Penguins/NHL
The Penguins leading 2-0 after two periods saw them doing a lot of the things right that helped fuel their four-game winning streak. They were hard on the forecheck, fast retrieving pucks in their own end and Tristan Jarry was looking phenomenal with his angles and playing big, highlighted by another excellent first period. The Penguins were never going to run the table but there was definitely a feeling in the building with twenty minutes to go they were going to keep this going for at least another game with a winnable game Friday against Columbus.
The New York Islanders, though, had something to say about that and absolutely suffocated the Penguins in the third. From a math perspective, the air has been taken out of the Penguins season for weeks now but Thursday night it just felt official again.
“We just beat ourselves,” Sidney Crosby said. “We made some mistakes……There just wasn’t a lot of pushback.”
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan felt afterwards the game slipped away seconds into the third period as Pittsburgh never recovered:
“They win the faceoff at center ice, and it turns into a 2-on-0 down the other end. It’s just playing a game with not a whole lot of purpose. So we give up easy goal to start the third period and it gives them life, it gives them juice. It’s still a 2-1 game. We still have a lead, we’ve got to respond.”
Sullivan was highly criticized after the loss for scapegoating young defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok who was benched after the goal against and only saw two shifts the rest of the period. Reason for it — Kolyachonok off the opening faceoff was caught deep as the Penguins had possession on a zone entry, which is what Sullivan’s system calls for. Sidney Crosby initially covered and then goes to the right boards to setup 2-on-1 puck possession up top and Kris Letang just completely mangles the puck at the point leading to the Kyle Palmeri breakaway 2-on-0 goal.
Kolyachonok had done enough good over the last several games, most notably his quick ability to retrieve pucks where you gotta throw him right back out there and let a young defenseman learn instead of messing with his head. That will continue to be something to watch with a coaching staff so veteran driven. More head scratching on-ice situation was just way too much Ryan Graves out on the ice with the Sidney Crosby line throughout the game.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
— Another NHL-Ready Prospect? The Penguins are highly interested To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Related posts:
Game 5 Fallout: On Penguins 3rd Period Collapse, Kris Letang’s play/future, Facing Elimination
Lemieux drawing criticism for his comments; Is it warranted?
Vibe out of Crosby’s camp is that “intention” is to work towards a return this post-season
Boston 7 – Pittsburgh 4: Third Period Collapse by Penguins