Their early season trend of slow starts continued, with the Penguins trailing on both the scoreboard (2-0) and shot clock (20-6) after the first period. They looked much better in the middle frame, registering 20 shots of their own and getting a goal from Evgeni Malkin, but were down 4-1 coming out of it. That stood as the final score as Pittsburgh suffered their second regulation loss in a row following their 6-3 setback in Edmonton on Monday.
The Penguins made quite a few lineup changes as Jason Zucker joined Jake Guentzel (upper body, three games missed) and Teddy Blueger (upper body, has yet to play this season) on the injury list.
Rookie Sam Poulin made his NHL debut (full feature to come) and centered the third line. Jeff Carter moved up to right wing alongside Evgeni Malkin, with Danton Heinen slotting in on his left. Bryan Rust reunited with Sidney Crosby, with Rickard Rakell moving over to left wing. The fourth line remained the same, Chad Ruhwedel replaced P.O Joseph on defense, and Casey DeSmith made his second start of the year.
Here is the workflow Pittsburgh used…
Rickard Rakell -Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen-Evgeni Malkin-Jeff Carter
Brock McGinn-Sam Poulin-Kasperi Kapanen
Drake Caggiula-Ryan Poehling-Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
Chad Ruhwedel-Jan Rutta
Head coach Mike Sullivan shared his thoughts after the game.
On how disappointed he was with the first period, especially given the last two periods against the Oilers last night: "Well, it's disappointing. Obviously, we don't want to start the way we started. It was kind of a carryover from the last game. But I really liked the response after that. I thought in the second period, we turned the tide a little bit. We had a lot of chances. We got outscored in the period, that's the irony of it. But I thought in the second period, we were the better team. So there are some encouraging signs. Our expectations are a lot higher, though."
On what he thought of Poulin in his NHL debut: "I thought Sam played well. He brought us a lot of energy, and obviously, your first NHL game - you never forget those experiences. That's a big deal. We're just really encouraged with how far he's come and how his game is evolving, and he earned the opportunity to play in this game tonight. I thought he had a strong game."
On what went into the decision to scratch Joseph in favor of Ruhwedel:"Well, Chad's a good defenseman, and we want to keep him in the mix. We thought it was good opportunity playing back-to-back. That's not an easy thing to do. To bring some guys into the lineup that didn't play the night before that can bring us some energy, bring us some juice - that was part of the thinking. But Chad's had a really solid camp and has been the player that he's always been for us. So, we thought he was deserving of getting an opportunity into the lineup."
On what he takes away from a tough back-to-back against two of the top teams in the West: "That's probably a tough question for me right now. I'm still trying to digest it. This year, we've had volatility in our game, almost even within games, period to period. Some periods, I think we look really good, and then other periods, it's a struggle. I think we've got to try to find a way to do a better job at bringing just a little bit more consistency. A lot of that just has to do with control and momentum and simplifying the game a little bit. There are certain areas of our game where we know we've got to get them on track. Our power play is going through a struggle right now. But we know these guys are capable guys. We got to find a way to get to help them through the process and get them on track. We got to work through those challenges. But I'd like to believe that that we can bring more consistency from period to period."
