Penguins' defensive futility strikes again in loss to Jets: Yohe's 10 observations

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WINNIPEG, Man. — The Pittsburgh Penguins have made some news by keeping three goalies on their roster during their annual trip to Western Canada.

Even if all three could stand in the crease simultaneously, it won’t matter if Mike Sullivan’s team keeps playing like this in the defensive zone.

The Penguins gave up what has become their typical absurd amount of Grade-A looks, blowing a two-goal lead while falling 6-3 to the Jets in Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon.

So, how do Sullivan and the Penguins’ coaching staff go about fixing it?

“We have to work at it,” Sullivan said. “It starts with the right mindset. We are quick to try and jump on the offense when we don’t have the puck. We end up putting our teammates in a tough spot. We have to have more of a mindset to put defense first.”

Sidney Crosby, sitting in the quiet Penguins’ locker room moments after he the game, made one item very clear.

“It’s not our goalies,” Crosby said. “It’s on us to play better in front of them.”

Tristan Jarry’s poor start to the season has received considerable attention. But Penguins goalies simply won’t have a chance if this kind of play continues.

Alex Nedeljkovic made his first start of the season after dealing with an injury for much of training camp. He allowed five goals on 36 shots but truth be told, the score should have been considerably more lopsided than it was.

“I thought he was solid,” Sullivan said.

Many of the Penguins are miffed about the defensive struggles that are now largely responsible for the team leading the NHL with 31 goals against in its first seven games.

“It’s not just one thing,” Kris Letang said. “But we aren’t doing any of the little things well right now. That’s a problem.”

Crosby made a list of all the things the Penguins are doing wrong in regards to goal prevention.

It was extensive.

“We’re giving up odd-man rushes,” he said. “We’re not getting clears.”

Then there was the game-winner when Crosby’s line was on the ice. Lars Eller had scored his second goal to pull the game even early in the third period. Adam Lowry required less than three minutes to put the Jets ahead to stay.

“Look at the game-winner,” Crosby said. “I lose the face-off. Then I don’t get my guy. And it ends up in the back of the net.”

Crosby isn’t wrong. Letang was also beaten to the net and the Penguins, in general, made this goal way too easy for Lowry to score.

The theme in the locker room following the game was pretty simple: Scoring goals isn’t the problem. Preventing them is.

No one was blaming Nedeljkovic.

“That 100 percent was the problem,” Drew O’Connor said. “We have to help our goalies way more than we have. They’re keeping us in games. We are giving up so many Grade-A chances. It’s tough to win games like that.”

Sullivan’s point about the Penguins being too eager to head into the offensive zone is undeniable. After Winnipeg evened the game late in the second period, they took the lead when Letang jumped into the play before Eller had even secured the puck. It resulted in disaster.

Winnipeg tied the game earlier in the second thanks largely to Ryan Graves’ inability to locate Mark Scheifele in front of the net. Graves had knocked him down a moment earlier, but Scheifele ultimately won the battle.

“We can’t keep giving up five or six goals a game if we want to win,” Crosby said.

Ten postgame observations 

• Nedeljkovic was far from perfect in this game, but honestly, I thought he was pretty good. The first period finished scoreless but the Jets had a massive edge in play. Only Nedeljkovic’s play kept the Penguins in the game through 20 minutes.

Nedeljkovic said he didn’t feel sharp in the opening minutes but that pucks were “hitting” him. But he said he felt better after those initial minutes.

“I put myself in position to make some saves,” he said.

It wasn’t a bad performance at all from the goaltender.

• In what may have been a first, Sullivan declined to name who his starting goaltender would be while speaking with the media two hours before the contest.

Having three goaltenders on the current roster is obviously an unorthodox move and not something I’d expect the Penguins to do long-term. Why didn’t Sullivan name the goaltender publicly?

More than anything, I think he was protecting Jarry on some level. Jarry was the healthy scratch on Sunday, with Joel Blomqvist serving as his backup.

Nedeljkovic went out of his way to praise what the rookie has brought to the table.

“Joel has been playing really well,” Nedeljkovic said. “He’s been deserving of the net.”

I haven’t a clue who will get the start in Calgary. All I know is the Penguins had better play better in front of whoever the goaltender is, or it won’t matter. That said, I think the Penguins would be wise to give Jarry some time away from games and let goaltender coach Andy Chiodo work with him. He doesn’t seem like a safe bet to play well right now and playing behind this team won’t do him any favors.

• Sullivan made major lineup changes.

Michael Bunting, off to a slow start, was a healthy scratch. O’Connor moved up to Crosby’s line. Jesse Puljujärvi moved up to Evgeni Malkin’s line. Valtteri Puustinen saw his first action of the season. Jack St. Ivany was replaced by Ryan Shea.

It’s pretty clear Sullivan isn’t going to sit back and throw the same lineups onto the ice every night if the Penguins aren’t winning. I would applaud him for that. But the results were decidedly mixed.

Puljujarvi made little impact on Malkin’s line. The Penguins’ top line struggled mightily in the early going.

“Felt like we were playing defense the first 10 minutes and nothing else,” O’Connor said. “But I do think we got better as the game went on.”

• It was a second straight game without a point for both Crosby and Malkin.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but the Penguins are going to struggle when their two superstar centers are quiet. Malkin, who has been sensational early on this season, had an off game. Crosby wasn’t as quiet as he was against Carolina, but clearly isn’t on top of his game.

• Speaking of which, Erik Karlsson and Letang continue to struggle. I’ll keep beating this drum until something changes. The Penguins are going absolutely nowhere without positive play from their two most talented defensemen.

They’re both a disaster in the defensive zone. It’s the same mistakes, game in and game out. They aren’t so much making bad choices with the puck — although there has been some of that — as much as they’re losing track of forwards and out of position in the defensive zone.

• I don’t think Marcus Pettersson is on top of his game either, and that’s a real problem. Even when things are bad for the Penguins, they can always depend on Pettersson, who has emerged as one of the NHL’s most steady defensemen.

He’s losing one-on-one battles and making some uncharacteristic mistakes. I have no doubt he’ll be fine, but sooner rather than later would help.

• Kevin Hayes scored his third goal of the season and has been quite a pleasant surprise. The guy can still play.

Is he a top-six player anymore? No. But he can be quite a luxury in the role the Penguins are using him in.

• Eller isn’t afraid to call out the Penguins when they play poorly. He does it all the time, in fact.

But he’s backing it up. He’s already scored four goals after two more on Sunday. The Penguins’ third and fourth lines, in fact, were better than their top two lines in this contest.

• It was a little odd seeing the Jets go with Eric Comrie in net instead of Connor Hellebuyck. Maybe this is simply a sign of the times. There once was a time when the Penguins simply never saw the opposing team’s backup goalie.

• This trip could get ugly in a hurry. Up next is a date with the 4-0-1 Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Then the Penguins must play two of the NHL’s best teams in Edmonton and Vancouver.

“We aren’t looking too far ahead,” Crosby said. “We just have to learn quickly and find another level to our defensive game.”

(Photo: James Carey Lauder / Imagn Images)





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