The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their first game of the season on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, falling to the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2.
The biggest lesson, said Declan Carlile, is playing a full 60 minutes.
"We probably got away from our systems a little bit there,” said the defenseman, who scored his second goal in as many games and added an assist. “You know, it's early in the year. So, we'll view some video and get that fixed. Quick turnaround. We'll see what happens."
The Penguins outshot the Jets 8-2 through the first six minutes. As the period progressed, however, Winnipeg started to find their footing and started tilting the ice.
Making his season debut, 22-year-old rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov was stellar between the pipes. He came up with some timely saves - 12 total in the first period - to keep the game scoreless.
“He was really good. He kept us in the game,” Ben Kindel said. “It's always reassuring to have a guy that's going to battle for you and keep you in the game no matter what.”
In the second period, Kindel got his second goal in as many games after redirecting Carlile’s shot from the left boards.
At first, the officials on the ice waived off Kindel’s goal because it appeared to be deflected with a high stick, but after a review, they deemed it a good goal.
“It all happened so fast, so I couldn't really put it all together,” Kindel said. “I felt like it was well below the crossbar, but you're never too sure. So just happy to see it go in.”
The lead didn't stand for long. In the third period, Alex Iaffalo banged in a loose puck off a broken play in front of Murashov, and Jets captain Adam Lowry scored a similar goal a few minutes later.
“I thought we had a good start to the game, but then we kind of got away a little bit,” Rickard Rakell said. “Got a little bit impatient maybe, which kind of made the momentum go to their side. Not enough shifts going hand in hand in trying to get back into this game. We just have to be better.”
Looking for an equalizer, Ville Koivunen worked the puck down low to Kindel, who then made a quick pass to Carlile alone in the slot. Like his goal last game against Montreal, Carlile wired a heavy wrist shot to beat Stevenson and tied it 2-2.
In 42 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, Carlile had just one goal and three points. In just three games this season, the 26-year-old defenseman has already eclipsed career-highs in goals (2) and points (4).
“It's obviously nice to be able to help and contribute in that facet,” Carlile said. “So, at the end of the day, we want two points. But, hope to just keep moving on.”
Less than ten seconds after Carlile’s tally, the Jets struck yet again, this time a one-timer from Cole Perfetti. Pittsburgh fought back to tie it after pulling Murashov, but couldn’t break through.
“You can think a lot, but there is a saying in Russian: 'Morning is wiser than evening,'" Murashov said. "So just take a good sleep, rest, and calmly think about that tomorrow, so we can get better from this game. There is always something good, and there is always something to improve.
Here is more on what Head Coach Dan Muse had to say following Monday’s game.
What did you see from Sergei Murashov tonight? “I thought he played well. You look at that first period, especially in the last five to seven minutes, some of the saves that he made. I thought that we were not on point, and he made some huge saves to kind of weather some storms there. So, that’s what you can ask for. I mean, goals against, it’s an unfortunate bounce, kind of, on one of them. A different bounce and it’s just right there. So, yeah, I thought he played well.”
Some obvious mistakes and breakdowns allowed Winnipeg some quality chances in this game. Is it just a matter of time and having the team together and getting used to each other more than anything else, from your perspective? “It’s the same thing. I think from a defensive standpoint, there's definitely areas there that we got to continue to take care of. Some of them, I think it's a combination of things. Like, the structural ones, we'll keep working at it, keep making sure that we're looking at things and tightening things up that way. I think some of it, too, we want guys to play with the puck. I think some of the plays in high ice, some of the plays that are coming into the zone against a team that you know is going to pressure as hard as they do, we could manage that a little bit better. But tonight, I think it was a combination of things. I think our overall puck play was off, and I don't have an exact answer for it on why. I think that even the energy level that we played with, we were flatter than we had been. That’s got to be better. And that falls on all of us. I'm the head coach of the team, and so, that falls on me as well. And so, I think for all of us, we're going to have to turn the page. We're going to look at it, find ways to learn from it. We have to. And turn that page and get ready for Wednesday.”
What has allowed Declan Carlile to contribute offensively like he has? “I mean, it's a credit to him. He's the one that's out there doing these things. I think he's confident to get involved in the offensive zone. I think he's confident to get involved in terms of joining up the rush. I think he's still playing extremely hard on the defensive side and taking pride in that. We felt him coming in here, this is a guy who’s a good two-way player. I think some of the situations that he's kind of earned the right to be in, that could be a little bit different. But that'd be a question for him. He competes hard at both ends, and that’s kind of what we expected him coming in here.”
Do you feel like the attack stalled out in the neutral zone maybe too often, on either side of the blue line? “Yeah, there was times. I mean, again, I'm not looking at it as just one thing. This is a team that pressures hard, and so, we wanted to make sure we could have been back a little bit quicker. We could have provided support options. So, some of it's the play with the puck, and some of it's also the options that we're working to create. I think it's a little bit twofold there. This is a team that they work hard to get back and they have numbers. They can clog it up at times. I think there were some times where some of it was execution, some of it was times where we were looking to do the right thing and we just weren't executing. Other times, I think it's a little bit more situational. There's not much there, and there was some other options that we could have looked to. So, we'll go back and watch the tape. But that's how I felt during the game.”
It looked like there were some line changes throughout the game. Specifically noticed Ben Kindel playing with Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte. Sort of what went into those decisions, and specifically that trio coming together? “With Kindy being there, he knew that that was a possibility going into the game. Lappy did too. So, that wasn't a surprise. It was just mixing some things up, some different options that were in place. I think honestly, the first times that Kindy went out there had more to do with faceoffs than it did anything else, and then they score a goal. So, if it works, why break it up? They scored. I thought that they had some good follow-ups just after that. It originally had more to do with just the faceoff than it had anything to do with anything else. I just kind of went with it after that because of what they were doing on the ice.”
It seems like Murashov is a pretty heady, philosophical kid. When you're talking with him, do you get that impression too? “He's very mature. (Goalie coach Andy Chiodo) has a lot of those conversations in terms of the preparation for the goalies, and he does a great job. But I think he's a mature young man.”
