BOSTON -- The Penguins are a team with some obvious needs.
The most pressing one might be for a faith healer.
Someone who could repair the broken bone in Tristan Jarry's foot immediately, rather than waiting for nature to handle it over a period of weeks.
And when that task is complete, the miracle worker could focus on fixing the Penguins' power play, which might be an even greater challenge.
It has generated just one goal in the past eight games, and was 0-for-3 in the Penguins' 2-1 loss to the Bruins at TD Garden Saturday.
Not coincidentally, the Penguins are 2-5-1 in those eight games.
But while their recent struggles with the man-advantage are a concern, the loss for Jarry for an extended period -- Mike Sullivan labeled him "week to week" before the Bruins game -- surely is more of a worry for the coaching staff and management.
And nothing that happened during the first 121 seconds against Boston lowered their anxiety level.
Forty-nine seconds into the game, Trent Frederic backhanded in the rebound of a Craig Smith shot from the left side. The goal was made possible, at least in part, because Casey DeSmith put the rebound where Frederic could easily get it.
DeSmith was victimized by some tough luck at 2:01, when an Eric Haula pass from the left side into the crease caromed off the skate of Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson and into the net as Pettersson was trying to tie up Bruins winger Taylor Hall.
That was the last puck to elude DeSmith, who turned aside the final 25 he faced, but it also gave Boston its margin of victory after Bruins alum Danton Heinen beat goalie Jeremy Swayman from the slot at 5:38 of the second.
Although It doesn't take an advanced degree in Mathematics from one of this region's renowned universities to make a connection between spotting the other guys a two-goal lead and ending up on the light side of a 2-1 finish, Sullivan seemed satisfied with the way DeSmith recovered from his miserable start.
"I thought he was solid the rest of the night," he said.
DeSmith will have to be the all of that -- and probably more -- if the Penguins are to win regularly while he serves as their go-to goalie.
Predictably, his teammates insist he is capable of doing it.
"He's a great goalie," Teddy Blueger said. "I think he has been throughout his career. He played another great game tonight, made some big saves for us down the stretch. He's extremely competitive, and he competes hard on every shot. Practice, pregame skate, game, whatever it is. He expects the best from himself. ... We all know he's going to get it done for us. We all believe in him."
The Penguins also appear to have faith in their power play, despite its inability to score in recent weeks.
"We're moving the puck well and we're creating the looks that we want," Rickard Rakell said. "It's just that last rebound or traffic in front that seems not be working for us to score those important goals."
The power play is 1-for-10 in the three games Evgeni Malkin has missed because of his four-game suspension, but the unit's problem is not a lack of offensive ability. Indeed, Sullivan suggested it cannot be traced to a single factor.
"I don't think it's any one thing," he said. "It's a number of things. They're getting some looks; it's not that they're not getting the looks. Some of it is just execution. I think we could shoot the puck a little bit more.
"That's something that I know Todd (Reirden, the assistant coach who oversees the power play) has talked to the group about, just simplifying everything we do out there. Shooting the puck a little bit more, then creating some offense off that."
Special-teams play can be decisive in the playoffs, when games tend to be lower-scoring and ultra-competitive. And goaltending certainly is, as the Penguins were reminded a year ago, when Jarry's subpar play doomed them in the opening round against the Islanders.
Whether the two weeks remaining in the regular season will be enough time for Jarry's fracture to heal isn't known. DeSmith, though, believes that getting extra work as the regular season winds down should sharpen him for whatever challenges he is called upon to face this spring.
"It's good for me, going into playoffs, to get some more games in," he said. "If I have to play at all in the playoffs, I'll be that much more prepared."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Heinen, whose goal was his career-high 17th of the season, has scored in three consecutive games for the second time in 2021-22.
• Rakell, on the Bruins' stingy team defense: "They're strong on pucks. I felt like we still had some good scoring chances in the game, but we probably could have put a little more pucks toward the net and try to fight battles in front."
• The Penguins, who are an average faceoff team, went 31-25 on draws against Boston, which entered the game as the third-best faceoff club in the league, winning 54.2 percent of its draws. Crosby led the way, winning 19 of 27.
• DeSmith, on the Penguins' poor start: "(Boston) is known for getting off to fast starts at home, at least from what I've seen and when we've played here. The building's loud. I think it just took us a little bit to get into it today."
• Kasperi Kapanen certainly seemed to be out of favor with the coaching staff. He not only was deployed on the fourth line again, but got the fewest shifts (9) and least ice time (7:06) of any Penguins player.
• When the Penguins were pressing for a tying goal late in the third period, Sullivan returned Bryan Rust to his previous spot alongside Crosby and Jake Guentzel on the No. 1 line. Rust, though, was one of four Penguins forwards to finish the game without a shot on goal.
• The Penguins will not play again until Thursday, when the Bruins will visit PPG Paints Arena. "It gives us an opportunity to get some rest, to recharge our batteries a little bit," Sullivan said. "And get excited about finishing the season strong and putting ourselves in the best position for the playoffs."
• Blueger, who assisted on Heinen's goal, appeared in his 200th career game, and acknowledged the challenge of trying to play from behind against Boston. "Two minutes in, that's a tough spot to put ourselves in," he said. "They're a good defensive team, very structured, so it's tough to score on them. And when you're chasing the game, they're probably extra diligent, defensively, so it makes it extra tough."
GETTY
Todd Reirden addresses players during a stoppage Saturday in Boston.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE THREE STARS
As selected at TD Garden:
1. Jeremy Swayman, Bruins G
2. Trent Frederic, Bruins LW
3. Jake DeBrusk, Bruins RW
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Tristan Jarry, goalie, has a broken bone in his foot and is listed as week-to-week.
• Nathan Beaulieu, defenseman, is on the Long-Term Injured list because of an unspecified lower-body injury, but has resumed skating.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Zucker-Carter-Rust
McGinn-Blueger-Heinen
Rodrigues-Boyle-Kapanen
Matheson-Letang
Dumoulin-Marino
Pettersson-Ruhwedel
And for Bruce Cassidy's Bruins:
Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk
Hall-Haula-Froden
Frederic-Coyle-Smith
Foligno-McLaughlin-Lazar
Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Reilly-Carlo
Forbort-Clifton
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will have a day off Sunday and an off-ice workout Monday before beginning preparations for their rematch with the Bruins Thursday at PPG Paints Arena by having a practice there Tuesday at 11 a.m.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
