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The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped Game 2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 4-3 in double overtime. The victory is the Blue Jackets first ever in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Congratulations to the Columbus hockey market on a long awaited triumph.
The story of the game was special teams. There were 14 combined power plays and the Blue Jackets outplayed the Penguins in this area. The Blue Jackets went two for six on the power play and added a shorthanded goal on the night. Three out of the four Columbus goals came away from even strength. The Penguins had one power play goal and one shorthanded goal themselves.
That was the difference in the game. At even strength the Penguins held the play for most of the game. The exception was the 2nd half of the 2nd period when Columbus was pouring it on. After that the Penguins looked pretty good when playing 5 on 5.
The Penguins power play looked disinterested at times which is disappointing. The Penguins could have buried the Blue Jackets at numerous points of the game but failed to capitalize on the man advantage. It was a shorthanded goal by Columbus that was the most noteworthy event to happen on the Penguins power play. This marks the 2nd time in 2 games that the Penguins have given up a shorthanded goal. I’m not sure if there is another team in the NHL that has given up more shorthanded goals in the playoffs than the Penguins in recent memory.
I have to agree with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on this one
They didn't score (yet) but great to see Pens Power Play utilizing Geno on the half boards and Sid behind the net.
— bill peduto (@billpeduto) April 20, 2014
One ingredient that has been missing from the Penguins power play for much too long is the Evgeni Malkin one timer bomb from the right circle. What happened to that look? When was the last time the Penguins tried to make that a focal point? That used to be a staple. Sergei Gonchar used to feed Malkin over and over again. It is time for Paul Martin to do the same thing. The nice thing is that if the PK unit cheats up top on Malkin you can still bump it down low to Crosby. Getting it down low to 87 could come from Martin up top on a skip pass or Malkin can move it along himself. Time to stop getting cute and start letting bombs go.
The most noteworthy thing from any playoff game is the result of the game; the Blue Jackets were on the right end of that last night, but the Penguins also lost forward Brian Gibbons to injury
Here is the play where it appears Gibbons was hurt on:
The move to place Gibbons on the Crosby line was working, there were tangible results. The third line was way better and the first line was able to pot an early goal last night.
Gibbons had an electric shorthanded goal to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Gibbons has been one of the Penguins best penalty killers for the past month and that is all speed related.
Boston College's Brian Gibbons (@Bgibb99) first Penguins rookie with multi-goal game in playoffs since Martin Straka in 1993.
— John Buccigross (@Buccigross) April 20, 2014
Gibbons was hurt so early on in the game that he only played 2:25. He was named 3rd star of the game. Has anybody ever had less ice time and still found themselves as one of the 3 stars of the game?
With Gibbons out of the game early in the contest it put a lot of pressure on the Penguins other forwards to try and fill that top 9 spot. Bylsma clearly did not trust all his players with increased ice time:
If you only trust Tanner Glass and Craig Adams to play 11 minutes in an 81-minute game then they shouldn't be in the lineup.
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) April 20, 2014
Adams and Glass were also the penalty killing duo up front on Columbus’ 1st power play goal.
A big reason why the Penguins penalty kill leaves so much to be desired lately is because it is completely predicated on slow unskilled forwards being super aggressive up top. They are always late and never in shooting lanes. It would be tough to make life any easier on the opposition. The few times they are fast enough to track down a loose puck forced by their pressure, there is an issue clearing the puck down because of that lacking skill level. If the Penguins are going to continue to use Glass and Adams, change the dynamic of what is trying to be accomplished. Be more conservative up top and just have those two glued into shooting lanes instead of skating all over the zone. It isn’t working as it’s currently constructed. Players are being asked to do things that are outside of their skill sets. That is recipe for failure.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will certainly draw attention for not scoring goals in their last 19 playoff periods but paging Chris Kunitz and James Neal, you can join the playoff party at your earliest convenience. The Kunitz and Neal duo have combined for 0 points so far.
Crosby is pressing and trying to force too much. He is trying to make up for all the Penguins shortcomings one play at a time, you can’t do that. The result is 87 turning the puck over in situations that you don’t normally see him make mistakes. Superstars can’t do it alone, Chris Kunitz and James Neal have to help them, especially now with the Gibbons injury because that 3rd line is most likely back to being bad again.
With Gibbons out could the Penguins faithful be so lucky to see #17 placed back into the lineup? That would be a tremendous error. Speed is what has given the Penguins their success, stick with the formula. Use Jayson Megna or Harry Zolnierczyk. In fact, they should probably use the both of them over Adams and Glass anyways.
Kris Letang needs to be better, but his partner has been worse. Rob Scuderi is not good enough right now. I was a big supporter of the move to bring him back to Pittsburgh, he hasn’t been good, my read on the situation was wrong. I don’t know if it is the broken ankle or not but the Penguins can’t afford to give him much more ice time right now. In fact he should probably be scratched. In a perfect world I would lean towards Despres being paired up with Letang, but that isn’t going to happen. I would try Bortuzzo over Scuderi at this point. Scuds is letting his team down.
I think this works. pic.twitter.com/CoZS6qKgz3
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) April 20, 2014
Marc Andre Fleury turned in another very solid performance. So did his counterpart:
Marc-Andre Fleury 5v5 Save % tonight - 96.4%
Sergei Bobrovsky 5v5 Save % tonight - 96.6%
— Mike Darnay (@MikeDarnay) April 20, 2014
Marc Andre Fleury tried his best to keep the game going in double OT, he made 2 sparkling saves before the game winner was put away by Calvert. The Penguins were just standing around watching it happen. The catalyst for the breakdown was Jussi Jokinen losing his board battle behind the net, he was beat clean and never recovered. Other players tried to slide over to help, it clearly didn’t work.
Fleury was supposed to be the Penguins biggest question mark entering the playoffs, so far he has been anything but that.
The Penguins have played well at even strength and that is a good sign moving forward in this series but the injury to Gibbons could potentially wreak havoc on their 5 on 5 success. The Penguins have lacked forward depth all year and now that they finally found a setup that worked it lasted all of 2:25. Who is going to step up for the Penguins?
The two teams will meet for Game 3 on Monday night in Columbus. It should be a great atmosphere.
Happy Easter
Thanks for reading!
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