Without a second to spare … ‘Canes edge Pens in OT

After an up and down five-game road trip, the Penguins took a brief rest stop this afternoon at Mellon Arena to host Carolina before heading back out on the road for two games next week.  The Penguins looked sluggish early, then traded quick rushes up and down the ice throughout most of the game with Carolina before rookie Jamie McBain scored his first career goal with 0.9 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory at Pittsburgh.

Suddenly, the formerly moribund ‘Canes who spent parts of the season dead last in the Eastern Conference, find themselves just six points out of the playoffs with eleven games remaining and three teams to jump over in the standings.  The Penguins wasted a chance to establish some breathing room between themselves and Atlantic Division rival New Jersey, who lost later in the evening, 1-0 to St. Louis.  By picking up a point, Pittsburgh continues to hold the second seed in the East with 90 points (42-24-6), two ahead of the Devils (42-25-4), who have played one fewer game.

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Carolina’s winning shift at the end of overtime was a microcosm of their play during the entire afternoon in which they used speed and quick breakouts to create scoring chances.  They held the Penguins to an uncharacteristic four shots in the opening period and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.  With under half a minute remaining in the second period, Jordan Staal scored on the power play to tie the game.  It was Staal’s twentieth goal, marking the third time in four career seasons that he has achieved at least twenty goals.

Despite the loss, the Penguins were encouraged by the play of centre Evgeni Malkin who returned to game action after missing the last two contests of the road trip after injuring his foot in last Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay.  Malkin recorded a game-high seven shots and scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period on a snap shot from the faceoff dot of the far circle, before Carolina tied the game with exactly four minutes left in regulation on a Joni Pitkanen goal, setting the stage for McBain’s last second winner in overtime.

While Staal’s goal improved the Penguins’ home power play percentage to 20.7%, a respectable ninth-best in the NHL, it was the team’s first man advantage goal in ten chances, dating back to the Tampa Bay game.  Pittsburgh’s poor road power play performance has them sitting twenty-first overall in the PP standings.  The penalty kill continues to shine, turning away another five chances this afternoon including twenty-two seconds of 5-on-3 when Mike Rupp and Staal were in the box early in the third.  The Pens have successfully killed off twenty consecutive shorthanded situations and Pittsburgh has moved up to sixth overall in penalty kill percentage. 

Unfortunately, the Penguins were unable to generate the sustained offensive zone pressure and steady, punishing volley of shots on goal that has become the hallmark of Penguins’ hockey.  For the first time in eleven games, the Penguins were outshot (29-25) and head coach Dan Bylsma was terse in his post-game remarks about what the team’s problem was today.  “I think consistency has been an issue that we’ve talked about.  [The] challengs as a team [is] what you’re good at, what you need to improve on and areas that you can get better at and that is an area that you can.”  He emphasized that the Pens need to be “playing our game, regardless of the time, our opponent, home or road.”

The implication is clear.  With ten games to go before the playoffs begin, the players must urgently drive themselves to be more consistent in all facets of the game.  The sting of last Wednesday’s loss at New Jersey, where the Penguins committed numerous defensive mistakes, costly turnovers and errant passes easily picked off by the Devils, coupled with today’s loss, should fuel the motivation to improve very quickly.  Yes, the Penguins have struggled to a 4-3-3 record in afternoon games but the team cannot afford anything short of consistency regardless of the time and specifically, consistent efforts within the game plan – “our game”, as Bylsma noted.  When the Penguins equal or exceed their opponent’s shots on goal in a game this season, they are 29-13-4 but just 13-11-2 when the opponent outshoots Pittsburgh.  They deviated from that formula today, but will get another chance to apply the “consistency” Bylsma demands, and should expect from his squad, against three playoff contending teams next week.