LAS VEGAS -- Just over five minutes of game action had passed, yet it felt as if the Penguins had already dug themselves an insurmountable hole.
That ended up being the case, as they lost, 5-2, to the Golden Knights here at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night. It marks the Penguins' sixth loss in a row.
Considering Mike Sullivan had to stop practice on Wednesday because the Penguins weren't practicing with enough pace or intensity, you'd think they would have been ready to go right out of the gates for this one. Instead, they played the first period exactly like they practiced the first 15 minutes from the day before.
"It’s concerning that we had the first period that we had," Sullivan would say after the loss. "We’re a better hockey team than that. We showed it in the second and third, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance because we didn’t play well enough in the first."
It didn't even take two minutes from the time the puck dropped for old friend Phil Kessel to put the Golden Knights up 1-0:
I don't even care that I'll sound like a broken record here, but just what exactly was Jeff Carter doing there? From shading all the way over to the boards upon the Golden Knights entering the zone, to then controller-disconnecting as his guy went to the net and set up the goal, I don't have a clue what he was hoping to accomplish.
It set quite the tone for the rest of the period.
Not long after Kessel's goal, Marcus Pettersson got caught pinching in the offensive zone as Jan Rutta was left in no-man's land on the ensuing Golden Knights rush. Jack Eichel had all the time and space he could ever desire and made no mistake blowing a wrist shot past Casey DeSmith:
Two-goal deficits are hardly impossible to overcome, especially in today's NHL, but considering the Penguins' injuries and the way they've played throughout this losing streak, all logic pointed toward an unfavorable outcome at the final buzzer. It was an impossible feeling to shake.
And then just over halfway through the first, Chandler Stephenson solidified that feeling even further, capitalizing on some leaky penalty-kill coverage from the Penguins to make it a 3-0 game:
Sullivan noted on Wednesday that he stopped practice and addressed the group because they seemed lethargic. A better word won't be found for their performance in the first period of this one. The Golden Knights had their way with them in transition, and especially in the offensive zone where they had their way getting to the slot and winning battles along the wall.
The Penguins finally showed up for the second period, and boy, did they ever show up, but it wasn't enough. During the second period, the Penguins out-attempted the Golden Knights, 36-18, and had 14 scoring chances to just five chances against. They were every bit as dominant as the metrics suggest. Up until the last few minutes, the Penguins seemed to spend the entirety of the period in the offensive zone.
"I think we just looked ourselves in the mirror and knew that we needed to be better than that," P.O Joseph said of the Penguins' turnaround in the second period. "That first period is not acceptable for this locker room and the talent that we have, so this type of stuff can’t happen again."
The problem? They couldn't tuck one past Adin Hill.
A late-period tally from Mark Stone all but crushed the Penguins' chances of getting back into the game after having snatched all of the momentum.
"We pushed back in the second and third, but we got to put a game together," Sidney Crosby said afterward. "I thought we had two pretty solid games, didn’t get wins, but we did some good things. We have a bad start and it basically cost us the game. We got to figure it out quick."
Crosby was then asked if some frustration is piling up in the Penguins' locker room, to which he obviously replied that no one wants to keep losing. But what came after could be viewed as a bit of a rallying cry from the captain.
"I mean, no one likes losing. But how we handle it is going to define our group," Crosby said. "We can hang our heads or get frustrated, or we can do something about it. I like to think we’re gonna do something about it. It’s not easy, it’s a challenge. We’ve got some injuries and we’re banged up. It’s not going our way, but if we handle it the right way, it can be something that probably goes a long way in helping us when we look back. We’ve got to find a way to get out of it."
Crosby, who had a goal and assist on the night after four games in a row without a point, suggested that maybe he needs to do even more for this group.
"Whether it’s guys like me having to step up, or guys with opportunities, taking advantage of those," he said. "Whatever the motivation is, we just got to get a win and find a way to put them together after that."
If there's anyone capable of dragging the Penguins out of this mess, it's Crosby, and he sure seems irritated enough with the way things are going to do everything in his power to make it happen.
GETTY
Sidney Crosby takes a faceoff against Nicolas Roy Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Ty Smith got the Penguins on the board with a goal in the third period, his first as a member of the team:
• Smith wound up leading all Penguins skaters in ice time with 23:36. He was the only Penguins defenseman to eclipse the 20-minute mark. He's been better than I expected him to be since being called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but I'm just not convinced his ceiling is that much higher than an offensive-minded third-pairing defenseman. Time will tell, and I've been wrong plenty of times before.
• Crosby scored the only other goal for the Penguins. It came late in garbage time, but had several pretty nice qualities. I broke it down in a Freeze Frame.
• Credit where credit is due, Hill played one heck of a game in goal for the Golden Knights. He saved 1.82 goals above expected over the course of the game, per Natural Stat Trick, and made several timely saves on quality chances that otherwise would have allowed the Penguins to sneak back into the contest.
Then again, did he really play out of his mind, or did the Penguins just make him look great? I'll go with a combo of both.
• By no means am I putting this loss on DeSmith, but man, that was not the showing he or the Penguins hoped for in his first start as the No. 1. I get that the Penguins did him no favors in the first and hung him out to dry throughout the night, but it'd be nice to come up with a save on one of those every once in a while.
I'm mainly referring to the Golden Knights' fourth goal, a deflection from Stone at the tail end of the second period after the Penguins spent the last 20 minutes dominating without anything to show for it.
He's got to have this one:
• Did anyone know Kessel still had that kind of performance in him? I mean, wow. It's not just the goal and assist he had. I pegged him as a non-contributor heading into this season, but he really used his speed to his advantage to skate all over the Penguins, and his vision and ability with the puck was noticeable. I'm sure those nights are more few and far between now, but it was cool to see that there's a little more left in the tank than I thought.
• Guentzel attempted a team-high 11 shots, but only three of them were on target. He did, however, pick up assists on both Penguins goals.
• Bryan Rust attempted four fewer shots than Guentzel, but six of them were on target. It felt like he could have buried at least one in this game considering the caliber of some of his opportunities. He's not having nearly as poor a season as many are making his performance out to be, but there does appear to be something going on with his finishing. He's scored only nine times this season despite generating 14.4 expected goals.
• Drew O'Connor returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in consecutive games and logged a team-low 8:58 of ice time. He had three shot attempts (all on goal) and had a goal taken away in the first period due to icing on the play.
• Before the game, Crosby was named to this year's All-Star Game to represent the Penguins. It's the ninth time he's been selected.
• I've got to say, T-Mobile Arena might be my favorite arena I've been to yet. It has a very modern feel without being over the top with it. It's kept very well. The pregame and in-game entertainment was outstanding. The on-ice graphics might be the best of it all. I've got nothing but nice things to say about the place.
• Double-dipping on my praise of T-Mobile Arena here: They had assorted candy in the press box. I downed so many peanut M&Ms it wasn't even funny.
• Thanks for reading!
DANNY SHIREY / DKPS
The calm before the storm Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at T-Mobile Arena:
1. Jack Eichel, Golden Knights C
2. Adin Hill, Golden Knights G
3. Phil Kessel, Golden Knights RW
THE INJURIES
• Jeff Petry remains on long-term injured reserve with an injury to his left wrist/arm. He skated with Ty Hennes each of the past two days.
• Tristan Jarry returned to Pittsburgh for further evaluation on his lower-body injury.
• Josh Archibald is also back in Pittsburgh as he rehabs from a lower-body injury.
• Ryan Poehling is dealing with a nagging upper-body injury and did not play despite practicing and taking the morning skate in a regular contact jersey.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Drew O'Connor - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Marcus Pettersson - Jan Rutta
Brian Dumoulin - Ty Smith
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Bruce Cassidy's Golden Knights:
Michael Amadio - Chandler Stephenson - Mark Stone
Reilly Smith - Jack Eichel - Nicolas Roy
Paul Cotter - William Karlsson - Phil Kessel
William Carrier - Jake Leschyshyn - Keegan Kolesar
Nicolas Hague - Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb - Kaedan Korczak
Ben Hutton - Brayden Pachal
THE SCHEDULE
Friday is a travel day for the Penguins as they head to Scottsdale in advance of a Sunday night matchup with the Coyotes. They'll practice on Saturday, 4 p.m. Eastern, at Ice Den Scottsdale. I'll have your coverage for that, as well as the game on Sunday, 7 p.m. Eastern, at Mullett Arena.
THE CONTENT
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