NEWARK, N.J. -- "It's on me."
For a brief moment Sunday afternoon at the Prudential Center, Marcus Pettersson thought he had scored a game-winner. He hopped off the Penguins' bench, joining Bryan Rust and Jason Zucker in the rush up ice. Rust fed Pettersson a cross-ice pass, and Pettersson buried it with a wrist shot that beat the Devils' Vitek Vanecek.
The problem: The defenseman Pettersson was replacing, Jeff Petry, wasn't even close to being off the ice yet:
Officials immediately called too many men, waiving off the goal and putting the Penguins on a penalty-kill. Dougie Hamilton promptly scored on the ensuing 4-on-3 New Jersey power play, handing the Penguins a 2-1 loss.
Pettersson stepped up and took responsibility when asked about the play afterward.
"I think the right call was made," he said. "I've got to be better there. I can't let the team down in that situation. That's on me."
Mike Sullivan didn't have any qualms about the call either, saying, "It's too many men. It's the right call."
I asked Pettersson just what happened on the play.
"I wanted to jump in on the two-on-one there," he explained. "I thought J.P. was closer, but I jumped too early. It's on me."
Major props to Pettersson for handling it all professionally, immediately standing up when the locker room opened, ready to provide thoughtful answers on what happened instead of being terse or dismissive in his responses. At least one of his teammates thought he shouldn't have had to answer for the play, muttering an "Oh, f--- off" from a few seats down when he saw the number of reporters make a beeline to Pettersson's stall.
The loss dropped the Penguins' overtime record this season to 2-8. Those struggles aren't as simple as one singular issue, but winning a faceoff might help. They have won 5 of 15 draws at three-on-three this season -- just 33.33%. Sidney Crosby, who lost the opening draw in the extra frame in this game, is now 2-8 in overtime faceoffs -- just 20%. The only player faring even decently is Jeff Carter, who is perfect on his three attempts.
Whatever the reason for the overtime struggles is, the Penguins need to figure it out. That's eight points left on the table, points that could prove to be critical down the stretch. The Penguins currently sit in the last wild card spot with 54 points, three points ahead of the Panthers with two games in hand. They're only three points behind the Rangers for the No. 3 spot in the division, a spot that could currently be theirs if they had won even half of those eight overtimes.
"We haven't had success in overtime," Sullivan acknowledged. "That's an area that's been a point of emphasis for us since the start of training camp, and we're not having success in overtime. I think a lot of it boils down to details. To a certain extent, we have to do a better job. We have to have tighter line changes. We have to have smarter line changes. Line-changing is a big part of overtime. That's one area where we've got to do a better job."
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GETTY
Dougie Hamilton celebrates his overtime goal Sunday in Newark, N.J.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Sullivan said he thought his team "played well enough to win" in this one.
"I thought we played a solid hockey game," he said. "We had our chances. The puck didn't go in the net for us tonight. We had some really good looks. I thought for sure we played well enough to win."
• Here is Hamilton's game-winner:
• Crosby scored the Penguins' lone goal, a long-distance shot in the first:
• Crosby's goal tied the game after Jack Hughes' goal less than a minute into the game:
With the exception of the Dec. 27 game on Long Island, Tristan Jarry has been exceptional in games in which he's allowed a goal in the first minute or so. When he allowed a goal 22 seconds into the Penguins' game against the Rangers last month, he ended up stopping 26 of the next 27 shots in a 3-2 win, and said afterward that allowing an early goal like that can sometimes force him to be more concentrated moving forward. Jarry had another strong game after Hughes' early goal, stopping 21 of the next 22 shots.
• The Penguins dominated in the second period, outshooting the Devils 11-2.
"I thought we played really hard," Sullivan said. "That's a team that has a high-octane offense. I thought that, for the most part, we did a real good job defending. Guys played hard. We played a pretty solid hockey game. We didn't get the result, but for the most part we played a hell of a hockey game."
• Chad Ruhwedel had a pretty quietly good game. He had the best ratio of on-ice shot attempts for vs. against (54.29%) of any Penguins defenseman at five-on-five, and led the entire team with his on-ice ratio of shots on goal for vs. against (69.23%). I thought his best moment came with a great individual effort on a backcheck in the second period to prevent Nico Hischier from getting a shot off.
• Pettersson led the team with five hits.
• Carter went 9 for 12 in faceoffs.
• The penalty Brock McGinn drew near the end of the second period was his team-leading 19th, four more than Jake Guentzel in the No. 2 spot. McGinn averages 1.89 penalties drawn per 60 minutes of ice time, a rate that rivals only that of Josh Archibald (2.73).
• Teddy Blueger left for a few minutes in the second period after being crushed by Devils defenseman Kevin Bahl with a hit in the corner, He took another quick shift after the hit before immediately leaving for the locker room. He returned later in the second and finished the game.
• Ryan Poehling returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 30 and had a pretty strong game, including a near-goal. I have more on that in today's Freeze Frame.
• In activating Poehling, the Penguins are at a full 23-man roster. Kris Letang, Jan Rutta and Archibald are on injured reserve freeing up roster spots, and Letang is on long-term injured reserve to provide cap relief. He's already fulfilled the minimum long-term injured reserve requirements and can come off at any time. The cap relief from Letang being on LTIR is what is allowing Jonathan Gruden, Ty Smith, Mark Friedman and Drew O'Connor to be recalled. If Letang is ready to be activated, the Penguins could put Archibald on LTIR (he's already fulfilled the minimum requirements) and that would allow the Penguins to afford one of Gruden, Friedman or O'Connor, but not Smith, because Archibald's $900,000 cap hit wouldn't cover both Smith's $863,333 cap hit and his potential $400,000 in performance bonuses. Kasperi Kapanen might be another candidate for LTIR given that he's week-to-week with his lower-body injury, but the 10-game, 24-day minimum requirement would mean that he would have to be sidelined until at least Feb. 18, with the All-Star break responsible for stretching that out. If he is going to be out that long, the relief on his $3.2 million cap hit would sure help once Letang returns.
• On Friday against the Senators, Rust went though warmups without a helmet for the first time in a long time, I'm pretty sure in an effort to show off his fresh haircut. He took a puck to the forehead and was in the locker room until after the anthems getting stitched up. He still has a big bandage across his forehead and was back to wearing his helmet in warmups before this game. Probably smart.
• Ron Hextall is on most road trips, though I didn't see him during the trip in Raleigh, N.C., against the Hurricanes. He was here on this trip. I didn't see Brian Burke.
• Former teammates John Marino and Ruhwedel were chatting in the hallway after the game. Marino is injured and didn't play.
• Pretty average press box snack situation here. A variety of chips, plus some sliders and sweet potato fries that both looked a little suspect. I didn't try either. I'd give it a C+.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at the Prudential Center:
1. Dougie Hamilton, Devils D
2. Vitek Vanecek, Devils G
3. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
THE INJURIES
• Forward Josh Archibald has been sidelined with an undisclosed lower-body injury since the Penguins' game in Raleigh, N.C. on Dec. 18. He has resumed practicing with the team
• Defenseman Kris Letang is still dealing with a lower-body injury that he sustained in the Penguins' game Dec. 28 against the Red Wings. He has resumed practicing with the team.
• Defenseman Jan Rutta suffered an upper-body injury on Jan. 14 against the Hurricanes. He is day-to-day and has not resumed skating.
• Forward Kasperi Kapanen missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. He is week-to-week and has not resumed skating.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Brock McGinn - Teddy Blueger - Jeff Carter
Drew O'Connor - Ryan Poehling - Danton Heinen
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Mark Friedman
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Lindy Ruff's Devils:
Ondrej Palat - Nico Hischier - Jesper Bratt
Eik Haula - Jack Hughes - Tomas Tatar
Jesper Boqvist - Yegor Sharangovich - Dawson Mercer
Miles Wood - Michael McLeod - Nathan Bastian
Jonas Siegenthaler - Dougie Hamilton
Ryan Graves - Damon Severson
Kevin Bahl - Brendan Smith
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have a scheduled day off Monday. Their next game is at home against the Panthers at 7:08 p.m. Tuesday.
THE CONTENT
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