In Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Islanders, the Penguins trailed after the second period for the 11th time in 23 games.
Then the Sidney Crosby show in the third period fueled a comeback only to see the Penguins fall short on a breakdown in front of the net as Anders Lee was left all alone for a redirection goal with 26 seconds left in regulation.
Despite the third period surge, the Penguins got the result they deserved.
What this game showed is who the Penguins have been for much of this season. Some dominant stretches but largely an inconsistent effort with poor play away from the puck.
The Penguins are really struggling right now with their lack of awareness defensively.
“We’ve got to have some awareness of where people are on the rink,” Sullivan said.
The Lee goal was a prime example where Nick Bonino doesn’t slide down but it wasn’t just one or two situations.
Individually one of the biggest culprits is Evgeni Malkin. While Malkin had the game tying goal in the third period off of a great play from Sidney Crosby in the neutral zone and dish from Brian Dumoulin, his play away from the puck has been disastrous.
Malkin was on the ice for the first three goals against in the game.
On the second goal against he lost a defensive zone faceoff he put little to no effort into winning.
And for Malkin there’s been just way too much floating around in the d-zone. It crushed the Penguins last night. Here was one play where Olli Maatta is getting pressured and Malkin just circles towards the boards as the puck bounces in front and the Islanders get a high danger scoring chance.
More Buzz
— Matt Murray allowed four goals on 29 shots. The first two goals against he got beat with shots through his armpit, the last two were d-zone breakdowns. While the second goal against was a soft one, Murray did a good job of keeping this game from getting out of hand in the second, highlighted by his save on John Tavares during a 5-on-3 situation.
Matt Murray save pic.twitter.com/sVeHLtNwrs
— Insidepghsports (@Insidepghsports) December 1, 2016
Murray, though, has an .881 save percentage over his last two starts.
— One reason the Penguins are on the hunt for a top-4 defenseman. They have no legit No. 2 pairing and that was on display vs the Islanders.
— The Penguins 0-3 on the power play managed just 2 power play shots in six minutes.
— Jake Guentzel fell into Mike Sullivan’s dog house last night. As Sullivan shortened the bench, Guentzel saw just three shifts in the third with Matt Cullen moving up to Malkin’s left wing for the most part.
the dashcam video makes it look like drug ho kang fell asleep at the wheel.
GAME WINNER ASSIST UPDATE:
Sheary on the board. Hornqvist gaining ground on Ian Cole. Crosby and Malkin still pedestrian. Hell, Kessel has all these assists – not ONE is a game winner assist.
Cole – 3
Hornqvist – 2
Kuhnhackl – 1
Cullen – 1
Wilson – 1
Schultz – 1
Maatta – 1
Sestito – 1
Fehr – 1
Malkin – 1
Rust – 1
Crosby – 1
Sheary – 1
It’s gonna be a fight to the finish.
Somebody better save Dejan before he suffocates swallowing Crosby’s cock and balls.
steigy would never let that happen
i went back and forth emailing dejan. the reason yoda was blocked was because he said i accused him of favoritism. he said he can take getting his work called out if i think his writing sucks out but he can’t take getting called unethical. he told me charging a journalist with homerism or favoritism is like accusing a judge of taking bribes. i told him i get triggered by st.bleury articles. speaking of st.bleury articles did you notice the headline for the saint was “a star of stars” this morning? do people really think st.bleury is a star? the… Read more »
….and for the record i did tell dejan that i don’t think he is unethical. as a matter of fact i think they are all nice guys over there. however, the site drives me nuts and being super PC in the comment section is no fun. that’s why i’m not posting over there anymore.
now zerofool can go and copy my above two statements and privately message them to DK (like he gives a-fuck) and post them on the forum over there for all to read (like anyone gives a-fuck)
At least you finally excepted that absolutely no one gives a shit what you have to say.
Why would I have to do it again… the reaction the 1st time was perfect. End of the day you really dont see that what I did was exactly what you were doing. You have turned yourself into a martyr over it but the irony of your tantrum on the subject is completely lost on you. It’s amazing how fine you are bouncing back and forth between the pages trashing people but when it was done in your name you went fucken sideways… it was glorious. You are right though… for the most part no one gives a fuck about… Read more »
Literally nobody cares. Including Dejan. Your little email pillow fight is pathetic.
it wasn’t a fight. when i emailied him i didn’t email as yoda i emailed as myself. dk certainly did care. that’s why yoda was banned. he took it personal when i called him a fleury fan boy.
So you go onto someone’s site and call them names? And then he banned you. Shocking.
Soon dk will ban every member from this site going there. You guys are like virus spreading in other place lol
And he doesn’t want to post anymore if he isn’t allowed to continue doing it. World Class Fraud in full effect.
Then he comes out here to tell the tale but melts down when the favour is returned… still doesnt see the irony of it all… continues to do exactly that. Gold
You get triggered by Fleury articles? Surely you jest.
Hahaha you got banned? Imagine you get banned from here too
It would be a great day that would only be topped by you getting banned.
Actually I did see the headline which read “STAR AMONG STARS, when Fleury has fun, as Dallas find out, all’s well in his world” but is anyone surprised that again you lied to try to push your agenda.
Ever think it was a pun among words considering the team name is Dallas STARS? Moron yoda!
you’ll get banned if you write that over there. they get pissed if you accuse them of favortism.
Really? I’ve called DK out several times for it and have gotten banned.
I’m sure that little Edmonton puzzy will cut and paste my comment on dejan’s site.
LOL, you feeling left out you fucken bitch lol. On that note I’m dead to you remember… we had all the respect lost haha. Get over yourself douche bag
Murray + Cole + Fehr to the flames for Hamilton + Versteeg and a 2nd round pick. Plus make them eat $1.5 off of Hamilton’s contract. Make it happen pappy!
I wouldn’t make that trade. Cole is one of our better dmen. We still would be hurting on D.
You don’t think Letang-Daly, Hamilton-Dumo, Maatta-Schultz is better than what we have today? Cole is so inconsistent it’s insane. Maatta needs dropped to the bottom pairing till he can find speed. Hamilton would be locked in at $4.5 million till 2020. I do this trade in a heartbeat.
I agree on Maatta. I would move Fehr though. I just don’t think they will trade Murray. I think Calgary wants out of Hamilton’s contract. I don’t think they have been happy with him. I think he could be had for less. Not a bad starting point of a trade though. They have to address this defense though.
Actually Burke was asked about moving Hamilton the other day in an interview and he said it was the stupidest thing he’s ever heard and that Hamilton is as untouchable as any player in the league. Obviously there’s an element of GM talk involved in that but he sounded generally disgusted that someone would ever suggest they trade Hamilton.
It’d have to be a hockey trade, otherwise I agree wholeheartedly.
I’m not in a hurry to move Fehr – I’d just use him more sparingly – I honestly think he might be the kind of “veteran” Vegas ends up picking off of our roster. Nice price tag for them – veteran leadership – this and that.
Not happening.
No ****. Calgary would be stupid to accept that trade.
Really? Think Calgary would do it in a heartbeat
You don’t know what you’re getting in Cole, imo he stinks. Fehr is a stiff. They’re eating a portion of Hamilton’s salary for 4 years plus a pick for Murray. I think that’s too much for him. Hamilton is 23, right handed, good size. He’s a future star back there.
Gaydog will be here in the morning to tell us how great Cole is and how he won Pitt the cup with his PK.
I would say you have a better chance of seeing Fleury + Fehr + Pouliot for Hamilton + Elliot with salary retained on Fleury but since Burke has already come out and said that Hamilton is untouchable I’d say both are irrelevant. Any deal with Calgary HAS to include Elliot.
Hey , Yoda what do you think of fleury’s momentum changing saves that led pens to a victory
i think trade him tomorrow while his value is through the roof!
If Murray keeps laying eggs its probably not a great idea
that was vintage st.bleury. he kicks a shot out 30 feet into the slot, the guy fires the rebound and he makes an unbelievalbe save. however, there are times where he kicks it 30 feet in the slot, the guy scores, and it goes down as a horrible goal. that is the career of st.bleury.
woah! the smiley faced saint didn’t melt down in the 3rd period!!!! rutherford better trade him tomorrow while his value is sky high before it’s too late! all hail st.bleury!!!!
Thank God for crosby in the lineup with game winner goal while chubby and Russian are nothing but power play specialists btw shitt stain what do u think of chubby and sheary same amount of goals while chubby gets paid maybe 3 times the salary
LOL, Crosby has 1 less point than Malkino n the PP… such a chode
In what. 7 less games? Chubby is a point per game player. You’re just too novice of a fan to notice. Or maybe you pass out mid game from
Your stench.
There is that Sheary doing all his TK again hey sammie? Guy isnt pretty but hes effective
st.bleury hasnt’ let up a turd yet. can he not let that happen for the next 20 mins? if he does, i’ll be pissed!
Right… I have no doubt you really wanna blame MAF for the Seguin goal. This is a poor attempt to hide your bias from yesterdays game lol
Seguin is pretty good at hockey lol
Look at what happens when your goalie doesn’t give up a goal in the 1st 7 shots of the game.
Too soon… too soon lol
I wonder if yoda will find a way to blame MAF for this deflection lol
Seriously right as I hit post comment. At least it was the 8th shot, still better than Murray in 5 of his last 7 games.
Haha!
jinx
I cant watch the game, Stanch can you tell me what’s going on? Oh, who am I kidding. Same, can you tell me what’s going on.
Yeah. I don’t have time to text you from the luxury box. There’s too much free beer here.
This isn’t surprising
poor selection when it comes to crafts but free is free.
dude, youre so rich it doesnt matter. Are you a hewalthy sratch tonight … ae you, by any chance, Jake Guentzel?
Fair point. And no. But during the period I could see him in the press box whilst enjoying my free beer.
dude, I’ll buy you a beer if it means that much to you. Ive been saving all my laundry money
Typical letang penalty. Hard to believe he dares to get that close to anyone with that pungent French Canadian BO
You know, penalties as a whole in stupid scenarios suck… on the PP? Atrocious… thanks for pissing this one away Letang
9.5 m. power play specialist and misses the empty net
So D writes an article about who the odd man out will be, tells us all about how the team has seen enough out of Guentzel that they don’t see a scenario where he comes out of the lineup and how that’s bad news for players like Wilson and Kuhnkackl, 24hrs later Guentzel is a healthy scratch and Wilson is back in the lineup. Sounds about right to me, maybe D should double check with the people in the know next time.
Blow it up. Sid sucks.
You calling for them to blow it up – takes me back to mid March before the Cup run.
Have to give him some credit though, at least he isn’t acting like he never said it. He was wrong, as usual, but at least he has owned it unlike the other fraud.
I guess… I mean when the bar is set that low. Who rides the nuts of a hypocrite unless they are one too
You mean when you were really fat and unhappy? oh wait…
And dont pretend you know when the playoffs start, there’s no box score for that.
That was sam level bad Maloni. You’re better than that.
Not sure why D brought up Sid on Malkin’s goal, it was a 2nd assist and as Sam informed us recently 2nd assists and pp points are irrelevant.
Unless they’re game winner second assists.
Does it matter that Malkin was on the ice for the first three goals against considering they were all duds? Who cares who was on the ice when a slap shot from the boards at the faceoff dot goes in? I guess DePaoli only thinks the second goal was soft.
stanch hates murray
I don’t really hate either of them – i’m just pointing out the unevenness. You know what I’m talking about – you lead that charge – the same way you made excuses for him last night. You’re a #fraud. So is D.
Shitt stain hates anything that others like on this site.he just likes to be against others like or opinions
Yes. That’s probably why I hate not showering so much. Because you enjoy it.
I bet if it was sid you’d be all over this board you clown
#UniversalFraud
I mean if sid was coasting through the neutral zone, then yes. If a defensemen threw a shot to the net that has no business going in, then probably not. But you wouldn’t understand – you barely can pick up on a point per game player. It’s like you just started watching the game (and have terrible BO)
Only thing malkin was missing was a penalty last night
Good one sam. How many days now without a shower?