The Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to New York on Nov. 5 to tackle Metro Divison rival the Islanders. After enjoying a strong first two intervals, helped out by sturdy goaltending from Alex Nedeljkovic, the Penguins fell aside within the third interval. This allowed the Islanders to come back again from a two-goal deficit and finally take the win in a shootout, 4-3.
All 4 Traces Rolling
Head coach Mike Sullivan continues to shuffle the ahead traces round, looking for one thing that works. It appeared to work within the loss to the Islanders, as all 4 traces might get themselves going and create offensively. The road of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Evgeni Malkin tallied two of the three objectives (Crosby and Malkin each scored).
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Together with that got here the offseason acquisitions of Blake Lizotte, Kevin Hayes, and Anthony Beauvillier, who brought on havoc on the forecheck and created possibilities for themselves. Seeing all 4 traces be capable of contribute in their very own means is a much-welcomed signal for Sullivan and the Penguins.
Penguins Fail to Play a Full 60 Minutes
Within the first 50ish minutes of the sport, the Penguins managed the tempo of play due to the sturdy forecheck of gamers like Lizotte and Rakell. Together with that was the sturdy play of Drew O’Connor. He has had a sluggish begin to the season however was all around the ice and was one of the crucial energetic gamers within the offensive zone. Though he didn’t money in on Ilya Sorokin at any level, the play within the offensive zone from O’Connor is a optimistic, and the hope is he can break by way of sooner reasonably than later.
The Penguins as soon as once more blew a third-period lead after taking a two-goal lead nearly midway by way of the ultimate body. The loss marked the seventh blown lead lack of the season, essentially the most within the league. They managed the tempo of play for almost all of the sport and stored Sorokin busy all night time. Nonetheless, the largest drawback appears to be that they take the foot off the pedal once they get a lead and permit groups to get again into video games. This was the case in opposition to an Islanders workforce at present lacking the likes of Mathew Barzal, Anthony Duclair, and Adam Pelich. The Penguins simply appeared to nearly go into auto-pilot mode, and it ended up costing them a win they need to have had.
Particular Groups Get Loads of Work
The Islanders have one of many worst energy performs and penalty kills within the league, and the Penguins’ energy play has been a lot better than final season. So once they acquired 4 possibilities on the person benefit within the sport, followers anticipated extra than simply the one aim they scored (Malkin’s second-period aim). Though they solely acquired one aim, the unit appeared sturdy however continued to try to get a bit too overcomplicated with their play as an alternative of taking what the Islanders gave them.
Malkin was a main instance of making an attempt to get too fancy with the puck (and a bit overly selfless) when he handed up an open shot on Sorokin within the slot by making an attempt to drive a cross over to Crosby. The Islanders cleared the puck following a missed play by Crosby. On the flip aspect, when the Penguins simplified their play, it ended up with Malkin scoring off a pleasant cross from offseason acquisition Matt Grzelyck for a one-timer that beat Sorokin five-hole.
On the 4 instances that the Penguins had been on the penalty kill, it once more appeared strong sufficient to carry the Islanders to just one aim (Simon Holmstrom’s third-period aim).
Different Sport Notes
- Crosby’s second-period aim marked the 598th in his profession, and he finds himself two away from 600 and three from tying Jari Kurri for twentieth on the all-time record. He additionally pushed his level streak to 4 video games.
- Michael Bunting ended his 12-game scoreless drought by scoring his first aim of the season within the third interval off a wonderful feed from Jesse Puljujärvi.
- Nedeljkovic appeared sturdy within the loss, making 23 saves on 26 photographs.
On to the Subsequent One
The Penguins will look to return to the win column once they journey to Carolina to face the Hurricanes on Nov. 7.
