Penguins Played Hard, but Didn't Get the Result
By
Michelle Crechiolo
Penguins Team Reporter
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Don't be fooled by the score - the Penguins played real well in this game.
"I really liked our energy. I loved our effort," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we played the game hard tonight. We didn't end up on the right side of the score. But I think if we bring that effort and we bring that commitment, we're going to win a lot of games."
The Penguins came out strong, playing fast and on their toes from the drop of the puck. And even though Pittsburgh gave up a goal in the last second of the opening period, they responded by tying it up with exactly six minutes left in the middle frame.
Unfortunately, the opportunistic Predators were able to get a couple more goals before the second intermission. The first came off a tip; the second came after Kris Letang and Mike Matheson nearly collided on the blue line and Eeli Tolvanen ended up scoring on a breakaway.
"When Tanger and Mike Matheson come together, it's just one of those fluky plays," Sullivan said. "For me, that's hockey. Sometimes those circumstances arise, and it ended up in the back of our net. It was a pretty hard-fought game on both sides."
The Penguins just weren't quite as opportunistic, as they had some looks that wouldn't fall. Like when Letang had mostly an open net during a power play, but his sharp-angle shot ended up going off the red painted metal. Or when Kasperi Kapanen had a breakaway chance of his own that he couldn't convert. It also didn't help that they ended up getting called for some penalties in the third, that made it harder to battle back.
"I thought we played a pretty good game, a pretty full 60 minutes," Evan Rodrigues said. "So this one stings a little bit because I thought we controlled majority of the play. So you kind of got to move past it pretty quickly, take the good from it and move on to the next one."
The Penguins have a day off on Wednesday before facing St. Louis on Thursday.
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
CROSBY'S LINE ADJUSTED
The other day, Sullivan said that adjusting the captain's line is something the coaching staff had been considering for a while now. But because they felt his line was so dominant, they had tried finding other combinations. Until today, when they moved Bryan Rust onto a line with Danton Heinen and Evgeni Malkin, and put Evan Rodrigues with Crosby and Guentzel.
"I thought they were good. I thought E-Rod did a good job with Sid and Jake. I thought Rusty really helped Geno," Sullivan said. "We had the balance that we were looking for and hoping for. I thought those lines played hard. We didn't get the results on the scoreboard, but I thought they played well."
GUENTZ-GOALS KEEP COMING
Guentzel is now one goal shy of hitting the 30-goal plateau for the second time in his career (40 goals in 2018-19).
When he does reach that mark, Guentzel will become the 23rd player in team history to have two or more 30 goal seasons with the team, and just the third player since 2005-06 to accomplish this feat (Crosby, 9; Malkin, 6).
Tonight's tally started with a perfect pass across the slot from Kris Letang. Guentzel lined it up and absolutely sniped it past Predators goalie Juuse Saros. What makes the goal even more impressive is that Guentzel had been hurting for a few minutes prior after absorbing a big hit, but he was able to shake it off and score on his next shift.
"Just kind of got me in the wrong spot," Guentzel said of the hit. "But just a great faceoff play by Sid to win the draw, and Tanger, nice pass. That draw takes five guys, and there's a lot of picks and whatnot. So I think it takes a line to do that one. Just a great pass there by Tanger, and I just got to try and find the net there."
Crosby extended his point streak to 10 games, piling up six goals, seven assists and 13 points over that span. It's the second-longest active point streak in the league behind Vancouver's J.T. Miller.
Crosby is the third Penguin this season to have a point streak of 10 or more games, joining Guentzel (13 games from Nov. 13-Dec. 6, 2021) and Letang (10 games from Jan. 2-21, 2022). Only the Colorado Avalanche (4) have more players that have strung together a 10+ game point streak this season.
