WASHINGTON -- This could have been an opportunity for the Penguins to get back on track.
They entered Sunday's game against the Capitals having won just two of their previous eight games, and were coming off of a 6-3 loss to the heavily depleted Senators. The power play occupied the league's basement with just a 9.1 percent success rate. A usually strong penalty-kill, which had only allowed two goals all season before this weekend, allowed two to the Senators in a single period on Saturday.
Against the Capitals, the Penguins were getting back Sidney Crosby and Brian Dumoulin from the COVID-19 list after they tested positive on Nov. 3, and Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel were returning after being ineligible to play in Ottawa due to Canadian border quarantine restrictions. Mike Sullivan came out of COVID protocol too, joining his team behind the bench for the first time since he tested positive on Nov. 4.
It was the closest thing the Penguins have had to a healthy lineup all season, with just Evgeni Malkin remaining on the injured list.
And yet, the Penguins were just outplayed by the Capitals in nearly every facet of the game, ending in a 6-1 loss, their worst margin for a loss this season.
"You never want to lose back-to-back like that, in that fashion," Jake Guentzel said of the Penguins' weekend. "It definitely doesn't feel good, but it's nice when you get some guys back and hopefully we can move on from these two. ... We've got to stop the bleeding here. I think for us, we've just got to get back on track."
Sullivan spoke pregame about the coaching staff having discussions about potentially having to manage Crosby and Dumoulin's ice times, given that they both had COVID with symptoms, and didn't even get in a skate with the team before returning. Crosby's 16:57 ranked No. 2 among forwards in ice time behind Bryan Rust, and Dumoulin's 19:55 ranked third among defensemen behind Kris Letang and John Marino.
Crosby finished the game a minus-1, recorded one shot on goal, and won 42 percent of his faceoffs. Dumoulin was minus-2 and recorded one shot on goal.
Sullivan called this game "a tough one to assess" in terms of the performances of Crosby and Dumoulin, just because the team as a whole underperformed.
"Given the circumstances, these guys that got back in the lineup, I think they’re fighting hard to try to bring their best games," Sullivan said. "So it’s going to take some time I think for us to hit our stride here. Time is important for us right now. I think it’s hard to assess any individual performance. Obviously, we weren’t good enough as a team.”
Dumoulin seemed to especially struggle. He said his symptoms were mild -- a head cold, runny nose, no smell for a few days. He seemed slow on the ice, and listening to him speak after the game, he just sounded more tired than usual. He was on the ice for three goals-against -- Daniel Sprong's second-period goal, Evgeny Kuznetsov's third-period goal, and Tom Wilson's power play goal that made it 6-1. It was a turnover from Dumoulin that led to Sprong's goal:
Though Dumoulin was in a challenging spot by returning from COVID without practicing with the team first, he wasn't making excuses for his play.
"It's difficult, but the team was already in a tough spot with the back-to-back," he said of the challenge. "No matter what, if I'm in the lineup, I feel like I've got to play a little bit better. Obviously on that third goal, that's one I'd like to have back, especially late in the period. Regardless, I've just got to be better."
The power play, after already having hit the bottom of the league's rankings before this game, kept digging deeper. Sullivan spoke before the game about how even though the Penguins' haven't been scoring as of late on the power play, they were still getting good looks, and so he wasn't so concerned. Today, they weren't even getting those looks. Through two power play opportunities, they only recorded one shot on goal and allowed one goal. Martin Fehervary's short-handed goal to open the game:
"These guys are proud guys," Sullivan said of the Penguins' power play. "They care, and they want it to work. And when it doesn’t go the way you want, there’s a tendency I think sometimes to squeeze your stick a little bit to try to make the plays. We’ve had a number of moving parts on it. We’ve had new people in the lineup tonight that haven’t played a whole lot of hockey this year. So that’s the process we’re going through. It’s not an excuse. It is what it is. We’ve got to find a way to solve it."
Guentzel echoed a similar sentiment, saying that he thinks it feels like the Penguins are "fighting it a little bit and not keeping it simple" on the man advantage.
"I think we just got to get back to keeping it simple, shooting the puck," he said. "If we have a shoot-first mentality, hopefully the rebounds or tips, or you can break down coverages that way. We just need that first one to go in."
The Metropolitan Division standings are tight. The Penguins rank seventh of eight teams at 14 points, with eight points separating them from the top of the standings and two points separating them from the bottom. Nobody is clinching or being eliminated from a playoff spot in mid-November, but weekends like the one the Penguins just had with those points left on the table could be a difference-maker come April.
While the pressure dial isn't too high just yet, the Penguins know that they have to turn things around soon.
"I know it's in us," Dumoulin said. "I know we have it. We've shown it. It's something that we have to start bringing to the table and start having some better full 60 minutes. Obviously this game got away from us there. ... We just got to be better for a full 60."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Guentzel's goal at the end of the first period was the Penguins' lone goal:
• Tristan Jarry made 26 saves on 32 shots. Sullivan was asked for his thoughts on Jarry's game.
“I think it’s a hard one to assess with Tristan," he said. "When you look at the scoring chances they scored on, they were pretty high-quality. So I think it’s a really hard one to assess the goaltender after, especially 20 minutes after the game and I’m trying to digest it here. So I don’t think it would be fair to make an assessment.”
• Crosby did this to the Capitals' Fehervary, showing some tackling ability that maybe the Steelers could have used in their game:
Crosby wasn't penalized on the play, but he probably should have been. It technically fits the rule book's definition of boarding, even though I think most people typically think of boarding as always a hit from behind: "A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously."
Fehervary was asked about the play afterward.
"I don't know," he said. "I don't even know what I should talk about it. I don't even care. We'll see next game."
Crosby was visibly frustrated midway through the third period, too. He got called for cross-checking Kuznetsov, the penalty that led to Wilson's power play goal:
• Garnet Hathaway was a real pain for the Penguins all night, and led the Capitals in hits with five. He was at the center of a lot of the scuffles, like this one with Jeff Carter after a hit from Carter in the neutral zone:
• The Penguins were outhit, 27-18. Pettersson led the team in that category, with five.
• This was Letang's lowest time on ice of the season, with just 20:29. A healthy group of defensemen and a struggling Dumoulin were probably factors in that. Letang still led the team in blocked shots, with five.
• Crosby went 3-for-10 in faceoffs at five-on-five.
• Before the game, the Penguins assigned Louis Domingue, P.O Joseph, Juuso Riikola and Drew O'Connor to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Joseph, Riikola, and O'Connor were still in the press box for Sunday's game.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Capital One Arena:
1. Garnet Hathaway, Capitals
2. Conor Sheary, Capitals
3. Vitek Vanecek, Capitals
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Forward 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.
THE LINEUPS
Reirden’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Danton Heinen - Brian Boyle - Evan Rodrigues
Zach Aston-Reese - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - John Marino
Mike Matheson - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Peter Laviolette's Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Tom Wilson
Conor Sheary - Connor McMichael - Daniel Sprong
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby - Lars Eller - Garnet Hathaway
Carl Hagelin - Aliaksei Protas - Brett Leason
Martin Fehervary - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Nick Jensen
Trevor van Riemsdyk - Justin Schultz
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Monday. They'll host the Sabres at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday at 7 p.m., then practice on Wednesday before leaving for the Canadian road trip.
THE CONTENT
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