Musings: Penguins Have Uncharacteristic Off Game

Coming off an emotional shootout win over Winnipeg on Saturday as part of a challenging March schedule, the Penguins just didn’t have it against the rested Hurricanes on Sunday. Carolina earned a 5-1 win in the fourth and final regular-season matchup between these teams.

“I think obviously, we battled hard yesterday, had a tough game, and I just don't think that energy was there today,” Erik Karlsson said. “At the same time, this time of the year, we got to figure out a way how to manage that without feeling our best. And today, we didn't do much of anything.”

Carolina is at the top of the Metro Division for a reason. They have done a terrific job of building and sticking to their identity, which is making it difficult on their opponents with a good forecheck, fast pace, and skill.

That being said, the Penguins have had success against Carolina this year. They earned a 5-1 win in the first matchup, and battled to earn a point in each of the last two, which bookended their five-game road trip. Today, it’s just that all parts of their game were off.

“From an execution standpoint, from a support standpoint, from just managing the game, the way we could put together maybe some shifts to get momentum - it's a long list,” Penguins Head Coach Dan Muse said. “That was up there in terms of bad for me this year. And I'm not coming in here saying that, where I'm throwing that on the players only. Like, that's all of us.”

The Penguins were dealt a tough blow before the game even started, as Ryan Shea was ruled out with an upper-body injury sustained in the second period of the game against the Jets. He is listed as day-to-day.

“He’s been incredible for us,” Muse said of the defenseman. “His game’s continuing to grow. The puck movement, defensive play, penalty killing – he's been obviously a huge part of it.”

Ryan Graves, who slotted into the lineup, ended up taking a penalty on the first shift. The Hurricanes converted right away, with Sebastian Aho’s shot deflecting in off of Connor Dewar’s stick past Stuart Skinner. Carolina ended up outshooting Pittsburgh 7-0 to start the frame.

“It's a tough way to start the game. But even there, like, that happens, what do we do next?” Muse said. “I feel like with our group, we've responded to more of those moments, and more moments than not this year. Today, we didn’t. We just kind of let it continue to build in the wrong way.”

The Penguins did start to generate a little bit later in the period, and shots ended up being just 9-5 in favor of Carolina. And they managed to keep the deficit at just one after 20 minutes.

But Carolina took over in the second period, finding two more power-play goals to go 3-for-3 to start the game. The Penguins entered the game with the NHL’s No. 1 penalty-kill unit, but struggled today.

“Yeah, not our best. We need to be better for Stu,” Noel Acciari said. “First one, unlucky bounce, went off Dewey’s stick. But overall, can’t give up three goals on the penalty kill. We’re better than that. We’re going to shake that one off. Kind of forget about it.”

Muse had the same sentiment, as that group has been so good all year, even after losing shorthanded stalwart Blake Lizotte to an upper-body injury.

“It's not something where now I'm suddenly questioning our penalty killers or our penalty kill,” Muse said. “We've done it all year. We'll look at things that we can get better at, and we'll have those moving forward.”

While the Penguins have also been excellent on the power play, they’ve been surrendering some shorthanded goals as of late. And they gave up a flurry of shorthanded chances on their first man-advantage of the game. But Skinner came up with three saves for the highlight reel to keep the puck from crossing the line. He continued to battle in the third period.

“He was good for us. I mean, tough bounce on the first goal right away to start the game like that. And then again, we didn't really bring any energy in front of him,” Karlsson said.

“I think he was the only one who battled hard all game. I think he kept the score to what it was. And again, we've been getting that consistently from all our goalies that have been in net this year. I think they've always shown up for us.”

Egor Chinakhov broke the shutout bid for Freddie Andersen late in the third. Next up for the Penguins is Colorado, the top team in the NHL. While the Avalanche will be looking to respond after a 7-2 loss during the road trip, the Penguins will be looking to respond from this lackluster showing.

“We're going to have to prepare for that pretty quickly, because obviously that's a big one. But everything we have moving forward is big,” Muse said. “I can't change today. I wish I could, but I can’t. We’re going to have to learn from it, and we're going to have to learn from it quick.”