Remember back when the collective return of Sidney Crosby, then Evgeni Malkin, then the full complement of stars was supposed to eat away at the Penguins' chemistry, camaraderie, identity, intangibles, etc.?
And remember how my own stated concern was instead aimed at how all those other forwards might simply fade back into the background?
Well, the 4-3 loss to the Kings on this Sunday at PPG Paints Arena, the latest in a little three-game lull, saw a sweet Crosby goal, an equally slick Malkin setup, two other goals by Bryan Rust, an increasingly menacing power play and lots of other stuff that'd been missing while they and others were out.
It also saw next to nothing from the rest of the cast.
How important is that?
"Very important," Marcus Pettersson replied when I asked him exactly that afterward. "We can't have just one line going, two lines going. I think when we're at our best, everybody's contributing both offensively and defensively, chipping in. I think we've got to get back to that. For sure, we haven't had it these past couple of games."
He's referring, of course, to a four-day span at home that saw a shootout loss to the expansion Kraken, an overtime loss to the leaky Red Wings, and now this, the first regulation loss since, maybe not coincidentally, Jan. 13 in Los Angeles. And he's undeniably correct. Three total goals were scored on Seattle and Detroit, one by Malkin and two by Jake Guentzel.
At the same time, even in the broader, hugely successful scope -- a 17-3-2 record since Dec. 4 -- this issue's been simmering beneath the surface for a lot longer than an isolated weekend.
Behold:
• Evan Rodrigues, owner of 15 goals and one of the season's most pleasant surprises anywhere in the NHL, has none in his past 12 games. And just two assists, to boot.
• Danton Heinen, owner of nine goals, has none in his past 10 games.
• Brock McGinn, owner of 10 goals, has one in his past 10 games.
• Kasperi Kapanen, owner of nine goals, has one in his past 11 games.
• Zach Aston-Reese, owner of one goal all bleeping season, has none in his past 20 games.
• Dominik Simon, owner of two goals all season, has one in his past 36 games.
I mean, that's six forwards right there, enough to fully populate a third and fourth line. And although Heinen would be a post-warmup scratch on this day for an upper-body injury, all six had been set to don a sweater to face the Kings. All six of them.
Heck, in this game alone, Rodrigues, McGinn, Aston-Reese, Simon and Brian Boyle put together zero shots on Los Angeles goaltender Cal Petersen. Kapanen mustered one.
What's more, I'm not seeing the same in-your-face intensity from this class of citizen that'd been witnessed all the way through December. They did the defining. Even an offense-first type like Kapanen was taking care of all three zones, creating goodness by keeping his feet moving and controlling the puck. And now, they're wallpaper. All of them.
Whatever the cause -- and not scoring can have a demoralizing effect on even the most defensive forwards -- it isn't acceptable, and it sure isn't helping the cause.
I asked Mike Sullivan his view on whether he's getting all he can from his bottom six, regardless of their scoring.
"Well, it's a difficult question to answer because the makeup has changed so much," he began. "When Teddy's out of the lineup, it changes the whole dynamic of that bottom six, what each line's identity is, and so we've moved guys around a fair amount to try to gain some traction. But certainly that's an area where we're hopeful we can get some traction and get some contributions."
That's fair. Teddy Blueger's out for a couple months with a broken jaw. He's a glue guy, valuable beyond his production.
Still ...
"If we're not scoring, then we've got to bring other things to the table to try to help us have success," Sullivan continued. "We've got to check well, we have to be physical when we have opportunities, we've got to win the wall battles ... we can control territory just by making simple plays and putting our opponents under duress with a heavy forecheck. There's other ways that that I think our guys can help us have success if we're not scoring, and a lot of it boils down to those little things and just priding yourself on just playing the game the right way."
Right. And that isn't happening.
Let's see more Radim Zohorna. He laced 'em up in a raging hurry after Heinen's scratch, only to play an effective game. No points for him, either, but he was more visible than everyone else on my list up there combined.
"I thought Z played real well," Sullivan assessed. "He brought us some energy, made some plays, used his big frame to protect pucks. And I thought he I thought he was good on both sides of the puck."
Sold.
Anyone else?
I get that injuries in this class haven't helped. In addition to Blueger, Drew O'Connor's out longer-term after sustaining a collapsed lung on the recent Western trip. He'd have been a terrific plug-in right about now.
I also get that the prospect pool isn't exactly overflowing in Wilkes-Barre. Alex Nylander's got six goals and five assists in 13 games since being acquired out of the Chicago system, but he's back in the AHL at age 23 for a reason. Valtteri Puustinen's got 13 goals and a team-high 27 points, and I really liked what I saw of him in training camp, but his next shift in the NHL will be his first. And don't even bring up Sam Poulin or Nathan Legare, both recent healthy scratches.
There don't appear to be easy answers. Only hard questions for that wallpaper crew.
JUSTIN K. ALLER / GETTY
Sidney Crosby skates away from the Kings' Olli Maatta in the second period.
• Another problem, and this one's more general: Still way too much looseness on the ice.
The Kings had seven odd-man breaks, not least of which was Trevor Moore's clean breakaway for the winning goal with 6:39 left in regulation:
That's a heck of a snipe, preceded by a big-league aerial outlet from Blake Lizotte. But Sid doesn't need to be making a drop pass there any more than Malkin needed to make one in the Seattle game. The team had just battled all the way back to tie, 3-3, with two third-period goals by Rust. There was no benefit to risk-taking in regulation, especially against a Western team where the other point's irrelevant.
"We've had moments where it's been better, but it hasn't been consistent," Sullivan said.
• Moore's other goal was even prettier, emblematic of what it takes to beat Tristan Jarry these days:
Yowza!
Moore credited the Kings' calm through the Penguins' rally for clawing back.
"The bench was positive," he recalled. "It was, 'Keep going.' 'Keep doing our thing.' 'Don't change anything.' I thought that'd lead to success."
With style.
• Nice-looking blend of old and young L.A's got going, and I'm not just saying that because the Kings are 23-16-7 overall, 3-0-2 on their current trip, 2-0 against the Penguins. Rob Blake's infused his roster with badly needed fresh legs, and Todd McLellan's done an inspired job of continuing to utilize Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick in prominent roles without over-using them.
Similar, by the way, to what's happened down the road in Anaheim. Worth noting, considering the process underway right here.
• My obligatory it's-not-Geno's-fault entry:
Not a bad finish by the captain, either.
That's No. 498, by the way. Imagine how much he'd enjoy pumping 499 and 500 past Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals in the next one.
• How about that power play, though, huh?
Taylor Haase has that.
• Rust scoring once or twice or whatever is never a surprise ...
... but his maturation with the man-advantage has been one for me. Even now, when he fits so seamlessly, it takes a little extra studying to see why.
I asked him to do the lifting on this subject:
• People wonder where the cap space will come from to pay Rust and other pending unrestricted free agents.
I'd start right here: Kapanen's currently a $3.2 million annual cap hit. He's due to be a restricted free agent this summer. No chance I'm tendering him. None.
• The only thing in hockey more grotesque than a 1:08 p.m. faceoff is that L.A. helmet design, which should be banned for any and all uses aside from casting no-legged armed invaders in Monty Python flicks.
JUSTIN K. ALLER / GETTY
The Kings' Trevor Moore, left, is congratulated on his goal in the second period by Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault.
• This, too, was but a flesh wound!
Thanks for reading, as always!
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Trevor Moore, Kings
2. Bryan Rust, Penguins
3. Anze Kopitar, Kings
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Teddy Blueger, forward, has been on IR since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured jaw Jan. 24. He's expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
• Louis Domingue, goaltender, has been on IR since he was struck by a puck in the right foot at a morning skate Jan. 20. He's week-to-week.
• Drew O'Connor, forward, has been on LTIR since Jan. 15 with an upper-body injury. He's week-to-week.
• Jason Zucker, forward, has been on IR since undergoing surgery to repair a core muscle Jan. 25. He's week-to-week.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
McGinn-Malkin-Rodrigues
Zohorna-Carter-Aston-Reese
Simon-Boyle-Kapanen
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
And for Todd McLellan's Kings:
Iafallo-Kopitar-Kempe
Moore-Danault-Arvidsson
Athanasiou-Byfield-Brown
Lemieux-Lizotte-Kaliyev
Moverare-Doughty
Bjornfot-Durzi
Maatta-Strand
THE SCHEDULE
There's a practice Monday, 11 a.m., in Cranberry, then one final game before the break Tuesday, 7:08 p.m., against the visiting Capitals.
THE CONTENT
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