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Passive Penguins downed by Senators, 6-2

by Tony on 11/20/09 at 10:13 AM ET
Comments (7)

Sorry the tardiness.  Had to make a quick trip to DC, was beat last night.

Speaking of beat, boy did the Penguins look like they were in a funk last night in their 6-2 loss to the Senators.  One of those games where you try to forget about it as quickly as possible, it was pretty ugly.

One of those games when the Pens made Chris Phillips look like Dany Heatley’s replacement.

Just, ugh.

Sure, they had 27 shots on goal, which is on the lower end of how many shots NHL teams normally get on a given night.  But it sure looked like they passed up about 10 more last night.  It seems that the Penguins, even in wins, are hell-bent on making the oft-painful extra pass for that one-timer, rather than simply getting the damn puck on net.  Or is it just me ?  Didn’t matter last night whether it was a 2-on-1 or 3-on-2, there were several times that with those odd-man breaks that they didn’t even get a shot on net.

But for as ugly as the game finished, it started fantastic.  Only a minute and change into the game, Pascal Dupuis made a nice feed towards the net, where Jordan Staal tipped it past Sens’ goalie Pascal Leclaire to give the Pens a quick 1-0 lead.

Later in the period, in a scene that was duplicated later in the game, the Sens did a great job of retaining possession in the Pens’ zone for over a minute.  That eventually led to a slapper from the right point by former Penguin farmhand Matt Carkner that Marc-Andre Fleury somehow couldn’t stop, tying the game at one goal apiece at 12:16.

The Sens took the lead, for good as it turned out, early in the second period on a powerplay when Daniel Alfredsson fired a wrister from the slot that Milan Michalek deflected to the top shelf past Fleury making it 2-1 Sens.

They made it 3-1 immediately after a failed Penguins powerplay (big shocker, I know) early in the third period.  Mike Fisher stole the puck at the Pens’ blueline and fed Chris Kelly, who just left the penalty box.  Kelly skated in on Fleury and fired a wrister into the net at 1:29.

A few minutes later, the Sens had yet another extended timeframe in the Pens’ zone, where Phillips eventually launched a seemingly harmless slapper from a Lemieux-like angle along the left boards that somehow hit nothing but was able to elude Fleury’s positioning, hit the post and go in the net to make it 4-1.

Phillips basically repeated himself a couple of minutes later, when he took a Filip Kuba pass and fired another wrister that eluded Fleury, making it 5-1 Sens.  To Fleury’s defense, Nate Guenin shielded him from the puck until it was too late.

It was more of the same with about seven minutes remaining after a Sergei Gonchar turnover behind the Pens’ net resulted in a Jonathan Cheechoo tap-in for a 6-1 Sens lead.

And, for the Penguins’ powerplay apologists, Evgeni Malkin was able to score on a wrister during garbage time with under three minutes left for the final score of 6-2.

Notes:
- That powerplay ?  1-for-5.  The Penguins’ powerplay is now ranked 29th in the NHL at a putrid 13.7%.
- Nothing substantial from either the Max Talbot nor Gonchar return, unless you include Talbot’s early penalty or Gonchar’s turnover for the goal.  Gonna take them some time.
- Ouch.  Deryk Engelland was a team-low -4.  But Ben Lovejoy was a +1.  Go figure.
- Sidney Crosby was awarded two giveaways, but could have had 4 of 5 easily.
- Decent night for Crosby in the faceoff circle, going 12-for-19.
- Want a good stat for a lackadaisical effort ?  Only 11 blocked shots. compared to 22 for the Sens.
- Matt Cooke and Guenin both had 5 hits to lead the Pens.
- Helluva fight between Eric Godard and Chris Neil, decision going to Godard.  One of the better fights of the early NHL season.

The Penguins continue their road trip by facing the Thrashers in Atlanta on Saturday night.

Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
 Tags: NHL-Hockey, Ottawa+Senators, Pittsburgh+Penguins,

Comments

That was ugly last night.

Soft goals given up by Fleury + Inept powerplay + overmatched d-corps + lack of intensity = bad loss.

Hopefully, they will rebound with some SE division teams coming up…

Posted by DigitalGypsy66 on 11/20/09 at 11:34 AM ET

Exactly, southeast should be good for some wins...but when are they going to get someone who can help run a powerplay?  Or atleast learn to draw something up to start…

Posted by Greg on 11/20/09 at 12:05 PM ET

Soft goals given up by Fleury + Inept powerplay + overmatched d-corps + lack of intensity = bad loss.

Are you describing the Wings or the Pens? They are playing remarkably similar this season.

Posted by pgoody on 11/20/09 at 12:09 PM ET

What are the chances the Pens fire their PP coach?

Posted by wtf on 11/20/09 at 04:46 PM ET

At this point, very tough to tell if anything will happen, they’ve stood by Yeo for this long....

That said, the frustration of the fans towards the PP is higher than it’s been for a long, long time....  So if the PP keeps sucking, the time may be finally right for a change....

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/20/09 at 04:50 PM ET

You hate to stifle Sid’s creativity, but sometimes those behind the back passes are so dangerous, and end up going to nobody in particular. Also,Geno looked a little lethargic.

As far as the PP, this is nuts .They have 2 of the top offensive players in the league, one of the best blueline quarterbacks and they’re 29th, 29th-WTF!!.
The 2 big problems are puck retrieval and motion when they’re set up in the zone.
The entry looks disorganized and hesitant. It’s like everyone is waiting for someone else to go get the puck. Then if they do get it and set up, there is no movement, it’s just Sid & Geno playing catch. No one-timers, no backdoor plays, nothing.  They should be top 5 easy. Help!!!

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/20/09 at 07:01 PM ET

I will re-state this.
I don’t think that 29th is even the problem. It’s the 13.7% that is the real embarrassment. To me it’s more important on how you’re doing than where you rank. So, as far as top 5- yeah,but more importantly they should be at least 20%. Maybe even 25%.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/20/09 at 07:10 PM ET

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Welcome to The Confluence, a Pittsburgh Penguins blog since 2006.  Originally at Blogspot, then at MVN, The Confluence has over 1000 articles reporting Penguins news as well as jumping on my soapbox to opine constructive Penguins criticism.  My posts are regularly linked by hockey websites such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Empty Netters and Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy, and I’ve done guest blogger spots on such websites as the New York Times.  I invite you to spend a little time and peruse the archives at all of the sites for some of my better work.  I am a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer, but don’t confuse me with my fellow Chief at A2Y.

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