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St. Louis Blues' Robert Thomas (18) and Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) chase after a loose puck along the boards as Penguins' Marcus Pettersson (28) watches during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, in St. Louis.
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Blues’ odd-man rushes Penguins’ kryptonite in 2nd straight road loss

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Blues’ odd-man rushes Penguins’ kryptonite in 2nd straight road loss

ST. LOUIS — The Penguins’ identity being predicated on offensive skill, they’re prone to an off night, one where their opposition takes advantage of however many open-ice opportunities they get.

Such was the case Saturday night in St. Louis, as the Penguins fell to the Blues 4-2 at Enterprise Center to drop their second in a row on the road. Twice in the second period, the Penguins found themselves on the wrong end of odd-man rushes.

“We gave them way too many chances off the rush,” coach Mike Sullivan said, “because we didn't play with the purpose that we need to play with in the offensive zone, whether it be with the puck or without it.”

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Per Natural Stat Trick, the Blues had four high-danger scoring chances in the period and 12 in the game. It marked the fourth time in five games the Penguins have yielded double-digit scoring chances of that caliber.

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The first of those opportunities was instigated by former Penguin Kasperi Kapanen, who deked Ryan Shea out of his skates before dishing to an open Jake Neighbours at the net front. Shea, who made his NHL debut in place of Pierre-Olivier Joseph, certainly got a “welcome to the league” moment when Kapanen broke his ankles en route to the St. Louis goal that broke a 1-1 tie.

Less than two minutes later, the Penguins again failed to stop a three-on-two chance. St. Louis’ Colton Parayko unleashed a scorcher from the blue line that doubled St. Louis’ advantage and prompted Sullivan to use his timeout.

Despite the pair of defensive breakdowns, the Penguins still had plenty more scoring chances than their opponent, outshooting St. Louis 33 to 21 while nearly doubling their offensive zone possession time, per Sportlogiq. Despite that advantage, it wasn’t a style of play conducive to winning against the physical and speedy Blues, who outhit the Penguins 21-9.

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“We got chances, but we gave chances, too,” Kris Letang said. “They put the puck in the net. We didn’t. Moral of the story is we want to limit those chances on your side, even if it reduces your chances.”

Forward Reilly Smith discussed at length what he believed allowed the Blues to generate their ample odd-man rushes, which totaled six by the end of the night.

“I think we weren't playing fast enough, so the shots that we were taking were getting blocked and they were able to go the other way,” Smith said. “Or we weren't connected enough and turnovers would catch three forwards, and then they’d take an odd-man rush. We don't want to play that style, but we got to fix other things before we can just say we limit odd-man rushes.”

Lars Eller noted that even with the Penguins outshooting the Blues, they didn’t do a good enough job of getting pucks through the first layer of the defense. They had a higher success rate on controlled entries than the Blues, but the select failures were pounced on at quite the high clip.

Pittsburgh Penguins' Ryan Graves skates during an NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023.
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“They capitalized on some of those mistakes we made, like when we don’t execute a pass or a shot gets blocked,” Eller said. “They get a two-on-one or three-on-two because we don’t have that third forward protecting our [defense]. So that’s an area we got to improve because that cost us.”

It’s an issue the Penguins, who are now 2-3-0, will need to remedy quickly should they want to fare well against two of the Western Conference’s best in their upcoming opponents, the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche. But as Smith bluntly articulated, finding the solution to what drove the Penguins to their second straight road loss is proving a fleeting task at the moment.

“We haven't figured that part of our game yet,” Smith said. “I think we got to be a little more predictable for each other. When you do that, being able to play faster, it's not about just skating. It's about moving the puck and being on the same page, and then I think, right now, we’re too slow.”

ICE CHIPS

• In his first NHL game, Shea skated alongside Chad Ruhwedel on the third defensive pairing. He finished the night with a minus-1 plus/minus rating in 11:32 of ice time. Joseph, who played in a career-high 75 games last season, was a healthy scratch after producing a minus-3 rating during Wednesday’s loss to the Red Wings in Detroit.

• Radim Zohorna, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to fill the place of Jansen Harkins, scored late in the third period for his first goal of the season. The revamped third line of Lars Eller, Drew O’Connor and Zohorna generated a number of high-quality looks all night.

• Speaking of the third line, it was the only unit at five-on-five play not to be scored against. Marcus Pettersson was the only Penguin aside from the aforementioned trio with a positive plus/minus.

• Sidney Crosby missed a shift in the second period, presumably due to equipment issues. Evgeni Malkin briefly skated in his place. Crosby also missed a shift on Wednesday as he changed out one of his skates.

STAT N’AT

4 — Evgeni Malkin upped his points streak to four games with a first-period goal, one that came immediately after he finished serving his time for a tripping penalty. The score gave the 37-year-old center four goals on the year, and he’s got as many assists to pace the team with eight points.

THEY SAID IT

“I think we were playing a game that was going chance for chance,” Letang said. “Obviously, sometimes when you play that type of game, you fall on the wrong side of it, and tonight, we did.”

COMING UP

The Penguins are off Sunday before practicing again Monday morning in Cranberry. They’ll start a four-game home stand Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars.

Andrew Destin: adestin@post-gazette.com and Twitter @AndrewDestin1

First Published: October 22, 2023, 2:34 a.m.
Updated: October 22, 2023, 2:39 a.m.

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