Stars 'just played better hockey' than fizzling Penguins

DALLAS -- Lars Eller may have summed up the Penguins' 4-2 loss to the Stars best here in Dallas on Friday night.

"They just played better hockey than us," Eller said through his usual post-loss pained expression that has become an all-too-familiar sight lately. "Plain and simple.”

The Penguins' 22 shots on goal was their second-worst output of the whole season, rivaled only by their 20 shots Nov. 9 in Los Angeles in a 4-3 overtime win. The Penguins managed to claw and fight to make the most of those few shots back in November. Tonight? Aside from a late, late push, that determination was just nowhere to be found. Now nine points out of a playoff spot with 13 games remaining, the Penguins appear content to just fizzle out through this last stretch of the season.

"We just didn't do a good enough job of holding onto pucks once we were in the offensive zone," Eller told me. "And we didn't execute on the passes we were trying to make."

That was true at five-on-five, where the Penguins were held to 20 shots on goal. On the power play? It was the opposite problem. Heck, the Penguins did a great job of holding onto pucks on the man advantage. They put on a clinic of executing those passes. Shots? That's another story. The Penguins had four total minutes of power-play time. They managed one shot on goal in those four minutes on just two unblocked shot attempts. The Penguins' top unit spent the entire two minutes in the Stars end with possession on the second power-play opportunity. They trailed 3-1 at that point, not even eight minutes into the second period. The game was very much still in reach, but the Penguins were content to defer and look for the perfect play. No urgency.

"We had the puck," Eller said. "We've got to get more movement to break down their coverage a little bit and find some open shooting lanes. I think it was just a little bit too static. Everybody was kind of standing still. Five guys are standing still. So we've got to find a way to get some movement on the power play."

Shooting the puck is one way to create that movement. Even if the puck isn't going in the net, it creates the opportunity for rebounds. Even missing the net entirely or taking a shot that gets blocked is going to create movement, and that movement forces the players to react using their instincts. With all the star power the Penguins have on the power play, it would be beneficial to have them able to use their instincts. Instead, they play hot potato with each other for two minutes and remain stagnant.

This isn't new. The lack of movement on the power play has been an issue all season, and that's a big reason why the power play is 30th in the league at 14.6%. Earlier in the season the Penguins were at least shooting the puck more on the man advantage -- albeit while often remaining relatively still -- and the lack of movement or a good net-front presence meant those shots rarely amounted to much. 

Not everyone was lifeless. Michael Bunting opened the scoring only 2:45 into the game driving to the net, and banking a shot in off the pads of Jake Oettinger as he was falling forward:

The lead was short lived. Joe Pavelski tied the game minutes later then Jamie Benn extended the lead in the second with a pair of goals -- first with a shot though traffic on the power play, and then off a two-on-one rush less than two minutes later. Sam Steel made it a 4-1 game in the third period, chasing Tristan Jarry and causing the Penguins coaches to put Alex Nedeljkovic in the game. Asked why he made that change when he did, Mike Sullivan cited a "number of reasons" that he didn't want to specify.

Rickard Rakell had what was perhaps the best shot on goal that didn't go in late in the second period off a two-on-one rush with Erik Karlsson, forcing Oettinger to extend his right pad to make the save. Rakell attempted to lead the late rally in the third period, finishing off an Evgeni Malkin pass with only 9:57 left.

The Penguins got some life from that Rakell goal, and outshot the Stars 6-0 in the remainder of the game. The push was too little, too late.

"I think we got some belief when Raks got that second goal that we could make a little bit of a push," Eller said. "But we didn't. We just didn't find a way to get that next goal and make it close. We didn't have enough today.”

Sullivan said that the Rakell goal brought "instant energy" to his teammates.

"It just changes the mindset of the group when you score a goal and you get yourself back into the game," Sullivan said. "It gives the team energy. It helps to build momentum, and we just couldn’t seem to get it."

If the Penguins had been able to maintain the level of play they started this game with, or play with even a fraction of the level of urgency they finished the game with, this game could have been within reach. But they couldn't, and so are leaving Dallas empty-handed.

The Penguins are still quite a ways away from being mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. On paper, they're still in the race. But the hole is steadily becoming more and more insurmountable, and it's games like this one that show the Penguins never really had a shot to be serious contenders this season anyway.