Twenty-seven days ahead of the NHL's trade deadline, the Penguins made one modest move Monday, shipping Jamie Oleksiak back to the Stars for a draft pick.
Tempting as it might have been for Jim Rutherford to blow up everything by day's end, after a 6-3 loss to the last-place Devils, he can't make knee-jerk reactions based on one game.
But how about the past few games?
Though spread out over 17 days following their bye week and the All-Star break, this loss was the Penguins' fourth in five games. And in those four losses, they've been outscored, 23-10. Equally troubling, they're also now 1-7-1 against last-place teams. Three of those losses have come against the Devils, who have outscored them, 15-6, and outhustled them, according to Patric Hornqvist:
Indeed, Rutherford has serious decisions to make between now and 3 p.m. on Feb. 25. The most obvious one, of course, is what to do at third-line center. I know, stop me if you've heard that one before. But as Monday night underscored, there is more to consider than just that. Namely, the second-line center.
Because if Evgeni Malkin's going to continue to do this ...
... and this ...
... and, oh yeah, this ...
... well, then the Penguins' chances of winning the Stanley Cup go far, far beyond Derick Brassard's shortcomings.
The third clip above is Malkin's giveaway at the blue line which led to Brian Boyle's short-handed goal at 3:30 of the second period. It was the 11th short-handed goal the Penguins have allowed this season, most in the NHL.
After appearing to have taken a step forward by recording nine points in five games between Jan. 2 and 11, Malkin appears to have taken two steps backward. In the Penguins' past four losses, he has three assists and a minus-10 rating, lowering his season figure for the latter to minus-20. Only the Panthers' Jonathan Huberdeau (minus-23) and Mike Matheson (minus-21) have a worse rating.
Say what you want about the validity of plus-minus, but there's no skirting minus-20.
“Obviously, we’d like him to have more of a positive impact on the game,” Mike Sullivan was saying. “He’s such a talented player, and he’s such an accomplished player, and I know how much he cares about this team and this organization and trying to help us win. Part of my responsibility as a coach and our staff is we’re trying to help Geno through this process to try to help him capture his very best game.”
So what to do?
Not to state the obvious, but the Penguins aren't going to trade Malkin. Nor should they. Despite all of the above, he still has 53 points, tied for second-most on the team. But Sullivan does hold the hammer, and that means cutting into playing time and mixing things up on a power play which, in addition to the short-handed goal, went 0 for 5 Monday.
When his team dropped four straight games between Oct. 30 and Nov. 5, Sullivan did the once-unthinkable by breaking up his team's No. 1 power-play unit, a unit which had converted at a franchise-record 26.2 percent in 2017-18. For one game, Nov. 7 at Washington, Sullivan had Sidney Crosby with Kris Letang, Jake Guentzel, Dominik Simon and Jack Johnson on his "No. 1" unit with Malkin, Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Bryan Rust and Olli Maatta on another.
Predictably, it didn't work in terms of producing goals. But it did send a message.
Is it message-sending time again?
"We're probably there," Sullivan said. "As a coach, it's always a fine line. You want to show faith and trust in your guys and, as I've said all along this year, our first power play has been a difference-maker for this team for a long time and they're all really good players, but we have to take more responsibility for having a defensive conscience when guys are in trouble and it doesn't seem like we're recognizing the danger, and we don't take care of the puck. We're careless with some of the decisions we make with the puck and it cost us."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. Travis Zajac
Devils center
With a goal and three assists, he now has 45 points in 63 career games against the Penguins, his most production against any opponent.
2. Brent Coleman
Devils right winger
One goal, one assist. The Texan now has four goals in eight career games against the Penguins.
3. Pavel Zacha
Devils center
One goal, one assist. We'll be seeing a lot more from this talented 21-year-old.
THE INJURIES
• Jack Johnson, defenseman, left Monday's game early in the third period with an undisclosed injury. Johnson, one of five Penguins to play all 49 games this season, was still being evaluated afterward. Sullivan said he'll provide an update Tuesday after practice.
• Justin Schultz, defenseman, is still week to week after suffering a fractured leg on Oct. 13. He skated prior to Monday's morning skate.
• Zach Aston-Reese, right winger, is still out with a broken left hand, though he also skated Monday.
THE GOOD
Garrett Wilson. Seriously.
With the Penguins dealing Derek Grant and now Oleksiak, it was yet another vote of confidence by the organization in the journeyman forward. Wilson does a lot things you'd expect from a fourth-liner like playing on the penalty kill, blocking shots and throwing his body around.
Monday might have been his best offensive showing despite a minus-2 rating. Unfortunately for him, he had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. Wilson's four shots on goal, including a high-danger chance in the third period, matched a career-best set four years ago while playing with the Panthers.
Wilson has now played 54 NHL games but has yet to find the back of the net. With another effort like Monday's, that should be coming soon.
Bryan Rust, Cullen and Brassard did score for the Penguins, who remain a point behind the Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division. If the playoffs started today, the Penguins would face the Lightning -- Wednesday's opponent -- in the first round.
THE BAD
Other than their propensity for beating the Penguins, the Devils haven't had a lot go their way this season. However, New Jersey's penalty kill has been consistently outstanding and they were again on Monday. The NHL's second-ranked unit (84.2 percent) killed off all five Penguins power plays over a full 10 minutes and added Boyle's shorthanded goal, the Devils' sixth of the season.
When they weren't disrupting the entries, they were keeping the Penguins to the perimeter, yielding just seven shots on goal.
"They pressured us all over the ice," said Hornqvist, who missed two quality chances. "We couldn't get the puck to the net. Even in our breakout, they came really hard at us. We had a few good chances early but that was the difference in the game. They outworked us, even on the PK."
It was just the second time that the Penguins' fifth-ranked power play went 0-for-5 this season. It was last done in a 5-0 loss to the Maple Leafs on Nov. 3.
THE PLAY
The last time the Devils came into PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 5, Boyle, a cancer survivor, recorded the first hat trick of his 12-year career on Hockey Fights Cancer Night.
The 2018 Masterton Trophy winner only scored one goal Monday but it was a big one for the visitors. With the Devils down a man for a too many men on the ice penalty, Boyle converted a short 2-on-1 with Zacha to extend New Jersey's lead to 3-0.
As noted above, Malkin was the guilty party for the turnover but it was Phil Kessel that failed to pick up Boyle at the left side of the net for the Penguins' 11th short-handed goal against.
"It's not a stat we're proud of, that's for sure," said Crosby.
THE CALL
It was called a five-minute elbowing major by Pierre Lambert but, actually, Brassard's hit on Sami Vatanen at 9:12 of the third period should have been called boarding:
Either way, it was an automatic game misconduct after Vatanen took a header into the glass and was bloodied when his visor slid down and cut him. Vatanen did not return but was deemed fine by the team after receiving stitches around his left eye.
The Devils capitalized twice on the power play on goals from Kyle Palmieri and Zacha, with a shorthanded goal from Cullen -- his second of the season and 21st of his career -- sandwiched in between.
It was the fifth major penalty of Brassard's career and first in five years. It remains to be seen whether the Department of Player Safety will mete out supplementary discipline, but watching Monday's game would seem punishment enough.
THE OTHER SIDE
A year ago, the Devils were the surprise of the Metro. Taylor Hall had an MVP season and everyone else seemed to have career years. This season, Hall has been out since Christmas with a knee injury and the Devils are at the bottom of the division. Despite their predicament, the Devils haven't given up.
"They outworked us, plain and simple," Crosby said. "As much as you don't like saying it, it's the truth."
After stopping 37 of the 40 shots he faced on Monday, Keith Kinkaid is 3-0 this season against the Penguins, 6-0-1 dating back to the start of last season.
"I don't know, we match up well against them," he said. "We play good team team defense. We seem to get an extra round of goals against them, which is good. We seem to match up well against them and bring our 'A' game."
The Devils PK has been scored upon just once in 11 chances this season against Pittsburgh.
"It's not a recipe to play against that team at all," said Devils captain/defenseman Andy Greene, who played 8:32 short-handed. "I thought we did a really good job against them. They have so much skill, so many weapons. They ad lib so much out there on the PP. It's almost like they're always moving, a lot of motion, a lot of shot to the net. But we don't want to do that again."
The Penguins, who saw their five-game winning streak against division opponents snapped, will face the Devils again on Feb. 19 in Newark.
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice Tuesday at noon in preparation for their showdown Wednesday night against the NHL-leading Lightning.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Devils, PPG Paints Arena, Jan. 28, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
