'Disconnected' power play keeps sliding as Canes sweep season series

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The boxscore will show that the Penguins went 1 for 6 in losing to the Hurricanes, 2-1, Saturday night at PNC Arena, but that won't tell the total story.

Rickard Rakell managed to luck himself into a goal on the man-advantage in the third period when Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen took a swing at a puck that went right off Rakell and into the net

"(The Penguins) got a power play goal, (Andersen) gave it to them," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour observed after the game. "But that's all they got all night."

The Penguins had five other power-play opportunities that they failed to capitalize on, including an extended five-on-three late in the second. Any one of those could have been a game-changer in what ended up being a one-goal game.

They fell short in the latest chapter of this a power-play slide.

The Penguins only recorded seven shots on goal on 10 shot attempts on those power play attempts, with just two shots (and one missed shot) coming on the 1:34 5-on-3 opportunity.

"I think it was maybe just a bit disconnected," Bryan Rust said of the power play. "At times we needed to execute some plays and we didn't. Their penalty-kill pressures really hard. We maybe just needed to simplify a little bit more."

Rakell said that he thought the Hurricanes were aggressive with their pressure on the Penguins' zone entries throughout the game on the power play, making it difficult to set up. And as far as the five-on-three, he thought they at least came pretty close to scoring, but they just weren't good enough.

"It's such a fine line of scoring and not scoring on the five-on-three," Rakell said. "If one of the shots are three inches more to one side, it goes post and in instead of out. The margins are small. But we need to find a way to have them on our side."

The Penguins power play has been streaky throughout the season. They were hot through the first four weeks of December, going 16-for-41 for a 39% success rate over 12 games, recording a power play in all but one of those games. The success carried over into the win column, with a 8-2-2 record in that stretch.

The power play been in a bit of a lull over two weeks now. Since Dec. 30 (the first game following Kris Letang's injury) the Penguins have gone 3-for-33 on the man advantage for a 9% success rate over seven games, including tonight. The record in those games is 2-5.

One factor (but not the sole factor) for the power play taking a step back as of late is undoubtedly the personnel. Ty Smith has the potential to be a dynamic offensive presence on the power play, and he's had some good moments since he was thrust into the the role of quarterbacking the top power play seven games ago. But he's not Jeff Petry, and he's not Letang, and he at times look out of place. He was extremely adept at getting shots through to the net from the point for Wilkes-Barre, creating movement and rebound opportunities for the forwards in front of them. That isn't translating so much to the NHL level, and he's deferring more to the stars around him. 

"I think he's had stretches where he's done a pretty good job up there," Mike Sullivan said of Smith quarterbacking the power play. "I think there's other times when it's been a struggle."

Tonight was one of those nights that was closer to the latter. It's hard to really fault Smith -- he's certainly not the only one struggling right now, and he's in a role that might be too big for him yet regardless. Still, it might at least be nice to see P.O Joseph get a shot on the top unit for the time being, given that he's had some pretty good stretches quarterbacking the second unit this season.

Regardless of who is on either unit, the Penguins just need to get back to getting more pucks and bodies through to the net. They're leaving too many goals (and points in the standings) on the table otherwise.

"I just think some of it is execution, some of it is decision-making," Sullivan has said of what's happened to the power play. "I know how much these guys care, and they have the ability to be really good. They've shown that for long stretches. I just don't think we're executing quite as well as we were when we were on the hot streak there, when we were one of the best power plays in the league there for a long stretch. I think the solution to it is we just have to simplify the game again and go back to establishing a shot and getting a net-front presence and trying to create offense off of that. I think that's when our power play is at its best."

They had better find that solution fast.

MORE FROM THE GAME

• The Hurricanes swept the season series against the Penguins. All four games were one-goal games, and two ended in overtime. They won't see them again this season ... unless they meet in the playoffs.

• Here's a look at the Rakell goal, which might be the most bizarre way we see a Penguins player score all year. Andersen tried clearing the puck by throwing it in front of him and swinging at it, except he put it right off of Rakell and in:

"First I thought he was just going to clear the puck," Rakell told me of that play with a hint of a smile. "I was trying to make a play and just hit something in there. I got lucky, it hit something and bounced in. It gave us a chance to come back in the game."

• The disparity in shot attempts in the first period was huge, with the Hurricanes attempting 33 to the Penguins' 19 as a result of the game spending a lot of time in the Pittsburgh end. Shots on goal were relatively even, with the Hurricanes having a 15-11 edge.

"I don't know that I agree with you that we didn't come to play," Sullivan said when asked about the first period. "I thought we competed pretty hard. We were playing against a good hockey team. I thought there were momentum swings on both sides. We know they're a team that-they play a pretty simple game. They play a north-south game. They throw a lot of pucks in. They're one of the leading teams in the league as far as dump-in rates, and that's the game they play. And then, they're going to try to suffocate you with their forecheck, and they're good at it. So they had their moments when they had momentum. I thought we had some looks. There's a fine line."

• The Penguins were the dominant team in the third period, but that effort fell short. They attempted 30 shots to the Hurricanes' 14, and they outshot the Hurricanes 15-7.

"I thought we were on our toes," Rust said of the final period. "We were playing in their face. We knew we were behind. That's how we should have been playing all game. Fearless and on our toes."

• The Hurricanes sure seemed to be shooting higher than usual on DeSmith. I have more on that in Freeze Frame.

• Jalen Chatfield's bar-down tally proved to be the game-winner:

• DeSmith really isn't at fault at all here, with 34 saves on 36 shots tonight. It was a good bounce-back night for him after he got yanked after allowing three goals in seven minutes in his last start against the Canucks. DeSmith was asked if he was satisfied with his game.

"Hard to be satisfied not winning," DeSmith said. "It's a tough thing. Would like to have the first one. Other than that, I thought I battled hard and played pretty well. Obviously, not getting wins is not going to leave me satisfied."

• Evgeni Malkin led the Penguins with seven shots on goal. Nobody else had more than three. 

• Malkin's line with Rakell and Jason Zucker was the Penguins' only forward line that was on the ice (fully intact) for more shots on goal for than against by a 9-8 margin.

• Sebastian Aho got tossed out of the faceoff on a Penguins power play so defenseman Brent Burns stepped into the faceoff circle against Crosby ... and won:

• Congratulations to Matt Cullen, who had his No. 9 raised to the rafters tonight at his alma mater St. Cloud State:

• Back in Cranberry, it was a packed house for the neutral-site regular-season PHF women's game between the Connecticut Whale and Montreal Force:

The highlights for that game can be found here.

• Pretty decent press box snacks here -- popcorn, trail mix, hard pretzels, M&Ms, sour gummy worms, and gummy bears. I give it a B-. 

TAYLOR HAASE / DKPS

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PNC Arena:

1. Frederik Andersen, Hurricanes G
2. Jalen Chatfield, Hurricanes D
3. Brady Skjei, Hurricanes D

THE INJURIES

• Defenseman Jeff Petry remained sidelined with the left wrist injury he suffered in the Penguins' game against the Sabres on Dec. 10. He's resumed skating on his own and stickhandling with both hands.

• Forward Josh Archibald has been sidelined with an undisclosed lower-body injury since the Penguins' game in Raleigh, N.C. on Dec. 18. He is skating on his own.

• Defenseman Kris Letang is still dealing with a lower-body injury that he sustained in the Penguins' game Dec. 28 against the Red Wings. He also remains away from the team right now following the death of his father.

• Forward Ryan Poehling has been dealing with a nagging upper-body injury off and on throughout most of December and January. He is skating on his own.

• Goaltender Tristan Jarry remains out after suffering a lower-body injury in the Winter Classic on Jan. 2. He has resumed skating on his own, and Sullivan said in his pregame availability that they're hopeful he can return to practice this coming week.

• Defenseman Marcus Pettersson missed his second straight game with an illness. He did not make the trip to Raleigh.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Drew O'Connor - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Danton Heinen - Teddy Blueger - Brock McGinn

Brian Dumoulin - Mark Friedman
Ty Smith - Chad Ruhwedel
P.O Joseph - Jan Rutta

And for Rod Brind'Amour's Hurricanes:

Teuvo Teravainen - Sebastian Aho - Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov - Paul Stastny - Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook - Jordan Staal - Jesper Fast
Derek Stepan - Jesperi Kotkaniemi - Stefan Noesen

Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Brady Skjei - Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan - Jalen Chatfield

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have a scheduled day off Sunday. Their next game is at home against the Ducks at 7:08 p.m. Monday.

THE CONTENT

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