ST. LOUIS — Sidney Crosby let out a scream on the bench and slammed his drink bottle to the ground in the second period on Saturday. About 90 minutes later, Mike Sullivan fumed through a 100-second meeting with the media, accusing his Pittsburgh Penguins of not playing hard.
Even when Evgeni Malkin scored a goal to continue his hot streak, he punctuated it by yelling at a referee who had previously called a penalty on him.
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Through five games, the Penguins are 2-3-0 and their respective tempers are growing short. A 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night was easily the Penguins’ worst effort of the young season.
There were defensive breakdowns, failed battles for loose pucks, poor decisions with the puck, a lack of timely goaltending from Tristan Jarry and blanks from the superstar-laden power play.
so haappy #stlblues pic.twitter.com/FCmnkvdoC7
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 22, 2023
1-0 and it's Pittsburgh who's Saad about it. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/ZrmNRzuS7F
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 22, 2023
Up next? Home games against Stanley Cup contenders Dallas and Colorado.
“Great teams coming up on our schedule,” Malkin said. “We better start playing better. Playing smarter. Playing harder. Time to regroup. Tonight? No good.”
Sullivan wasn’t particularly unhappy with his team’s performances in losses to Chicago and Detroit.
The scene outside of the Penguins’ locker room was much different in St. Louis.
Sullivan took an unusually long amount of time to depart from the coach’s office for his nightly meeting with the media. He seemed more miffed than anything by his team’s performance against a Blues team that doesn’t exactly wow anyone on paper.
Coach Sullivan: "We didn't play hard enough. We didn't play smart enough. We got what we deserved… We gave them way too many chances off the rush because we did play with the purpose that we need to play with in the offensive zone, whether it be with the puck or without it." pic.twitter.com/6wVMnlri7w
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 22, 2023
In fact, the Penguins’ losing record has been against five teams that didn’t qualify for last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sullivan was asked if his team’s poor decision-making contributed to the loss. He didn’t dismiss this theory but took things a step further.
“There was an awful lot of it,” he said of poor decision-making. “An awful lot of it. But that wasn’t the only thing. We didn’t play hard enough. We didn’t play hard enough. We got what we deserved.”
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Does he have an explanation for why his team would have been such a pushover on this night?
“No,” he said. “No.”
So, what’s the solution?
“I don’t know yet,” Sullivan said. “I have to digest it first.”
Malkin didn’t necessarily think the Penguins’ effort was a problem but he questioned his team’s decisions with the puck.
“Three on two, two on one, all night,” he said. “Over and over. We shoot from the blue line, they block it. We don’t get back. We need to play smarter. It seems like we make the same mistakes over and over. We play too dangerous.”
The Penguins held onto the puck in the offensive zone for long portions of time against the Blues but didn’t generate a particularly high amount of good looks. Meanwhile, the Blues were given a number of odd-man rushes, wide-open looks and, on a couple of occasions, tap-in goals.
“We had our chances,” Sullivan said. “Give St. Louis credit. They defended hard. They took advantage of the opportunities we gave them. We gave them too many opportunities off of the rush because we didn’t play with the purpose that we need to play with.”
Other than Malkin and Radim Zohorna, who gave the Penguins’ bottom-six its first goal of the season in his season debut, there weren’t any bright spots.
“This game was just bad,” Malkin said. “I’m frustrated.”
10 postgame observations
• Where to begin?
Sullivan typically has a couple of postgame appearances like this every season. They just don’t usually occur in October.
The head coach was perfectly calm following losses to Chicago and Detroit. He didn’t seem very upset with how his team played those teams. This game was entirely different. Following St. Louis’ third goal, he called a timeout and screamed at the Penguins for 30 seconds.
I was struck by his comment about needing to digest what he had just witnessed. Sullivan doesn’t typically make major lineup changes after losses. But then, the Penguins aren’t typically 2-3 and coming off of a non-playoff season, all while having made major offseason changes.
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Plus, as Malkin said, look at the schedule. The Penguins are in grave danger of being 2-5 in a few days. Dallas and Colorado are no joke.
• I asked Sullivan especially about the lack of urgency — pass, pass, pass, pass — on the power play.
“That’s just a microcosm of the overall mindset,” he said.
Fair enough. We can talk all day about who should be on the power play and what positions they should be manning. But I’m telling you, the lack of urgency is the single biggest problem on that power play. Watch the best power plays in the league. They look like a bunch of crazed dogs, hunting goals while the opposition is vulnerable.
The Penguins’ power play looks like it’s playing frisbee in a park. It’s not very becoming, nor very successful. And it’s not on Sullivan or Todd Reirden. It’s on the guys on the ice.
• Rough game for the captain.
Crosby had the rare night when he just couldn’t get anything going. Also, for the second consecutive game, he missed a shift because of problems with his skates.
He’s got five points in five games and he looks fine. But he just couldn’t do anything right against the Blues. I’d expect a much better performance from him on Tuesday against Dallas.
• An amusing scene unfolded late in the first period.
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└📁 Evgeni Malkin
└📁 Breakaway goals with big cellies pic.twitter.com/ZZ0WnLfMRp— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 22, 2023
Malkin produced a takeaway that led to a two-on-one for the Penguins. However, Malkin was then called for tripping Nick Leddy. The whistle, to be generous, was extremely late.
The Penguins killed the penalty. Kris Letang then sprung Malkin on a breakaway as he emerged from the penalty box. Malkin scored and then screamed at the official who made the tripping call.
“I just pushed him,” Malkin said of Leddy. “Wouldn’t have called it if we weren’t getting breakaway.”
• Zohorna was outstanding.
A big deficit to overcome, but Big Z was trying to make big moves for Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/AuGDzxBTcT
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 22, 2023
The big man played with a noticeable amount of speed. He was one of the best players on the ice and made it pretty clear that he deserved a roster spot out of training camp. He was outstanding in camp, just as he was in St. Louis.
“I thought Z played well,” Sullivan said.
In fact, the line of Zohorna, Drew O’Connor and Lars Eller was outstanding and the only line that wasn’t on the ice for a goal against.
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“We have a good dynamic on our line,” Eller said. “We spent a lot more time in their zone than in ours. We did a good job of holding onto the puck.”
• Eller has made a career out of being defensively responsible.
What he witnessed on Saturday must have been a little horrifying.
The thoughtful Eller broke down what went wrong for the Penguins defensively.
“We didn’t do a good job of getting pucks through their first layer of defense,” he explained. “When we don’t execute a shot or a pass, they get a three on two or a two on one because we don’t have that third forward protecting our D. That’s an area we have to improve. It cost us today.”
In other words, the Penguins were more interested in trying to score goals than in playing a solid brand of hockey.
• Ryan Shea made his NHL debut, replacing P.O. Joseph.
Shea was burned badly in a second-period goal, though was otherwise decent in his debut.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/QCob1eKhSt
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 22, 2023
I don’t suspect he’s a reasonable long-term answer on the third pairing and I’m pretty confident that the same can be said of Chad Ruhwedel.
I didn’t like Ruhwedel’s game. He was really bad in Detroit. He wasn’t very good last season, either. You notice the trend there.
• The fourth line is a real problem.
Jeff Carter was probably the best player on the bottom six through four games, but that really isn’t meant as a compliment. He was just the only player who produced any offensive chances.
Carter was not good against St. Louis. Matt Nieto was really quiet. And Noel Acciari has been very disappointing through five games. He’s been invisible.
• Broken record time for Jarry.
Was he the problem? No. In fact, he made a spectacular left pad save on Brayden Schenn in the first period to keep the Blues’ lead 1-0. I’m of the belief that, if Schenn scores there, the Blues rout the Penguins.
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Still, that’s eight goals allowed by Jarry in his past two games. Sure, the defense in front of him has been dismal at times. But you’re allowed to make a save.
Don’t be shocked if Alex Nedeljkovic gets the start on Tuesday.
• The Penguins actually played with an exceptional amount of energy through four games.
I’m not sure what happened against the Blues, who, by the way, are not very good.
Practice on Monday should be fascinating. Sullivan sounded like a coach who was disgusted with his team and intent on making some changes.
I’d absolutely shake up the power play. And I’m not sure I’d stop there.
It’s wakeup call time.
(Photo of Sidney Crosby taking a shot on goal against the Blues: Jeff Le / USA Today)
