Musings: 'The Group's Got to Stick Together'

After surrendering a lead for the second game in as many days on Sunday against Utah, and for the fourth time in their last five outings, Head Coach Dan Muse met with the media.

“Not in a million years did I think we’d be back here today, 24 hours later, having the exact same conversation,” Muse said.

As he pointed out, the situations have varied in each game.

On Sunday against Dallas, the Stars got a late equalizer before going on to win in a shootout. But the Penguins still felt good about their game, as it was one of their more complete efforts of the season against a terrific opponent.

On Tuesday against Anaheim, the Penguins went to the power play with 18 seconds left while up 3-2 as part of another solid performance, gave up a shorthanded goal with 0.1 seconds remaining, and lost in a shootout.

On Saturday against San Jose, the Penguins took a 5-1 lead a few minutes into the third before the Sharks roared back, tying it with a 6-on-5 goal before winning in overtime.

Today, unlike those previous efforts, the Penguins did not carry play for the first two periods before getting away from it in the third. Rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov faced 19 shots through 40 minutes, while the Penguins generated just 10. But they were opportunistic, building a 3-0 lead into that final frame on goals from Justin Brazeau, Bryan Rust, and Ben Kindel.

Then, “too many chances there in the third where their shooters were just given way too much time and space,” Muse said.

Utah defenseman Nate Schmidt pinched in unnoticed, got a pass and buried it to cut the deficit to 3-1 just 1:07 into the third. Fifteen seconds later, Michael Carcone scored a fluky goal where he banked the puck off the side of the net and it ricocheted off the shaft of Murashov’s stick and in. The Penguins used their timeout to try and regroup.

“We need some plays that are going to not allow those bounces to be the difference,” Sidney Crosby said. “That can come in a lot of different forms. I think we just got to stick together and find a way to get over it.”

At the 5:35 mark, Sean Durzi picked a corner while Ryan Graves was battling with Kevin Stenlund in front. Muse decided to try challenging for goalie interference, which was unsuccessful.

“We thought he impeded Sergei’s ability to get out on that,” Muse said. “Graves makes some contact with him initially, but he kind of rolls off. He could have avoided being where he was in terms of that. That’s Sergei’s ice.

“You know there’s some risk. Was it one that we looked at that I thought was going to be 100%? No, but I thought we had a good enough chance where at that point in the game - with the way the way was going, the feel of the game, their push – you get that call back, now you have to feel like you’ve got a little bit of a second life.”

Unfortunately, Utah scored on the ensuing power play – their fourth opportunity of the game – to take a 4-3 lead. This time, the Penguins found a way to push back, with Brazeau tipping a point shot from Karlsson to tie it at 4-4 with just under six minutes to go. The game went to overtime, and Dylan Guenther won it for Utah.

“Today, even though they scored four quickly on us, I think we tried to play the right way, we tried to have intensity,” Karlsson said. “It was more a case of they beat us today and scored the goals. We didn’t beat ourselves as much.

“But then again, situations like this, sometimes confidence plays a big role and obviously right now, we’re lacking that. We’ve got to find a way quickly to get that back. Because early on in the season, I think we did a great job of playing with a lead. Somehow, we have kind of fallen away from that.”

Karlsson said with what has happened this week, you start to overthink and start to worry about the what if’s instead of staying in the moment.

“If they beat you, they beat you. It’s going to happen. We’re playing against the best players in the world and we’ve got to remember that we’re part of that group and we’re more than capable to play with anyone,” Karlsson said. “It’s more a mindset right now. The good thing about that is it’s controllable. I don’t think it has anything to do with systems or X’s and O’s. It’s within ourselves and we’ve got to find a way to regain that trust individually and as a team.”

The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Monday before completing their season-long five-game homestand on Tuesday versus Tristan Jarry and the Edmonton Oilers.

The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Monday before completing their season-long five-game homestand on Tuesday versus Tristan Jarry and the Edmonton Oilers. In terms of how they regroup, here’s what Muse had to say:

“Right now, it’s obviously not feeling too good. The day off, we come back, we don't have a choice – we have to stick together. It changes from game to game. Today, we're talking (with the guys) about five-on-six. We're not in a five-on-six situation. Like, overtime, we continue to work on that, the shootouts ... there are areas that can continue to come up, but if you forget about the rest of the game, you suddenly just put all the weight on that one area. It might be something new. We have to focus in on each day. Things come up, we address them, and we get them better. We'll come back a day from now and get back to work, and that’s all we can do. The big thing right now is the group's got to stick together, otherwise we'll go the other way.”