The mark of inconsistency doomed the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again in their 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
And, despite controlling large portions of play yet again, their defense let them down.
The Penguins got swept in their season series against the Seattle Kraken, dropping their second matchup, 4-1, in a series of defensive breakdowns and lapses of judgment.
“I thought for the majority of the game, we carried the play,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “But you can’t hand teams easy offense like we did. When you look at the goals that they scored, it’s just too easy. It’s just too easy. Obviously, it makes it hard to win when you do that.”
The Penguins were in this game until the third period, as Sidney Crosby got on the board and rookie goaltender Joel Blomqvist was keeping it close.
But all four Seattle goals – aside from a five-on-three power play goal that put them up, 2-1, in the second period – were the result of turnovers and defensive breakdowns.
I’m going to keep this one short, but this was not a good loss for the Penguins. Here are just a few observations:
– Although the Penguins couldn’t figure out Seattle netminder Joey Daccord for the second game in a row, this loss falls on their defensive corps.
The first goal of the game was a result of an unacceptable offensive zone turnover by Kris Letang. He whiffed on a pass, and Seattle turned it right back the other way. Then, with the Penguins shorthanded, he took an ill-advised cross-checking penalty that gave Seattle a five-on-three for nearly a minute and a half, and they capitalized. 2-0.
On the third goal, Matt Grzelcyk inexplicably followed a Seattle forward without the puck below the goal line, leaving the net-front completely exposed. Two Kraken were waiting in front of Blomqvist for an easy goal.
Then, on Seattle’s last goal, Erik Karlsson made an unnecessarily high-risk pass that led to a turnover in the neutral zone, and they capitalized.
The worst part about this game is that the Penguins did not play all that poorly. They didn’t really give Seattle too many good looks all that consistently. But if they’re going to win hockey games, they absolutely cannot hand opposing teams easy goals. It’s that simple.
They are not committed enough to details, and it’s what is hampering their season. This team should be nowhere near as far down in the standings as it is.
– This was one of the worst performances of the season from Letang in particular.
He did have an assist on Crosby’s goal and did…