PITTSBURGH — Erik Karlsson began Saturday dancing with his children on a snowy day in suburban Pittsburgh. A couple of hours later, his Pittsburgh Penguins tripped over themselves in a 5-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena.
“It sucks,” Karlsson said. “We lost our control and our temper. We focused on a lot of things not involved in playing our game. And that’s on us.
“That shouldn’t happen no matter what happens in the game, you know?”
Indeed, a club comprised overwhelmingly of veterans should have a firmer focus than the Penguins showed in a dismal opening period. Instead of responding to adversity — a disputed opening goal by the Senators and a fair share of post-whistle extracurriculars — the Penguins played themselves into a deficit that ended any suspense early.
“We’re going to fight the fights we know we can win,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “For me, we’re going to try to win the fight between the whistles.”
The Penguins were penalized seven times in the opening period. That was one fewer than the Senators, but they looked far more comfortable when the pushing and shoving began to intensify.
“I just think we got outplayed,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard to win when you don’t win puck battles (and) you’re not quick to the battles with your second man. There wasn’t a lot of detail in our game.
“I just don’t think we had the game that sets us up for success, for whatever reason.”
Coming off a rousing win over the Edmonton Oilers a couple of days prior, the Penguins turned to Alex Nedeljkovic on Saturday. He promptly allowed the Penguins’ ninth first-shot goal of the season — though Sullivan was quick to challenge it for goaltender interference by Tim Stützle.
The call on the ice was for a good goal, which was upheld upon review.
Sullivan said that president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas explained after the loss that officials “didn’t think (Stützle) interfered with Ned’s ability to play his position.”
ALL ABOARD 🚂!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/JN5o0BaGmS
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 11, 2025
“I respectfully disagree,” Sullivan said. “I thought the player went into the blue paint on his own volition. He made contact with Ned’s leg. And therefore we felt strongly it impeded his ability to play his position.”
A nonplussed Sidney Crosby said after the loss that “it takes a lot” to overturn an on-ice goal call. He dismissed that particular call as having a big impact on the outcome.
The Penguins’ overall response to everything that transpired in the first period was a far bigger deal, Karlsson said.
“They scored two goals,” Karlsson said. “It could have been zero. That’s obviously unfortunate for us, but it shouldn’t throw us sideways, and it unfortunately did.
“Overall, throughout the entire game, we were just not good at all.”
To follow up one of their hardest-working efforts against the Oilers with a dud against the Senators is perhaps unsurprising. Those two performances are a microcosm of a season in which the Penguins were terrible through the first six weeks, terrific from Thanksgiving until Christmas, and since have been middle-of-the-pack.
“What do we have — 40 games left?” Karlsson said. “Every game that we’re going to lose is going to hurt a little bit more because we know what we have on the line.
Anytime you lay an egg like you did — especially against a team that we’re battling — it’s going to hurt a little bit more.”
Some takeaways from this loss:
Over early
A three-goal lead hasn’t been considered safe in the NHL for at least a decade, but the Senators’ 3-0 advantage after the opening 20 minutes seemed insurmountable Saturday.
It wasn’t so much the score as the situation:
- Tyler Kleven’s goal at 3:16 was the ninth first-shot goal surrendered by the Penguins.
- The goal was upheld after Sullivan challenged for goalie interference. The Senators’ Shane Pinto scored with two seconds remaining on the ensuing power play.
- Unable to generate quality looks on their first three power plays, the Penguins appeared frustrated on the fourth before allowing an odd-player break. Pinto converted that into a short-handed goal at 19:04 — and inside PPG Paints Arena felt as frigid as the subfreezing temperatures outside.
It’s hard to be too crucial of Sullivan’s challenge on Kleven’s goal. The Penguins had won four of five challenges on the season, and they are 30 of 38 (79 percent) over the past four seasons.
“We thought it was a really fair challenge,” Sullivan said. “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, honestly. It’s pretty punitive for something that is a difference of opinion. It’s not black or white, right?
“But there’s a lot of hockey left. I just think we got outplayed.”
Troubling trend
The Penguins are 2-3-3 since the holiday break. They’ve conceded seven points to opponents that, as of Saturday, were within five points of them in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings.
That’s not so bad that it undid the 9-3-1 run from Nov. 27-Dec. 2, but the Penguins certainly have failed to capitalize on a good opportunity.
This loss to the Senators is a tougher one to absorb because the Penguins have three games in hand. With a regulation win, the Penguins would have gone up five points on the Senators.
Who knows how it shakes out but stretches like this one — when the Penguins have not put down opponents also chasing a wild-card spot — are how postseason droughts tend to extend.
Quick turnaround
Perhaps the only positive on Saturday is that there isn’t much time for the Penguins to feel sorry for themselves. Another opponent with whom they’re competing for the wild-card spots, the Tampa Bay Lightning, plays at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday night.
Tristan Jarry was ticketed to start that game before he replaced Nedeljkovic midway through the second period against the Senators. That was Jarry’s first game action since Tuesday night, so any rust that might have built up over the past few days shouldn’t be an issue against the Lighting.
Jarry hasn’t stolen a game for the Penguins in as long as anybody can remember.
He’s due. And with Evgeni Malkin having now missed three consecutive games with an upper-body injury, the Penguins could use an unexpected pick-me-up from their beleaguered No. 1 goalie.
(Photo: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
