Well, ladies and gentlemen, yet another game with a good start, then lapses in judgment causing the downfall. First, the good: the first 30 minutes, the Pens played well. Same with the final 10, for the most part. Crosby played very well, as did Hornqvist. Those two did their best to carry the game. Kunitz played with energy most of the game. Cole has points in three straight games... what a steal. He's playing with confidence. The defense and the team as a whole, during their strong 40 minutes, did a good job of breaking the Blue Jackets' cycle and keeping the puck.
There were some folks who played well enough, too. I'll call them the neutrals. Fleury gave up a lot of goals, but you can't blame him for most of them. Lovejoy did not have the strongest game, but he did provide something desperately needed - a goal / threat from the blue line. For parts of the game, Kunitz/Winnik/Comeau had strong cycles and gave the Blue Jackets trouble. They even got secondary scoring from Sutter.
Then, in one fell swoop, everything turned in the 2nd period. I don't think the Perron giveaway lit the fire for the Blue Jackets - they had started to push after the 2nd goal - but that giveaway caused all of the momentum to go to their side. He is on some kind of horrible slump. Pouliot had a similar giveaway to bring about the Blue Jackets' third goal (if I remember right). I think this was his worst game as a Pen (a -3), but I also think I've been saying that recently after most games. Once the Blue Jackets started to push, the Pens folded. The fourth goal was... sketchy, but the refs put away the whistle for the most part. Downie had an ill-timed holding penalty (which CBJ did not punish), but his penalty was more indicative of the team as a whole. The metro always seems to overwhelm the Pens in one way or another.
IMO, this team is in trouble.
DK had some slightly sensational thoughts (as most beat writers do anymore) that nonetheless still seem to properly note the trouble:
We'll see how Malkin's return affects the Pens today... but man, do they miss Letang, Ehrhoff (the uninjured & capable version), & Maatta. They miss the Perron who was gleeful to be playing with Crosby & scoring often, and the Comeau of the first half of the season, displaying great chemistry with Malkin.Lovejoy was positively seething at his stall.
So were Crosby, Fleury, Rob Scuderi and a couple others. The rest zipped up their bags and rushed out before having to face any questions themselves.
That’s your 2014-15 Pittsburgh Penguins, I dare say. At least as currently defined.
They’re legitimately gifted enough to beat some of the league’s elite teams and, at the same time, legitimately unfocused enough to lose focus, lose three two-goal leads in the past six games and lose … well, possibly their whole season before long.
(Edit: Adding Lovejoy's reaction because it's always fun.)