NEW YORK -- Hockey, for all its speed and simplicity, can be slowed to a crawl when studied. We can splice through video from multiple frames and angles. We can split the schematic atom with all the advanced analytics available. We can assign accountability to almost any action on the ice.
And yet, on truly special occasions such as the Penguins' 4-3 you-really-had-to-be-here-to-believe it overtime loss to the Rangers' AHL affiliate Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden ... well, we can aspire for analysis that's far more appropriate.
"#$%&*@!"
Yep. A single syllable, one commonly heard on the streets of Midtown Manhattan, summed this up more sweetly than anyone should ever try.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOIt was shouted by Kris Letang on his way out of the locker room, moments after answering my final annoying question -- and I had no shortage of those -- regarding how a team that trucked the Stars at what Mike Sullivan rated a "blueprint”-level three nights earlier in Pittsburgh, how a team that for two periods was drilling these remnant Rangers -- fresh off trading away a quarter of their roster -- somehow spectacularly collapsed in the third.
What went wrong?
Probably best to start with my annoying questions for the head coach:
Got all that?
Wait, I ran a couple by Carl Hagelin, too:
And Riley Sheahan:
They're all correct. It really was everything. Beginning with focus and effort but trickling down through ... everything.
Want some actual analysis of the period?
OK, the new third line, which had broken the ice with a Bryan Rust goal in the second, committed a dubious hat trick with a giveaway by Phil Kessel at the 57-second mark, a giveaway by Derick Brassard at the two-minute mark and a giveaway by Rust at 3:38.
The NHL's No. 1 power play, which opened the period with a chance to drive a dagger through the eye, failed to put one puck on the 22-year-old, fifth-start-ever rookie Alexandar Georgiev.
The penalty-killers would whiff against two New York power plays.
The forwards completely -- and I mean completely -- stopped tracking back on their counterparts. They also didn't front the puck, forecheck, fight any 50/50 battles and, for good measure, Evgeni Malkin's snail-paced penalty shot with 10.7 seconds was casually rejected by the child in the New York net.
The defensemen got burned wide by New York's speed, notably Letang by Chris Kreider on Mika Zibanejad's goal that tied the score at 3-3 with 3:17 left. They also matched the forwards with three giveaways of their own, one each for Jamie Oleksiak, Justin Schultz and Brian Dumoulin. And they capped that with Chad Ruhwedel committing a senseless tripping penalty soon after Hagelin had restored a 3-2 lead with 4:19 left.
The goaltender, Casey DeSmith, so solid most of the night, conceded a short-side softy to Zibanejad in overtime.
Not enough?
OK, remember, we do have video:
As Kreider took the outlet pass on the New York power play, he stormed up the left wing, prompting Sullivan to yell from the bench, "Match his speed!" Which, as Letang would confirm for me, was not only his intent but also his result.
"I got there," he said. "I actually skated too fast."
That's evident. He cuts off Kreider in ample time. But that's no excuse for the one-handed poke attempt that allowed Kreider to elegantly cut inside.
More annoying questions:
That, by the way, was the last one before the loud syllable.
The Rangers' comeback, it should be noted, originated with Patric Hornqvist taking a slashing penalty. He barked about it in the box, but ticky-tacky's been the standard all winter long, and sitting on a two-goal lead was no time to test it.
Kreider tried to credit Alain Vigneault's tactical switch during the second intermission, one aimed at wearing down the Penguins' defense.
"We were talking a lot in the room about getting pucks through the neutral zone and not playing stubborn against a team that has so much talent and can make you pay for it," Kreider said. "Guys made a concerted effort to get pucks deep and make their defense turn. That's when we were able to tilt the ice a little bit."
Yeah, no. Vigneault's own observation on that count was on the money.
"Momentum," he said, "is a funny thing sometimes."
Below is Jesper Fast's goal that tied the score at 2-2 at 14:28:
No. 37 is Carter Rowney, of course, and his number sure shows up for a lot of goals-against for a fourth-liner. He's out there with Tom Kuhnhackl and Conor Sheary, and all three are easy to spot because they're moving as if they're carved from granite.
This is why it's a shame Josh Jooris had to be sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the day, as he'd flashed considerably more promise than Rowney. It's also why Sullivan had benched Sheary for the better part of the period, until that point, when Sheary validated the initial benching. It's also why, when Zach Aston-Reese returns, bumping a winger will be the easiest call of Sullivan's career.
One more:
To be fair, Ruhwedel's been really good lately. To be fairer, Jimmy Vesey might have taken a spill. But that stick can't go on that body in that setting. If it does, it's evidence that the defenseman wasn't in proper position.
That's all I've got.
But it's no more than that, either. Because, harsh as a lot of the above might come across, all of it's the exception of late rather than the rule. The Penguins had been performing with near-peak efficiency through most of March in all of the above facets, even the goaltending in Matt Murray's absence. They'll do so again. This might even be a blessing.
It should serve as a double-edged reminder:
1. This team needs to operate defense-first to win. The goals will come through speed, skill and simple osmosis. The defense requires additional focus and effort.
2. This team isn't the 2016 team. It's not routinely outgunning everyone. That team wanted to play the right way and occasionally did to amuse itself. This one needs to play the right way.
Back one last time to Letang for the fullest perspective I heard ...
"We totally ruined this," he'd say. "We played a great first, a great second, and we played so much with the puck that I think we got cocky. We got too confident. We didn't respect them enough. We were sloppy, and they came back. We threw away that game in the third. It was like we were not even interested. We have to learn from that."
