Penguins/Islanders Recap: The PDO dam breaks, Pens lose

The Penguins go up 2-0 but the smoke and mirrors finally runs out

Pregame

The Penguins reportedly had some players dealing with bumps and bruises, leading to an emergency recall of Joona Koppanen. It’s needed, Koppanen replaces Emil Bemstrom in the lineup, otherwise Pittsburgh is fairly similar to what’s brought them into the game on a four-game winning streak.

First period

The Islanders start the game out as the better of the two teams, but it’s the Pens who score first. Vladislav Kolyachonok has his head up all the way on a play from the left point and deftly snaps a puck to the front of the net where two Penguins are ready. Koppanen puts a tip on it for his first goal in his 10th career NHL game (five with Boston, five with Pittsburgh) and first game of the season. 1-0 Pens.

NYI is good the rest of the way but Tristan Jarry is back, baby!

In the last minute of the period the Pens’ first line comes alive. Conor Timmins nearly scores but can’t beat Ilya Sorokin. The puck bounces to Sidney Crosby and with a chopping motion he hacks the loose puck through the defender and to the top corner. 2-0.

Patrick Roy challenges for goalie interference. Rickard Rakell isn’t setup inside the blue paint but he does harass Sorokin by leveraging the top of the goalie’s stick down. It’s probably not a bad challenge since no one knows what the referee’s interpretation of goalie interference is, but this time it break in Pittsburgh’s favor and rightfully so. Sorokin was aggressive out challenging, Rakell wasn’t innocent but wasn’t encroaching on the goalie’s stated territory of the blue paint. Islanders are charged a minor penalty for the failed challenge.

Perfect period to encapsulate the run of hot play for the PDOenguins. Shots are 12-9 NYI, but Pittsburgh finds a way to score twice on a deflection and broken play and Jarry’s hot streak hasn’t come to an end yet. 2-0 lead for the home team.

Second period

Pittsburgh doesn’t score on the carryover power play, a little later Bo Horvat dumps Bryan Rust and then apparently says something naughty to the refs since he gets rung up for two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Pens don’t take advantage of that power play either and they play on.

The rest of the period plays out without much going on. NYI out-shoots the Pens 12-9 but Jarry is there. 2-0 still

Third period

The Islanders finally get on the board and just 17 seconds in. The puck takes a weird bounce high off the glass that Kris Letang can’t handle and it springs Kyle Palmieri on a breakaway. He hits the post then the backside of Jarry and the puck barely goes in. 2-1.

NYI’s push continues, Adam Pelech strikes the post but it stays out. A little later it goes in. Islanders strike on the rush, Conor Timmins gets lost in the wash and slides himself out of the play leading to NYI overloading the net and defenseman Noah Dobson cleans up a rebound in deep. 2-2 game.

The game opens up in both directions, the Pens get a few counter-punches but it’s mostly the Isles doing carrying the play.

NY pulls in ahead, Pierre Engvall out-races Ryan Graves and sweeps a shot that Jarry can’t catch up with. 3-2 game with 6:52 to play.

Pittsburgh gets a chance with a power play opportunity. It doesn’t work. They pull Jarry with two minutes left for an extra attacker, that doesn’t work either. NYI scores into the empty net with 1:32 to play to go up 4-2 and seal the win.

Some thoughts

• Koppanen was Pittsburgh’s 28th goal scorer this season, the most in the NHL per the broadcast. First in something! That might not be an indicator of a very healthy or good team to dress enough players where 28 different ones are scoring.
• Kolyachonok recorded his sixth assist of the season (though only two have been with the Penguins, over seven games). Compare that to P.O Joseph’s one assist in 24 games or Ryan Graves’ two assists in 48 games and my goodness it’s a breath of fresh air to have someone fairly competent on the left side.
• The Pens have been wearing their alternate third jerseys on Tuesday this season, if they stick to that formatting this would be the second-to-last time to see this particular jersey on the ice for a while with the new alternates expected next season. Three weeks from today the Pens host Chicago for their last Tuesday home game.
• About mid-way through the game the lines switched up; Connor Dewar got bumped up to the Malkin-Tomasino line and Danton Heinen dropped down to play with Hayes-Imama and Koppanen was with Lizotte-Acciari.
• You saw the bad of Conor Timmins for the first time on NYI’s tying goal in the third, Timmins’ first goal against in a Penguin sweater. A defensive miscue led to him abandoning his position and making it easy for the opponent to score a goal at the exact moment Pittsburgh needed a strong defensive play. Sometimes it happens but it’s like all the charm ran out for everyone at the exact same time.
• Speaking of that, for the first 40 minutes the Pens looked golden. Jarry was a brick wall, they were out-shot but doing their thing as of late to be opportunistic and stay ahead on the scoreboard. The cracks were showing even before NYI’s first goal 17 seconds into the third but that unleashed the tidal wave from the dam being held together by unsustainable goaltending and barely enough scoring. It was fun while it lasted.
• Even then, Jarry played well making 36 saves on 39 shots. The Isles took over and the Pens were on their heels for much of the night but especially for the whole second half of the game. It wasn’t a goaltending issue, the team just couldn’t step up and overcome the pressure they faced and ended up folding.
• Which means the PDO dried up due to shooting. Pittsburgh only scored two goals on 21 shots, disappointing on both figures compared to what they’ve accomplished lately. Can’t score two goals in the first 20 minutes and close up shop – not that the Pens really intentionally shut things down, they just got outplayed the rest of the way and eventually the opponent found a way to overcome. Deep down (or maybe not even that deep down) everyone had to have an inkling that this late-season run was going to be betrayed by either the shooting or the goaltending and tonight the former proved to be the key, with an 0/3 power play that never even came close to scoring factoring into the loss in a major way.

The Pens get a few days off to regroup and get ready for Columbus coming to town on Friday night.