Empty Thoughts: Rangers 8, Penguins 4

Observations from the Penguins’ 8-4 loss to the Rangers:

First things first, there was no update on Penguins defenseman John Marino. He suffered an undisclosed injury at 8:24 of the third period when he fell on his face thanks to a trip by Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich.

As far as the Penguins’ total defense, it’s pretty much falling on its face over the past two games as they’ve allowed 15 goals.

For the sake of comparison, they allowed 15 goals in the nine contests that preceded this woeful two-game stretch.

This isn’t necessarily an issue with the defensemen or the goaltenders or the penalty kill or any single aspect of the team. This failure is something of an ensemble performance.

If there’s a distinction between Tuesday’s setback and Saturday’s 7-5 road loss to the Boston Bruins, it’s how the goals were scored. On Saturday, most of the Bruins’ offense came from the areas immediately around the net. In contrast, the Rangers diversified their offense.

That’s to say they got some in net-front scrambles, a handful off power-play faceoff wins in the offensive zone and some off of rushes into the offensive zone (which were initiated by turnovers by the Penguins in the Rangers’ zone).

Additionally, Penguins defensemen tapped or re-directed at least three of the Rangers’ goals into their own net in some fashion.

Regardless, allowing at least a touchdown a game is inexcusable.

“We need to stop here and take a look at where we’re at,” Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson said via video conference. “We’ve been playing some good hockey, and we can’t let it slip away from us right now. … We need to look at what we need to do better and go from there.”

The Penguins didn’t really provide many specifics as to why their defensive game has been so porous as of late. But they acknowledged an immediate course correction is required.

“It requires a lot more intensity,” forward Jared McCann said. “It requires a lot more detail. Our line has been giving up a lot of chances. It’s unacceptable. We need to be better. … We just need to be better, plain and simple.”

What happened

The Rangers struck first 1:36 into regulation. Skating the puck into the offensive zone, Colin Blackwell went deep into the right circle and tried to deal a pass to the left circle for trailing forward Ryan Strome. Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson broke up the pass attempt but inadvertently deflected the puck with his left skate through goatender Tristan Jarry’s five hole. Blackwell was credited with his 10th goal of the season off assists from forward Artemi Panarin and defenseman Jacob Trouba.

It became a 2-0 contest at 7:28 of the first period. Off an offensive zone turnover by Penguins forward Sidney Crosby, Rangers forward Mika Zibenejad skated the puck through the neutral zone then dealt a pass for Buchnevich, who gained the offensive blue line on the right wing. Dancing around Crosby, Buchnevich attacked the net and had his forehand shot rejected by Jarry. Zibanejad followed up on the ensuing rebound and lifted a backhander past a sprawling Jarry for his 13th goal. Buchnevich had the lone assist.

The hole got deeper at the 9:58 mark of the first with a power-play goal. Settling a hard pass in the left circle of the offensive zone, Panarin surveyed for a shooting lane, waited for Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci to shift away from the net and lasered a wrister over Jarry’s right shoulder on the near side for his 12th goal. Assists went to defenseman Adam Fox and forward Chris Kreider.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan called a timeout to get his squad settled and it responded shortly thereafter with its own power-play goal at the 10:38 mark. After Crosby beat Zibanejad on a draw in the left circle of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang settled the puck at the left point, walked it to center point then dealt a pass to forward Jared McCann above the left circle. Looking at the cage for a moment, McCann whacked a simple slapper that went through the legs of Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith, Fox and goaltender Igor Shesterkin for his 10th goal. Letang and Crosby registered assists.

Any momentum the Penguins generated from that score was nullified late in the period at the 19:42 mark with another power-play goal by the Rangers. Settling the puck at the right point of the offensive zone, Fox fed a pass to the left circle for Panarin. Allowing a passing lane to develop, Panarin dished a seam feed to Strome just above the right circle. With Kreider planted directly in front of Jarry on a screen, Strome ripped a wrister through Kreider’s legs and past Jarry’s glove on the near side for his 12th goal. Panarin and Fox netted assists.

To open the second period, Jarry was pulled in favor of goaltender Casey DeSmith.

The Rangers made it a 5-1 game at 12:20 of the second period. After Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko won a puck battle in the left corner of the offensive zone against Penguins forward Frederick Gaudreau, Kakko fed a pass low in the left circle for forward Filip Chytil who snapped a quick wrister on net. DeSmith made the initial save but allowed a big rebound to bounce loose in the slot. Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere settled the puck, veered to the right of the cage and tried to tuck in a forehand shot from behind the net. Pettersson and Marino each got their sticks in the crease to provide resistance, but Marino accidentally played the puck into his own cage. Lafreniere was credited with his sixth goal off assists from Chytil and Kakko.

Only 16 seconds later, the Penguins responded. Skating the puck through the neutral zone, Penguins forward Colton Sceviour fed a pass to the left wing for Matheson. Gaining the offensive blue line, Matheson sniped a wrister from the left circle past Shesterkin’s glove hand on the far side for his fourth goal. Assists were credited to Sceviour and forward Mark Jankowski.

The third period looked like an All-Star Game in terms of the defense each team played. That’s to say there was almost none.

First, the Rangers made it a 6-2 game 6:10 into the period with another power-play goal. Taking a pass at the right point of the offensive zone, Trouba stroked a one-timer that glanced off of Letang, above the crease and deflected to the right of the blue paint where Kakko re-directed the puck past DeSmith’s left leg for his sixth goal. Trouba and Blackwell collected assists.

The Penguins pulled within a field goal at the 8:04 mark. Chasing down a rebound in the right corner of the offensive zone, Matheson swooped behind the cage and from the left corner, he backhanded a pass to the left circle for forward Jake Guentzel who whacked a one-timer past Shesterkin’s glove on the far side for his team-leading 17th goal. Matheson and Letang picked up assists.

A short-handed goal by Fox at the 10:22 mark gave the Rangers a 7-3 lead. Zibanejad hounded Matheson into a turnover in the Penguins’ left circle then fed a backhand pass to the slot for an on-rushing Fox who torched a wrister past DeSmith’s blocker for his fifth goal. Assists went to Zibanejad and Strome.

The rout continued only 19 seconds later when Buchnevich got his 15th goal. After an offensive zone turnover by some combination of Ceci, Gaudreau and Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese, the Rangers attacked in transition. After Panarin gained the offensive zone on the right wing, he fed a cross-ice pass to Chytil. Drawing in Gaudreau and Ceci, Chytil dished a pass to Buchnevich, all alone to the right of the crease. From there, Buchnevich swept in a forehand shot by DeSmith’s left skate. Chytil and Panarin netted assists.

The scoring was capped late in regulation at the 18:36 mark. Off a backhand pass off the right wing wall in the neutral zone by Jankowski, Penguins rookie forward Radim Zohorna barged into the offensive zone with the puck, fighting through a delayed tripping penalty by Buchnevich. Recovering to his skates, Zohorna spun off a check from Kreider and dished a soft pass to the slot for onrushing defenseman Brian Dumoulin who tucked a forehand shot past Shesterkin’s right skate for his first goal of the season. Assists were tallied by Zohorna and Jankowski.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins dominated shots, 45-25.

• Buchnevich led the game with five shots.

• Forwards Evan Rodrigues, Bryan Rust, McCann, Letang and Matheson each led the Penguins with four shots.

• Letang led the game with 23:35 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• Fox led the Rangers with 22:12 of ice time on 31 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 36-25 (59%).

• Crosby was 16 for 23 (70%).

• Zibanejad was 12 for 22 (55%).

• Ceci and Trouba each led the game with three blocked shots.

• Jarry made seven saves on 11 shots.

• DeSmith made 10 saves on 14 shots and was charged with the loss.

• Shesterkin made 41 saves on 45 shots.

Randomly speaking

• This was a classic “sometimes, hockey doesn’t make sense” game. That’s to say, the Penguins dominated a lot of puck possession but clearly were the inferior team. And it wasn’t like they loaded up on shots in the third period trying to play catch up. They were putting the puck on net throughout the game. That said, the Rangers were getting the bulk of quality chances and seemed to bury most of them.

• It’s hard to fairly evaluate the goaltending considering Jarry and DeSmith were little more than target practice for the Rangers. But it would be a stretch to say either of them stole any goals.

Jarry and DeSmith can’t really be blamed for this, but they weren’t innocent either.

• Matheson has a forbidden fruit dynamic to him. He can really help you by doing some special things on the ice. But he can hurt you quite a bit in trying to execute those special things. This game was pretty much a comprehensive example of what Matheson can offer, in a positive and negative sense.

• The penalty kill was just a mess allowing three goals on three opportunities. It was easily the Penguins’ worst game with regards to the penalty kill all season, and that’s saying something considering they are ranked 24th in the NHL in penalty kill conversions at 76.3%.

Faceoffs were something of a problem on the first two power-play goals by the Rangers as Gaudreau lost draws directly before each goal.

• Gaudreau’s campaign to remain in the lineup might have lost some steam in this game. In addition to getting beaten on two defensive zone faceoffs that led to two power-play goals for the Rangers, he was flattened in a one-on-one battle that led to Lafreniere’s goal and had a hand in the offensive zone turnover prior to Buchnevich’s goal.

By no means was Gaudreau the main culprit in this mess, but this was easily his least impressive game as a member of the Penguins.

• If Jankowski is about to lose his job upon the return of Teddy Blueger to the lineup, he is not giving it up without a fight. He recorded two assists in this game. Over his past two games, he has four points (one goal, three assists).

• Crosby had a rough night. He probably has had worse games in his career, but none come to mind immediately. His puck decisions left something to be desired. That said, it’s probably a safe bet to assume he’ll rebound.

• McCann got another power-play goal. Despite being on the top power-play unit for roughly two weeks in the absences of injured forwards Evgeni Malkin and Kasperi Kapanen, he leads the team with five power-play goals.

McCann just keeps it simple. He shoots quite a bit, particularly off that left wall. He’s been a refreshing sight compared to others on that group who can tend to overpass looking for that perfect play. Not McCann. He mostly just grips it and rips it.

• By the time Dumoulin’s goal occurred, the game was all but over. But the way Zohorna created that opportunity was very encouraging. He just used his overwhelming size to barge into the Rangers’ zone and set up Dumoulin with a very composed, patient play.

• Fox looked really smooth in this game. He’s only in his second NHL season but he looks very confident when he has the puck at the point, almost like a point guard in basketball. He’s really made a push this season to be involved in the discussion for the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenseman.

• There aren’t many players who are alone worth the purchase of a ticket, but Panarin is one of them. He might be the most entertaining player in the game today.

Historically speaking

• The Penguins had not allowed eight goals since an 8-4 road loss to the Boston Bruins on March 1, 2018.

• The Penguins have not allowed seven or more goals in consecutive games in more than a quarter of a century:

This is the first time Pens have allowed 7+ goals in consecutive GP since April 8, 1994 @ NJ (2-7) and April 9, 1994 @ Montreal (1-9).

— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) April 7, 2021

• Dumoulin’s goal was his first since a short-handed score in a 2-1 overtime home loss to the Oilers on Nov. 2, 2019:

• Zohorna recorded his first career assist. He has two points (one goal, one assist) in three games.

• Panarin now has 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 18 career games against the Penguins.

Publicly speaking

• Penguins forward Bryan Rust on his team’s defense:

“We’ve just been sloppy. We’re not working as a unit out there. We need to get back to that quick. The more you’re working as a unit, the more you’re defending as a group of five — even six with a goalie out there — I think that makes your team that much stronger.”

• Pettersson on the Penguins’ defense:

“We know what we can do when we play the right way and defend hard. There’s never going to be a problem for us to create offensive chances. So whenever we defend hard and defend our net fronts, I think we create a lot from that too. We know what we have to do. We’ve got to find a way to stop the bleeding because the last two games is not good enough right now.”

• McCann on the defense:

“It just looks like we’re kind of lost. We’re giving up chances that we’re not normally used to giving up. We’re letting our goalies down right now and giving teams backdoor tap-ins and shots from high-grade areas. We need to tighten up. We’re not going to sit here and whine about it. Let’s learn from it, move forward.”

• Coach Mike Sullivan on the defense:

“We just haven’t played with the same sense of purpose. As a result, the types of chances that we’ve given up are extremely high (quality). And it’s hard to win games consistently when you give up the quality of chances that we’ve given up the last two games.”

• Sullivan on McCann’s success on the power play:

“We tried Jared there for a couple of years now. This isn’t anything new. We recognize that one of Jared’s strengths is on the power play. His ability to shoot on that strong-side flank, in particular, he’s very good at it. He’s got a real deceptive shot, he’s got an accurate shot and it’s hard. When he puts pucks in play, sometimes they go in the net. If they don’t, usually it creates opportunity for the rest of the guys that are at the net front. He’s doing a good job on the power play, he’s going to continue to help us there.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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