Penguins’ power play falters yet again in 4th consecutive loss
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No story has dominated the Penguins’ 2023-24 season quite like their power play.
Mainly because it has largely been dominated by opposing penalty-killing squads through the first two months of the campaign.
Things have been particularly stagnant in recent weeks as the Penguins entered Friday with a franchise-record 12-game streak in which they’ve failed to score a power-play goal.
That clot remained in place for a 13th contest Friday as the Penguins were 0 for 3 with the power play in a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. The result extended a losing streak to four games (0-2-2), a season-worst.
“If we stick with it … I think we’re going to come away with better results moving forward,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said of the power play after practice Sunday in Cranberry. “We just have to do that. We can’t get antsy if we don’t score. If we get to 20%, that’s a pretty good power play. That’s one goal in every five (chances).”
After a scoreless first period, former Panthers forward Reilly Smith broke the ice with his seventh goal at 8 minutes, 5 seconds of the second period.
From his own right corner, Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson corralled a dump-in by the Panthers and rimmed the puck along the end boards to the opposite corner, where Penguins rookie forward Valtteri Puustinen fed its momentum by pushing it up the near wall. Forward Evgeni Malkin claimed the puck on the offensive blue line and entered the Panthers’ zone on the right wing.
Fending off Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, Malkin pulled up on the half-wall and snapped a pass to the slot for Smith. With Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe late on a backcheck, Smith tucked a slick backhander through Sergei Bobrovsky’s legs to break a 15-game streak without a goal. Malkin and Puustinen had assists.
The hosts tied the score at 17:04 of the second frame via defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s seventh goal.
As a power-play opportunity expired for the Panthers, former Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues claimed a puck behind the Penguins’ net and fed a pass to the left circle for Verhaeghe, who ripped a wrister that was blocked by Penguins rookie defenseman John Ludvig. Verhaeghe gathered the rebound and shot another wrister that was rejected by goaltender Tristan Jarry.
On the ensuing goalmouth scramble, Panthers forward Anton Lundell was denied by Jarry on two shots. Another rebound slid loose in the right quadrant of the crease. An alert Ekman-Larsson slipped in from the right circle and backhand stabbed the puck into the cage. Lundell and Verhaeghe tallied assists.
Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen’s third goal supplied his team with its first lead of the contest, 2-1, at 6:10 of the third period.
After Lundell won a faceoff against Penguins forward Lars Eller in the Penguins’ right circle, Rodrigues ripped a wrister from the near wall that Jarry fought off. On the ensuing rebound, Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen darted between Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and forward Jeff Carter, then jabbed a forehand shot by Jarry’s right skate. Assists went to Rodrigues and Lundell.
Victory was secured at 19:33 of the final frame when Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov scored his ninth goal on an empty net. Forward Sam Reinhart had the only assist.
Jarry’s record fell to 8-10-2 after he made 30 saves on 32 shots.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said to the Associated Press in Sunrise. “You’ve got to do that every night. Doesn’t guarantee anything. But we gave ourselves a chance, and we’ll try to keep getting better here.”
Bobrovsky made 26 saves on 27 shots, boosting his record to 13-6-1. He made 10 saves during the second period.
“Tonight, Sergei had to be the difference in the second period,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said to Bobrovsky. “Because that game is over and there is no coming back if he isn’t as good as he was.”
Notes:
• Puustinen as well as Penguins forwards Jonathan Gruden and Marc Johnstone all made their season debuts after being recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Friday morning.
• The 27-year-old Johnstone made his NHL debut. He logged 6:52 of ice time on nine shifts, including 1:10 on the penalty kill, and blocked two shots.
• Johnstone became the 27th player to wear No. 9 in a game of consequence for the Penguins. His predecessors:
Andy Bathgate, Charlie Burns, Billy Hicke, Al McDonough, Chuck Arnason, Simon Nolet, Blair Chapman, Mark Johnson, Stan Jonathan, Rich Sutter, Ron Flockhart, John Chabot, Wilf Paiement, Andrew McBain, Tony Tanti, Ron Francis, Len Barrie, Dan Quinn, Greg Johnson, German Titov, Rene Corbet, Jeff Toms, Rico Fata, Andy Hilbert, Pascal Dupuis, Evan Rodrigues
• Johnstone (Cranford, N.J.) became the second native of the Garden State to play for the Penguins. Current forward Drew O’Connor (Wayne, N.J.) was the first.
• Johnstone became the second product of Sacred Heart University to play in an NHL game. Columbus Blue Jackets forward Justin Danforth was the first.
• While Johnstone made his NHL debut, he is not considered a rookie by NHL rules. Per the league’s criteria, any player who has turned 26 by Sept. 15 of his first season is not eligible to be classified to qualify as a rookie. The same factors have come into play for defenseman Ryan Shea (26), who also made his NHL debut this season.
This is colloquially known as the “Makarov Rule,” which came into existence after Calgary Flames forward Sergei Makarov won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie at the age of 32 in 1990.
Per Penguins historian Bob Grove, this marks the fourth season in franchise history in which the Penguins had more than one player make his NHL debut at age 26 or older:
1967-68 – Les Binkley (33), George Konik (30), Ted Landon (28), Dick Mattiussi (29), Bob Rivard (28)
1987-88 – Jock Callander (26) Pat Mayer (26)
2000-01 – Johan Hedberg (27), Roman Simicek (28), Billy Tibbetts (26)
(It should be noted the 1967-68 season was the inaugural season for the Penguins and five other franchises. So much of the NHL was stocked with veterans who had predominantly played in the minor leagues up until that point of their careers.)
• Penguins forward Bryan Rust was scratched due to an undisclosed injury he suffered in a 3-1 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
• Penguins defenseman Dmitri Samorukov and forward Radim Zohorna were healthy scratches.