Analysis: Sam Lafferty makes an impact within his limitations

Empty thoughts from the Penguins’ 5-1 loss to the Lightning:

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan isn’t generally a quippy person. And he usually won’t offer any badinage after a loss.

But he made an exception in the aftermath of his team’s first regulation loss of the season on Tuesday.

When asked if any of the so-called replacement players he is dressing for his pockmarked lineup could earn a permanent job, Sullivan offered this catty suggestion in a deadpan fashion:

“I’m pretty confident that Sid’s going to get a spot back in the lineup.”

So that’s good news for anyone who dared to draft Sidney Crosby in their fantasy league.

Sullivan expanded.

“Some of these other guys, we’ve got a lot of internal competition because a lot of guys are playing well,” he said. “And that’s a good problem to have as a coach. These guys are competing hard that we have in the lineup right now. We’re putting ourselves in a position to win games.”

Sam Lafferty did what he could through his limited skill set to put his team in such a position on Tuesday.

The Lighting came out with a pretty strong push to open the game, controlling shots 4-1 within the first four minutes of play. Then at 4:39 of the first period, Lafferty came in strong on a forecheck and put Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh into Tampa Bay’s end boards, admittedly from a questionable angle.

McDonagh got up and immediately went after Lafferty. They wrestled around a bit before falling to the ice. Lafferty was given a roughing minor while McDonagh was assessed two roughing penalties, resulting in a power-play opportunity for the Penguins.

Ultimately, the Penguins did nothing with that chance as they put only two shots on net over the next two minutes. By the end of the night, the hampered Penguins simply didn’t have the firepower to match the mostly healthy Lightning.

But the key to this story is that Lafferty gave his team a chance to score the first goal of the game and playing with a lead is so vital for this team as it’s presently constructed with so many high-end players absent for health-related matters.

If the Penguins are ever fully healthy — more of an ideal than a realistic notion — Lafferty isn’t among the Penguins’ 12 best forwards. Heck, he might not even be in the top 15 or 16.

But he has value and he put it on display in this game by using his speed to deliver a big — if questionable — hit and drawing a penalty. And for players on the margins like Lafferty, drawing penalties regularly is a big attribute coaches consider when putting together a lineup.

In some ways, Penguins management views Lafferty as a lite version of former forward Brandon Tanev.

Even if the Penguins lost convincingly, this was a good game for Lafferty within his limitations.

“Sam made an impact on the game,” Sullivan said. “His physicality was evident early on. Tampa came out with a strong push in that first half of the first period. We expected that. They had lost a few in a row, they lost a tough one (Monday) night in Buffalo. They’re a proud group. We expected that they would push from the drop of the puck and they did. They had the momentum there for that first half of the first period. Sam gets in on the forecheck, he gets a big hit and it kind of got our guys into the hockey game a little bit. That’s the type of impact Sam can have.

“He can really skate. He can get in on the forecheck, he’s a big, strong kid, he’s doing some penalty killing for us. He’s getting better in that aspect of the game. Those are the ways Sam can have a positive impact on the game. I thought he did a decent job tonight.”

Statistically speaking

• The Lightning had a 31-29 edge in shots.

• Penguins defenseman John Marino and Lightning forward Alex Killorn led the game with five shots.

• Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman led the game with 26:17 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• Marino led the Penguins with 25:32 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• The Lightning had a 29-27 edge in faceoffs (52%).

• Penguins forward Teddy Blueger was 11 for 17 (65%).

• Lightning forward Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare was 6 for 9 (67%).

• Penguins defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Mike Matheson as well as Lightning defensemen Mikhail Sergachev, McDonagh and forward Brayden Point each led the game with two blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• A pretty critical juncture of this game came at 14:44 of the first period when Penguins forward Brock McGinn appeared to score the game’s first goal on a rebound scramble but referee Conor O’Donnell waved it off. In the immediate aftermath, McGinn and Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli got into a scrum and McGinn was given a high sticking penalty.

As for the would-be goal, it appeared O’Donnell was simply in a bad spot to view the puck and blew his whistle quickly.

Afterward, Sullivan indicated the officials admitted to an error.

“The referee came over and said that he made a mistake,” Sullivan said. “He lost sight of the puck. He was on the backside of the goaltender. He didn’t see it. It was a quick whistle. I was appreciative of his honesty. That’s hockey, there’s a human element sometimes to it. Obviously, it would have been a big goal for us from a momentum standpoint.”

• As stated above, a first lead for the Penguins with this kind of lineup is pretty critical in any game, especially against a powerful team like the Lightning.

• There were a lot of comparisons between this game and the season-opener two weeks ago, a 6-2 win by the Penguins in Tampa. As far as the Lightning are concerned, they just looked like a much more focused team than what they offered Oct. 12. And for good reason.

That was the night they raised their championship banner and oftentimes, such occasions can distract the team that is being honored. The Penguins appeared to take full advantage of a preoccupied opponent that night.

As for Tuesday night, the Penguins just looked overwhelmed at times by a much more attentive Lightning team. The talent discrepancy was pretty obvious. Both teams had quality scoring chances. The main difference was the Lightning routinely finished theirs while the Penguins struggled just to get theirs on net.

• The Penguins’ success to this point of the season is even more impressive when you consider forward Kasperi Kapanen has not offered much in the way of offense beyond four assists. He hasn’t been a detriment by any means. But it’s more than fair to expect a greater contribution from a player with his talents.

Tuesday’s game might have been his least impactful to date this season. His body language just looked kind of flat.

• There was another key moment in this game at roughly the midway point of the second period. The Penguins’ fourth line had a strong, extended shift in the offensive zone that lasted over a minute. During that sequence, they generated four shots on five attempts and really seemed to overwhelm the Lightning. But once the puck left the zone, the Lightning cashed in two goals within a span of 10 seconds, each of which were generated in part by some All-Star players.

That series of events just displayed the discrepancy in talent between the two lineups.

• Penguins forward Drew O’Connor had kind of a rough game. He “combined” with Dumoulin on a neutral zone turnover that led to the Lightning’s second goal, then he was unable to defend Lightning forward Steven Stamkos in the defensive zone as Stamkos set up McDonagh for the third goal. He’ll have better nights.

• Continuing with Lafferty, he dropped the gloves with Lightning forward Corey Perry later in the first period, presumably in response to his hit on McDonagh.

• Full marks to Penguins forward Jason Zucker for the effort he put in on his team’s lone score. Down by four goals, he made a pretty sharp play to steal the puck then was Johnny-on-the-Spot in cleaning up the rebound for his third goal of the season.

• Don’t dismiss Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s play in this game. He was tuned in and rejected quite a few quality chances by the Penguins. He just looked really agile in terms of his movement in the crease.

• Attendance was listed at 15,732 for this game. Full capacity for hockey at PPG Paints Arena is 18,187.

Historically speaking

• This has nothing to do with anything relevant to this game but Dominik Simon’s presence has extended a streak for the Penguins of having at least one Czech on the roster every season since Jaromir Jagr’s rookie year of 1990-91:

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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