Takeaways from the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled the past few seasons against the two teams from Alberta, which continued to be the case on Tuesday night. The Calgary Flames dominated early and relied on their goaltending to shut the door on the Penguins to capture the 4-1 victory. Here are some of the takeaways from the Penguin's second consecutive loss.
Sam Poulin Looked Comfortable
With Jason Zucker missing due to an undisclosed injury, Penguins 2019 first-round pick Sam Poulin made his NHL debut at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Poulin slotted in as the third-line center between Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen. Poulin played 12:17 and collected his first career point on a secondary assist to Evgeni Malkin.
Poulin also created an opportunity shortly after when he was alone on the rush, cutting towards the middle of the ice to open a shooting lane, but was turned aside by Jacob Markstrom. It wasn't a debut for the history books, but he looked like he belonged at the NHL level in his first game.
Another Horrible Start
One positive from Monday's matchup against the Edmonton Oilers was the Penguin's ability to start fast and grab the early momentum. That didn't transfer to Calgary as the Penguins struggled for the third consecutive period. The Penguins were outshot 20-6 in the opening frame, hanging goaltender Casey DeSmith out to dry.
DeSmith's performance kept the Penguins in it through the rough period but did allow two goals to Nazem Kadri, his third and fourth of the season. The Penguins turned it around in the second period, but the defensive nature of the Daryl Sutter coached team, matched with a solid performance by Markstrom, stifled any hope of a comeback.
Power Play Continues to Beat a Dead Horse
The Penguin's power play continues to be an enigma. Even with Jake Guentzel out of the lineup, they boast one of the most high-powered units in the NHL, and yet they continue to struggle in the fundamental areas.
This unit struggled in all of the usual areas, finishing the game 1-5 on the man advantage. Their broken breakout is one of the most predictable in the league, and it only matched their stagnant zone entry attempts. Pittsburgh finished last season with the 19th ranked power play in the NHL and has not made any serious attempts at switching around their scheme.
One skater drives the puck to the red line before dumping it back to either Malkin or Kris Letang to pick the puck up with speed. That player either finds a teammate standing on the blue line or dumps the puck into the offensive zone for the three or four other players (who are also standing still at the offensive blue line) to attempt to retrieve it. More often than not, they are unsuccessful.
The Penguins have one of the most talented groups of stars in the league but continue to struggle to find success with the man advantage.
Province of Horrors
The Penguins just flat out don't play well against the two teams from Alberta. Yesterday's loss marks six straight regulation losses to the Oilers and Flames. Last season, they were swept by those teams while being outscored 16-4 in those contests.
The play of the Penguins from the second period on Monday through the first period on Tuesday was the worst hockey this team has played in a long time. It almost looked like an entirely different team than the one that had won four of its first five games and led the league in scoring heading into Monday.
The silver lining is that the Penguins had similar results through their first two games of this same road trip last season but were able to even out the score against the Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken.
That is back-to-back games with more negatives to look upon than positives, but the Penguins have a few days off to get things right before playing the struggling Canucks.
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