RALEIGH, N.C. -- If they hadn't already, the Hurricanes have solidified themselves as one of the Penguins' biggest threats in the Eastern Conference.
After suffering a 3-2 loss Sunday evening at PNC Arena, the Penguins are now 0-2 against their Metropolitan Division foe this season and 1-4 against them since the start of last season.
The Penguins entered the game as winners of seven straight with an opportunity to make it eight against a team playing on the second night of a back-to-back. They came out of the gates buzzing and really took it to the Hurricanes for the first 10 minutes despite failing to score, but from that point on it was a hard-fought battle on both sides that, ultimately, didn't fall in their favor.
"I think we can take a lot of positives," Mike Sullivan said after the game. "I thought we competed hard through the whole 60 minutes. This is a good team we’re playing against. We feel like we’re a good team. It was an evenly-matched game for the most part."
After a scoreless opening period, the Hurricanes started to give the Penguins some problems in the second. It wasn't that the Hurricanes were blowing the doors off the Penguins in the middle frame, but their relentless forecheck and attention to detail in transition defense made it nearly impossible for the Penguins to possess the puck across their own blue line or center-ice over separate stretches of time.
Instead of getting to their game, it seemed as if the Penguins had to go off for a line change every time they did clear the zone because they'd spent the entirety of the shift gassing themselves to try and beat the Hurricanes' pressure.
In the midst of a broken line change, Derek Stepan found a soft spot at the bottom of the left circle and ripped a shot past Casey DeSmith to open the scoring as all three of Rickard Rakell, Teddy Blueger and Brian Dumoulin were in the vicinity for the Penguins:
That's quite reactionary from Blueger and Dumoulin, especially. Considering how relentless the Hurricanes are on the puck, reads like that aren't going to work out well for the Penguins.
"They do a good job at putting pucks behind us and making us work to get out of our zone, so I think maybe we were executing breakouts a little better in the first period," Brock McGinn said following the game when asked what changed for the Penguins after the first 10 minutes.
Knowing that the Hurricanes were playing their second game in as many nights, McGinn said the Penguins wanted to come out and make them work as hard as possible. When they did that, the Penguins were able to sustain some decent offensive-zone pressure, but they had to do a "better job finishing it off."
"We’ve all been on that side of the schedule," Sullivan said of back-to-back games. "Those are challenging games, without a doubt. But this team, they’re hard to play against. They’re committed to playing the game a certain way, they’ve got a good team game. That’s just how the game played out."
The score was tied at 1-1 heading into the third period after a power-play goal from Rakell in the second, and the Penguins even jumped out in front to take a 2-1 lead early in the third period thanks to a goal from McGinn. Their lead lasted for just several minutes, though, as a long-distance shot from Brady Skjei fluttered to the back of the net:
"I saw him shoot it. I knew it was high, and then it was knuckling," DeSmith said of the goal. "By the time I crossed the screen, it was under my blocker. By the time I lost sight of it, it had already dipped too much. Kind of a really weird goal from my perspective."
Weird goal or not, it embodied the Hurricanes' willingness to fire pucks whenever they get the opportunity, which obviously kept the Penguins on their heels at times.
Sullivan noted that he thought the Penguins could have done a better job, overall, at sustaining offensive-zone pressure, so I followed up with him to see what adjustments might be necessary to make it harder for the Hurricanes to keep them to the perimeter.
"We’ve got to get inside," Sullivan said. "I think one of the best ways to get inside is to shoot the puck a little bit more. When you put pucks on the net, look at one of the goals they got. They go low-to-high and just shoot off the pass, they score a goal from a defenseman against the boards. I just think that’s part of the evolution of the modern NHL game. There’s a lot of goals that are scored that way.
"We tend to be a little bit more selective of when we shoot, where we shoot. Not that we want to be something that we’re not, but I do think that we could take a little bit of that and add it to our game and just simplify it a little bit. If we can get the puck inside, it’ll give us an opportunity to get people inside, as well."
The finishing blow was delivered by former Penguin Jordan Staal with under seven minutes remaining in regulation. Chad Ruhwedel -- seemingly -- had him covered the whole time, but failed to get a stick on the cross-ice pass or impede Staal whatsoever:
"I thought the guy was just gonna turn and throw it at the net," DeSmith said. "He just threw it backdoor and Staal was able to get a stick on it."
DeSmith later added that "It's pretty effective" when someone of Staal's size consistently goes hard to the net.
Even considering the Penguins' shortcomings in this one, they still managed to out-attempt the Hurricanes 53-48 by the time it was said and done. They also had a plus-six advantage in scoring chances, a plus-eight advantage in high-danger chances, and controlled 56.9% of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.
Sometimes, a miscue here or there is all it takes to turn an otherwise acceptable performance into a loss. Sullivan called it a "fine line."
"This one obviously stings," Rakell said. "It was a tough battle for the whole game. We definitely had the chances to come out on top in this game, but we knew that it was gonna take good defensive play to get the two points. Unfortunately we didn’t do that well enough. We play them soon again, so you can’t get too down on this one and just try to find a way to get the two points next time we play."
The Penguins play the Hurricanes again this coming Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
"I think we owe them one," McGinn said. "They’re battles, they’re real tight-checking games. We’ll be looking forward to that one."
GETTY
Pyotr Kochetkov makes a first-period save against Sidney Crosby on Sunday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• I'm going to get this out of the way right now: Tristan Jarry cannot play every game.
People seemed to lose their collective minds that DeSmith got the nod for this one because it was an important divisional matchup, but that's going to be the exact same case in each of the Penguins' next three games. Before Sunday, DeSmith had started one game since Nov. 26. He's a backup and obviously won't provide the same performance level as Jarry on a consistent basis, but you can't simply hide him until the weaker opponents roll around.
The first goal is probably one DeSmith would like to have back, but I'm not sure there was a whole heck of a lot else he could do on the second or third Hurricanes goal.
He also came up with a huge pad save on Martin Necas in the first period to keep the Hurricanes from breaking the ice:
The way he's talked about amongst the fan base, you'd think he's crushing the Penguins when he's in between the pipes, but after the loss he's still rocking an above-league-average .914 save percentage. He wasn't great, but blaming him for this one ain't it.
• Speaking of Necas, he looks like a completely different player than the past few seasons. He's certainly playing with more confidence. I was really impressed with the skill he displayed, on top of some of the reads he made. Very quietly, he's got 30 points in 31 games this season.
• Here's Rakell's power-play tally that put the Penguins on the board in the second:
Rakell's scoring at a 34-goal pace over 82 games, and now has six points in his last six games, giving him 21 in 31 games this season.
• This was the 600th game of Rakell's career. The 170 goals he's scored are the eighth-most of all players selected in the 2011 NHL Draft, per Penguins PR.
"I’m super grateful for just having the opportunity and having teammates, family and friends to support me along the way," Rakell said. "At the same time, I feel like it’s just the start."
• After practice on Saturday, Kasperi Kapanen said he's "gotta start bringing it again." Well, he brought it on Sunday. He was quiet in the early parts of the game, but was very noticeable as time went on. He made a great play to set up McGinn for the Penguins' second goal:
I've got a quick Freeze Frame breaking it down.
"I thought Kappy made a real nice play on the goal," Sullivan said. "He used his speed a little bit more tonight. I thought that was evident. Carts had a pretty good look, Ginner scores, so they had a fair amount of chances."
• The Penguins' third line of McGinn, Jeff Carter and Kapanen was out-attempted 9-8 during their 8:58 together at 5-on-5, but they did control 67.4% of the expected goals. It was the first time that line checked in above 50% in four games.
• Marcus Pettersson and Kris Letang turned in a second consecutive strong showing. With them out on the ice, the Penguins generated a smooth 65% of the expected goals at 5-on-5 even though they went up against the Hurricanes' top players and started only one shift in the offensive zone.
• Letang, specifically, has been playing some really, really good hockey since he returned from suffering a stroke. He played a game-high 28:13.
His performance was nowhere near good enough for most of the season before the stroke, so it's been great to see him turn it around in the face of adversity. It's a small sample since he came back, but I'm betting we'll be seeing more of Thursday and Sunday's performances from him than much of what we saw in late October and November.
• With DeSmith pulled late in regulation, Letang made a fantastic sprawling save to keep the Penguins in it:
• Jason Zucker's reckless-abandon approach was definitely missed against the Hurricanes.
• The Penguins have fallen to fourth in the Metropolitan Division, but the Rangers have just one more standings point in two more games played. The Penguins own the third-best points percentage in the division.
• Evgeni Malkin extended his point streak to eight games with an assist on Rakell's goal. He has picked up two goals and 10 assists in that span. And by the way, he showed no signs that his right knee was bothering him in the slightest.
• PNC Arena press box snack update: Popcorn.
Yeah, that's all they had. A little disappointing. I settled for some water and a Sierra Mist that tasted like it went bad.
• Thanks for reading and following along on this road trip!
Danny Shirey / DKPS
Penguins and Hurricanes on the ice for warmups on Sunday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PNC Arena:
1. Derek Stepan, Hurricanes RW
2. Jordan Staal, Hurricanes C
3. Brady Skjei, Hurricanes D
THE INJURIES
• Jeff Petry is on long-term injured reserve after jamming his wrist/hand/arm into the wall during a collision against the Sabres last weekend.
• Jason Zucker is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. The injury likely occurred when he blocked a shot with his foot against the Stars last Monday. He did not travel with the team on the road trip, but Sullivan is hopeful he won't miss too much time.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Rod Brind'Amour's Hurricanes:
Andrei Svechnikov - Paul Stastny - Martin Necas
Teuvo Teravainen - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Seth Jarvis
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Stefan Noesen - Jack Drury - Derek Stepan
Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Calvin De Haan - Jalen Chatfield
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins flew home after the game and will be back on the ice for practice on Monday, 12 p.m., at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. Taylor Haase will have your coverage for that. Their next game is Tuesday night, 7:08 p.m., against the Rangers at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
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