COLUMBUS, Ohio -- “I just don’t think we played well enough tonight,” Mike Sullivan said of the Penguins' performance after a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday night.
“It’s as simple as that.”
The Penguins got off to one of their worst -- if not the worst -- starts of the season in the first period here, and it's a miracle the game was 1-1 after 20 minutes. Sullivan was asked if he had an explanation for why the start was so poor.
"Nope."
The numbers out of the first period were staggering. The Blue Jackets outshot the Penguins, 13-3. The Blue Jackets attempted 22 shots to the Penguins' four. Of the attempts, the Blue Jackets had 13 legitimate scoring chances, the Penguins two. That's because the Penguins weren't able to get a single shot off in close, while the Blue Jackets were able to attempt six.
And yet, Tristan Jarry was able to keep the Penguins in it in the first period. The Blue Jackets' only goal was an Oliver Bjorkstrand shot that deflected in off of Gustav Nyquist. There's not much Jarry could have done on this one:
The Penguins tied the game late in the first. Dominik Simon, bumped to the top line after Bryan Rust was injured in the morning skate, chipped the puck out of the zone to Evgeni Malkin, who flipped the puck over Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski to Jake Guentzel. Guentzel waited out Joonas Korpisalo then slid the puck five-hole:
"We didn't play hard enough, we didn't play smart enough," Sullivan said of his team's start. "It's hard to win when you get outplayed the way we did early in the game. Having said that, we survived it, 1-1."
The Penguins looked much stronger in the second period, but a couple of soft goals put them in a hole they weren't able to get out of.
"It's 1-1 after the first, then we give them some easy goals," Patric Hornqvist said. "They probably deserved that in the first period, but it was 1-1 after."
The first goal of the second period was the most boneheaded. Malkin, who led the team with two giveaways, tried to drop the puck back to Brian Dumoulin but instead left it right in the lap of Nick Foligno, who finished just 26 seconds into the middle frame:
The Penguins' penalty-kill, which went 2-for-4, allowed its first goal of the game 2:26 later with this backhander from Nyquist:
Another Columbus power play allowed Foligno to get his second. Jack Johnson blocked the initial shot but lost the puck in his skates, and Foligno was just able to sweep the loose puck into the net:
Kris Letang scored a one-timer off of a feed from Guentzel at 5:20 of the final frame to cut the Blue Jackets' lead to two, and the Penguins were able to rack up a total of 18 legitimate third-period scoring chances to the Blue Jackets' three. But there would be no rally, and Nyquist outraced Letang in the final minute to complete the hat trick with an empty-netter.
"It's tough to come back every single game," Hornqvist said. "We had to give them credit, but we have to be better as a team. We have to find a way to play better, even when we don't have our best game. We have to stick with it."
• Brandon Tanev left the game in the second period after being punched in the face by Pierre-Luc Dubois in a scrum, and skated off the ice with a significant amount of blood coming from his nose. He returned for the third with a full face shield, and Sullivan later said his absence was part of concussion protocol.
• The Penguins managed to outshoot the Blue Jackets 31-30, a miracle in and of itself given how the first period went.
• The Marcus Pettersson - Zach Trotman pairing was awful, although with Juuso Riikola playing forward it's not like there was a much better option for that third pairing. Trotman's play has been surprising, because he looked so strong in all types of game situations for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton prior to his callup.
• The top line as a whole were really the ones leading the way in the latter two periods, and had the majority of the team's chances in the rally attempt. They were on the ice for 16 shot attempts, seven of which were Guentzel's. Of their 13 unblocked attempts, only one didn't make it to the net for a shot on goal, a wide shot from Simon.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Nick Bjugstad last played on Nov. 15. He underwent core muscle surgery and will be out at least eight weeks.
• Sidney Crosby last played on Nov. 9. He underwent core muscle surgery and is expected to be out a minimum of six weeks.
• Justin Schultz left practice early on Nov. 21. He's expected to be out "longer-term," per Sullivan, with an unspecified lower-body injury.
• Bryan Rust sustained a lower-body injury in Friday's morning skate and was seen wearing a boot and using crutches.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel -- Evgeni Malkin -- Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun -- Jared McCann -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Alex Galchenyuk -- Sam Lafferty -- Juuso Riikola
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Jack Johnson -- John Marino
Marcus Pettersson -- Zach Trotman
And for John Tortorella's Blue Jackets:
Sonny Milano -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Josh Anderson
Gustav Nyquist -- Boone Jenner -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Nick Foligno -- Alexander Wennberg -- Cam Atkinson
Alexandre Texier -- Riley Nash -- Emil Bemstrom
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Ryan Murray -- David Savard
Vladislav Gavrikov -- Dean Kukan
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will head to St. Louis for Saturday's 8 p.m. game against the Stanley Cup champions. No surprises here, but they cancelled Saturday's morning skate, as did the Blues. Dave Molinari will be at the game for us. The Penguins then have a scheduled day off on Sunday.
THE COVERAGE
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