Penguins/Canucks Recap: Pens collapse in second period, can’t dig out of hole

Pittsburgh turns a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 deficit in 65 seconds and sinks away to a 4-3 loss in Vancouver

Pregame

Cody Glass remains ill and unable to play so Valtteri Puustinen is back in the lineup. Rickard Rakell is up on the Sidney Crosby line, Michael Bunting is back off Evgeni Malkin’s and Alex Nedeljkovic is in the crease in goal.

The home Canucks are in their snazzy third jerseys and using the following lines and groupings.

First period

Bunting gets feisty after a whistle and is served a roughing penalty exactly 2:00 into the game to give Vancouver an early power play. Pittsburgh kills it off and gets the best chances of the penalty, despite being shorthanded.

The two new wingers for Evgeni Malkin pay off, Bryan Rust shows some speed and gains the zone. Malkin works the puck to Marcus Pettersson and the point shot is deflected by Anthony Beauvillier to score on his former team. 1-0 Pens early.

Beauvillier follows that up by drawing a penalty on Tyler Myers in the corner. The Pens’ power play, however, can’t take much advantage and looks about as flat as the Canucks did on their earlier man advantage.

Bunting goes back to the box (for four minutes this time on a high-sticking double minor) and Vancouver gets setup and looks a lot more dangerous on their power play but Nedeljkovic and the Pens’ PK keeps them off the board.

Shots end up 12-6 VAN after 20, but their 5:37 of power play time has skewed that total. Good start for Pittsburgh overall, when Bunting could avoid cutting tracks to the penalty box at least.

Second period

Pittsburgh kills off the remaining time on Bunting’s penalty and then get back to work. The first line has a long shift in the offensive zone and the new-look second line strikes again, Malkin holds onto the puck forever and eventually the puck gets to Rust, who wraps it around on his backhand and it leaks through Kevin Lankinen. 2-0.

Bunting sets up Kris Letang for a great chance but Lankinen and the Canucks start turning the tables. They build with a long shift and then after Matt Grzelcyk can’t clear the puck, Elias Pettersson strikes with his first goal of the season. 2-1 game.

The crowd has life and the energy grows. Rust turns the puck over at the offensive blueline and Marcus Pettersson toe picks to take himself out of the play. The Canucks rocket down on a 2-on-1 and Teddy Blueger makes a nice pass over for Kiefer Sherwood to hammer home. 2-2 game.

The disaster continues to unfold with another offensive zone turnover leads to JT Miller getting in all alone. Erik Karlsson catches up to him but Miller bulls over him and the puck bounces into the net after Nedeljkovic had made the first save. A 2-0 Pens lead has turned into a 3-2 Canucks lead in 65 seconds.

The bleeding doesn’t stop, Vancouver gears up with speed again and scores on the rush off a rebound. Again. Daniel Sprong zooms around Karlsson and shoots off the pads of Nedeljkovic. Kevin Hayes can’t keep up with Arshdeep Bains who drives to the net and slams home the loose change. 4-2 game.

Pittsburgh uses the timeout to attempt to regroup. It works, to the degree of at least keeping the Canucks from celebrating another goal again in this frame.

Shots are 16-6 Vancouver in the middle frame. A brutal turn of events for the Pens to surrender four goals and fall into a hole.

Third period

Injury is added to the insult of this game when Rust goes down hard and favors his right leg while limping off the ice and straight to the locker room.

Pens trying all sorts of line combinations for some time now. Rust being out leads to a Malkin-Crosby-Rakell line that gets some zone time.

Ryan Graves gets tripped so Pittsburgh gets their second power play of the night. It leads to some zone time and decent looks but no goal.

After the power play, Sidney Crosby helps win a puck battle to a streaking Malkin who is in on a breakaway. Malkin dekes to the backhand and scores goal No. 501 but pays the price of hitting the post then crashing into the boards. There’s no goal celebration as he stays down for a while but eventually gets back to his feet. 4-3 game with 6:38 to play.

Nedeljkovic is lifted for the extra skater with about 100 ticks to go. The big guys can’t find a way to beat the clock.

Some thoughts

• Bunting has been a healthy scratch not too long ago and was demoted off the Malkin line to start the game, so he’s been on shaky footing with the coaching staff to start the season. Can’t imagine taking six PIMs in the first is going to help his cause. The Pens have to figure out how to get him refined and focused and contributing in a positive way and so far it hasn’t worked out.
• Something is very wrong with Erik Karlsson’s game. He’s virtually laughed off questions but it’s glaringly obvious that it can’t be dodged any longer. Not sure if missing the whole preseason is adding up or showing a bigger issue but that’s at the point of needing to be addressed within himself or from coaching but Karlsson is struggling like never before at this point.
• Not in the least for his partner, Grzelcyk gets caught in space and isn’t providing capable help.
• Then again, you can point a finger just about anywhere and it’s met with a disappointing performance or a head-shakingly poor moment along the way.
• The first 24 minutes the Penguins looked great. Perfectly on top of things. Great response from looking noncompetitive last night. It wasn’t like their legs failed them or fatigue was an issue, it was more poor decisions, physical mistakes and meltdowns seen in too many of the games.
• The margins remain so small. If Letang scores on his great look and makes it a 3-0 game, do the Canucks stay in their slumber? That’s not to say a win would have been automatic, the Pens are bad enough to blow a three-goal lead about as easily as a two-goal margin but those kind of things will keep them wondering and show just how close it could have been to the game potentially unfolding in a different way.
• The Pens are now leading a category you don’t want to be leading; they’ve lost four games this season that they’ve been winning at one point. Comebacks happen, but the frequency has to be alarming.
• The Pens announced via twitter soon after Rust’s injury that he would not return to the game. Getting officially ruled out rarely happens these days and is seldom the mark of a good thing.
• Three point night for Malkin, while looking for positive notes. His play to crash the net on the breakaway illustrates the drive and desire is still there from the team. They’re trying and letting it all hang on the line, just simply not good enough to overcome the frequent mistakes along the way.

Western road swings are always a challenge, this one was no different. Pittsburgh didn’t rise to the occasion, going 0-3-1 on the trip. They’ll limp back east with many of their biggest deficiencies starring them right in the face the whole long trip back.