The Penguins recorded 45 shots on goal.
They could have recorded twice as many, and it still wouldn't have been enough.
Jacob Markstrom -- the Flames' 6-foot-6, 206-pound Swedish netminder -- wouldn't allow them to finish on those opportunities, stopping all 45 shots to hand the Penguins a 4-0 loss, their second in regulation this season and second in a row.
The Penguins outmatched the Flames in any major offensive statistic. At both five-on-five and in all situations -- shots on goal, shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, scoring chances, expected goals -- the Penguins were the better team.
The difference was Markstrom.
While Markstrom's size is one of the first things you notice about him watching him play, that wasn't really what made him so unbeatable in this game. It was more so his agility and ability to quickly move around his net despite his size:
"He's obviously really big," Mike Matheson said of Markstrom. "You know, the knock on big goalies is sometimes they don't move too well. And he was great tonight, there were a lot of plays where we were able to get him going east-west, side-to-side and open him up hopefully, and he did a great job of closing down the angle and making some big saves."
Some of those big saves went beyond just Markstrom being positionally sound and cutting down angles. He made a number of highlight-reel saves, seemingly determined to claim multiple spots on SportsCenter's Top 10 list for the night. This robbery of Drew O'Connor would rank the highest:
"He was really good tonight, you have to give him credit," Mike Sullivan said of Markstrom. "He made a lot of big saves. We had a number of high-quality chances throughout the course of the game that we couldn't convert."
Markstrom wasn't the only thing that went wrong for the Penguins in this game. Matheson credited the Flames for clogging up the neutral zone, preventing the Penguins from using their speed, and forcing them to dump the puck often.
But any time the Penguins were able to get through the structured Flames and into the offensive zone, Markstrom was there to stop them.
"Their goalie definitely made a huge difference in the game," Matheson said. "There were a lot of chances that we got that would have made the game a lot different. You know, there were a few that could have made it 1-1. There were a few that could have made 2-1. So that's a totally different game. I think it got away from us a little bit."
"I thought we had chances," Jake Guentzel said. "I thought we had looks. It's just one of those nights where hockey's a funny game and it doesn't go in sometimes."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Penguins got off to a slow start, getting outshot 8-1 at the time of Johnny Gaudreau's opening goal at the 7:22 mark of the first period. For the rest of that period and much of the second period, the Penguins were getting shots and shot attempts at a higher rate than the Flames were.
• The Penguins' best opportunity to get into this game came in the 12th minute of the first period. The Penguins got a power play opportunity after Blake Coleman high-sticked O'Connor. Just 18 seconds into the power play, Jason Zucker took a pretty hard high-stick from Erik Gudbranson while filling the net-front role on the power play. Gudbranson got hit with a double minor, giving the Penguins a lengthy 1:41 five-on-three opportunity, followed by a regular five-on-four power play. The Penguins had some chances on their seven shots on goal on the man advantage, but nothing to show on the scoreboard after the opportunity.
"Obviously, we'd like to score there," Sullivan said. "I think, potentially it could be the difference in the game if we do. When you get a five-on-three for that extended period of time, you know, you hope you score a goal. I thought the guys, they had a significant amount of looks, they had five or six scoring chances. A couple of really good ones that didn't go in the net for us. But obviously, we'd like to score there."
• DeSmith can't be faulted for the loss, but he still didn't have that great of a game. He was solid in net when he was tested early after the Penguins had a slow start, and made 31 saves on 35 shots.
"I thought he made some saves, he made some high quality saves in the first couple of periods that kept us in the game," Sullivan said after.
The Flames ran away with the game in the first 12 minutes of the third period, with goals from Coleman, Dillon Dube, and Milan Lucic.
DeSmith's only other start this season was in Florida against the Panthers in the season-opening road trip. He was tested in that game, and stopped 34 of 39 shots he faced. Including games last season, DeSmith has now allowed at least four goals in six of his last eight appearances.
• Speaking of DeSmith, he was wearing last season's mask, not the one Blueger designed for him. Wednesday's practice was the first time he wore the new mask, so I assume he's still breaking it in.
• Other than starting DeSmith in net, the only other lineup change for the Penguins was bumping Danton Heinen up to first-line right wing and shifting Kasperi Kapanen from that spot to Heinen's old spot on the second-line right wing. Both players were among those tied for the team-lead in shots on goal in the game, with four shots each. Kapanen led in shot attempts, with nine.
• The Penguins were outhit, 32-24. Zach Aston-Reese led the Penguins in hits with four.
• O'Connor has struggled in faceoffs since being moved to second-line center three games ago, his first experience at center at the NHL level. He won 22.2 percent of draws against Toronto, and then 20 percent against Tampa. In Thursday's optional morning skate, he used that time to get some extra faceoff work in with assistant coach Mike Vellucci. It must have helped, because he won 60 percent of his faceoffs Thursday, the first time he's won more than he's lost in a game as a center.
• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton legend and current Bruins scout Dennis Bonvie was in the press box, as was Kraken assistant general manager Jason Botterill.
• Attendance was the highest it's been since the shutout streak ended, with 17,743 tickets sold, which is 96.5 percent capacity.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Jacob Markstrom, Flames
2. Johnny Gaudreau, Flames
3. Blake Coleman, Flames
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Sidney Crosby is still recovering from offseason wrist surgery, and no target date has been set for his return. He's resumed practicing with the team, and sounds likely to play on Saturday.
• Evgeni Malkin is expected to miss the first two months of the season while recovering from his knee surgery. He has been skating with Ty Hennes.
• Bryan Rust was injured in the Penguins' second game of the season and is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He has resumed skating with Hennes.
• Jeff Carter tested positive for COVID-19 and remains in COVID protocol. He could potentially return to practice on Friday.
• Kris Letang tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday and is in COVID protocol. He is symptomatic.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Evan Rodrigues - Danton Heinen
Jason Zucker - Drew O'Connor - Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Sam Lafferty - Brian Boyle - Dominik Simon
Brian Dumoulin - John Marino
Marcus Pettersson - Chad Ruhwedel
Mike Matheson - Mark Friedman
And for Darryl Sutter's Flames:
Johnny Gaudreau - Elias Lindholm - Matthew Tkachuk
Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Tyler Pitlick
Milan Lucic - Sean Monahan - Trevor Lewis
Andrew Mangiapane - Dillon Dube - Brett Ritchie
Chris Tanev - Rasmus Andersson
Oliver Kylington - Michael Stone
Juuso Valimaki - Erik Gudbranson
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice in Cranberry at noon Friday in preparation for Saturday's game against the Devils at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
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