Penguins fall to Flyers in Jeff Carter's debut

Considering he last participated in a postseason during spring 2018, Jeff Carter harbors ample appreciation of what being a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins can offer him.

“Having a chance to win,” said Carter, who was acquired via trade from the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. “That’s the ultimate goal, no matter where you are every year. Coming here and joining this team, the run they’re on right now and the position that we’re in, it’s exciting. I can’t wait to get back to the playoffs and make a run at it.”

The Penguins didn’t wait to break Carter in during Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss against the rival Philadelphia Flyers at PPG Paints Arena.

They used their new toy, as Carter primarily centered the second line and recorded two shots on four attempts while logging 17 minutes, 54 seconds of ice time on 24 shifts. He also was deployed quite a bit on both special teams, clocking 2:11 on the power play and 1:33 on the penalty kill. In the faceoff circle, he was 9 for 13 (69 %).

Carter admitted to some uncertainty with his new surroundings early in the contest but gained comfort as the game went on.

“I think in the first period, I felt like I was kind of standing still thinking about systems and stuff like that and trying to figure out where I was supposed to go,” Carter said via video conference. “The second period, I think I just started to play hockey and use my speed. That’s when we started creating some chances as a line. From there on, we did a pretty good job of keeping things going north and attacking the net. It was something to build on, for sure.”

His coach offered a pretty positive assessment of Carter’s debut.

“(His line, with Jared McCann and Jason Zucker) generated a number of scoring chances,” Mike Sullivan said. “He did pretty well in the faceoff circle, especially given the fact that he hasn’t taken a whole lot of draws this year (as a member of the Kings). Overall, I thought he had a pretty good game for us.”

“You can see how he going to help us become a better hockey team. The more familiar he gets with how we’re trying to play, I think it’s just going to help him even more.”

After a dreadfully tepid first period in which the teams combined for eight shots, the Penguins struck first 5:04 into the second period. Using the stick of Crosby, defenseman Brian Dumoulin — who received Crosby’s stick after losing his — settled a puck in the defensive zone and gently backhanded a pass to the neutral zone for defensive partner Kris Letang, who surged into the offensive zone, one on one against Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere.

As Crosby did a drive-by to pick up a new stick from associate head equipment manager Jon Taglianetti, Letang tried to deke around Gostisbehere while attacking the net but was hindered in putting a threatening shot on goal. Goaltender Carter Hart made the save but could not get his stick on the rebound. That allowed Crosby to follow up on the sequence and jab a forehand shot through Hart’s legs for his 17th goal of the season.

Assists went to Letang and Dumoulin, the latter of which extended a career-best scoring streak to six games.

The Flyers tied the score 1:24 into the third period thanks to forward Jakub Voracek, who snapped a wrister from the slot through goaltender Tristan Jarry’s legs for his eighth goal of the season.

Shootout goals by Flyers forwards Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier secured victory. Forward Jake Guentzel scored the Penguins’ lone shootout goal.

Jarry made 26 saves on 27 shots as his record fell to 17-8-3.

Following a rare three-day break in what has been an operose format to the 2020-21 season, the Penguins offered a somewhat disjointed effort Thursday.

“If you look at the overall game, I don’t think we played well for 60 minutes,” Letang said. “We had some bursts here and there. Maybe the fact that we didn’t play for three days showed a little bit. We’re used to playing every other day. Maybe it’s a little bit of that. But we have to find our game where it was before.”

A greater level of acclimation for Carter could aid that pursuit.

“He’s a very good player on both sides of the puck,” Letang said. “He fits in every aspect of the game. He can play across your lineup on the first, second, third line. He brings us a ton of speed. He was good around the net. We saw everything tonight in his play.

“The more we practice and play games, he’s going to get chemistry with his teammates and just going to get better.”