The most beautiful benefit to being able to witness Sidney Crosby's brilliance all winter around here, on top of the obvious, is that, for every acrobatic, triple-whack goal ...
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 3, 2024
... there can also be an awesome assist built upon a board-rattling check:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 3, 2024
Not to mention a bevy of other events that might be even more impressive. A boot of the puck to his blade while in full stride. Both hands aligned on the shaft in some bizarre form to beat someone on a draw. Billiards-level banks off the boards to a waiting teammate who can seem as stunned as the rest of us at the precision involved in its arrival.
He's the best. Still. Damned near two decades later.
Never, ever, ever take a single shift for granted, Pittsburgh.
And yet, as casually as I can show those two points above, plus a 17-12 proficiency on faceoffs, plus a team-high four hits, plus -- for posterity's sake alone -- passing Joe Thornton for 12th on the NHL's all-time scoring list at 1,540, it's just as easy to share that it wasn't enough to keep the captain's Penguins from getting cooled off by the Capitals, 4-3, on this Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Oh, it was close. And came with positives, chiefly almost climbing all the way back from a four-goal, first-period deficit.
But ...
"Unfortunately, we couldn't get the tying goal," Sid would say, as sullenly as one might expect with any awareness at all of his career. "That's what sucks: To battle back and come up short. It’s never good when you lose. I don’t think anyone's coming in here feeling good about getting three goals, making it 4-3. You want to win games. And a divisional game ... we want to make sure we get those points. We didn’t tonight.”
It's sure to sting a little extra, too, even on the heels of a 7-1-1 sprint in which the Penguins amassed more points than anyone in the NHL since Dec. 12, since this is the aftermath:
NHL
Look again at that header. That's not the whole Eastern Conference. That's just the top handful of teams vying for the two wild-card spots, both of which are currently held by Metro rivals. Including this very opponent that would've flipped with them up there.
Four-point swing. Foul mood.
"These are the ones," as Rickard Rakell would observe, "where you hate to not have the points."
Oh, I'll bet.
But that, my friends, is about as far as I'd go in betting on absolutely anything beyond Sid related to this ongoing operation. Because as I see it, after 36 games and what's essentially a .500 output at 18-14-4, there still remain so many more questions than answers.
I'll fire off a half-dozen right here and, just for fun, rank them in descending order:
6. Who's the starting goaltender?
Granted, this'll look like a low rank for the sport's most important position and, from my own perspective, the one that'll stay the top priority through to the end. I'm on record that this group goes nowhere without elite -- and I mean elite -- goaltending, and that won't change.
Crazy thing, though: The tandem of Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic had the Penguins ranking No. 2 in the NHL with a .915 save percentage, mere ticks behind the Bruins' .919, and No. 6 with a 2.63 goals-against average.
Crazier thing: Jarry wouldn't have made accidental contact with a steroid-pumped beach ball on this night. Behold:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 3, 2024
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 3, 2024
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) January 3, 2024
Yikes. That's three goals on seven shots before Mike Sullivan pulled him for Nedeljkovic.
Asked if he pulled Jarry due to his own play or as a wakeup call to everyone else, Sullivan replied, “A little bit of both. I didn't think Jarrs had his best, but I didn’t think the team had its best either early in the game."
The Penguins put one puck on Darcy Kuemper in that same span of 13:02.
"For me, that's the moral of the story. I loved our compete level and climbing back in the hockey game. We certainly made it a game. But we can't spot a team those types of goals early on.”
Fine, but the lone eggs laid in this now 7-2-1 sprint have come with Jarry starting. And Sullivan's already shown his hand of late in leaning toward Nedeljkovic, whose .924 save percentage has played the lead role in the tandem statistics, anyway.
He'll start Thursday in Boston, I'm sure. And I'd pretty much pencil him in, after this Jarry mess, for Philadelphia next Monday. The Flyers hold the other wild-card spot.
Our eyes can't all be lying. Nedeljkovic doesn't have Jarry's size or athleticism, but he'll battle for all 60.
5. Enough physicality?
It stopped being 1974 about 50 years ago, and being physical -- even just edgy or hard-nosed -- doesn't matter much anymore.
At the same time, the moment it was announced in the press box on this night that John Ludvig would be a late scratch due to being "a bit banged-up," per Sullivan, that was the end of any chance of being able to exert any kind of pressure on the Capitals beyond clever passes. And regardless of the era, when it comes to conference and especially divisional play, that's not OK.
Sullivan refers to Noel Acciari as "a warrior" and other terms that'd conjure up visions of Erik the Red or whatever. I'm sorry, but I see nothing of the kind. He skates hard in one direction, pokes his blade forward, then skates in some other direction. And for a fourth-line plugger who's put together totals of 20 and 14 goals within the past five seasons, sitting on three goals and one assist to this stage of this one ... yeah, no.
I'm not wild about Jansen Harkins in this regard, either. Nor Matt Nieto when healthy. Nor Jeff Carter, with respect to his helping more than last season when his career seemed shot.
The grit, the grind, the guts ... it's all still in the top six, with the significant exception of Lars Eller, who's brought all the good stuff I expected at both ends of the rink. Otherwise, it'd require only a glance at this game to see that Sid was the Penguins' most physical player and that Evgeni Malkin -- not once but twice -- was the one responding to Tom Wilson's standard nonsense.
If it'll matter in April and May, it matters now.
4. Burying the youth again?
I'll keep this one quick: Valtteri Puustinen was promoted from Wilkes-Barre 11 games ago, just in time for the power play to snap -- no, soar -- out of a historic slump, and just in time for the team to win almost every game it played. And all everyone, myself included, likely did was to count down the days until the process would commence toward his demotion.
Sure enough, at the first chance, he was knocked off the top two forward lines. Then the top power play. And now, as of this game, the second power play, as well.
Don't make me state the obvious. But allow me, please, instead, to state that this is a colossal reason this team's had so little upward mobility since the last two Stanley Cups. No one comes along and gets a chance to ... not just stick, but stand out. And as a result, the last Jake Guentzel we've seen around here ... is Jake himself.
Be ready for it. It's coming.
3. When does Ryan Graves report?
Kyle Dubas spun his share of hits this summer, but the gross over-signing of Graves to six years and $27 million might soon make Jack Johnson seem like a bargain.
If that sounds ill-willed, it isn't. Great guy. Like Sid, he's got that uber-friendly Nova Scotia demeanor.
But coming off a 26-point, plus-34 performance on the Devils' top pairing last season alongside dearly discarded John Marino, it couldn't be clearer that Marino was carrying everything but Graves' luggage to the team bus. He's got a goal, four assists, a 49.39 Corsi For percentage at five-on-five that's worst among all of the Penguins' defensemen, and there are other advanced metrics that strongly suggest he's dragging down every partner he gets. He did it with Kris Letang, and he's doing it now with Erik Karlsson.
Except on those increasingly frequent occasions where he'll drop down the depth chart in mid-game, as happened in this one, when P.O Joseph was bumped up alongside Karlsson after Graves had been the skater most responsible for Washington's first two goals.
I asked Graves afterward his view of that period:
“I don’t know, it’s a mix," he'd reply. "I mean, obviously the second one, it’s a crazy bounce. Like, that could happen 100 times and that probably wouldn’t happen again. But at the same time, there’s things you can do. You can close it earlier. There’s ways to avoid the situation. You can look at it as a bounce, but at the same time, you can look at it as you need to maybe be a little closer. Things like that. You’re not just gonna wash it and say, ‘Oh, it’s a bad bounce. It’s not my fault.’ There’s things that you can do. We just need to look at it and be better.”
Seem a little ... tight?
Yeah, there's that, too. From Day 1 of training camp.
I don't have solutions to offer, but I'll put forth that this roster can ill afford to carve out spots based on future contract status.
2. OK, how about Reilly Smith?
Six goals in the first 10 games, then two goals over the past 26 games.
No need to dig deep here. It's not happening. Whatever chemistry was there with Geno at the outset has either faded or fully fallen off. He'll too often reach for the opposite winger rather than simply seeking out No. 71, as has always worked best for the latter, and, as a result, he'll be guilty of contributing to too many one-and-done possessions in the attacking zone.
I don't have solutions to offer here, either, but I'll put forth that Drew O'Connor's looked like a better fit alongside of Malkin in recent usage on the second line.
If only he weren't young and didn't need to be slotted downward to make way for nameplates more prominent than his own.
1. Who's really invested here?
The Penguins can beat anyone, can lose to anyone. A lot like last season.
And on that count alone, they can miss the Stanley Cup playoffs. Exactly like last season.
I've loved Sid's game to the extent that I won't be surprised, if his latest point-a-game pace is sustained through yet another All-Star selection, when he gets genuinely deserved Hart Trophy votes this spring. What he's achieving at age 36 is ... I mean, it's Sid. I've long since run out of adjectives.
I've loved Geno's game, as well. Letang's seldom looked more authoritative defensively. Karlsson's accomplishing a lot more in underlying ways than most seem to realize, and that's fine, since he's been an exemplary fit in the locker room and cares as much as anyone. Same for Guentzel, Bryan Rust and the sharpest version we've ever seen of Marcus Pettersson. I'll throw Nedeljkovic into this, too, since he's as much of a legit leader as a goaltender as this team's had since Marc-Andre Fleury.
But if that subjective listing seems as top-heavy as it might've been a year ago, that's because it is. And that's a tired tale unto itself.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Alexander Ovechkin, Capitals LW
2. Martin Fehervary, Capitals D
3. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
THE IN-GAME INJURIES
• Penguins: Defenseman John Ludvig was a late scratch due to an undisclosed injury and had his place taken by P.O Joseph
• Capitals: None
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Drew O'Connor-Lars Eller-Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter
Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang
Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson
P.O Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel
And for Spencer Carbery's Capitals:
Alexander Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas-Connor McMichael-Anthony Mantha
Hendrix Lapierre-Dylan Strome-Matthew Phillips
Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Ethan Bear
Joel Edmundson-Nick Jensen
THE SCHEDULE
The team practices Wednesday, 12 p.m., at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, then flies to Boston for a game the next night against the Bruins. Faceoff at TD Garden will be 7:08 p.m. Taylor Haase will fly there.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE FEED
Bookmark our Penguins Feed for much more on this game and all the latest on the team around the clock.
