There was not much to write home about after the Pittsburgh Penguins dropped an important Eastern Conference matchup on Saturday.
The Ottawa Senators – who were just three points behind the Penguins in the standings coming into this game – came into town and beat the Penguins, 5-0, in a pretty one-sided special teams affair.
The Penguins went 0-for-7 on the power play, and the Senators scored two power play goals. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic surrendered five goals on just 17 shots and was pulled in favor of Tristan Jarry, who stopped the only five Ottawa shots he faced in the entire second half of the game.
The Penguins gave up a shorthanded goal to Shane Pinto, and they were bleeding odd-man rushes all night long both on their power play and during five-on-five.
“I just think we got outplayed tonight,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We didn’t play well enough.”
The players echoed the same sentiment as their coach did.
“They were better than us today,” forward Rickard Rakell said. “We didn’t deserve to win.”
Captain Sidney Crosby took it a step further.
“We just weren’t good enough, for whatever reason,” Crosby said. “We didn’t execute well, we didn’t win battles, we got outworked… and you can’t win like that. It’s good that we’re playing tomorrow to be able to get back at it, but we just didn’t deserve that one.”
He added: “They were just better. You don’t like to say that after a game. You want to give yourselves a chance every single night, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Here are some thoughts and observations after Saturday’s loss:
– The Penguins challenged Ottawa’s first goal for goaltender interference. Tim Stutzle was in the blue paint – along with Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk – and he appeared to impede Alex Nedeljkovic with his stick and make contact with his leg.
However, the call on the ice stood, Pittsburgh was charged with a penalty, and the Senators scored on the ensuing power play. Beyond being dissatisfied with the call – GM Kyle Dubas got an explanation from the league, which said Nedeljkovic’s ability to play his position wasn’t impeded – Sullivan is not a fan of the rule that assesses the challenging team a penalty if they lose the challenge.
“It’s tough, you know?” Sullivan said. “We get scored against, we challenge a goalie interference… we thought it was a really fair challenge… we don’t win the challenge, they score on the power play. It’s a two-goal swing. That’s why I’ve never been a big fan of the rule, quite honestly….