Penguins/NHL
Game 1: Penguins, Isles each show blueprint in series opener
Losses in 10 of their last 11 playoff games, the Pittsburgh Penguins keep losing playoff games and are now chasing their first round series.
Kyle Palmieri scored his second goal of the game at 16:30 of overtime to deliver a 4-3 OT win for the New York Islanders in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon. Palmieri starred for the Islanders with the opening goal of the game and the OT winner, while Brock Nelson and JG Pageau also scored in the win. Backup netminder Ilya Sorokin provided a number of timely saves and shined with a 39-save performance after getting the nod due to No. 1 netminder Seymon Varlamov being held out for precautionary reasons.
For Pittsburgh, Freddy Gaudreau, Sidney Crosby and Kasperi Kapanen all scored in the loss, while Tristan Jarry made 37 in his second career post-season game.
Kris Letang led all skaters with 32:26 of ice time.
— The elephant in the room after the Penguins Game 1 loss was clearly Tristan Jarry. Jarry had a number of big-time stops throughout, but, one goaltender allowed leaky goals to get through him and one didn’t. That will put you on the losing side of playoff games.
Although the Islanders started to find their game a bit late in the second period that carried over into the third, Pittsburgh loses this series, the Pageau goal will be remembered as the series changer, even if it was just Game 1. That was what should have just been such a routine save.
Mike Sullivan afterwards took a positive approach to Jarry’s performance.
“I thought Tristan made some big saves throughout the course of the game to keep the game where it was at,” said Sullivan.
The biggest question with Jarry coming in was going to be his consistency throughout the series. What the Penguins didn’t want after Game 1 was the microscope already being on him as much as it will be in how he responds for Game 2.
Meanwhile, the Islanders taking Game 1 and Sorokin playing as well as he did, opens the door to be cautious again with Varlamov.
The Islanders came into Game 1 with the mindset, go with Sorokin for Game 1 to give Varlamov a few more days off and come back with Varlamov for Game 2, but we’ll see if Trotz decides against messing with a winning lineup.
OPTIMISM OUT OF THE GAME 1 PERFORMANCE
A positive spin for the Penguins:
Sunday afternoon didn’t have the same feel of the type of hockey club we saw in the 2019 and 2020 postseasons……at least not yet….
Game 1 showed a lot of what was expected between Penguins – Islanders.
A tight game on the scoreboard all game, but for key stretches, especially on, you saw a superior Penguins team 5 vs 5 in an ability to dictate the pace. How quick the Penguins exited the zone and countering by turning defense into offense just inside the neutral zone was clockwork for the first period and some.
“They came out flying“ Isles head coach Barry Trotz said of the Penguins.
Defending as a group, Pittsburgh was flawless early on in how they gave the Islanders little time and space to create offense off the cycle. Pittsburgh was systematic fast, a staple of their turnaround in play since February as the Penguins had the script in making the Islanders do a lot of chasing in all three zones.
Pittsburgh’s A-game 5 vs 5 is head and shoulders above the Islanders, but the Islanders doing what they do, though, survived the first period wave by the Penguins and slowly but slowly started to tilt the flow of play as the game progressed.
Was it just a classic typical playoff game between two good hockey clubs where the flows of the game are going to tilt to each side or was it something more that is going to force the Penguins hand to have to adjust?
As the game progressed, Pittsburgh became more more less threatening in attacking with a speed/skilled game and you saw the structure defensively start to crack a bit. The Islanders were able to flip course in forcing the Penguins to defend below the dots. This isn’t always the case but the eye test in period three matched the possession stats as the Islanders controlled 65% of shot attempts in period three at even strength.
MORE BUZZ
— There was no Evgeni Malkin for Game 1 who is dealing with a lingering sofTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Well done Jarry and the Penguins… 43 shots os goal for the offense and Jarry was good. Malkin well not there again so frustrating…. Mayne he will be back for game 3 we will see…i doubt it
Glad to see Jarry bounce back. Some goalies (Fleury) try their whole careers to bounce back from a bad playoff start but continue to shlt down their own legs. Huge confidence booster for him and the team.
You mean the same fleury that’s ahead of jarry with 0.98GAA so far.
Fluery was outstanding last night stealing a win for Vegas….OMG he was good!
Glad to see our Ex Penguins doing well.
Between Washington and Minnesota they have like a million ex penguins… Cole, Bjugstad, Bonino, Sprong, Hagelin, Schultz And Sheary…
Carterrrrrr
Nice call!
You saw the future. Lol
What a stupid penalty to take!!!
PP looks terrible. Should have just rolled out the 4th line as the PP unit.
At least they didn’t take any.
Rust did, and it was a really stupid and obvious one. Lol.
Yeah until the end there. Looked like he panicked.
Bounce back game for Jarry and the division champs for the win 4-2. Jeff “only people on the west coast think I’m slow ” Carter with the GWG.
Jeff “just like Marleau last year” Carter
Yeah your an a-hole too… I admitted i was wrong about Carter at least 4 times on here.. You have not once admitted you were wrong about Sam Bennett….which means you have no balls, your not a man, and you have a vagina!!
Bennett is killing it in Florida….please admit that for future discussions. Can’t stand guys who wont admit they were wrong!….Bad parenting i guess which is the case for you tbj233…
otherwise i’m blocking you no sense arguing with someone who thinks they are perfect like you do..
Bennett was suspended last night and Florida will be lucky to last more than 5 games. And again, since you have a hard time reading, I never said he would be bad. I said he’s been a bust thus far and if he weren’t, he would’ve garnered more in a trade and he’s be getting paid more than he does. I honestly couldn’t care less about Bennett, or Scandella, or whatever other mediocre player you want to post about on every article. And as far as how we were brought up, your parents obviously couldn’t get you past 3rd grade… Read more »
Furthermore, if you’re trying to prove your manhood on an obscure message board… yikes!
Nope just trying to prove you don’t have any douche bag…I’m ignoring you now your just a little baby who trolls this site and criticizes everyone here who doesn’t agree with you…sad little boy you are..
No one mentioned Marco Scandella…
This is what you do you bring up stuff from a year ago and you hold on to shit1.
Please be like Elsa from frozen and let it go…..ok
t
Like your shot at people from the west coast think Carter is slow….
I admitted that I was wrong so just stop little boy….move on Francis ! (next debate.)
Do you understand!
For the record on that beautiful goal that he scored he used his skill, size, and reach to protect the puck coming out of the corner to score…………just saying
no speed involved there… LOL
But again for the record time number # 5 he has been a terrific addition…like Bennett has been in Florida..
Did anyone actually watch this game? The only correction needs to be Jarry not doing his best Playoff Fleury Dumpster Fire impression. Keep all else as-is and we’re golden.
We did. Does not mean there is no room for improvement.
OFFSEASON PROTECT
– Crosby
-Guentzel
-Rust
-MCcann
– Kapenan
-Dumoulin
– Marino
– Letang (i guess)
– Jarry ??
No one will take Carter, Malkin !!! I might leave Letang unprotected too…
What are the rules for leaving a player unprotected in the expansion draft if he has a full no partial no movement / trade clause? Anyone know..
Players who currently have no-movement clauses as a part of their contracts at the time of the Expansion Draft (and refuse to waive it) have to be protected by their respective franchise and will count towards the team’s protected list.
Crosby, Malkin, Zucker, Tanev, Letang and Dumo all have M NTC’s of some kind. Unless Zucker waives his he is going nowhere.
Each team can protect up to seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender, or nine players regardless of position.
All players with no-movement clauses must be protected unless they’ve agreed to waive.
Any player with two or fewer years of NHL/AHL experience is exempt.
wow thanks that really helps..so many technical rules on players movement and protection…
Forgot about Tanev….
!!!!
I hate you.
Letang has a NTC. You can’t leave him exposed.
Thanks man..I wasn’t sure of those rules appreciated. I dont know everything like blowhard tbj233..LOL
Forgot about Tanev….
I have been saying Pettersson is soft since day one….
Hopefully he and Matheson are left unprotected in the expansion draft…
His writing is getting worse. Yikes.
Malkin and Dumo game time decisions. If Dumo is out that means Letang is useless defensive wise.
Man if Dumo is out good god we are in trouble…
His name is Jordan Staal! Not Eric and Jared never played in the NHL. Get people who can actually do proper commentary. Gez!
his name is robert paulson. his name is robert paulson…
Lol!!!!
After watching Tampa against Florida, the pens have no chance. Even if they win the next 8.
You do realize that if the Pens make it out of the Metro, there is no guarantee they will even play Tampa. You are putting the cart miles ahead of the horse.
I wonder which team npl is cheering for
We all know you are cheering for Montreal and Vegas.
They need big changes to this team. Malkin is soft. Zucker is a joke. The defense is as soft as Charmin. I’m looking forward to the off season with Hexie and Burkie!
Zucker has two more years at $5,500,000 with a M NTC and played like shitt, good luck with that trade. Pettersson has 4 yrs left at $4,025,175 with a M NTC in his final two years. Who the hell would want that. You can thank JR for those two horrible trades. Ceci is playing himself out of the Pens price range and Letang needs Dumo to cover up his horrible defensive mistakes. Malkin will only be traded if he asks for one. Mario wants him to retire a Penguin. He and Morehouse run the show and they have not been… Read more »
I’ll thank him for two Cups and a team that won the division this year. If Jarry didn’t play like dog ****, the Penguins fan base wouldn’t be taking their rage out on every person imaginable. It’s really that simple. The best teams in the NHL won’t be able to navigate 2-3 soft goals in one game. FFS, they only gave up 6 high danger scoring chances in over 3 periods of play. Every dman doesn’t need to be Scott Steven’s to be effective.
The Russian must go
No matter how many games the season has he always finds a way to take his 20+ games annual vacation.
No Kidding..
We learned that Hextall rushed Malkin back to early and now the Pens will have to pay for it.
Most players can play with pain. Don’t blame Hextall for Mr Softee Malkin!
I agree but there was no need to rush him back a week early. He had a week left of recovery according to the trainers. Hextall has a bad track record of doing that. Everyone knows he is still hurt, now he will be a target. If they lose tomorrow, then we can all start to panic. This was not going to be a sweep but they let that game get away. If Jarry looks bad tomorrow, pull him and ride Lagace. DeSmith never should have been their primary back up going into this season. It should have been a… Read more »
get rid of Zucker and Pettersson when this season is over. Zucker is worthless and Pettersson is soft. They both aren’t worth the money they get.
I can’t imagine Zucker is in Pittsburgh next season, regardless of how this season plays out.
We don’t have 12, 87’s on the ice. Trotz will hammer glove side
We learned—————
We need better goaltending in game two….
NO KIDDING
just saying bro.. Every one hear is saying Trotz and his system won the game etc etc….
We lost because our goalie sucked…. Sullivan didn’t get out coached our goalie sucked, we were the dominant team for 2 plus periods end of story..
i wouldn’t have to state this pozone if so many people just didn’t see it. All these other excuses like coaching, or Malkins not there, or Zucker sucks.
we lost because our goalie gave up 3 soft goals…