With illness ripping through roster, Penguins fall to Islanders in shootout

There haven’t been many reasons to feel good about the Penguins’ record the past few weeks.

Tuesday’s 5-4 shootout road loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. dropped them to 3-6-2 in the past 11 contests.

As for the Penguins themselves, many of them simply don’t feel good.

A recent outbreak of undisclosed illnesses — not related to covid-19 — has forced several players to miss games and practices in recent weeks.

And during Tuesday’s game, they saw forwards Bryan Rust and Evan Rodrigues leave the contest prematurely after maladies overcame them.

Rust did not record a shift after the 3:15 mark of the first period while Rodrigues did not step on the ice after 12:08 of the second period.

“It just seems like we’ve got some sort of bug that’s going through our team,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said to media in Elmont after the game. “Guys are trying to play through it. These guys tried, but they couldn’t finish the game.”

It will be interesting to see what kind of lineup the Penguins will be able to start their rematch against the Islanders with on Thursday.

With forward Brock McGinn activated from long-term injured reserve Tuesday afternoon, the Penguins entered Tuesday’s contest with only $11,861 of salary cap space according to Cap Friendly.

(For context, a league minimum contract pays $750,000).

The Penguins are already missing one of their top players with forward Evgeni Malkin one game into a four-game suspension. Should Rodrigues or Rust (or others) not be available due to illness, the Penguins will have a considerable challenge in dressing a full lineup given their limited salary cap flexibility.

As it was, they played most of Tuesday’s game with only 10 forwards.

“It’s a tough loss, “Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen said. “We fought hard. We had a short bench with (Rust and Rodrigues) not being able to play. I thought we battled through that pretty well. Just weren’t able to convert on the overtime and the shootout.”

Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri scored the only goal in the shootout.

A regulation win would have secured the Penguins a postseason berth for the 16th consecutive season. But given their recent struggles, simply getting a win appears to be a more paramount concern.

“We have great leadership,” Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel said. “Sure, some of the games haven’t gone our way over the last little while, but we’ve got a lot of character in that room. That’s going to get us through any of this stuff.”

The Penguins appeared to have the right stuff early in Tuesday’s game as they opened the scoring 5:52 into regulation thanks to forward Jake Guentzel’s 34th goal of the season.

From the left corner of the offensive zone, forward Sidney Crosby snapped the puck from a bad angle into the crease, where goaltender Ilya Sorokin deflected it to the slot with his stick. After Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech and Penguins forward Rickard Rakell fought for possession, forward Jake Guentzel corralled it and fired a wrister that Pelech managed to block with his right skate. From below the left circle, Rakell fanned a bit on a forehand shot but ended up directing the pass to the right side of the crease, where Guentzel easily fired a wrister past Sorokin’s left skate. Rakell and Crosby collected assists.

Islanders forward Zach Parise responded at 9:10 of the first period with his 12th goal. Off a breakout from his own zone, Islanders forward Mathew Barzal gained the offensive blue line on the left wing and dished a cross-ice pass to Parise in the right circle. With Penguins defenseman Mark Friedman providing passive resistance, Parise gripped and ripped a wrister over goaltender Casey DeSmith’s left shoulder on the near side. Barzal and defenseman Noah Dobson netted assists.

Parise’s 13th goal came short-handed only 2:53 later. After Rakell lost a puck behind the Islanders net, Pelech claimed it, broke it out of the defensive zone and fed a cross-ice pass to forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Gaining the Penguins’ zone on the right wing, Pageau streaked past Crosby as well as defenseman Kris Letang and attacked the net. With DeSmith overplaying the approach, Pageau was able to sneak a pass to the far side of the crease, where Parise darted past Guentzel and tapped an easy goal into a vacant cage. Pageau and Pelech had assists.

The Islanders claimed a 3-1 lead late in the first period at the 19:22 mark. After winning a puck battle behind his own net, Penguins forward Teddy Blueger dealt a squalid backhand pass to the left circle, where Islanders forward Josh Bailey accepted the charity by blasting a one-timer past a helpless DeSmith’s glove on the far side for his ninth goal. There were no assists.

Penguins forward Danton Heinen made it a 3-2 game 3:46 into the second period with his 15th goal. Off a neutral zone turnover by Parise, Heinen gained the offensive zone on the right wing and dished it off to Kapanen dashing down the slot. Veering to the right of the cage, Kapanen drew Sorokin slightly out of position then dealt a pass to the front of the crease, where Heinen scored with an easy forehand shot. Assists went to Kapanen and forward Brian Boyle.

Guentzel scored again to tie the game late in the second at the 18:32 mark. During an extended shift in the offensive zone, Ruhwedel chucked a wrister from center point that missed the mark thanks to a deflection by Rakell and clunked off the end boards. Rushing in from the left wing, Guentzel beat Dobson to the puck, swooped being the cage and emerged in the right circle. From there, Guentzel whipped a far-side wrister that beat the blocker of Sorokin, who was screened by Crosby and Dobson in the process. Rakell and Ruhwedel registered assists.

Bailey’s second goal of the contest came courtesy of an unforced error by Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin 2:49 into the third period. Off a neutral zone faceoff, Islanders defenseman Andy Greene blasted the puck into the offensive zone around the boards. Dumoulin tried to corral the puck in the right corner but somehow managed to deflect it the slot, where Bailey claimed it and roofed a wrister over a besieged DeSmith’s glove. There were no assists.

A faulty penalty allowed the Penguins to tie the game 4-4 with a power-play goal. After Kapanen stepped on a puck and fell to the ice in the left corner of the Penguins own zone, referee Michael Markovic deemed Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier guilty of tripping Kapanen despite neither player making contact on the sequence.

On the ensuing power-play opportunity, Crosby controlled the puck on the left half wall of the offensive zone and surveyed the scene. With Pelech laboring without a stick, Crosby dealt a cross-ice pass to the top of the right circle for Guentzel. Hesitating for a moment, Guentzel pumped a far-side wrister that Penguins forward Jeff Carter, positioned just to the left of the crease, deflected past Sorokin’s blocker for his 18th goal. Guentzel and Crosby had assists.

The Islanders were diplomatic when asked about Beauvillier’s penalty.

“Clearly, (Kapanen) stepped on the puck,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “But they didn’t see it. They have to go with what they felt was the call. I’m not on the referees at all. They have a tough job. It’s a tough sport to call at the best of times. We can’t let those things bother us. We’ve just to play through them. They scored and it was a big goal for them. It got them a point.”

The Penguins nearly got both points late in overtime. Working on a power-play opportunity, Rakell controlled the puck in the left circle of the offensive zone and snapped a pass to the front of the crease, where Guentzel deflected the puck with his backhand. Sorokin maintained focus on the sequence and came away with a flamboyant glove save to deny a score.

“Yeah, just a good save,” Guentzel lamented. “I thought it was a great pass by (Rakell). I don’t know. … I thought I had it for sure.”

In the shootout, Guentzel, Crosby and Letang failed to convert their chances. Parise and Barzal couldn’t beat DeSmith, who made 33 saves on 37 shots in regulation and overtime as his record fell to to 8-4-5.

“He was outstanding,” Ruhwedel said of DeSmith. “I know it was a 5-4 game, but he was incredible. Some of the goals that we gave up, you can’t really blame him at all. He made some huge saves, some highlight reel saves again for us. He was huge in us getting that point.”

The Penguins will have another chance to get a full two points Thursday against the Islanders.

“We’re trying to stay positive,” Kapanen said. “We know we’re a really good team. Just haven’t been getting the results. We haven’t been playing as well as we should be. The (3-2 overtime home win against the Predators on Sunday) was a step in the right direction. Today too. A lot of good. Some bad. Just going to have to learn from that. Thankfully, we get to play these guys on Thursday.”

Notes:

• In his first game since March 11, McGinn logged 16:01 of ice time on 22 shifts. He had no shots and blocked one shot. Interestingly, despite being one of the team’s top penalty killers, he recorded only eight seconds of short-handed ice time.

• The Penguins are now 3-7 in shootouts. Their seven losses are new franchise high.

• In addition to Malkin, the Penguins scratched defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

• The last time a Parise scored a goal for the Islanders against the Penguins came during a 4-3 win for the Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. on Nov. 5, 1977. Forward J.P. Parise, Zach’s father, opened the scoring in that contest against goaltender Denis Herron.