You are undoubtedly familiar with the old truth: you can’t win them all. Especially in the NHL during a sluggish 82-game stretch, in the middle of a four-game road swing to boot.
And so it was yesterday afternoon for our Penguins in Winnipeg. The Jets took advantage of our ‘PicNic’ defensive combination and a less than stellar performance between the pipes Arthur Silov on the way to a 5-2 victory. In doing so, we let down our best series of eight games.
Out of respect for Connor Dewar And Owen Pickering’s Winnipeg roots, coach And Muse froze its fourth line and third defense pair to start the game. The move, however moving, backfired spectacularly Gabriel Vilardi scored on a shot behind the net just 15 seconds into the game.
PicNic fell victim again at 2:43, when Pickering’s hard exhaust pass off the stick of the Noel Acciari in the neutral zone. Then cabbage jumped on the loose cookie and quickly moved it to Parker Ford. The Jets rookie blew around Brunicke in turnstile fashion and delivered a backhand pass to Brad Lambert on the side of the net. After gaining his body position on Brunicke, Lambert easily defeated Silovs to make it Jets by 2 zips. Terrible run for our 19 year old rookie.
The Jets extended their lead with just 77 ticks in the second period on an off-the-mark goal Vladislav Namestnikovthanks to a wonderful feed from Jonathan Toews. Kyle Connor followed by what was for all intents and purposes the final nail in our coffin at 12:13 when he beat Silovs with a penalty shot.
Pens fans finally had something to cheer about in the waning seconds of the period as the black and gold struck for a power play goal. After taking a cross-ice food of Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson let it rip from the left point. The likely shot pass struck Sidney Crosby on the side of the net and deflected into foil Eric Comrie shutout bid.
Our pesky fourth line made it a two-goal game with 9:33 to play Blake Lizotte drove to the net and knocked Comrie’s puck in as Acciari planted in the crease. Gives a glimmer of hope for a late indictment.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. When Muse pulled Silovs for an extra attacker in the final two minutes, Connor promptly found the empty net. It caps off a decidedly unfortunate Game No. 13 for our boys.
Puckpourri
The underlying numbers said it was a competitive game. The eye test said otherwise.
The Pens played without it Justin Brazeauday in and day out with an upper body condition. Philip Tomasino (two shots on target) filled in on the second line. As the offense trickled down, Muse shuffled the deck in the third period, bumping Geno into Sid’s unit as he shifted gears. Tommy Novak to the center of the second line. Philip Hallander dropped to the third line with fellow rookies Ben Kindel And Ville Koivunenall without result.
Brunicke (minus-2) certainly seems to be playing his way back to the juniors. There is certainly no sin in that, not for a 19-year-old child. Learning to defend in the NHL at that age is roughly akin to learning to swim in shark-infested waters.
Pickering, also a minus-2 in a team-low 10:43 of ice time, is also experiencing his struggles. He was outwitted by Connor in front of the net on the Jets’ first goal.
Muse quickly split his callow combo and combined Pickering with Kris Letang And Ryan Shea with Brunicke. The latter’s playing improved, that of the former not so much.
For the time being, the third couple remains an Achilles heel.
It wasn’t Silovs’ best hour in net either. The Jets’ first two goals were stoppable, mainly thanks to better positioning in the post. The penalty shot resulted from the rookie goalie wandering out of his cage in an attempt to pin the puck against the boards, then in desperation throwing his stick at the puck and puck carrier Connor.
All in all, one of those games was best to move on and flush down the toilet. Of course, after you’ve learned the right lessons.
The Pens lost their grip on first place in the league, as did the Metro. At 8-3-2 we are still tied for the second most points (18) in the league.
We will end the road trip on Monday evening with a visit to Toronto.
#Jets #fly #zoom #penguins