Pens/Jets recap: Sleeper offense destroys Pittsburgh in Winnipeg

Before the game

The Penguins are looking for more offense, looking to replace the middle six wings. Defenseman John Ludwig returned for his first NHL game since Dec. 31. Tristan Jarry is back in goal.

The first stage

Pittsburgh gave up the rush against the odd man out in the first shift, and unfortunately for them, that would be a sign of things to come.

The Pens looked to be on the up from the start, but Winnipeg took 10 minutes to score. Jake Guentzel came up in the offensive zone and made a pass up the ice, which was picked off by Nikolaj Ehlers and ran 2-on-1. Ehlers crossed for Mark Scheifele and was able to beat Tristan Jarry for Winnipeg's first legitimate goal on 167 minutes.

Showing that they were the smaller of the two teams on the rink, the Pens didn't need a bad break, but they still grabbed one when the officials didn't call an unexpected icing call. Seconds later, Nino Niederreiter made it 2-0 with a great volley past Jarry's back wall.

20 minutes of opening pens is not fun! They outscored 13-8, went 2-0 and won all over the rink.

The second stage

Logan Stanley sent off Colin White and took the first free kick of the game for interference. The split power play got one shot on goal (from Lars Eller) so, yeah, not great again.

Soon after, the lumbering Stanley was back in the box, but the Pens were sleeping on the power play again.

But Pittsburgh ran away and eventually got on the board. Erik Karlsson took a hard shot on net that was deflected by Brian Rast, and Pence fired one into the net to pull within one.

A good middle period for the Pens, but they can't quite get out of the hole they first dug themselves due to an erratic power play.

The third stage

Connor Hellebuyck kept the Pens from tying the game as the game wore on, and Tristan Jarry matched him with a beauty of a save from the Jets quarterback right up the middle.

Drew O'Connor had a power play with 7:15 left when he threw the puck and was intercepted by Nate Schmidt. The Jets hit the iron on an inbounds shot, Sidney Crosby gets one decent chance in front, but it doesn't connect.

With less than five minutes left in the game, Evgeni Malkin took a very hard penalty after a penalty. Pittsburgh blew it away, but would lose two crucial minutes to tie it.

The Pens use the 1:15 left to regroup for the final push. Once set up, they draw Jarry in less than a minute, but the 6v5 is incredibly static and they run out of time.

Some thoughts

• The Penguins are the NHL's oldest team, but have a 6-0-0 record this season in the second half of back-to-back games. But as Bob Grove tweeted, it's not just b-2-b that's problematic, it's usually travel that makes it impossible; Pittsburgh fell to 1-8-2 in its last 11 games with both games on the road in the second of back-to-back nights. It might throw off tonight's schedule somehow.
• Marcus Petterson gave a brutally honest first halftime interview to Sportsnet Pittsburgh. He made it clear that the Pens need to stop making odd-man rushes and make better decisions, and that they outplayed the competition in the first period. He was right on all accounts.
• It was a short game, but Jesse Puljujarvi certainly lived up to his reputation as a “good hockey player but can't score.” He gets to the right spots, had a few chances out the door in the third period, but few chances to score.
• But at least Puljujarvi was seen and has an excuse to barely make it to the NHL. The Pens rely more on big forwards like Reilly Smith and Rickard Rakell.
• The calls tend to be more consistent over the course of a long season, but it can be funny how things stack up. Between Minnesota's buzzer beater last night and the botched field goal and stoppages due to the unfrozen call, a lot of uncontrollables don't seem to be going the way of the Penguins right now. There is not much to do about it, but work hard and hope that luck will come sooner rather than later.
• Then again, it was 3-1 on penalties tonight, and the Pens didn't make the most of it. Again. Even the areas that benefit them and their opportunities to make their own fortunes are not maximized right now.
• It's easy to tell how Crosby was feeling. After the whistle, he got in Adam Lowry's face and barked at Dylan Samberg one after the other. For him, it seems to bubble up.
• There was a great goalie in this game. The Jets needed a couple of quality sequences to beat Jarry twice, and then he was dynamite to keep the Pens in the game. on the other hand, Hellebuyck made 35/36 stops and showed why he's one of the league's best goaltenders.

Another close loss for the Pens, who scored a total of three goals in two days on the road. Creating goals didn't seem to be a big issue for this team, but right now they're looking for answers on that front.