Sidney Crosby sat at his stall. Staring straight ahead. Speechless.
Kris Letang, clearly sensing that his captain's misery could use some company, soon scampered over next to him.
Now, I could convey here that the Penguins looked flat in falling to the Hurricanes, 4-0, Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. I could stress that they put forth only 23 shots in Curtis McElhinney's largely uneventful shutout. I could break down the couple of smallish breakdowns that contributed to Carolina's own modest offensive output.
But that, if I were betting, wouldn't describe what this team's two MVPs were mulling afterward. None of it.
Rather, it would have been stuff like this:
Not to pick on any individual -- at least not yet -- but that's Matt Cullen and the fourth line, the one that's supposed to set the model for the rest, gaining the Carolina blue line with some gusto. Cullen dishes to his left to Teddy Blueger, which is obviously fine, but Blueger blindly chips it toward the crease area, rather than behind the net where Cullen was headed or around the far boards where Garrett Wilson would have kept possession. Instead, the Hurricanes' Jaccob Slavin is handed the puck and, with teammate Greg McKegg nearby supporting him, up the wall it goes.
Too scattered. Too soft. The play heads back the wrong way.
Had all three been supporting each other, reading off each other, there could have been zone time. Or a bump or two. Or pressure on McElhinney.
Here's another:
Bryan Rust collects some steam coming into the neutral zone. He's got the planet's premier player a few feet away, and he's got Jake Guentzel way over on the opposite boards. It doesn't end well.
Too scattered. Too soft. The play heads back the wrong way.
One more, and this one makes my stomach roll:
This is Tanner Pearson in a semi-tough spot, at least to catch the pass from his backhand. Still, rather than a simple chip-and-chase, he leaves it to his right for a static Phil Kessel in hopes of ... wow, who knows?
I asked Pearson, in general, what he felt the team needed to do better on this night, and he answered: "I just think we need to put pucks in good spots where you know you're going to have support. Tonight, I felt like we were in and out of the zone pretty quick, and that's usually because we're not doing that enough."
Exactly.
I know this much: That last one is Exhibit A of how not to play hockey the right way, at least as authored by Mike Sullivan. Above all, Sullivan and his staff emphasize not being stupid at either blue line. The only thing that matters in that equation -- and this goes for Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kessel, for as wonderful a distributor as he is -- is that the play doesn't, you know, head back the wrong way.
All of this sounds familiar, I'm sure.
As did this reply when I brought it up with Sullivan afterward: "When we're at our best in the offensive zone, we stay close and support one another in the battles, on the 50/50 pucks. When there's a 50/50, there's not a lot of ice to play on. You need to stay close. You need a third stick. When you have clear possession, that's your opportunity to spread out in the zone. But when we're fighting for pucks, we've got to stay closer, and it's hard to do it with just one stick or two sticks. You need that third stick in the area."
He paused for just a moment before the finish.
"I thought our third stick was late."
End reply.
So, the same question persists: Why?
Similarly, the answer also remains the same: They need an opponent to hit them to make sure they're sharp enough to play the right way.
I've spoken with people at all levels of the Penguins, from management to coaches to players, and all concerned concur that the right signals are being sent, on and off the ice, in games and practices. All concerned are being made aware that a five-point swing in either direction of the standings puts them in first place or out of the playoff picture. All concerned recognize that, with Malkin, Justin Schultz and Zach Aston-Reese soon to return, jobs are on the line.
And yet, for as ferociously as they'll respond, as focused as they'll perform when facing the Capitals, Bruins, Blue Jackets or Jets upon being banged around a bit, that's precisely how far they'll stray when it's the Hurricanes skating in pretty perimeter circles for three hours. Because they'll see that and, subliminally or otherwise, seize the chance to do that themselves.
It's a very real collective character flaw, and not many are immune. On this night, I counted only Crosby and, of course, Patric Hornqvist among the consistently immune, though Kessel also had solid stretches in this regard.
It's got to stop. And if these players, particularly those on the fringe, can't figure it out, then replacements are very, very soon on the way.
Which brings me to ...
• Time to pick on an individual, as promised: Pearson's past nine games have seen him produce zero goals, one assist and 11 shots. In this game alone, he had zero points, zero shots, zero attempted shots, zero hits, zero takeaways, zero blocked shots and absolutely zero impact beyond being the worst offender of the acts I illustrated above. (Seriously, he's all over my cutting-room floor.)
Pearson's one of those players who, if he isn't scoring, he isn't bringing anything. And he isn't coming close to scoring. Or sustaining offense.
• I'll just spit it out: Carl Hagelin almost always made a difference, even when not scoring.
• Pearson did have a puck ricochet off his leg and into the net, but it was to Carolina's benefit, as he backed into a screen on Jordan Martinook's icebreaker late in the first. Not really anyone's fault, but definitely not Pearson's night.
• Another slumping forward, though in a far different class, is Hornqvist. He's gone seven games without a goal, and he's got one since the calendar flipped. But it tends to be an eruption when he busts out, so don't expect this one to last.
"Usually, yeah," he told me. "I hope it's coming."
• Footnote: No player suffers more when the Penguins are stupid with the puck than Hornqvist. He can't do anything at the net -- other than get drilled -- if the puck never makes it there.
• Want to see how that 'third stick' can help?
Here's the Penguins' best chance of the game, by Jared McCann, after Hornqvist and Dominik Simon had already packed tight on the forecheck:
• Deploying Crosby with two different sets of wingers, as Sullivan acknowledged doing beginning in the second period to try to get the Penguins going, was intriguing only from the standpoint that it got Crosby and Horqnvist back together, albeit with Simon. Just go all the way now, and hook up Guentzel, Crosby and Hornqvist, and let everyone else fall wherever.
• Lopsided as the final was, the Hurricanes were held to four total high-danger scoring chances all night. Their first two goals were long-range flicks through traffic, the third was an empty-netter and the fourth was a meaningless break with 42 seconds left by Andrei Svechnikov. The defending was there, and Matt Murray's goaltending was ... eh, not really a factor. He could have fought a little harder to find the second goal, by Brett Pesce.
• The Hurricanes' defensemen are as aggressive at the blue line as any in the NHL, which is why Sullivan urged his team before the game to slip the puck behind them and then support it. That the Penguins didn't follow through shouldn't take away from how well Carolina performed in this facet, as Rod Brind'Amour acknowledged, particularly as it related to shutting out Crosby: "Our D really gapped up on him. You didn't see Sidney get wound up too many times."
• Sebastian Aho maintains his amazing speed as well as any forward anywhere. If he were a defenseman, he'd be Letang. Just never looks like he needs to take a deep breath. Kid's a legit rising star.
• For better or worse, the Penguins' next opponent, the Panthers, plays much the same way. So they can either keep staying scattered and soft against a non-physical opponent and lose for the seventh time in 10 games, or they can make the most of this latest lesson.
• Matt Sunday and I are flying down to cover the two-game Florida trip.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Hurricanes, PPG Paints Arena, Feb. 5, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS