Justin Hryckowian scores the Stars' first goal on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Erik Karlsson was visibly fighting some kind of internal battle as he chose his words carefully after Saturday's 6-3 loss to the Stars, closing his eyes and wincing as he took the high road.
"We saw what happened, he said. "I don't think it does me any good, or us any good by standing here and having excuses or pointing fingers. We all watched the same game."
He was responding to my question on undoubtedly the most egregious of officiating decisions in the game -- the non-call on Lian Bichsel before Bichsel's goal that put the Stars up 4-2 in the second period.
Bichsel and Karlsson skated behind the Penguins' net when Bichsel grabbed Karlsson's stick with his left hand, yanked it and tossed out of reach, directly in front of referee Michael Markovic, who kept his arm glued to his side to avoid making a call:
Bichsel GRABBED Karlsson's stick, dropped it and then ripped home a goal ššØ
Karlsson, in the moment, was livid. He threw his arms up at Markovic immediately, and continued to give the officiating crew hell for several minutes. As the PPG Paints Arena videoboard showed repeated replays of the grab, Karlsson gestured up at the screen a few times as he told the officials to "watch."
Karlsson did get one jab in postgame when I asked if there was ever an explanation from the officials on the non-call.
"You don't get that, usually," he said, pausing. "From certain guys, at least."
The game certainly came off lopsided in officiating at times -- five straight power plays for the Stars in the first and second periods, a streak that only ended with a trip so egregious that Nils Lundkvist's stick remained wedged in Elmer Soderblom's skates afterward. There were missed calls on Stars along the way, notably some trips that could have been called.
Still, that all can't be an excuse. The Penguins did have the game's first power play, quickly capitalized on by an Anthony Mantha deflection. The Penguins failed to score on three straight power plays of their own, too. The penalty-kill -- surely hurting without Blake Lizotte, and briefly Noel Acciari in this game after he left for several minutes after blocking a shot -- could have done better than killing just three of five penalties.
The officiating made this one tough. But the Penguins could have done more to overcome that, and it started with special teams.
"It was a winnable game for us today," Karlsson said. "Ultimately, we didn't do the work. They're a good team for a reason, and they showed that today. But it's unfortunate that special teams, I think, was a big factor for them and a big letdown for us."
Coaches will often say that a lot of penalties called can be bad for the "flow" of the game, because even five-on-five play is going to have jumbled line combinations or pairings, and some players who aren't on those special teams units are sitting on the bench for long periods of time. But that doesn't fully explain why the Penguins were outshot by an absurd 26-12 margin, including 18-9 at five-on-five. They were able to beat Jake Oettinger on two of those five-on-five shots, with Karlsson's second-period wrist shot from the slot and Acciari's deflection of a Soderblom shot in the third.
"Being in the box a lot didn't help," Bryan Rust said. "I think against a team like that, who plays hard defensively, I think we passed too many opportunities to shoot. And when we did shoot, I think they did a really good job of getting in shooting lanes, so we either shot wide or got our shots blocked."
If the Penguins are going to make a run -- or even make the playoffs, still -- they're going to have games where the officiating doesn't always go their way. Getting healthy -- especially with Lizotte on the penalty-kill, and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the power play -- would go a ways toward getting out from under the issues that plagued them this game. But the loss cannot entirely be explained away by those injuries, or the calls in this game. The Penguins had it in themselves to win this one, and they didn't.
"We've got to focus in on what we can control," Dan Muse said. "I don't think anybody is going to walk out of today feeling good about our game. We've got to be better, all of us, myself included. But things that we have zero control over, we're not going to waste our time on that. It's focusing on our game, what we could do/ Right now it's going to be tomorrow, prepare going to New York."
THE ASYLUM
Penguins undone by officiating, special teams
JOE SARGENT/ GETTY
Justin Hryckowian scores the Stars' first goal on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Erik Karlsson was visibly fighting some kind of internal battle as he chose his words carefully after Saturday's 6-3 loss to the Stars, closing his eyes and wincing as he took the high road.
"We saw what happened, he said. "I don't think it does me any good, or us any good by standing here and having excuses or pointing fingers. We all watched the same game."
He was responding to my question on undoubtedly the most egregious of officiating decisions in the game -- the non-call on Lian Bichsel before Bichsel's goal that put the Stars up 4-2 in the second period.
Bichsel and Karlsson skated behind the Penguins' net when Bichsel grabbed Karlsson's stick with his left hand, yanked it and tossed out of reach, directly in front of referee Michael Markovic, who kept his arm glued to his side to avoid making a call:
Karlsson, in the moment, was livid. He threw his arms up at Markovic immediately, and continued to give the officiating crew hell for several minutes. As the PPG Paints Arena videoboard showed repeated replays of the grab, Karlsson gestured up at the screen a few times as he told the officials to "watch."
Karlsson did get one jab in postgame when I asked if there was ever an explanation from the officials on the non-call.
"You don't get that, usually," he said, pausing. "From certain guys, at least."
The game certainly came off lopsided in officiating at times -- five straight power plays for the Stars in the first and second periods, a streak that only ended with a trip so egregious that Nils Lundkvist's stick remained wedged in Elmer Soderblom's skates afterward. There were missed calls on Stars along the way, notably some trips that could have been called.
Still, that all can't be an excuse. The Penguins did have the game's first power play, quickly capitalized on by an Anthony Mantha deflection. The Penguins failed to score on three straight power plays of their own, too. The penalty-kill -- surely hurting without Blake Lizotte, and briefly Noel Acciari in this game after he left for several minutes after blocking a shot -- could have done better than killing just three of five penalties.
The officiating made this one tough. But the Penguins could have done more to overcome that, and it started with special teams.
"It was a winnable game for us today," Karlsson said. "Ultimately, we didn't do the work. They're a good team for a reason, and they showed that today. But it's unfortunate that special teams, I think, was a big factor for them and a big letdown for us."
Coaches will often say that a lot of penalties called can be bad for the "flow" of the game, because even five-on-five play is going to have jumbled line combinations or pairings, and some players who aren't on those special teams units are sitting on the bench for long periods of time. But that doesn't fully explain why the Penguins were outshot by an absurd 26-12 margin, including 18-9 at five-on-five. They were able to beat Jake Oettinger on two of those five-on-five shots, with Karlsson's second-period wrist shot from the slot and Acciari's deflection of a Soderblom shot in the third.
"Being in the box a lot didn't help," Bryan Rust said. "I think against a team like that, who plays hard defensively, I think we passed too many opportunities to shoot. And when we did shoot, I think they did a really good job of getting in shooting lanes, so we either shot wide or got our shots blocked."
If the Penguins are going to make a run -- or even make the playoffs, still -- they're going to have games where the officiating doesn't always go their way. Getting healthy -- especially with Lizotte on the penalty-kill, and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the power play -- would go a ways toward getting out from under the issues that plagued them this game. But the loss cannot entirely be explained away by those injuries, or the calls in this game. The Penguins had it in themselves to win this one, and they didn't.
"We've got to focus in on what we can control," Dan Muse said. "I don't think anybody is going to walk out of today feeling good about our game. We've got to be better, all of us, myself included. But things that we have zero control over, we're not going to waste our time on that. It's focusing on our game, what we could do/ Right now it's going to be tomorrow, prepare going to New York."
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