game and kept the Penguins close until a poor decision on a loose puck.
“There was a lot of good in that game,” Nedeljkovic said. “Unfortunately, there was some questionable decisions on my part that ended up costing us.”
While Nedljkovic took blame for the gaff, he know that he and Tristan Jarry can be better goalies.
“We’re right there,” Nedeljkovic said. “It just takes one bounce… Pucks will start going in for us. Jars and I will tighten our stuff up on our end.”
From the outside, it may seem like the Penguins let another lead slip away, but even Mike Sullivan was much more calm after this loss than the one suffered against the St. Louis Blues.
“It was a much different game,” Sullivan said. “The first period I thought our team was terrific.”
Sullivan noted the multiple scoring chances the Penguins picked up in the opening 20 minutes, but couldn’t capitalize on.
“I thought in St. Louis we beat ourselves in so many ways,” Sullivan said. “I think the game was a whole lot closer than the score indicates.”
Regardless of how the Penguins see it, they picked up their third straight loss and are once again playing from behind in the standings.
They are going to need to get back on track quickly, and will have a tough test in their next battle against the Colorado Avalanche.
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