PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s one game, the first game. What happened in a 4-2 loss Tuesday night doesn’t mean it’s foreshadowing the entire season, however there were some similarities to last season that were disturbing.
Kris Letang said they need to bring a certain physical element that they didn’t have against Chicago Tuesday night. He said they settled into a possession game where they didn’t play physical or fast. That’s the type of game they need to get to.
“We set the tone in the first period,” Letang said. “We didn’t set the tone for the rest of the game. We fell back on our heels and tried to play a casual game. I think we have to be way harder to play against.”
“I'd like to believe we're a better team than what we showed tonight,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “It was a loose game, a high-event game on both sides and that's not the kind of game that's conducive to winning. We certainly don’t stack the deck in our favor. We've got to play a more responsible game.”
The Pens gave up four goals on 36 shots, one of the goals an empty-netter. They gave up an uncontested goal in the slot in the third period. That can’t happen. Sullivan said they need to be stingier to play against, especially protecting and defending the scoring area. They didn’t control territory. They have to be stiffer on the puck.
“I think it was a tight game the entire time because we let it happen like this,” Letang said. “Sometimes it looks like bad luck, but I always say you create your own luck in hockey. If we would have stepped on the gas and played simple and play a north-south game, we wouldn’t be in that situation.”
“I’m not sure what kind of happened there,” said forward Bryan Rust. “We didn’t play to the details that we would like, that obviously showed with the result.”
There are 10 new players from last year’s roster and with the exception of a pair of exhibition games, they haven’t played together before. Erik Karlsson said they need to get on the same page for 60 minutes.
“There’s a lot of new players,” Jarry said. “The quicker we get familiar with each other, the quicker that we can do that, the quicker we will be a good team.”
Sidney Crosby said no one is firing on all cylinders in the first game, but admitted there is some stuff they can do better, including being tighter defensively.
“Tonight is a tough one, we would like to have it, but I think we will be stronger from it,” Jarry said.
They’ve got 81 more chances to prove that starting Friday night in Washington DC.