Inability to string together wins now 'in our heads'
The Penguins' 5-1 loss to the Ducks here at the Honda Center tonight might have been their most predictable yet.
They follow up even the most encouraging wins with losses, pretty much every time.
Over just the past month: The 3-2 win over the Islanders on Dec. 29 was seen as a good response after a bad loss to the same team the night before. Two days later? A 4-2 loss on the road to the Red Wings, a game in which they at least put forth a good effort. The Penguins on Jan. 9 beat the Oilers, a team that was a goal shy of the Stanley Cup last season, by a 5-3 margin. Two days later? A 5-0 embarrassment against the Senators. To open this trip Friday, the Penguins beat the Sabres, 5-2, and then lost 4-1 to the Capitals the following night, a game in which they were held to 19 shots.
Then, the Penguins get to California ... and play arguably their best game of the season in a 5-1 win against a Kings team that only had two regulation losses at home all season .... and then follow that up with this.
For the first seven minutes or so, the Penguins dominated, at one point outshooting the Ducks, 7-0. The Ducks started pushing as the midpoint to the opening period neared, and the Penguins never really were the better team after that. The Ducks got on the board first at 9:28, after Alex Nedeljkovic dived forward to make a save and left the net, making for an easy shot from Mason McTavish. Alex Killorn doubled the lead in the final minute of the period, a pinpoint shot off the rush that snuck past Nedeljkovic's glove.
Michael Bunting scored on the power play to make it a one-goal game in the second, but another goal from McTavish in the third made it 3-1. Frank Vatrano scored off a 2-on-1, then Killorn scored into the empty net.
You can look at this game in isolation, or talk about how the third defense pairing had a bad night, or how Nedeljkovic wasn't at his best, or all the chances the Penguins couldn't finish early. But that would all be missing the bigger picture: Why do they keep doing this?
I asked Sidney Crosby that, and he didn't really have much of an explanation, only offering that "playing the game that we played in L.A. was a good example of how we need to play the game. It doesn't make it easy. It's tough to play that way, but we've got to find a way to do that more consistently."
Sure, you can't expect games like the one against the Kings every single night. If things were easy to just do that every single night, they'd go 82-0. Off nights happen. But how about two games in a row?
"We know what makes us good," Cody Glass told me. "We showed it in the L.A. game, and then we come out in the first period, and it's the complete opposite. I think it's in our heads. We're doing it to ourselves, and it sucks, especially these games that we need, a big road trip where on the other side of it, we could be in a bad spot. So it sucks."
Matt Grzelcyk said that it's "easier to get up for a team like L.A.," adding of this one, "We had a little bit of a letdown there in the first. That just was too much to overcome. I think we had good stretches tonight, especially in the second period, with some chances, but their goalie made really good saves when he had to, and we just gave up too many opportunities. I think we asked way too much of Ned."
Nedeljkovic said that sometimes after a win like theirs against the Kings, "It's easy to look at the standings and maybe take a breath sometimes," as the Penguins were closing in on a wild card spot after. But when I asked about this larger trend and it's just a matter of taking that "breath" after every win, he said he couldn't point to any specific reason.
"I'll just say it's hard to play that way every single night," Nedeljkovic said. "Anybody can beat anybody on any given night, and the best teams in the league are the ones that bring it every single night. You have to earn your two points every single night. ... There's not much more to say other than just to a man, we have to figure that out. Everybody's got their own way of getting going individually every single day, and whatever it takes for you to find that within yourself, you've got to do it."
The Penguins do have "it" somewhere within themselves, and they've shown it. But that inability to play that way consistently could be the pivotal factor in what keeps them out of the playoffs again.
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
8:28 am - 01.24.2025Anaheim, Calif.Inability to string together wins now 'in our heads'
The Penguins' 5-1 loss to the Ducks here at the Honda Center tonight might have been their most predictable yet.
They follow up even the most encouraging wins with losses, pretty much every time.
Over just the past month: The 3-2 win over the Islanders on Dec. 29 was seen as a good response after a bad loss to the same team the night before. Two days later? A 4-2 loss on the road to the Red Wings, a game in which they at least put forth a good effort. The Penguins on Jan. 9 beat the Oilers, a team that was a goal shy of the Stanley Cup last season, by a 5-3 margin. Two days later? A 5-0 embarrassment against the Senators. To open this trip Friday, the Penguins beat the Sabres, 5-2, and then lost 4-1 to the Capitals the following night, a game in which they were held to 19 shots.
Then, the Penguins get to California ... and play arguably their best game of the season in a 5-1 win against a Kings team that only had two regulation losses at home all season .... and then follow that up with this.
For the first seven minutes or so, the Penguins dominated, at one point outshooting the Ducks, 7-0. The Ducks started pushing as the midpoint to the opening period neared, and the Penguins never really were the better team after that. The Ducks got on the board first at 9:28, after Alex Nedeljkovic dived forward to make a save and left the net, making for an easy shot from Mason McTavish. Alex Killorn doubled the lead in the final minute of the period, a pinpoint shot off the rush that snuck past Nedeljkovic's glove.
Michael Bunting scored on the power play to make it a one-goal game in the second, but another goal from McTavish in the third made it 3-1. Frank Vatrano scored off a 2-on-1, then Killorn scored into the empty net.
You can look at this game in isolation, or talk about how the third defense pairing had a bad night, or how Nedeljkovic wasn't at his best, or all the chances the Penguins couldn't finish early. But that would all be missing the bigger picture: Why do they keep doing this?
I asked Sidney Crosby that, and he didn't really have much of an explanation, only offering that "playing the game that we played in L.A. was a good example of how we need to play the game. It doesn't make it easy. It's tough to play that way, but we've got to find a way to do that more consistently."
Sure, you can't expect games like the one against the Kings every single night. If things were easy to just do that every single night, they'd go 82-0. Off nights happen. But how about two games in a row?
"We know what makes us good," Cody Glass told me. "We showed it in the L.A. game, and then we come out in the first period, and it's the complete opposite. I think it's in our heads. We're doing it to ourselves, and it sucks, especially these games that we need, a big road trip where on the other side of it, we could be in a bad spot. So it sucks."
Matt Grzelcyk said that it's "easier to get up for a team like L.A.," adding of this one, "We had a little bit of a letdown there in the first. That just was too much to overcome. I think we had good stretches tonight, especially in the second period, with some chances, but their goalie made really good saves when he had to, and we just gave up too many opportunities. I think we asked way too much of Ned."
Nedeljkovic said that sometimes after a win like theirs against the Kings, "It's easy to look at the standings and maybe take a breath sometimes," as the Penguins were closing in on a wild card spot after. But when I asked about this larger trend and it's just a matter of taking that "breath" after every win, he said he couldn't point to any specific reason.
"I'll just say it's hard to play that way every single night," Nedeljkovic said. "Anybody can beat anybody on any given night, and the best teams in the league are the ones that bring it every single night. You have to earn your two points every single night. ... There's not much more to say other than just to a man, we have to figure that out. Everybody's got their own way of getting going individually every single day, and whatever it takes for you to find that within yourself, you've got to do it."
The Penguins do have "it" somewhere within themselves, and they've shown it. But that inability to play that way consistently could be the pivotal factor in what keeps them out of the playoffs again.
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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