The Penguins didn’t carry the momentum from their big win over Edmonton into the weekend. They fell to the Senators by a score of 5-0 on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena in the first half of a back-to-back set.
While it was a particularly tough start – more on that in just a minute – the sentiment coming out of the Penguins locker room was that they just got outplayed, plain and simple.
“We just weren’t good enough for whatever reason,” Sidney Crosby said.
“I’m not sure why, but we just didn’t have it in any capacity,” Bryan Rust agreed.
“They outworked us, and they just played better than us,” Rickard Rakell added.
It was a particularly frustrating loss considering the logjam for a Wild Card playoff spot, with both teams right in the mix.
"We know what's on the line," Erik Karlsson said. "We're getting down to that time where hopefully, we can be one of the teams that separates ourselves a little bit more. So, anytime you throw a lay an egg like we did tonight, especially to a team that we're battling, it's going to hurt a little bit more."
Ottawa got on the board just 3:16 into play, with the Penguins challenging for goalie interference on Alex Nedeljkovic. Since it was unsuccessful, Pittsburgh got assessed a delay of game penalty, which the Senators converted with two seconds remaining.
“We thought it was a really fair challenge. We don't win the challenge. They score on the power play. It's a two-goal swing,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “That's why I've never been a big fan of the rule, quite honestly. It’s pretty punitive for something that is a difference of opinion. In other words, it's not black and white, right? So, it's a two-goal swing, but there's a lot of hockey left.”
Sullivan said that he spoke with Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas after the game, who received some explanation from the league.
“They didn't think it interfered with Ned's ability to play his position, and I respectfully disagree,” Sullivan said. “I thought the player went into the blue paint on his own volition. He made contact with Ned's leg, and therefore, we felt strongly that it impeded his ability to play his position.”
It was a feisty game filled with penalties, as 15 were assessed in the first period alone. Sullivan has preached a ‘Just Play’ mentality since the moment he took over behind the bench in 2015, with that saying engraved on Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup rings that season.
But they got away from that mindset tonight, letting the Senators get them off their game, and engaging after the whistles.
“We lost our control and our temper, and we focused on a lot of things not involved in playing hockey and playing our game. That’s on us, and that shouldn't happen, no matter what happens in the game,” Karlsson said.
“There are some things we can control and some we can't. They scored two goals. Could have been zero. That's obviously unfortunate for us. But it shouldn't throw us sideways the way that it unfortunately did today.”
It didn’t help that the Penguins struggled when it came to special teams, as they were down 3-0 after those first 20 minutes, with Ottawa’s second goal coming on the power play and third goal coming shorthanded. The Senators then got another power-play tally just 41 seconds into the middle frame, going 2-for-4 on the day.
Pittsburgh’s power play had plenty of chances to get them back in the game, with six total opportunities, but they just couldn’t convert.
“You start scoring on the power play, I think that tends to settle things down a little bit. But we didn’t do that,” Crosby said. “They were just better. You don’t like to say that after a game. You want to give yourselves a chance every single night, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Nedeljkovic’s night ended on a bit of a fluky play, as Claude Giroux – who got three assists on the night – made a shot change direction on him. Nedeljkovic thought he had it, but the referee behind the night didn’t blow the whistle, and Tim Stützle was able to dig it out and get it over the line to make it 5-0 Ottawa in the second period.
The game was rather uneventful from there.
“I felt like in the third we tried to stay as positive as we could,” Karlsson said. “We tried to battle as hard as we could. We know it wasn't our night, it wasn't going to go our way, probably – but we got another important game tomorrow, and we just got to make sure that none of this leaks into tomorrow.”
Next up is Tampa Bay on Sunday at 5 PM as Pittsburgh continues along its five-game homestand.
“Today, we were on the wrong side of it, and it hurts. But again, luckily, we can go home, hopefully watch the Steelers win a game tonight, and wake up tomorrow and kind of move on,” Karlsson said.
