Bob Frid-Imagn Pictures
Sidney Crosby is beneath contract for 2 further years at his conventional good-value cap hit of simply $8.7 million. However that’s about the one good-news story for the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. They’re now heading house from their four-game highway journey by Western Canada with simply one in all a attainable eight factors to point out for his or her efforts.
Three years faraway from their final playoff look, the Penguins at the moment are 3-6-1 by 10 video games. They lead the NHL with 42 targets allowed and are tied with the Detroit Purple Wings for essentially the most pictures allowed per recreation, at 35.
Pittsburgh was additionally outscored 18-9 on the highway in opposition to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver — after starter Tristan Jarry was despatched house from the highway journey following a shaky begin to the season.
Jarry hasn’t seen NHL motion since Oct. 16 and is now within the AHL on a conditioning project. And whereas uncooked 22-year-old rookie Joel Blomqvist has appeared spectacular with 3.7 targets saved above anticipated in his first 5 NHL video games, he’s not getting a lot assist from the skaters in entrance of him.
It’s not too usually that you simply see a dropping goaltender named third star in a 4-0 defeat. However that was the case for Blomqvist on Friday night time in Edmonton, after he turned the primary stopper to see 50 pictures within the NHL this season. With simply 4 begins and 5 appearances, Blomqvist is already sixth in pictures confronted this yr. Not precisely an optimum solution to ease a younger goalie into hockey’s high league.
Blomqvist bought the night time off in Pittsburgh’s 4-3 loss to the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday, with Alex Nedeljkovic dealing with goaltending duties. On a back-to-back in opposition to a Canucks group that had simply loved three days of relaxation, Pittsburgh did nicely to construct a 2-0 lead whereas Vancouver bought off to a sluggish begin. However as soon as Elias Pettersson ignited the gang at Rogers Enviornment along with his first of the yr, that sparked a four-goal outburst within the second interval that completed the Penguins for the night time.
“There have been simply breakdowns of us being on the improper facet of the puck and never protecting essentially the most harmful areas on the ice, in entrance of the web,” Rickard Rakell said after the sport. “Giving up so many simple scoring possibilities. I imply, there have been clearly some robust bounces for us, however I imply, we bought to forestall that. That was simply, like, one after one after one. We bought to discover a solution to cool down, restart.”
Major assists on two of Vancouver’s 4 targets got here from gamers who have been as soon as a part of the Pittsburgh group.
Teddy Blueger was drafted by the Penguins within the second spherical in 2012 however did not make his NHL debut with the group till 2019. On Saturday, he fed Kiefer Sherwood to knot the sport at 2-2 simply 43 seconds after Pettersson bought the Canucks on the scoreboard.
Daniel Sprong was drafted when Jim Rutherford was in Pittsburgh’s GM chair in 2015. Halfway by the center body, he blew previous Erik Karlsson alongside the boards within the impartial zone earlier than feeding Arshdeep Bains for his first-career NHL aim, which might additionally rise up as the sport winner.
It has been almost three years because the Canucks cleaned home of their group, following a 4-1 house loss to the Penguins on Hockey Evening in Canada. After that recreation on Dec. 4, 2021, the 8-15-2 Canucks fired GM Jim Benning and head coach Travis Inexperienced.
Inside just a few days, Rutherford got here on board as president of hockey operations and interim common supervisor — lower than a yr after he’d resigned his GM place with Pittsburgh. His hires in Vancouver have included a number of one-time Penguins personnel, most notably GM Patrik Allvin and head coach Rick Tocchet.
Working in tandem, the trio has reversed the course of a franchise that had been taking over water for the higher a part of a decade. And after logging a fourth-straight win on Saturday in opposition to the Penguins, the Canucks at the moment are 4-1-2 to begin the yr, with a factors proportion that ranks them second within the Pacific Division.
As Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan look to get the Penguins again on observe, seeing former members of the group having success of their new market should really feel like rubbing salt in an open wound for each the members of the group and the followers.
But it surely’s solely 10 video games in. As Nedeljkovic asserted on Saturday night time, there’s nonetheless time to reverse course. Look no additional than the 2023-24 Edmonton Oilers for a reminder that it may be achieved.
“We have to discover a solution to nip it within the bud proper now,” Nedeljkovic stated. “Regroup and search for a superb, robust effort at house on Tuesday.”
