LAS VEGAS — If the Penguins weren’t paralyzed by the Golden Knights’ colorful and raucous pregame theatrics, they sure seemed like it in the first period.
Pittsburgh gave up three Vegas goals in the opening frame, including two in the first five minutes of action in Thursday night’s 5-2 loss at T-Mobile Arena, which was also the team’s sixth consecutive defeat.
“That’s not the start we wanted. I think we pushed back in the second and third, but we got to put a game together,” Sidney Crosby said. “The bad start basically cost us the game, so we got to figure it out quick.”
The slow start came a day after coach Mike Sullivan momentarily stopped Wednesday’s practice and asked for the team to ramp up the pace and not simply go through the motions.
“It’s concerning that we had the first period that we had,” Sullivan said. “We’re a better hockey team than that and we showed it in the second period, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance because we didn’t play well enough in the first.”
Less than two minutes into the game, former Penguin Phil Kessel got the Golden Knights on the board first. Chad Ruhwedel couldn’t get to a dump-in pass from the blue line quick enough, which allowed William Karlsson to connect with Paul Cotter, who quickly dished off to Kessel to finish the night’s initial goal off in tic-tac-toe fashion.
Just more than three minutes later, Jack Eichel put an exclamation mark on his return from injury, scoring on a breakaway goal in his first game since Dec. 9.
The Penguins over-pursued on the offensive end, which put Jan Rutta in a tough spot. Rutta chose to pressure Nicolas Roy in hopes of generating a turnover, but the Vegas forward dished off to Eichel just in time. Casey DeSmith didn’t stand much of a chance against the former No. 2 overall pick.
“I knew it was going to be either two on one basically the whole sheet, or I can make a play on the puck,” Rutta said. “I decided for the latter and obviously, not the right play.”
A Jake Guentzel slashing penalty furthered the Penguins’ first-period woes. The Golden Knights converted on their first power play when Chandler Stephenson beat DeSmith from the high slot to push their commanding advantage to 3-0.
“It’s tough when you give that team a three-goal lead,” Guentzel said of the western-conference-leading Golden Knights.
Pittsburgh came to life in the second period and dominated possession, possessing the puck in the offensive zone for nearly twice as long as Vegas, per Sportlogiq. But, the Penguins had nothing to show for their efforts as they could not slide the puck past backup goalie Adin Hill.
Evgeni Malkin had the team’s best chance of the period, nicking the post on a power-play shot but coming up empty.
“I thought we got some puck luck in the second period around the net,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We were a little bit fortunate at times.”
Instead, it was the Golden Knights, despite being outshot 19-12 in the second period, who got a tally in the middle frame to up their lead to 4-0. With 10.7 seconds to go before the second intermission, a shot from the point by Brayden McNabb bounced off Mark Stone before trickling through DeSmith’s wickets.
“They get a late one in the second period, I think that was a little bit deflating from our standpoint,” Sullivan said.
Hill’s bid for a shutout was foiled by Ty Smith in the third period. Smith, whose goal was his first with the Penguins after spending the last two seasons with the Devils, was set up by a driving Guentzel who left the defenseman with a clear path to the back of the Vegas net.
Vegas moved its lead back to four not long after, however. Another breakaway opportunity for the Golden Knights forced DeSmith to come off his line, and a late pass from Kessel to Cotter gave the left wing a wide-open net to bury his first goal in a month.
“I don’t think we were playing connected enough and that’s how they got most of their looks,” Rutta said.
Crosby chipped in a goal in the waning minutes of regulation, but it was too little, too late in the Penguins’ latest losing effort.
ICE CHIPS
- Drew O’Connor, who was a healthy scratch for the Penguins’ last two games, returned to the lineup against the Golden Knights as a member of the fourth line.
- Mark Friedman was a healthy scratch after playing in each of Pittsburgh’s last three games. His partner for that trio of contests, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, made a pairing with Ruhwedel.
- Teddy Blueger returned to the fourth line after working with the third group for the last pair of games. Against Vegas, he operated alongside O’Connor and Brock McGinn, who has been a mainstay on the third line this season. Blueger was banged up while blocking a shot in the first period, but he played the rest of the way.
- Jeff Carter moved back to center after working at right wing each of the past two games. He was flanked by Danton Heinen to his left and Kasperi Kapanen to his right. Both Heinen and Kapanen were fourth-liners in Pittsburgh’s most recent games.
- Guentzel was held without a goal for the eighth game in a row. During that stretch, Guentzel has been a -4 player, although he did register assists on Smith and Crosby’s scores. Guenzel had two clear paths to a goal during the Penguins’ power plays, including on their second one when a sprawling Hill left his net open. But, the forward fanned on his shot attempt.
STAT N’AT
15–By going scoreless on their three power-play chances Thursday night, the Penguins are now 0 for 15 with an extra attacker in the last three games. Pittsburgh was 0 for 9 on Dec. 30 against New Jersey and could not tickle the twine on any of its three opportunities in the Winter Classic against the Bruins.
THEY SAID IT
“That’s the way we need to play,” Crosby said of the second period. “We need to have that urgency, that desperation and given the situation we’re in, we’re fighting for a playoff spot.”
If the season ended today, the Penguins, with 49 points and sitting at ninth place in the Eastern Conference, would be on the outside looking in from a playoff perspective.
COMING UP
The Penguins have Friday off before practicing on Saturday in anticipation of their final game of their road trip against the Arizona Coyotes. Pittsburgh will practice at Ice Den Scottsdale on Friday afternoon and square off with the Coyotes on Sunday evening at their temporary home rink of Mullett Arena on Arizona State’s campus.
Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1.
First Published: January 6, 2023, 11:02 a.m.
Updated: January 6, 2023, 2:33 p.m.
