The Penguins officially have a weakness, and that weakness is playing anywhere that isn’t PPG Paints Arena. At home, they’re the most dominant team in the league, outscoring opponents 87 to 54 on their way to a record of 18-2. On the other side of the coin, they’ve found life on the road to be very difficult, and have succumbed to sucking their way to a record of 8-9-3, being outscored 56-69 (not nice) in the process. It seems like the only person who hates leaving home more than the Penguins right now is your grandma. Tough times.
When you look ahead on the schedule, it doesn’t get any easier.
Home games against Washington and St. Louis will be tough. Nashville is just now getting healthy, so that won’t be an easy out, either. A road game against Carey Price in Montreal, so fuck that game right off. Plus two against Boston in the same week, and a game against Carolina, who isn’t a pushover at home — there really just isn’t a game the rest of the month you can point to and say, “yep, they got that one,” and that’s bad news. The Pens have now lost three in a row, allowing 15 goals against in the process, Sidney Crosby doesn’t have a goal in five games, and oh, by the way, may have lost Kris Letang again to a knee injury.
RECAP:
The Pens had leads of 2-0 and 3-2 at different points in the game but still couldn’t pull out a victory against a Detroit team that could, quite honestly, be the worst team in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins are above criticism in a lot of ways — their run to the Cup last season is a crutch they’ve earned the right to lean on from time to time — but not here. The Red Wings scored four unanswered goals, including three in the third period where the Penguins could only muster 12 shot attempts. And you can’t blame it on being tired from playing three games in four games when it was only their fourth game this year. Mike Sullivan molded the Penguins into a team that is way above those types of failings, so you know he’s jammed.
The Red Wings scored four unanswered goals, including three in the third period where the Penguins could only muster 12 shot attempts. And you can’t blame it on being tired from playing three games in four games when it was only their fourth game this year. All season the Penguins were a group that prided themselves on resiliency and third-period comebacks. To see their foundation crumble so easily these past three games has to be a little concerning.
Mike Sullivan molded the Penguins into a team that is way above those types of failings, so you know he’s jammed.
Sullivan: "I don’t think we played the game the right way. We’re trying to outscore teams instead of trying to outplay teams."
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) January 15, 2017
Sullivan: "If we’re not committed to playing away from the puck, we’re ordinary. That’s what I think."
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) January 15, 2017
Sullivan calling the Penguins “ordinary”, it’s like he read this blog from 2012-15.
Anyway, the backbreaker in this one was the first of the third. Andreas Athanasiou is somehow a real name and he gave Detroit the lead for good when he took the puck from behind the Red Wings net and dusted everyone, going end coast-to-coast before putting a wrist shot over Fleury.
It looked like the Pens were going to get one back not long after, but Malkin was jobbed for goaltender interference.
Weak call with the game hanging in the balance but what can you do. Coreau sell job wasn’t even that impressive, which has to be disappointing for a city that sees so many people get shot. Whatever the case, it worked, and the Pens basically mailed the rest of the game in from there. Detroit would score again moments later, then add another for good measure to finish the Pens off, 6-3.
Other stuff:
- Phil Kessel doing the refs job for them is more or less how he received 70 votes for president.:
https://twitter.com/NHLBlinn/status/820442338652786688
- Fleury’s puckhandling…woof.
- Justin Schultz has been great, but pairing him with Warsofsky…double woof.
- Caps again up next…
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