‘We Were Not Good Enough’: Penguins Fall To Isles, 6-3, In First Game After Holiday Break

After going into the holiday hiatus 9-3-1 in their last 13 games, the first game after the break did not go the Pittsburgh Penguins’ way.

The Penguins fell to the New York Islanders, 6-3, in what was a pretty lopsided effort. They were outshot, 34-25, they were losing puck battles and wall battles throughout the night, they were sloppy in the neutral zone, and they couldn’t establish and sustain possession.

And this all came against an Islanders team that has struggled immensely in its own zone this season – and has also struggled to put the puck in the net. The Islanders gave away the puck 20 times to the Penguins, and they failed to generate anything as a result.

Pittsburgh took a 1-1 tie into the second period after a late power-play goal from Michael Bunting. On the play, Sidney Crosby initially appeared to surpass Mario Lemieux for the all-time franchise lead in assists, but his helper was later taken away on a scoring change.

Then, the Islanders scored three consecutive goals within a span of four minutes during the second period, which was not a strong period from the Penguins. Noel Acciari cut the lead in half with his fourth of the season a little over six minutes remaining in the period, and Rickard Rakell salvaged their poor play in the form of a deflection goal with just 2.7 seconds remaining in the frame to make it 4-3.

But – after getting that late second-period goal, the Penguins failed to respond in the third. They were largely shut down for the rest of the evening, and the Isles added two more in the third – including an empty-netter by Anders Lee – to secure the win for the Islanders.

The Penguins were not happy with their effort on the evening.

“We didn’t get the job done,” Rickard Rakell said. “We were not good enough.”

Here are a few quick notes and observations from Saturday’s game:

– Rakell scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season late in the second – and it was yet another deflection goal.

Matt Grzelcyk, on a few instances, attempted to throw the puck toward the net. He did the same thing in this case, and Rakell was able to deflect the puck in the slot and throw Isles goaltender Ilya Sorokin off his angle.

Other than Crosby, there is no one better than Rakell on this roster at redirecting pucks.

– This was a forgettable evening for both Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson.

Karlsson had three giveaways – including one behind the net on Lee’s empty-net tally – and played a sloppy game in all three zones all evening. After several strong games together as a pairing, he and Grzelcyk struggled throughout the evening.

But Letang had, perhaps, the most egregious mistake of the game. On the Islanders’ third goal – also by Lee – the puck trickled into the blue paint behind Tristan Jarry. Letang attempted to clear the puck to the corner and out of danger, but instead, put it into his own net:

It’s been said by many time and time again that the Penguins’ overall play tends to be indicative of how Letang and, now, Karlsson, are performing. Just as this wasn’t a good performance from the Penguins, this wasn’t a good performance from either player.

– Anthony Beauvillier’s minutes continue to dwindle.

He played only eight minutes and 16 seconds, while no other Penguin was iced less than 11 minutes and 30 seconds. After seeing just over three minutes of ice time through two periods, he did see time on Evgeni Malkin’s line in the third period after Drew O’Connor failed to generate much with Malkin and Bunting.

He did look better in the third period against his former team, and he helped generate a few chances for the second line. But Beauvillier – after a hot start to the season – has only two goals and three points in his last 18 games.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see a scratch in favor of Kevin Hayes or Jesse Puljujarvi in the rematch against the Isles on Sunday.

– I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Blake Lizotte needs to be this team’s third-line center.

Yes, Acciari put one in tonight. But much of that was the result of a great effort by Karlsson. One could argue that the fourth line has been fine, but the third line is generating next to nothing at the moment, and the depth scoring has somewhat gone dry for the Penguins after a torrid start.

And it kind of coincides with the decision to move Lizotte down in the lineup. They had a good thing going there, and with the lack of production from O’Connor in particular – he now has zero goals in 31 games – there are no excuses to keep better, more productive players out of higher spots in the lineup.

If the Penguins would keep the same lineup on Sunday, this is what I’d roll with:

Rakell-Crosby-Bryan Rust
Bunting-Malkin-Philip Tomasino
Beauvillier-Lizotte-Cody Glass
Matt Nieto-O’Connor-Acciari

I don’t think it would hurt to sub in Jesse Puljujarvi for Nieto or O’Connor, either.

– Yes, this was a poor performance from the Penguins. But credit is due to the Islanders, who were coming off an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the free-falling Buffalo Sabres before the holiday break. They came out flying and played with a purpose, and they always play Pittsburgh well on their own ice.

Also – it’s probably for the best that the Penguins go right back at it with them on Sunday. I expect a much better effort from the black and gold in that game, especially since this team has, recently, responded fairly well to bad losses.