Penguins Surrender Late Goal, Lose Seventh In Their Last Nine Against Lightning

For the second night in a row and the seventh time in nine games since the holiday break, the Pittsburgh Penguins came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

And, on Sunday, it certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort.

The Penguins dropped another Eastern Conference matchup, 5-2, to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The score was tied, 2-2, midway through the third period. Rickard Rakell and Kevin Hayes – on the power play – had tallies for the Penguins, and Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov were on the board for the Lightning.

However, with under four minutes remaining in regulation, Kucherov capitalized late after Noel Acciari whiffed on an attempted breakout pass to put the Bolts ahead, 3-2.

Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul added empty-net goals at the end to seal the contest.

“It’s tough,” goaltender Tristan Jarry said. “A loss is a loss at the end of the day, but I thought the team played well. We did a good job. We were in their zone most of the night. Just the chances that Tampa got were good chances. They were grade-A chances. That’s what it was tonight.”

For most of the game, Pittsburgh did outplay Tampa. The Penguins dominated the first period, outshooting the Bolts, 15-2, and tcontrolling play. The trouble is that – just like on Nov. 19 – they only had one goal to show for it in that first period.

For the rest of the game, they still had a lot of chances and mostly controlled play, aside from the second half of the second period. They outshot Tampa, 33-19. They played a mostly strong defensive game aside from a few miscues, and the opportunistic Lightning simply buried those – namely the Kucherov goal.

They probably deserved a better fate, but all they can do is control what’s in front of them.

“Obviously, it’s easy to say that, maybe, we deserved that one,” said Philip Tomasino, who played in his first game since Jan. 3. “But, gotta give them credit. They played hard, too. If we continue to play that way, I think we’re going to win most games.”

Here are a few other notes and observations from this one:

– This was a gut-wrenching loss for the Penguins. Things haven’t gone their way since the holiday break, and they’ve had a good habit this season of coming back strong after bad losses like the one against Ottawa on Saturday.

The truth is, they did come out strong. As mentioned before, they mostly controlled play. They were disciplined and didn’t surrender a Tampa Bay power play the entire evening. Most of the game was played on their terms.

But they just couldn’t capitalize early on when they were dominating, which, ultimately, contributed to their downfall. And it also got them to a place where they needed to play mistake-free hockey, which they couldn’t quite accomplish in the end.

Tomasino said there were a lot of positives to take from this one, and I agree. But that one stings, and it’s still a big loss – especially since they are now two points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot having played two additional games. And they are now tied with the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens – both of whom have three games in hand on the Penguins.

Again, they have lost seven of nine since the break and five of their last six. But – aside from Saturday – the games have all seemed within reach.

“It’s a matter of details and big plays, and when you’re stringing seven together, you’re getting those plays, and when you’re not, that’s probably the difference,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “But a lot of those games we’re coming out of, we feel like we did a lot of good things. So, that’s probably the most frustrating thing about it.”

They need to make up these points somewhere, and somewhere fast, before their games played becomes too much of a hurdle to overcome.

– Speaking of Tomasino, I thought he was pretty solid tonight. His line was in general. He made a few questionable decisions with the puck, but for the most part, he played hard.

Aside from the first line, I thought that line of him, Cody Glass, and Drew O’Connor was the Penguins’ best. They generated a lot of chances and got the cycle and forecheck going on several occasions, especially in the first period.

Not having Michael Bunting – who was in a car accident prior to the game – and Evgeni Malkin – who was placed on injured reserve Sunday retroactively and is still day-to-day with an upper-body injury – was very noticeable, though. I think this team is at its best when guys like Glass and O’Connor can play in a bottom-six role.

– I don’t think Glass has been bad in these games as the team’ second-line center. He’s a very responsible 200-foot player, and he uses his speed and offensive instincts to help the Penguins’ puck possession game.

But he has just one goal this season. I think either him or Tomasino is fine in that right-wing role next to Malkin when he returns, but the Penguins need to start getting more offense from their second line. I think he’s better-served as a complementary player in a top-six role rather than being the guy to drive offense on his line.

Right now, though, there isn’t really anyone else to put there. They need Malkin back sooner than later.

– Hayes continues to play good hockey for the Penguins. It feels like I’m writing about him pretty much every night, but he really has been one of the Penguins’ better players since returning to the lineup on Jan. 3.

He now has three goals in those six games, and he saw time on the top power play unit in Bunting’s place against Tampa Bay. His goal notwithstanding, I think he is solid on the power play for the Penguins.

I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again: He needs to be in the lineup when this team is healthy.

– Acciari had a rough game. During the first period, he crashed into the Penguins’ net behind Jarry and hit his head off the ice, which cut him under his visor. He left and did not return in the first period, and he came back at the start of the second.

He then had the play that led to Kucherov’s goal in the third period.

It’s difficult to assess Acciari’s game when a lot of his minutes are on the penalty kill. But on nights like tonight – when that wasn’t required – it’s easier to notice some of the other details in his game.

In all honestly, I’m just not seeing enough from him right now, just like Nieto. I’d even throw Blake Lizotte in there as well, athough I think he’s playing better and is still playing in a role below what he’s capable of playing.

When everyone’s healthy, I’d like to see some other guys in the mix with Lizotte, if he is, indeed, going to continue being this team’s fourth-line center. Role placement is another discussion for another time.

– Even though the Penguins controlled play, they didn’t feel like some of their defensive details were where they needed to be. I thought the team was doing a good job clogging shooting lanes and limiting high-danger opportunities, especially in that second period.

But they still made some mistakes and gave up a few too many grade-A chances.

“Every time you’re able to put in an effort like that and you don’t get the result, there’s something that is wrong,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “There’s a lack of details, and things like that that happen at key moments. And we have to correct them. And we have to be able to maintain the same effort and the same style of play that we’ve played for two periods, and we give ourselves a chance to win.”

I tend to agree. It always seems like teams just capitalize on every bad mistake the Penguins make. Which leads me to my final point.

– The Penguins have not been a good defensive team for several years now. They’ve made these mistakes. They’ve surrendered grade-A chances.

The difference, for me, is still goaltending.

I’m not going to be the person that says this one was on Jarry. He made a huge breakaway save on Brandon Hagel during a third-period Penguins’ power play to keep the game tied.

But I still think some of the details in his game are lacking. He still surrendered the first goal within the first five shots, which has been almost a given this season. And, when asked about what’s going wrong, he always seems to deflect blame somewhere else.

He pointed out grade-A chances being given up, which is still true. And he pointed to the penalty kill when asked about the recent string of losses, which had nothing to do with Sunday’s loss.

I think we’ve got to get a little bit better on the penalty kill,” Jarry said. “I think the penalty kill is what kind of helped lead our team, along with the power play, just before [the break]. When were getting stops like that, it was giving us momentum and we were getting back to playing in their end. If we can get back to that and just kind of play a good team game – guys are going all out, they’re blocking shots, they’re doing what they have to do – just help in that area will really help our game.”

Ned is the first guy to take blame for a loss, even when it’s not his fault. I’m not saying this one was Jarry’s fault. But goaltending has – without a doubt – been an issue for this team since the break and for most of the season. And some accountability there might go a long way.

If the Penguins expect to make a run – or even if they don’t – they need to get Joel Blomqvist or Filip Larsson on the next bus to Pittsburgh.