Kovacevic: Rehabbing team defense remains (painful) work in progress

Missing shots, missing assignments, missing Jared McCann and a mess of other misfires, most of them late, put the Penguins into position to get cut back to size by the Kraken, 2-1 in overtime, Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena.

As Brian Boyle bluntly phrased it afterward, "That's a point that we gave away."

Yep. Missed opportunity, too. Could've moved to the top of the Metro, first time all year, instead of this:

DKPS

Could've continued that winning streak, as well, now closed at six.

Oh, well.

From this press box perspective, though, if I'm matching Boyle's bluntness, I ... um ... well, I kinda liked it.

(Ducks for cover, only to re-emerge and see that no one's still reading.)

No, really, I try not to over-complicate this stuff: When the Penguins are performing -- not necessarily winning but performing -- as they did through three months of this NHL season, they're nothing less than a Stanley Cup contender. And when the Penguins are performing ... the way they did in the third period of this game, then it doesn't matter if pull one out in the end or prevail in any other way. Because all they'll find at the end of that path is another first-round bye-bye, followed by all the usual bluster about blowing it all up and rebuilding.

Enough of that. All of it.

This team should have one priority between now and April's end, and it's already been pinpointed by Mike Sullivan: Get back to defending. Hard. Right in people's faces.

There's no winning streak, no broader run of success like the ongoing 17-2-1, no rise in the standings that'll alter or mask that reality. There can't be. This isn't 2016 or 2017, and it sure isn't 2009. The Core's still capable of incredible feats in isolation, as we've witnessed of late, but the crux of any serious contention's going to have to be rooted in precisely the style that was being employed at the season's outset and beyond. In Tampa. In Toronto. In Las Vegas. And several others right here at home ice.

The formula's in place, and it's past time to have it embraced anew.

Which is why, again, I kinda liked this. And the 6-3 victory over the Coyotes that preceded it. And to an extent, the 3-2 victory over the Jets that preceded that.

Through two periods on this night, the Penguins commanded possession toward a 20-9 edge in shots -- only two Seattle shots in the second! -- and 38-30 in shot attempts. That's not splashy, it wasn't at all entertaining, and it was met by all the exterior urgency one would expect from a crowd watching an expansion opponent, but it was the right approach with near-pristine execution.

And then ...

"They poured it on," Chad Ruhwedel lamented.

Just a little. The Kraken flipped the script in the third toward an 18-4 edge in shots, including three clean breaks on Tristan Jarry.

So even once Evgeni Malkin capped a prodigious power play with this blazer by Philipp Grubauer's glove at 8:41 ...

... it couldn't have been clearer this was far from over. But just in case further clarification was needed, the Penguins suddenly began to wing it and fling it, meaning their responsibilities and the puck, in that order, and soon paid the price.

An ill-advised Malkin drop pass inside the Seattle blue line intended for Kris Letang but poked by McCann, who turned that into a two-on-one that nearly resulted in nemesis-in-any-sweater Jordan Eberle beating Jarry:

The ensuing faceoff, inside the Pittsburgh right circle, saw McCann lined up across from Jeff Carter. 

"We're gonna get one," McCann recalled of his feeling in the moment. "That's what I thought going out to the draw there. We're just ... we're gonna get one ... we're due."

The Kraken did, but it took more than a premonition to play out:

McCann cleaned Carter and, since he's a lefty in the right circle, he really couldn't have had much of a target other than to hope for help from Marcus Johansson getting it back to the right point for Vince Dunn. Which is exactly how it played out.

To boot, although any center losing a defensive-zone faceoff is supposed to tail and cover his counterpart from there, Carter stuck with McCann only briefly before releasing him. And once McCann stubbornly gained stick position on Marcus Pettersson, he deftly redirected Dunn's flick behind Jarry.

"Dunner's just a great, great defenseman," McCann observed. "Makes plays, right? I know he's going to get it to the net, and so I just tried to get open and try to get a stick on it."

 We got to be ready for that. And I thought we had a really good effort first two periods, thought we could have done a better job closing it out for sure. Big power play goal for us. Yeah, then we just kind of got on our heels. We should've kept going at them."

Three-on-three, as ever, is a crapshoot, and Adam Larsson's finish at 1:17 was Seattle's first in overtime:

To which I say, for the most part ... whatever. There's bound to be a bummer within the scope of 20 predominantly positive outcomes. This was it. In terms of outcomes and, of course, in terms of this rancid third period.

That wasn't lost on the participants.

"I thought we had a really good effort first two periods, but I thought we could've done a better job closing it out, for sure," Ruhwedel replied to my question on the subject. "Big power-play goal for us and, yeah, we just kind of got on our heels. We should've kept going at them."

"I thought the first two periods, we were fine," Sullivan replied when I brought up the same with him. "I thought we could've had a little bit more net traffic, and we could've put the puck on net more than we did. But as far as how we were playing the game, I thought we were playing the right way."

At which point his eyes widened.

"I thought in the third period, we beat ourselves. We turned into a high-risk hockey team. And a lot of the chances we gave them off the rush were a result of us not making the right decisions with the puck. And it's hard to win consistently, when you play a high-risk game."

There's another shot Friday night against the Red Wings, fresh off coughing up eight goals to the Blackhawks on Wednesday night, plus nine goals in their previous two games. And if I'm right that the Penguins have made baby-steps progress toward tightening up over the past week, they'll take care of business against Detroit in a diligent, if occasionally dull, manner. If I'm wrong, then, again, no outcome will outweigh that.

"We've been playing some risky hockey here for a while and been coming out on top, you know, for the majority of the games," Carter would say. "There's been a lot of talk within our group about cleaning our game up and playing the right way and managing the puck. And I think, maybe tonight it caught up to us a little bit. So, get back at it tomorrow and get to work."

Simple as that.

JEANINE LEECH / GETTY

Evgeni Malkin celebrates his power-play goal in the third period.

• Malkin's drop pass was, as stressed above, ill-advised. But it took social media mere seconds to turn McCann's tying goal into no one's fault except Malkin's. Which is beyond unfair.

For one, Malkin was seated on the bench when Carter lost the ensuing faceoff, then lost his tracking on McCann.

For another, the Penguins partook in 18 defensive-zone faceoffs on this night. This was just another, and it's one that could've been defended infinitely better than it was.

Seriously.

• The goaltender interference penalty assessed to Johansson, which led to Malkin's power-play goal, was right out of the phantom zone. Never happened.

• Regardless, the power play itself that led to the goal was a marvel. Rhythmic movement of both the pucks and passing targets, a systematic closing on the Seattle box and multiple passes penetrating until the last found Malkin. Small wonder that's six PPGs now in as many games. Richly encouraging.

• How about, rather than riding the only guy who scored, it's remembered that Evan Rodrigues now has gone 10 games without a goal?

And that Danton Heinen has gone nine games without one?

And that Zach Aston-Reese has gone 18 games since the only one he's scored all flipping season?

This team's far too deep up front to be suiting up passengers. Radim Zohorna's sitting up in the press box with us. Maybe he'd be better off dressing for the Detroit game. 

• Jarry was excellent. Again. Taylor Haase has that.

But sorry, man, Casey DeSmith's got to face the Red Wings. And if DeSmith can't be trusted to the extreme that he wouldn't play in this circumstance, it's time to summon someone, anyone else from Wilkes-Barre.

• This was McCann's response when Seattle reporters asked if he'd maybe enjoyed this evening more than most: "I'm very thankful for this organization for giving me a chance to play and they brought my career back to life, I'd say. I'm very thankful for them."

That was it.

And yet, minutes earlier in the visiting locker room:

• Sidney Crosby's three remaining full years on his contract are being viewed by management as the window. Find out why in my Point Park University Friday Insider that just went up.

• Read what P.O Joseph has to say on racism in hockey. He and others could duck this issue. He seizes it. Speaks volumes about him.

• Not at all Pittsburgh-related, but, seeing that report above, there's no longer anything the NHL won't do to force-feed hockey to the Phoenix metro area. Meanwhile, a gorgeous new 19,000-seat arena's sitting in Quebec City with fans who'd give anything to have their beloved Nordiques back in any form.

I get the growth thing, but it's been 25 years that this beautiful sport's been buried in the desert. Take the L. Go where it's loved. Everyone wins.

• Thanks for reading, as always!

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Adam Larsson, Kraken
2. Jared McCann, Kraken
3. Evgeni Malkin, Penguins

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• Forward Drew O'Connor was put on LTIR retroactive to Jan. 15. He's week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Frank Seravalli reported Thursday that it's a collapsed lung, which Sullivan declined to confirm after this game.

• Forward Jason Zucker underwent surgery to repair a core muscle Jan. 25 and is week-to-week.

• Goaltender Louis Domingue was put on IR after he was struck in the right foot by a puck in last Thursday's morning skate. He is considered week-to-week and is using a scooter and wearing a boot.

• Forward Teddy Blueger underwent surgery to repair a fractured jaw Jan. 24 and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Heinen-Malkin-Kapanen
McGinn-Carter-Rodrigues
Aston-Reese-Boyle-Simon

Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel

And for Dave Hakstol's Kraken:

Johansson-McCann-Eberle
Jarnkrok-Gourde-Appleton
Donato-Wennberg-Donskoi
Kuhlman-Sheahan-Blackwell

Giordano-Larsson
Dunn-Borgen
Fleury-Lauzon

THE SCHEDULE

Faceoff with the Red Wings is at 7:08 p.m. No morning skate. Sullivan will meet with reporters at 5 p.m. Taylor and Dave Molinari will cover.

THE CONTENT

Visit our team page for everything.