UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The officiating in this first-round series between the Penguins and Islanders has been pretty bad thus far.
But that doesn't mean that the Penguins are off the hook.
The Penguins were penalized eight times in the 3-1 loss, giving the Islanders six power play opportunities.
Now, the Islanders' power play wasn't the most threatening in the regular season. They finished 29th in the league at just 14.5 percent. But still, the Penguins can't be handing them that many opportunities in the playoffs.
Kicking off the penalty box parade was Evgeni Malkin in the first period with an old classic -- a stick infraction in the offensive zone:
That's not a bad case of officiating, that's as blatant of a hook as you're going to see.
Then, in less than a minute after Malkin was released from the box ... he took another stick infraction. The Islanders were clearly targeting Malkin leading up to that point. Malkin took the bait and was sent right back to the box:
It didn't cost the Penguins, as third-liner Leo Komarov was called for a roughing minor, but it caused the Penguins to be without Malkin's services for two minutes. Komarov is not an even trade. Malkin has to be smarter than that.
Jack Johnson followed in the parade to the box with a high stick on Tom Kuhnhackl. Nine seconds after he was released, he was called for interference on Adam Pelech.
The Penguins didn't tighten up in the second period, either, even after it was clear that the officials had their whistles out for this one. Sidney Crosby was called for hooking 3:25 in, and Erik Gudbranson was called for high-sticking.
The costliest penalty of all came in the third period. Trailing 2-1, Patric Hornqvist tripped Nick Leddy, and the Islanders were finally able to crack the Penguins' penalty kill. Josh Bailey scored his second of the series to put the game out of reach:
"I think that last (power play goal) kind of sat on a tee for them," Gudbranson said. "It kind of got caught in the blender and spat out right perfectly for them. I thought we did a pretty good job on the kill. The best way to kill penalties is not take any. You give a team like that that many opportunities, especially in the playoffs, they're going to make you pay at some point."
Although the Penguins only had to "pay" on the scoresheet just once for their infractions, the lack of discipline impacted the entire game.
"It's tough when you're in the penalty box that much," said Mike Sullivan. "It takes some guys out of the game, overtaxing others, it's hard to get into a flow. It certainly was a challenge."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. Jordan Eberle
Islanders right winger
The game-winner, plus an assist on the Islanders' first goal.
2. Mat Barzal
Islanders center
The guy was flying, and he picked up two primary assists.
3. Josh Bailey
Islanders left winger
A third-period power-play goal to put the game away.
THE GOOD
Gudbranson's status was questioned prior to Game 2, given the nasty injury he appeared to suffer to his ankle in the third period of Game 1.
His ankle definitely didn't show any signs of wear in this one.
10:36 into the second period, Gudbranson broke a scoreless tie to give the Penguins their first lead of the series. It was Gudbranson's first playoff goal of his career:
"I just shot the puck," Gudbranson said of his goal. "We had net-front traffic, and it went in."
In addition to the goal, Gudbranson blocked one shot on a penalty kill. He didn't record a single hit, despite Sullivan saying that more physicality was a goal for this game. But when he scores the only goal of the game for the Penguins, he still gets to be 'The Good'.
THE BAD
Anyone see the top line lately? Crosby? Bueller? Bueller?
Through the first two games, the trio of Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Bryan Rust hasn't recorded a single point. They haven't been taking many shots, either -- just three from Crosby, three from Guentzel, and two from Rust through two games.
They've been weak defensively -- they've had a combined 11 giveaways -- six from Crosby alone. The three have been on the ice together for two goals against. They've been on the ice for a combined 15 shot attempts for, and 24 against, for a Corsi For percentage of 38.46.
Crosby has even struggled in the faceoff circle, recording a 41.7 percent success rate in Game 1 and a 38.1 percent success rate in Game 2.
That's awful, especially considering how impactful the Islanders' top line has been in the series.
Sullivan isn't disappointed in the performance of his stars, though.
"I'm not disappointed in those guys," said Sullivan. "They're too good, they're too important for our team. I would never be disappointed in those guys. I know how hard they compete, how much they care."
Game 2 showed some improvement for the line, however.
There's a metric called a "scoring chance", which is meant to weed out all the weak shot attempts from the Corsi For numbers, and only count the ones that actually pose a chance. A scoring chance is defined as unblocked rebound and rush attempts in the low-danger zone, all unblocked shots in the medium-danger zone, and any high-danger attempt.
In Game 1, the line was on the ice for just one scoring chance during five-on-five, and 13 against, a rate of 51.35 percent lower than their teammates when the top line was not on the ice. In Game 2, the line was on the ice for six scoring chances for and two against. Obviously the goal is for those chances to actually find the back of the net, but it was at least encouraging that the line was able to produce stronger chances. Now, it's just a matter of finishing them.
"I think we've just got to execute a little better," said Crosby. "But we generated some good chances. We've just got to make sure that we take advantage of the ones we get. That's going to be the difference in games."
THE OTHER SIDE
The crowd of 13,900 packed into the undersized Nassau Coliseum was again one of the stars of the game. The acoustics of that arena absolutely help to amplify the crowd noise, but the crowd still has to stay involved all game, and they did.
"They were good, they were good. They get an A-plus from me today," Barry Trotz said of the fans after the game, as cheers from fans exiting the building could still be heard from inside of the media room. "They were outstanding. Keep it up, I can hear you right now. The building is shaking over there. Fantastic. That's what playoffs are about."
Trotz knows the series is far from over, despite his team carrying a 2-0 series lead into Game 3. Just last season, Trotz's Capitals rallied from a 2-0 series deficit against the Blue Jackets to advance to the second round.
"We won a couple of games here, but you have to win four," Trotz said. "I was in a situation last year where we lost the first two and we ended up winning. You can't take anything for granted. We won a game today, which is great for us. We've got to go to Pittsburgh and just concentrate on that first game and go from there."
THE DATA
• Phil Kessel led the Penguins with seven shots.
• Kris Letang had five giveaways.
• Cal Clutterbuck led all players in hits, with eight. He was everywhere.
• Matt Cullen has the best faceoff win percentage of any Penguin through two games, at 59.09 percent.
• The Penguins only recorded two shots through 3:05 of power-play time.
THE INJURIES
• Chad Ruhwedel, defenseman, missed his 21st game with an upper-body injury. He rejoined the team during Friday's morning skate.
• Jared McCann, forward, missed his first game with an upper-body injury and is considered to be day-to-day.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Guentzel — Crosby — Rust
Aston-Reese — Malkin — Hornqvist
Simon — Bjugstad — Kessel
Blueger — Cullen — Wilson
Dumoulin — Letang
Johnson — Schultz
Pettersson — Gudbranson
And for Trotz’s Islanders:
Lee — Barzal — Eberle
Bailey — Nelson — Kuhnhackl
Beauvillier — Filppula — Komarov
Martin — Cizikas — Clutterbuck
Leddy — Boychuk
Pelech — Pulock
Mayfield — Toews
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice in Cranberry on Saturday at 1 p.m. Bradford will take that one, as the rest of us will be making the drive back from Long Island. Game 3 will be on Sunday at noon. The full schedule for the first round can be found here.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our team page for everything.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins at Islanders, Game 2, Uniondale, N.Y., April 12, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS