If entertaining purely the end result, it's probably what most expected. Maybe even a bit better.
Yet it felt -- and was -- worse than the lone goal separating the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins and the Penguins here at PPG Paints Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Penguins needed to come out of the gates with one of their better performances of the season. Their postseason chances depended on it. Beyond that, they were going up against the team they're basically guaranteed to play in the first round, if they are to earn a spot in the big dance.
And, by the way, the Bruins opted to rest Patrice Bergeron in addition to rolling with backup Jeremy Swayman in goal rather than Vezina candidate Linus Ullmark, in addition to Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno also being out of the lineup.
It didn't matter.
The Bruins dominated the opening 20 minutes. The score was even at 1-1, but the visitors out-attempted the Penguins, 28-8, with a plus-10 advantage in scoring chances.
Of course, some of that can be attributed to the four minutes the Bruins spent on the power play in the first period. P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel committed penalties, something that's been an issue for both defensemen as of late.
An even bigger issue has been the penalty-kill. Coming into Saturday, the Penguins had allowed a goal while short-handed in six of their past seven games.
Make that seven of their past eight after Charlie McAvoy opened the scoring:
Brian Dumoulin couldn't take away the centering pass to Pavel Zacha, then Ryan Poehling had to abandon his position to compensate, leaving McAvoy all alone on the weak side of the ice. No goalie's stopping that one unless it's dumb luck from the flailing of their stick.
Again, the score was tied heading into intermission, but Evgeni Malkin's end-of-period penalty proved costly early in the second, as did the ineffectiveness on the penalty-kill.
Right back to chasing the game:
Dumoulin tracked David Pastrnak into the defensive zone, but quickly got caught in no man's land as the latter waltzed his way right to the front of the net and flashed his world-class skill by deflecting an aerial pass by Tristan Jarry.
"A lot of it on the penalty-kill, it just boils down to decision-making, details and execution," Mike Sullivan said. "We had failed clears that ended up in the back of our net, missed assignments. Our penalty-kill, I think, was disconnected tonight."
For as rough as their first period was, the Penguins turned it around in the second following Pastrnak's goal. After really struggling to beat the Bruins' forecheck in the first, the Penguins began to have a few more effective transition sequences that led to extended zone time. But just as it's been the case all season, an otherwise strong period didn't bear fruit on the scoreboard. They went into the third still down by a goal.
It took a little over four minutes into the final frame for the Penguins to find the equalizer, and then not even another three minutes for them to squander it when Pastrnak buried his second of the game.
Knowing what was at stake, the Penguins kept battling and eventually knotted the score again. They even had an opportunity to take the lead on a power-play opportunity with 4:48 remaining, but the maddening top unit couldn't convert.
"The power play, we just didn’t execute," Sullivan said of his team going 0-for-6 with the man advantage.
As soon as it was over, Pastrnak did execute, completing the hat trick and stomping on the hearts of the home team:
It's not so much that the Penguins lost to the league's best team, but how they lost and the circumstances surrounding the fate of their season.
The loss dropped their probability to make the postseason from 62.3% all the way down to 47.7%, per MoneyPuck. And that was before factoring in the Panthers' 7-0 drubbing of the Blue Jackets, propelling themselves above the Penguins in the standings by a point with one more game played.
It has become a very real possibility that the Penguins' streak of 16 consecutive postseason appearances will come to a whimpering halt within the next two weeks.
"Well, we’ve got to find a way to get over it," Sullivan said of the challenge ahead. "It was a tough way to lose tonight. It was a tough way to lose, and that stings when the games have so much meaning like they do at this time of year. But we’ve got to find a way to get over it. That falls on all of us, myself included. The challenge is making sure that we put it behind us. Tomorrow’s a new day. We’ve got a challenge in front of us tomorrow, that’s what we’ve got to look forward to. We’ve got to set our eyes on that, we’ve got to get excited about it."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Moments prior to Pastrnak's game-winning goal, Jarry had to dive across his crease in an attempt to make a save. He was very clearly in some discomfort after:
"Yep," was all Jarry had to say when asked if he's feeling OK.
He might be fine enough to play, but I'm just about ready to stick a fork in this team if he isn't absolutely 100% healthy. They need him to be.
• It's never a good outing giving up four goals, but don't look at Jarry for this loss. Everyone -- myself included -- clamor for him or any Penguins goalie to "just make a save" when they need it, and he did that on a couple occasions Saturday. It wouldn't have been nearly as competitive a game if he hadn't.
• Bryan Rust busted out of a 14-game stretch in which he failed to score a non-empty-net goal, picking up his 17th and 18th of the season:
What an absolutely brilliant play from Sidney Crosby to snap out of a career-worst seven games without an assist. Looked like he was using a puck-magnet cheat code.
Here's Rust's second of the night, finally receiving some puck luck:
• Rust has not had a great season, at all. I have not been a fan of his puck management at various points, and I've increasingly felt that he's trying to err on the side of a heavily-skilled style rather than the blend of skill and modern-day grittiness that helped him establish himself as an NHLer.
That said, the individual chances have been there, he just hasn't been finishing enough. Now would be a great time for the percentage luck to positively regress.
• Jake Guentzel scored the Penguins' third goal, giving him 35 on the season:
That's a goal in four consecutive games for Guentzel and five of his last six.
• I'd be remiss if I didn't give Dumoulin a shout for that glorious assist after highlighting his impact on several goals against. It came just one game after a dazzling assist to set up Jason Zucker for a goal. He's clearly trying to compensate for some of his defensive play by bringing more to the table offensively, so it's nice to see him rewarded on the scoresheet, even if it isn't likely to last.
• Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference on Guentzel's goal. He referred to it as the "Sid Rules." More in tonight's Freeze Frame.
• I really don't want to unnecessarily pile on here because I like the guy a lot, but the Mikael Granlund trade continues to look worse and worse with each passing game. He has one goal and two assists in 15 (!) games since being acquired. He flubbed several possessions and opportunities to shoot Saturday and isn't giving any indication whatsoever that he's any different than the underperforming player he was with the Predators.
I'm highly skeptical that Ron Hextall and his front office did any sort of meaningful scouting or evaluation of Granlund before acquiring him. If they did, their process is deeply flawed and should be thrown out at once. I'm guessing they looked at his point total from last season (64 points in 80 games) and pulled the trigger the second their top trade-deadline targets were no longer attainable.
• The only player who saw the ice less than Granlund (8:10) at 5-on-5 was Jeff Carter (7:34). The Penguins did not register a shot with Carter out there while allowing seven. I thought his impact could slightly improve in the bare-bones role he's now deployed in, but I was wrong. There's just nothing left. Even when he manages to do something well, he almost always follows it up with something that negates it. Just watch the pace and speed he supports the play with. It's nothing close to winning hockey.
• Malkin was asked after the game if the power play simply needs to shoot more.
"You think we're not trying shooting?"
His full media session:
• The Penguins' game Sunday against the Flyers is Kris Letang's 1,000th, and the team will celebrate him in a pregame ceremony. Taylor Haase has an in-depth feature on Letang ahead of the milestone here.
• Felt really great to be back. Looking forward to the stretch run with each of you. Thanks, as always, for reading.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena
1. David Pastrnak, Bruins RW
2. Bryan Rust, Penguins RW
3. Pavel Zacha, Bruins C
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Jan Rutta remains out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He has resumed skating with the team, albeit in non-contact fashion.
• Defenseman Marcus Pettersson is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He is currently skating on his own.
• Defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury, as well. He has resumed skating on his own.
• Forward Nick Bonino is on long-term injured reserve with a lacerated kidney. He, too, has resumed skating on his own.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Ryan Pohling - Mikael Granlund
Drew O'Connor - Jeff Carter - Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Mark Friedman - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Montgomery's Bruins:
Brad Marchand - Pavel Zacha - Jake DeBrusk
Tyler Bertuzzi - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
Garnet Hathaway - Charlie Coyle - Trent Frederic
Jakub Lauko - Tomas Nosek - A.J. Greer
Dmitry Orlov - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Connor Clifton
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are right back at it for another game on Sunday, their third in four days. It's a 6:08 p.m. puck drop against the Flyers here at PPG Paints Arena. No morning skate.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.
