For the second night in a row and the seventh time in nine games since the holiday break, the Pittsburgh Penguins came out on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
And, on Sunday, it certainly wasn't for a lack of effort.
The Penguins dropped another Eastern Conference matchup, 5-2, to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The score was tied, 2-2, midway through the third period. Rickard Rakell and Kevin Hayes - on the power play - had tallies for the Penguins, and Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov were on the board for the Lightning.
However, with under four minutes remaining in regulation, Kucherov capitalized late after Noel Acciari whiffed on an attempted breakout pass to put the Bolts ahead, 3-2.
Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul added empty-net goals at the end to seal the contest.
“It’s tough," goaltender Tristan Jarry said. "A loss is a loss at the end of the day, but I thought the team played well. We did a good job. We were in their zone most of the night. Just the chances that Tampa got were good chances. They were grade-A chances. That’s what it was tonight.”
For most of the game, Pittsburgh did outplay Tampa. The Penguins dominated the first period, outshooting the Bolts, 15-2, and tcontrolling play. The trouble is that - just like on Nov. 19 - they only had one goal to show for it in that first period.
For the rest of the game, they still had a lot of chances and mostly controlled play, aside from the second half of the second period. They outshot Tampa, 33-19. They played a mostly strong defensive game aside from a few miscues, and the opportunistic Lightning simply buried those - namely the Kucherov goal.
They probably deserved a better fate, but all they can do is control what's in front of them."Obviously, it's easy to say that, maybe, we deserved that one," said Philip Tomasino, who played in his first game since Jan. 3. "But, gotta give them credit. They played hard, too. If we continue to play that way, I think we're going to win most games."
Here are a few other notes and observations from this one:
- This was a gut-wrenching loss for the Penguins. Things haven't gone their way since the holiday break, and they've had a good habit this season of coming back strong after bad losses like the one against Ottawa on Saturday.
The truth is, they did come out strong. As mentioned before, they mostly controlled play. They were disciplined and didn't surrender a Tampa Bay power play the entire evening. Most of the game was played on their terms.
But they just couldn't capitalize early on when they were dominating, which, ultimately, contributed to their downfall. And it also got them to a place where they needed to play mistake-free hockey, which they couldn't quite accomplish in the end.
Tomasino said there were a lot of positives to take from this one, and I agree. But that one stings, and it's still a big loss - especially since they are now two points back of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot having played two additional games. And they are now tied with the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens - both of whom have three games in hand on the Penguins.
Again, they have lost seven of nine since the break and five of their last six. But - aside from Saturday - the games have all seemed within reach.
"It’s a matter of details and big plays, and when you're stringing seven together, you're getting those plays, and when you're not, that’s probably the difference," captain Sidney Crosby said. "But a lot of those games we're coming out of, we feel like we did a lot of good things. So, that's probably the most frustrating thing about it."
They need to make up these points somewhere, and somewhere fast, before their games played becomes too much of a hurdle to overcome.
- Speaking of Tomasino, I thought he was pretty solid tonight. His line was in general. He made a few questionable decisions with the puck, but for the most part, he played hard.
Aside from the first line, I thought that line of him, Cody Glass, and Drew O'Connor was the Penguins' best. They generated a lot of chances and got the cycle and forecheck going on several occasions, especially in the first period.
Not having Michael Bunting - who was in a car accident prior to the game - and Evgeni Malkin - who was placed on injured reserve Sunday retroactively and is still day-to-day with an upper-body injury - was very noticeable, though. I think this team is at its best when guys like Glass and O'Connor can play in a bottom-six role.
