If there was a lowlight of the Penguins' 5-3 win over the Blues, it was the penalty-kill.
The Blues had the game's only two power plays, courtesy of a Conor Timmins high-stick midway through the second period and a Kris Letang cross-check in the last minute of the same period. The Blues were able to capitalize on both, and the Penguins were clinging to a one-goal lead before Bryan Rust's tip in the third. The Blues again made it a one-goal game later in the final frame after Alexey Toropchenko broke free with a burst of speed off a rush, and the game remained close until Rickard Rakell's empty-netter with eight seconds left.
"It's not a close game if we get the job done on that," Ryan Graves said of the penalty-kill.
Zack Bolduc scored the first power-play goal. He dumped the puck into the Penguins' end, and both Letang and Graves ended up below the goal line when Robert Thomas went behind the net to retrieve it. That left Bolduc wide-open in the slot, and he was able to bury a pass from Thomas before Graves was able to get back to the net-front:
Dylan Holloway's power-play goal in the time that carried over into the third period was a one-timer set up by Justin Faulk:
Mike Sullivan's issue was what happened just before that goal. Brayden Schenn broke his stick, and made a beeline to the Blues' bench for a new one. He only just got back into the Penguins' end as the goal was being scored. The goal goes down as a power-play goal, but it came off a full 10 seconds in which Schenn was totally out of the play. That's a lot of time to essentially be four-on-four, and the Penguins weren't able to take advantage of that. In the seconds just before the goal was scored, one could even argue that it was a three-on-four for the Blues, as Jake Neighbours was down by the boards and slow to get up after a Graves hit.
"We weren't very good," Sullivan said. "You know, there was no real attention to detail. The looks they got were Grade-A looks. The second one, they break a stick off the face-off. It's four-on-four, and we were late to recognize it. We should have recognized it and pressured. It's man-on-man at that point. Right when you recognize that they break a stick, they're going to the bench. We had an opportunity to squelch it and get it down the ice, and we didn't get it done. We've got to be better."
The Penguins entered Thursday's game with the league's 17th-ranked penalty-kill, operating at a 78.4% success rate. It hasn't been exceptional this season, but this night certainly qualifies as an off-night.
"I don't have the answer for that," Graves said when I asked what into the penalty-kill struggling. "But we'll look at it. We've had a pretty good penalty-kill all year. So we'll look at it."
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
5:15 am - 03.14.2025UptownDrive to the Net: Rough night for penalty-kill
If there was a lowlight of the Penguins' 5-3 win over the Blues, it was the penalty-kill.
The Blues had the game's only two power plays, courtesy of a Conor Timmins high-stick midway through the second period and a Kris Letang cross-check in the last minute of the same period. The Blues were able to capitalize on both, and the Penguins were clinging to a one-goal lead before Bryan Rust's tip in the third. The Blues again made it a one-goal game later in the final frame after Alexey Toropchenko broke free with a burst of speed off a rush, and the game remained close until Rickard Rakell's empty-netter with eight seconds left.
"It's not a close game if we get the job done on that," Ryan Graves said of the penalty-kill.
Zack Bolduc scored the first power-play goal. He dumped the puck into the Penguins' end, and both Letang and Graves ended up below the goal line when Robert Thomas went behind the net to retrieve it. That left Bolduc wide-open in the slot, and he was able to bury a pass from Thomas before Graves was able to get back to the net-front:
Dylan Holloway's power-play goal in the time that carried over into the third period was a one-timer set up by Justin Faulk:
Mike Sullivan's issue was what happened just before that goal. Brayden Schenn broke his stick, and made a beeline to the Blues' bench for a new one. He only just got back into the Penguins' end as the goal was being scored. The goal goes down as a power-play goal, but it came off a full 10 seconds in which Schenn was totally out of the play. That's a lot of time to essentially be four-on-four, and the Penguins weren't able to take advantage of that. In the seconds just before the goal was scored, one could even argue that it was a three-on-four for the Blues, as Jake Neighbours was down by the boards and slow to get up after a Graves hit.
"We weren't very good," Sullivan said. "You know, there was no real attention to detail. The looks they got were Grade-A looks. The second one, they break a stick off the face-off. It's four-on-four, and we were late to recognize it. We should have recognized it and pressured. It's man-on-man at that point. Right when you recognize that they break a stick, they're going to the bench. We had an opportunity to squelch it and get it down the ice, and we didn't get it done. We've got to be better."
The Penguins entered Thursday's game with the league's 17th-ranked penalty-kill, operating at a 78.4% success rate. It hasn't been exceptional this season, but this night certainly qualifies as an off-night.
"I don't have the answer for that," Graves said when I asked what into the penalty-kill struggling. "But we'll look at it. We've had a pretty good penalty-kill all year. So we'll look at it."
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