TORONTO -- Erik Karlsson was stating the obvious in saying that the Penguins' 7-0 loss to the Maple Leafs here in Toronto on Saturday night was "not one of our nights."
"I think the score reflected our performance," Karlsson said. "It's the last thing you want to see. ... Tonight was a reminder that we can't take nights off."
The Penguins certainly took the night off. That includes everyone. There wasn't a single redeeming facet anywhere to be found this loss, but there were an awful lot of concerning ones.
Let's break some of them down, by the numbers:
• .794 -- The Penguins' goaltenders combined save percentages in this game. Tristan Jarry started the game and allowed four goals on 14 shots through 21:55 before being pulled in favor of Alex Nedeljkovic, who allowed three goals on 20 shots to finish the game. When I asked Mike Sullivan if the decision to pull Jarry was a result of his performance or a move aimed to spark the team in front of him, Sullivan said it was "a little bit of both." It was the Penguins' worst save percentage in a single game this season.
• 33 -- The Penguins' penalty minutes in this game, a season-high. Even without the 10-minute misconduct from Kris Letang, this surpassed the previous high of 13 penalty minutes in a game, set on both Oct. 13 vs. the Capitals and Oct. 18 vs. the Red Wings. That proved costly. Maple Leafs went 2-for-7 on the power play, and that was a momentum-driver even when Toronto wasn't capitalizing on the scoresheet. The Maple Leafs were on the man advantage for 10:17 of the game and got 11 shots in that time. The Penguins are missing some of their better penalty-killing forwards in Matt Nieto, Noel Acciari and Bryan Rust, and just can't be parading to the box even when they have a full cast of penalty-killers.
• 10 -- The number of high-danger shots on goal the Penguins registered in this game. The Maple Leafs had to start their No. 3 goaltender in Martin Jones. Every now and then the Penguins will make an opponent's backup or depth goaltender suddenly look like a Vezina candidate. This wasn't even one of those times. They put up 38 shots on Jones, and he was perfect on every one of them. But you'd be hard-pressed to put together a really good highlight reel from Jones in this game, because he just wasn't tested heavily. In contrast, the Maple Leafs recorded 16 high-danger shots on goal -- nine on Nedeljkovic, and seven on Jarry. I'll give you a wild guess where their goals came from:
• 13 -- The number of odd-man rushes the Penguins allowed, per advanced analytics site Sportlogiq. That's a season-high for them, and the Maple Leafs got scoring chances off on 11 of those 13 odd-man rush attempts. Also per Sportlogiq, the Penguins didn't allow 10+ rush chances in a single game at all in their first 17 games. In their last 12 games, they've allowed 10+ rush chances five times. Those breakdowns are going to burn them.
• 43 -- The number of scoring chances the Penguins allowed in this game. "Scoring chance" is a term in advanced stats that essentially takes the above two things -- shot location and whether a shot was off a rush, or a rebound. A "scoring chance" doesn't necessarily have to mean a shot on goal was recorded, only that one was attempted. A total of 43 scoring chances allowed ties the Penguins' season-high ... set three days before in Montreal. Asked if he thought there wasn't a "willingness" to play defense in this game, Sullivan responded, "Yeah."
• -4 -- Kris Letang's negative plus-minus. That's his worst since he went minus-4 Nov. 15, 2022 also against Toronto. He was on the ice for the Maple Leafs' first four goals until his 10-minute misconduct a couple minutes later got him off the ice. That's not to blame him and him alone for the first four goals -- his partner Ryan Graves had an exceptionally tough showing on the first Toronto goal, with Matthew Knies easily getting past him.
• 9 -- The Penguins' number of shots on goal in the third period. After recording 29 shots on goal in the first two periods combined, there was zero push in the third. The game was already pretty out of control by then -- 6-0 after two periods -- but there was never any hope of a late comeback. "We couldn't find a way to claw our way back," Karlsson said. "Why that is, I don't know. But it was consistent throughout this game. We didn't play good enough."
• 76% -- Sidney Crosby's faceoff percentage. Fine, I lied -- there was one bright spot in this game. Crosby went 16-5 in draws. If you missed my Friday Insider this week, I took a look at Crosby's dominance in the faceoff circle this season, which is on track to be the best of his career. Even this mess of a game couldn't stop that.
The Penguins didn't yet have answers how a game could go this wrong. Is it a matter of a mentality? Something bigger? It was too early to say.
"Honestly, I'm not sure," Graves responded. "It's unacceptable either way."
Sullivan referred to the blowout loss as a "humbling experience," and one he'll dissect more in the coming days. As far as how the Penguins will respond to this loss, time will tell. It's a quick turnaround before Monday's game against the Wild.
"We didn't perform to our expectations, and it's disappointing," he said. "We're all in this thing together. We've got to figure it out."
They better do it soon.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Scotiabank Arena:
1. Martin Jones, Maple Leafs G
2. Matthew Knies, Maple Leafs LW
3. Max Domi, Maple Leafs C
THE IN-GAME INJURIES
• Penguins: None
• Maple Leafs: None
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Drew O'Connor
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Valtteri Puustinen
Radim Zohorna - Lars Eller - Vinnie Hinostroza
Jansen Harkins - Jonathan Gruden - Jeff Carter
Ryan Graves-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph-John Ludvig
And for Sheldon Keefe's Maple Leafs:
Tyler Bertuzzi - John Tavares - Willian Nylander
Matthew Knies - Max Domi - Mitch Marner
Noah Gregor - David Kampf - Calle Jarnkrok
Bobby McMann - Pontus Holmberg - Nicholas Robertson
Morgan Rielly - Timothy Liljegren
William Lagesson - Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit - Connor Timmins
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins flew back to Pittsburgh after the game. They'll practice at noon in Cranberry on Sunday. Next game is Monday at home against the Wild in what could be Marc-Andre Fleury's last game in Pittsburgh.
THE FEED
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