The Penguins suffered their third straight loss on Tuesday, January 14th, falling 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken at PPG Paints Arena. Despite a strong effort throughout the game, the Penguins were unable to overcome the Kraken’s potent offense and ultimately fell short in their bid to break the losing streak. The Kraken scored three straight in the third period to rally past the Penguins, two of those goals coming just 50 seconds apart. This loss, which was not only their third straight but also the seventh loss in their past eight games, deepened the sense of frustration surrounding the team. Philip Tomasino and Bryan Rust each scored for Pittsburgh, and Chandler Stephenson, Jamie Oleksiak, Eeli Tolvanen, and Kaapo Kakko each found the back of the net for Seattle. The Penguins start their seven-game road trip on Friday, taking on the Buffalo Sabres, and the Kraken will head to Winnipeg for the last game of their road trip on Thursday.
Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:
Rakell – Crosby – Rust
Bunting – Malkin – Glass
O’Connor – Hayes – Tomasino
Beauvillier – Lizotte – Acciari
Pettersson – Letang
Grzelcyk – Karlsson
Pickering – Joseph
Jarry
Nedeljkovic
Seattle Kraken Lineup:
Burakovsky – Stephenson – Bjorkstrand
Schwartz – Beniers – Kakko
McCann – Wright – Tolvanen
Tanev – Stephens – Hayden
Dunn – Larsson
Evans – Montour
Oleksiak – Mahura
Daccord
Grubauer
On Seattle’s second shot in the opening frame, which had also been their final shot in the first, Chandler Stephenson opened the scoring to put the Kraken ahead 1-0 early at 17:48. After Joey Daccord started the rush with a pass to Jared McCann, which got him his first NHL point when he recorded the secondary assist, McCann had been along the left boards and passed it off to Stephenson, who drove up the ice into the Penguins’ zone, firing a shorthanded wrister past Tristan Jarry during a 2-on-1 from the right circle. Philip Tomasino struck to knot it up 1-1 at 10:41 of the first, picking up his fifth goal of the season when a point shot from Kris Letang was tipped by Drew O’Connor, who left it sitting in the crease, Tomasino whacked at the puck with one hand on his stick as he had been holding off Adam Larsson. …In the first opening frame, the Penguins outshot the Kraken 16-2.
Bryan Rust broke the tie, grabbing the 2-1 lead for Pittsburgh for his 17th goal of the season with 15:18 on the clock. He scored during a delayed penalty off a pass from Erik Karlsson, sending a wrist shot past Joey Daccord from below the left circle. …Making a return after about two minutes from the locker room, Sidney Crosby had been shoved to the ice, initially drawing the penalty.
At 11:56 in the third, Jamie Oleksiak tied it back up 2-2 when he carried the puck to the left face-off circle, putting a wrister past Tristan Jarry for his third goal of the season. Eeli Tolvanen put Seattle back in front only seconds later after the second Kraken tally for his 11th of the season when he tapped in a pass from Shane Wright just outside the crease. With 1:03 left to play in regulation, Kaapo Kakko struck the Penguins’ empty net for the 4-2 final.
Tristan Jarry on the recent losses, mood in the locker room, what went wrong, frustration within the team, and what they could do differently to get out of this: “It’s tough losing this many in a row. It’s tough for any team. We just have to pick ourselves up and do the little things well, and that’s what we’ll get rewarded with. …I think we just kind of stopped playing there and they kind of took it to us for a little bit, we got stuck on our heels, and they were just able to get around us and get to pucks quicker,” – “I think anytime you lose, you’re always a little frustrated. You never want that outcome and you always want to be better, and this league is measured by wins and losses. So, whenever you lose, you’re obviously a little frustrated and you’re wondering what you could do differently. I think just losing a couple in a row, you’re wondering that. – I think just what we were doing earlier on around Thanksgiving. Defending hard and kind of playing our own end from our end out. I think when we’re playing our end, we’re playing good defense, we get rewarded with some offense, and I think that’s when we generate a lot of things.”
Game Notes:
– Tristan Jarry made a total of 14 saves for Pittsburgh.
– Evgeni Malkin, who made his return to the lineup after missing four games due to sustaining an upper-body injury, recorded an assist and played 18:00 of ice time.
– Michael Bunting, who had missed the Penguins’ 5-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday due to being involved in an auto accident outside of the arena, was held without a shot on goal in 16:28.
– For the first time since March 5th, 2017, with the Buffalo Sabres, Dan Bylsma coached. He had been the coach for the Penguins for 401 games from 2009-14, winning the Stanley Cup in 2009.
– Pens: 18-20-8, Kraken: 19-23-3
– Joey Daccord made a total of 31 saves for Seattle. …Daccord is the second goalie to pick up a point with Seattle and joins Philipp Grubauer (three).
– The Seattle Kraken have lost five of six; 1-4-1.
ITR 26: 2 Nations Fighting – Inside The Rink
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