Kovacevic: Six more weeks of ... serious polish ahead for Penguins

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For all the room he had to shoot, Alex Tuch might've felt like he'd just waltzed up to Western New York's nearest harbor and taken aim at the entirety of Lake Erie.

OK, so that's not fair.

It was actually more akin to Lake Superior ... if it were emptied into the Atlantic Ocean:

Sorry not sorry, as the cool kids say.

Casey DeSmith, one of the NHL's smallest goaltenders and yet seemingly always set on making himself that much smaller, just kept shrinking and shrinking with every stride Tuch took on the evening's decisive shootout attempt. And once he arrived, he could basically spin any letter on the board without having to buy a vowel.

At which point the KeyBank Center scoreboard would climactically click to Sabres 4, Penguins 3 on this Wednesday night.

It's embarrassing, I suppose, to an extent. But it might've been, more than anything, educational.

See, DeSmith didn't lose this game. With the way the visitors performed pretty much across the board, it'd be impossible to single out anyone atop any such list. But neither did he contribute to a victory, as has become his norm this season -- he's 6-4-4 on a team that's 39-16-10, which ain't easy to achieve -- and, as such, he could easily be part of that education I'm describing.

Not for this game. The game was a dud. It happens. And it's doubly likely to happen on the second of back-to-back nights against an opponent that hadn't laced 'em up since Sunday.

"I don’t think we had our best,” Mike Sullivan would say afterward. “It was just one of those nights where it was a struggle. But I give our players credit. We competed hard. We scratched and clawed to find a way to get a point. We got a point out of it. We’ve got to take the positive and move on.”

"We're not going to be at our best every single night," Mike Matheson would essentially echo. "To find ways to score big goals and stay in games and give ourselves a chance to win on nights that we're not feeling it, that's really important. Especially going down into the rest of the season and into the playoffs. So I think that's one positive to take out of it."

That's fair. Hockey's brutal. And as miserably as the Penguins were moving about the rink, it's borderline miraculous that they overcame not one, not two, but three separate Buffalo leads on goals by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, the latter with 4:56 left in regulation:

Right. Fine. Whatever.

But even though all concerned were correct to paint this as an anomaly -- the Penguins had just won three in a row, five of six and all else -- the cold fact remains that this outcome reminded of several more lingering issues they'll almost certainly need to correct in the coming six weeks before the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I can come up with with a handful off the top of my head, and I'll even offer them up in descending order:

5. Solidify/deepen the PK.

For all the excitement over adding Rickard Rakell, the loss of Zach Aston-Reese was going to leave a gaping hole on the NHL's No. 2 penalty-killing group ... and it has. The Blue Jackets scored a power-play goal Tuesday, and the Sabres, while going 0 for 3, consistently threatened and registered five shots.

Maybe of greater concern, Teddy Blueger's taken up Aston-Reese's minutes almost by himself in these two games, operating in a double-rotation through five PK forwards rather than the standard six.

I brought that up with Sullivan following this one.

"Teddy just does such a great job, takes so much pride in it, and he's big part of why the penalty-kill's where it's at this year," he replied. "We're gonna rely on him moving forward. We always put him in tough positions. The penalty-kill. Defensive-zone starts. When we're five-on-five, he's playing against our opponents' top line. But he gets it done for us."

All right. But it wouldn't hurt to have a sixth body contribute, particularly in hollow games like this one. Remember what life was like without Blueger.

4. Score on the power play.

This is obscenely obvious, of course, but let the record show that the Penguins were 1 for 20 leading into these past two games, in which they converted three times, including 2 for 2 in this one. Crosby's came on a rush, but Letang's came with clinical precision following a timeout in which Todd Reirden grabbed a whiteboard to relay almost exactly what'd occur.

"Pretty much what you saw is what we drew up," Bryan Rust would recall with a playful shrug. "It's nice when we can execute like that, especially in a big moment where we're down a goal and need a little bit of life."

Need's the operative term. For some teams, power plays are a bonus. For the Penguins, long built on superstars, they're a lifeline. They not only need the production that comes from them but also the "swagger," as Sullivan calls it. Their boldness emanates from it, including at even-strength, because they know the other team's eager to avoid the box.

3. Unwrap another star on D.

Not Letang. Nothing he does, at either extreme, can ever be a surprise.

I'm talking about someone else. Anyone else.

Maybe it'll be Matheson. He's got all the physical tools, he's as bright as they come, and he's just got to stop adding 2+2 and coming up with pi ... as in π ... as in the game doesn't need to be that complicated.

But why not John Marino?

Being blunt, this might've been the worst showing he's had in any game I've covered since he entered the NHL with all that promise. He was behind the puck all night. He was bullied off it far too easily. He dozed off on Buffalo's second goal. And if my eyeball observations aren't enough, when he was on the ice at five-on-five, the Sabres generated eight high-danger chances to the Penguins' nil, and 20 shot attempts to the Penguins' nine.

I know how strongly the coaching staff still feels about Marino's promise. But I also know he frustrates them. 

I asked Sullivan after this game, without isolating on this game, what he'd like to see as Marino's next step.

"For me, I think John's best strength is his defensive capability," Sullivan began, referring undoubtedly to the natural engulfing of onrushing forwards he'd frequently praise in Marino's rookie year. "Using his size, his mobility, his reach to defend well. And when he defends, he can create offense off his defense. I think that's the game he needs to bring for us consistently. And I think John's played pretty solid hockey for us over the past month or so."

There's more to tap.

2. Find actual backup goaltending.

This is a repeat. Taylor Haase has much more.

1. Secondary scoring ... again.

And this is a repeat of a repeat of a repeat of a repeat ... and it'll run into infinity until it arises anew.

I'm not judging Rakell based on two games in 48 hours after a red-eye flight and his family life being flipped upside down. He's shown flashes and, in this one, he nearly floored everyone with a dazzling rush in overtime:

But it's no less true that all three goals in this game came from the Core. And neat as that is, it evidently wasn't enough. When the whole team's laying an egg, it'd be wonderful if someone else swooped in to save a day.

Sullivan's planning to use this part of the week to settle Rakell's spot on a line, but he's also shown to be more fluid in that regard than he's been in a long time. He even spoke before this faceoff of Crosby and Malkin approaching the staff about sharing the ice more often at five-on-five, something we've seen quite a bit over the past few days. And all that will be become, in a good way, that much more layered once Brock McGinn and Jason Zucker return.

My only tip here: Rakell and Geno.

All of these seem solvable, save maybe No. 2, though I'd send an Uber across I-80 for Louis Domingue in a heartbeat. We've witnessed the other four in motion. We know they're real. 

We also know -- or we should -- that stretch drives are funny. The deadline's passed. The roster's fully set. And while it's seen by some as perilous to peak too soon, there's also an understanding that this is the time to cement statuses while simultaneously building vital momentum.

And the sooner they do so, the better, since, as Matheson stressed on his own, their next game Friday on the far side of this state against the Rangers "will probably be the biggest of the year for us so far."

GETTY

The Sabres' Tage Thompson fires over Casey DeSmith for a shootout goal.

• Think of it this way: Tristan Jarry's excellence has been in place without interruption. Not anything remotely resembling a slump at any stage of the season.

Which sounds awesome until it's weighed that, for this team to win the Cup, he'll have to sustain that level of excellence for, oh, just eight months.

No one does that.

This backup isn't doing the job. Bring one here who at least might.

• Sid just keeps doing Sid things. Danny Shirey has that in our weekly Drive to the Net.

• Sid, Geno and Letang have now scored in the same game 10 times in the NHL, per hockey historian Bob Grove. They'd been 9-0 on such occasions before this.

• Kasperi Kapanen hasn't once pulled up inside the attacking blue line in the past two games.

I fear for us all.

• Jeff Carter and Brian Boyle don't often look their age on the ice. They did in this one.

• Why won't Sullivan let go of Dominik Simon being a first-liner?

• The NHL's garage-league status should always come with a more expanded definition that just meting out suspensions. On this night, even though it'd been public knowledge that faceoff would come at 7:47 p.m. -- because of the TNT national broadcast -- both teams emerged from their tunnels at the typical time a game would start, then lined up for the puck to drop ... then were told to just skate around en masse for a few minutes.

I cover the NFL and Major League Baseball, too, and I'd never seen anything like it. And neither had the Penguins, based on some of the grumbling I picked up much later.

• This might've been the lousiest sporting event I've covered in a calendar year. As much as the visitors were misfiring, it still could've been so much worse had they not been misfiring against the Sabres.

And that's to say nothing of the mausoleum atmosphere amid the announced attendance of 9,399, more than half of which was clad in black and gold.

• Thompson's a real talent. And at 24 years old, this 6-foot-7 sharpshooting center with the 27 goals has the sky as the limit in more ways than one.

Honestly, though, I'm still not seeing some great next wave of talent here. But there's been some defensive settling under Don Granato as coach, and with the Jack Eichel drama finally resolved -- Tuch's actually out-produced Eichel in Las Vegas since the trade, 12 points to 11 -- and it's resulted in a 7-3 March. To boot, all seven of those victories have come against opponents bound for the playoffs.

"Earlier in the season we'd probably, you know, be in similar situations like that and maybe fold or let it spiral out of control," Thompson said, referring to the Penguins tying three times. "I think we've done a good job recently of just staying with the game plan, no matter what happens with the score. We've been a lot better at being consistent. That's why we're getting results."

Kid still needs a ton more help.

DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS

KeyBank Center, shortly before faceoff, Wednesday night.

• Apropos of nothing, this is the best arena bowl in the NHL. Been that way since it was built. Airtight, golden views from everywhere, lighting, acoustics, just across the board.

If only they'd do something about all those indoor lacrosse banners up there.

• This might be the one city where I'll forever feel the fans are off the hook for not showing up. Zero Cups in a half-century of existence, hearts broken at the handful of chances there were, and now they're in the 12th season of missing the playoffs. That's far more brutal than any single evening's atmosphere.

Hockey's healthier with a better Buffalo team. And that's missed.

• And if that sounds like it's coming from someone who just happened to seated in the exact same spot in the press box for this ...

... well, so be it.

• Thanks for reading, as always!

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule

THE THREE STARS

As selected at KeyBank Center:

1. Tage Thompson, Sabres C
2. Mattias Samuelsson, Sabres D
3. Zemgus Girgensons, Sabres LW

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• Brock McGinn, left winger, in considered week-to-week with an injured right wrist. 

• Jason Zucker, left winger, has been on IR since undergoing core muscle surgery Jan. 25. He's skating.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rodrigues
Heinen-Malkin-Rust
Rakell-Carter-Kapanen
Boyle-Blueger-Zohorna

Dumoulin-Letang
Matheson-Marino
Pettersson-Ruhwedel

And for Granato's Sabres:

Skinner-Thompson-Tuch
Krebs-Cozens-Hinostroza
Asplund-Mittlestadt-Olofsson
Girgensons-Eakin-Okposo

Dahlin-Jokiharju
Samuelsson-Bryson
Miller-Pysyk

THE SCHEDULE

The team's off Thursday, then plays the next night in Manhattan. Faceoff's at 7:08 p.m. Dave Molinari's got that one.

THE CONTENT

Visit our team page for everything.