The Pittsburgh Penguins are going through a difficult period, but from is trying its best to remain among the top clubs in the National Hockey League. Last season, the Penguins finished outside the Stanley Cup competition for the first time in many years, and in the current regular season they are still trying to crawl into the playoffs. However, Mike Sullivan's experienced team really lacks stability — Pittsburgh alternates victories and defeats with an enviable frequency and risks missing important points by the end of the championship.
The Penguins spent the last few days in the Western United States, where they met with the current league champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, and one of the main mystery teams in today's NHL, the Arizona Coyotes. Both meetings ended unsuccessfully for the Pens — two defeats with a total score of 4:8. And one defeat turned out to be more offensive than the other. In the game with Vegas, Pittsburgh squandered a two-goal advantage, and in the meeting with Arizona, they did almost nothing in attack. And problems came from where they were not expecting.
By the third period, the “penguins” were losing with a score of 2:3 and in the final period of the game they tried to crush the opponent due to their experience. It was experience that let Pittsburgh down.
The Pens were shorthanded towards the middle of the period, but due to a foul by Jason Zucker, a former Pittsburgh forward who signed a contract with Arizona in the summer and scored against his former team, they were given the right to attack on a delayed penalty. To achieve this, Sullivan temporarily removed goalkeeper Tristan Gerry in exchange for an outfield player. However, the attack could not be developed. Experienced defenseman Kris Letang, during the start, passed back to Evgeni Malkin, who was left alone in front of an empty goal. But one of the Penguins veterans was unable to receive the puck, and after a slight touch of the Russian forward’s stick, it treacherously jumped into the net.
Sur. And that's all. Between them, Letang and Malkin are 73 years old. Together they are already in their 18th season in the NHL and have not only vast experience behind them, but also three Stanley Cups. They have seen a lot in their rich careers. But even such skilled players had such an unpleasant episode. Formally, Malkin became the “author” of the own goal. It's funny that it was Gino, who is having a strong season in terms of personal statistics and is rushing toward the 500-goal mark in the NHL, who was the main character of Pittsburgh's pre-game program. In fact, Letang brought the moment — the Russian, it seems, was not ready for his transfer. Since there are no own goals in hockey, the name of Lawson Cruz was included in the scoresheet. It was the Canadian forward who was the last of the Arizona players to touch the puck. He hasn't scored in the last four matches and could possibly extend that goalless streak today. However, I received a very nice gift.
As a result, this episode had a significant impact on the result of the match. “Pittsburgh” was unable to realize their idea and equalize the score, and a few minutes after a very curious incident, “Pens” conceded again, having lost hope of a comeback.
““In such game episodes, we must realize that we do not have a goalkeeper in the goal, and therefore we need to avoid playing in this zone. Only then we will not become a victim of an unsuccessful rebound or something else,» the Pittsburgh head coach commented on the episode.
After 44 championship matches, the Penguins are still overboard the playoff participants. They are in 12th place in the Eastern Conference standings and trail the eighth-place Tampa Bay Lightning by five points. Although the situation is not so critical in terms of lost points — the Penguins played three matches less than the Lightning. There are still chances in the fight for the wild card.
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