Empty Thoughts: Devils 2, Penguins 1 (OT)

Observations from the Penguins’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils:

Entering the season, the Penguins’ most obvious hole in the lineup involved their bottom-six forwards.

Under former general manager Jim Rutherford, there was hope Mark Jankowski could reinvigorate his career and be the pivot of a new third line with Jared McCann and Evan Rodrigues on the wings.

Those aspirations quickly dissipated as the fourth line of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev took over as the third line while the Penguins tried to cobble together something resembling a competent fourth line with the leftovers.

Between Jankowski, Anthony Angello, Josh Currie, Frederick Gaudreau, Sam Lafferty, Drew O’Connor, Colton Sceviour and others, the Penguins’ fourth line has just been an inert entity most games this season, at least offensively.

Most of those players have been adequate defensively. But there’s rarely been any threat of offense from that group.

And that was never more evident than during Sunday’s game.

With forwards Evgeni Malkin, Jason Zucker, Blueger and Tanev all sidelined due to injuries, the Penguins needed something from that group and it just wasn’t there.

It’s not exactly surprising, mind you. That was always bound to be a concern this season. But it’s been exacerbated by the team’s current injuries woes.

And there’s not exactly an abundance of options in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. O’Connor, currently Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s second-line center, got a pretty good look earlier this season and looked like a prospect who needs a lot more refinement. Sam Miletic and Radim Zohorna, each currently assigned to the taxi squad, have some intrigue but each of them is raw as they have never played at the NHL level.

But there’s not a Bryan Rust or Tom Kuhnhackl circa 2016. There’s not a Scott Wilson or even a Garrett Wilson.

A trade could potentially boost the forward ranks. But that said, new general manager Ron Hextall has stated he does not want to deal away a high-end future asset for a rental. So that limits the options the Penguins could pursue.

That said, it might not take a lot to really boost that bottom group of forwards. If the Penguins have a completely healthy lineup — a considerably large “if” — the likes of McCann and Rodrigues are kind of left over to form a fourth line potentially. Add a third component to those two and the Penguins could potentially have four functional lines.

Until then, they need to figure out a way to get more out of the cast of misfits they have leaned on this season.

“We’ve got to get contributions throughout our lineup if we’re going to get consistent results,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’re getting offensive production obviously from (captain Sidney) Crosby’s line. But it would help if we could get some more from the bottom-nine (forwards). That’s one of our challenges right now. We’ve got a fair amount of guys out of the lineup. It’s a great opportunity for other guys to step up here and contribute. That’s what we need if we’re going to get consistent results.”

What happened

Crosby opened the scoring 3:37 into regulation. From the high slot of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin dished a forehand pass to forward Bryan Rust in the left circle. From there, Rust fed it along to forward Jake Guentzel on the near wall. Guentzel was able to sneak a cross-ice pass to Crosby low on the right wing. Leaning on his left knee, Crosby shuffled a shot into the crease that got past goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood’s left skate then banked off his right skate and into the cage for Crosby’s 12th goal of the season. Assists went to Guentzel and Rust.

The Devils tied the game 4:48 into the second period. After Devils forward Travis Zajac won a puck battle on the end boards of the offensive zone against Penguins defenseman John Marino and Crosby, he backhanded a pass to the right circle for forward Janne Kuokkanen. Surveying the zone for a moment, Kuokkanen fed a soft pass to the center point for defenseman Sami Vatanen who teed up a one-timer that sailed past an inadvertent screen by Rust and beyond goaltender Tristan Jarry’s glove for his second goal. Kuokkanen and Zajac registered assists.

The Devils claimed victory in overtime. Off a little forehand pass from Devils forward Pavel Zacha in the Penguins’ left circle, forward Jesper Bratt swooped behind the net, emerged to the right of it and tucked a forehand wraparound shot past Jarry’s left skate for his second goal at the 2:50 mark. Zacha and defenseman Ty Smith netted assists.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins had a 36-35 edge in shots.

• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang led the game with six shots.

• Forwards Kyle Palmieri, Yegor Sharangovich and Bratt each led the Devils with five shots.

• Letang led the game with 25:10 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• Defenseman Damon Severson led the Devils with 24:49 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• The Devils had a 28-26 edge in faceoffs (52%).

• Crosby was 16 for 27 (59%).

• Zacha was 10 for 17 (59%).

• Dumoulin led the game with four blocked shots.

• Vatanen led the Devils with three blocked shots.

• Jarry made 33 saves on 35 shots.

• Blackwood made 35 saves on 36 shots.

Randomly speaking

• For a game that had 71 shots, this was not a particularly entertaining affair. There were tons of whistles, little energy and lots of yawns. At least from the Penguins’ perspective, they looked exactly like a team that has played five games in seven days. The grind of this portion of the schedule has led to Blueger, Malkin and Tanev each missing time due to injuries. Meanwhile, the remaining healthy forwards just look spent.

The Penguins offered an honest effort in this game, but the realities of the schedule were really evident in this game. The next two days — a scheduled off day Monday and a practice Tuesday — will do them a world of benefit.

• Any hopes of McCann returning from injury and making up for some of the offense lost by Malkin’s absence have not been realized thus far. He had five shots, a nice total to be sure. But he looked like just another guy out there.

• The Guentzel-Crosby-Rust line is doing what it can. It just can’t do enough while it faces most of the tough defensive assignments.

• Jarry was tuned in once again. He was nowhere near the list of problems for the Penguins in this game.

• The Devils hit three posts in this game while the Penguins hit one.

Historically speaking

• The Devils’ last overtime win against the Penguins took place almost to the day three years earlier. Forward Taylor Hall scored in overtime on goaltender Matt Murray during a 4-3 win at PPG Paints Arena on March 23, 2018.

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan on the upcoming two-day break:

“It’s come at an opportune time. We just went through a stretch where we’ve played an awful lot of games. They’re going to get almost a day and a half here of just getting away from it. (We’ll) try to give them an opportunity to recover physically but also just mentally. To get away from it sometimes … and re-energize and recharge the batteries I think it’s a critical aspect of the recovery process. We’ll get away from it here for a day and a half or so. … This next day is important just from a recovery standpoint.”

• Crosby has been satisfied with how many scoring chances his team has generated:

“I just think it comes down to finishing. We generated some good chances. … We had some pretty good looks. The habits and everything we work on throughout the year, they’ve always got to be there. But I think it just comes down to execution and finishing. The good thing is the looks are there, we’ve just got to bury them.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

Follow the Penguins all season long.