See that pic atop this column?
Total snoozer, right?
No offense to Getty photographer Jeanine Leech, who snapped her usual professional roll from the Penguins' 6-1 slam-dunking by the Devils on this Thursday night inside PPG Paints Arena, but that single still might most succinctly summarize the state of this team over three consecutive losses now: Dominik Simon's pursuing a 50/50 puck inside the New Jersey blue line. Brian Boyle's too far back to be of assistance. Zach Aston-Reese might as well be in another orbit. And, in fact, on that sequence, not a damned thing happened.
Clip, save and play on endless loop when it comes to this team's long-lost supporting cast.
Unless, of course, one wants to count this tape-to-tape Evan Rodrigues setup for Jesper Bratt's second goal of the opening period:
Or all this flat-footedness from the fourth line on Yegor Sharangovich's goal a minute later:
Know why hockey coaches dispatch a fourth line after giving up a goal?
Yep. To quell the opponent's momentum. Not to set it ablaze.
Look, I hate to be playing my own endless loop on this subject. I wrote about it from Toronto. I wrote about it after the loss to the Hurricanes. And I'm barely bumping a comma out of place with Part III here. But there's a reason: It's more painfully accurate with every passing drop of the puck that it's not the process at fault but, rather, the people. In particular, the depth forwards.
I don't even need to express an opinion:
• Rodrigues: 1 goal in 20 games
• Kasperi Kapanen: 1 goal in 18 games
• Dominik Simon: 3 goals all season
• Zach Aston-Reese: 1 goal all season
These aren't slumps. They're quicksand. And the logic of the management team -- beginning in this case with Mike Sullivan since the daily lineup's all his, but also including Ron Hextall and Brian Burke, since they're overseeing personnel -- to stick stubbornly by forwards who haven't produced in a quarter or even more than a half of an NHL season ... that's just a wow thing for me. It really is.
I get that Sullivan's loyal. I respect that. It's part of what makes him a bona fide great coach. And when it comes to Rodrigues and Kapanen, there's at least past production he can hope to pry back out.
But running Simon out there repeatedly, when he's been offered options with indisputably more potential such as Radim Zohorna, Drew O'Connor, Valtteri Puustinen and others, that doesn't make sense. And longtime readers can attest I'm anything but a Dom basher. It's just that I'd place far greater weight on seeing which young players just might be able to rise up in time for the Stanley Cup playoffs, as in 2016 and 2017.
Aston-Reese makes for the most vexing example. Here, too, I'm no basher. I've lauded his defensive work, and I'm aware of the advanced analytics that buttress it. But I also watched Aston-Reese walk to the team bus with his shoe last week in Toronto, a clear sign that his "maintenance day" Tuesday in Cranberry was actually a chance to rest a very real injury.
And his performance is too precious to pull from a lineup for a game or two even when he's playing hurt?
Come on.
No one's expecting a cavalry to come riding across I-80 from Wilkes-Barre, but I'd at least hope they'd report healthy and capable of contributing.
This has to change. Not out of some knee-jerk reaction to a week of losing within a still-outstanding season of winning. But out of hope that a youngster or two could blossom over the next couple of months and provide what this current group hasn't contributed since the calendar flipped.
Maybe that's hit Sullivan now. Maybe this loss, arguably the season's ugliest, will have that effect.
Afterward, I asked what, if he and all involved already know how the team's supposed to be playing, needs to change for that to resume. And his answer was striking:
"I don't know if I have a good answer for you," he'd begin. "I just think, to a certain extent, the last few games, we beat ourselves in a lot of different ways. I don't think it's from a lack of effort. It's just, in certain areas, there are lapses in the game where we're just not diligent with decisions we make with the puck. And we put ourselves in tough spots with some of those decisions. And I just think that there are a number of things over the course of the past three games where we know we can be better as a group."
His eyebrows went up here.
"I was really looking forward to tonight's game. Because I really was excited about watching our team. And, obviously, we didn't get the start that we wanted."
Obviously.
And what change might come?
"I don't know the answer to that right now. For me, I've got to digest it, watch the film, and we'll see where we go with it."
Better have some Tums handy.
JEANINE LEECH / GETTY
Tristan Jarry makes a save in the second period.
• No sight was uglier on this night than Tristan Jarry getting pulled.
It's easy to grasp why Sullivan did so, with the Devils having scored on five of 19 shots, but he's been so sturdy all season, and he might've been in this one, too, with a modicum of support. Watching him have to skate to the bench while passing Casey DeSmith, after all he's done to carry this team ... ugh.
Taylor Haase has the goaltending.
• Jarry will be superb again Saturday against the Rangers. Just watch.
• I also asked Sidney Crosby about any possible solutions to the three-game losing streak:
"I think it's just a good start," he'd reply. "That'd go a long way, if we could give ourselves a better start. We've been chasing games here the past few, and it hasn't turned out great for us. So I think we just start there and try to put a few periods together. We've just got to be better. We're not playing the way we're capable of right now."
Can't argue any of that. The opponent's scored first in nine of the past 10 games. And that's to say nothing of the Hurricanes scoring nine seconds into each of the second and third periods Sunday. That first-strike effectiveness that'd been in place for months has gone poof.
"It seems like it's taking us a while to get into games," Sid added. "By that time, we're chasing the game."
• Feels like it's worth noting that Sid's been made available after two of these three losses, the one in Toronto and now this. There's no chance that's not without Sid's blessing, if not his outright call. He used to be available after most every game, but the pandemic changed so many norms, and the new norm -- across sports, actually -- became that only players who'd fared well in a loss would be made available. This is a welcome return.
• The Penguins didn't get their first -- and only -- goal of this one until 11:13 of the second, before which the Devils had scored three. It came on a power-play rush from Sid and Evgeni Malkin ...
... and that rush, impressively, began with Malkin wanting that puck so badly behind the Pittsburgh net that he pretty much bumped Bryan Rust off it.
It should've been an important goal, too. But if the top-shelf talent on this team doesn't score, no one does anymore.
• Spare me, please, any they're-worse-with-Malkin narratives. Unless coming with facts. Because, in addition to the goal, he was on the rink for 21 shot attempts for the Penguins, just nine for the Devils ... in a five-goal loss.
• Liked Danton Heinen's work on this night, too. He's maybe the only forward of late who can be counted upon to prioritize shooting.
• Conversely, there's Kapanen, who registered one shot in this one and now has gone a career-worst 12 consecutive games without a point. He's wasting a sweater.
• Desperate to get anything from anyone else, Sullivan bumped Jeff Carter back to third-line center and Kapanen from third-line right winger to second-line right winger. Didn't make much difference. Nor will it.
• Carter might get bumped right out of action if the NHL takes appropriate action for this egregious stick to the face of the Devils' Dawson Mercer:
Carter was issued a double-minor for high-sticking, which wasn't nearly enough. That's a garbage play, by him or anyone else. He'll deserve whatever supplemental discipline he gets from the league, which, if I'm betting, still won't be enough to deter others.
• The Penguins, in general, seemed annoyed by the Devils. Maybe no one more than Sid, who richly earned a cross-checking penalty in the third and should've been sent off with a roughing minor the previous period.
That's likely not an accident.
"There's definitely frustration," Mike Matheson would say. "I mean, it's our job is to win hockey games and, when you're not doing it, it's really frustrating. Everyone cares so much. I think there'd be an issue if there wasn't any frustration, right?"
He then tried to turn positive.
"I think you kind of have to reset and look at the big picture and know that, as much as this last little stretch has been tough, we've played a lot of good hockey through the season and there's still a lot of hockey left. ... So, as much as we want to be playing well right now, I think taking a step back and realizing that we're going to get there, knowing that we're going to get there should build confidence in our group."
• This won't -- and shouldn't -- bring anyone comfort on the home side, but the Devils have legit, young talent. Nine of their 12 forwards in this game, including the top six, are fast and dangerous on the transition. Jesper Bratt, their 23-year-old leading scorer, scored two goals in his return from injury, and Jack Hughes, their 20-year-old All-Star and No. 1 overall pick, made this pass to Mercer for New Jersey's fourth goal:
Like I said, legit.
Like I also said, no comfort. Just sharing.
"The were going to try to get back in the game," Lindy Ruff would say, referring to the Devils staving off the Penguins early in the second. "But I thought the answer to that late in that period and all third period was that we settled that down to get back into position. We won more battles. I thought, eventually, we took some of their life away."
• Speaking of young, Nico Daws, 21, might've been the best player on either side in stopping 37 of 38 shots. In his fourth NHL start.
"When you can think back and say, 'I've made a few really good saves tonight,' it really helps," Daws said. "It helps boost the team's confidence, as well, when you make a few saves that maybe you shouldn't."
• On a lighter note, a reminder from last night's NHL action in Vancouver that it's always first down somewhere:
Abbotsford's own, @ChaseClaypool! #Canucks | @steelers pic.twitter.com/Li3SCoRgnr
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) February 25, 2022
• Thanks for reading, as always. I mean that.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Jesper Bratt, Devils RW
2. Nico Hischier, Devils C
3. Jack Hughes, Devils C
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Teddy Blueger, center, has been on IR since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured jaw Jan. 24. He's expected to miss 6-8 weeks. He's practicing.
• Jason Zucker, left winger, has been on IR since undergoing core muscle surgery Jan. 25. He's week-to-week.
• Louis Domingue, goaltender, has been on IR since he was struck by a puck in the right foot at a morning skate Jan. 20. He's week-to-week.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Heinen-Malkin-Carter
McGinn-Rodrigues-Kapanen
Aston-Reese-Boyle-Simon
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
And for Ruff's Devils:
Sharangovich-Hughes-Mercer
Zacha-Hischier-Bratt
Johnsson-Boqvist-Tatar
Vesey-McLeod-Bastian
Siegenthaler-Hamilton
Graves-Severson
Smith-Subban
THE SCHEDULE
There's a practice Friday, noon, in Cranberry, followed by a game against the Rangers the next day, 3:08 p.m., at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
