PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Holding a 1-0 lead after the first, the Pens couldn’t maintain and lost blue-paint battles. That eventually cost them the game, a 4-1 loss to Dallas Tuesday night.
“I thought the first period, I thought our team was terrific,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan.” We had a number of high-quality scoring chances. Could have scored more than we did.”
“I thought their goalie played really well the first half of the game (Jake Oettinger 38 saves). Tonight, we are playing against a good team. I think the game was a whole lot closer than the score indicates.”
“We let them hang around,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby. “We couldn’t build on our lead. They hung around and were opportunistic.”
Mostly opportunistic in front of the net, once again the Pens lost battles in front of their goalie. It’s something the team is aware of, but hasn’t corrected yet.
“I think today, they win two battles inside the blue paint,” said Pens forward Lars Eller. “The times the pucks were there, we didn’t win those battles. I also think we didn’t get the puck there enough. I think today that was the difference. It shows on the scoreboard.”
Then there was the opportunity created when goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who had played a solid game up until that point, left the crease to chase a puck, he would lose his stick and Dallas would get a third goal.
“Split-second decision, they tend to be pretty aggressive,” Nedeljkovic said. “Wrong decision. I have to let whatever happens, happens. I think we talked the last couple of days of playing too loose. I thought tonight, overall, we did a great job of putting pucks behind them and being disciplined in that aspect. I got to do the same thing and make better decisions than I did tonight.”
“We got some holes we got to shore up,” Eller said. “We are all aware. We got to do the work. A little bit of breakdowns defensively without the puck. Little
breakdowns where we miss assignments and it gives them Grade A chances.”
“I think we can do a little bit of a better job in terms of getting there,” Sullivan said. “If we do, we will create more of those broken-play opportunities when our guys do their best work because they have good instincts and they can see the opportunities that are created off of it.”
The Pens are now 2-4 to start the season.
“We are right there,” Nedeljkovic said. “It just takes one bounce, one lucky bounce, honestly. That will help. We just got to stick with it. You do the right things. You do it long enough, you get rewarded one way or the other. Pucks will start going in, I will make a few more saves. Jarry and I will tighten our stuff up on our end and hopefully give the guys in front of us a better chance to win on a nightly basis.”
“I expect us to turn it around-attitude and outwork the other teams,” Eller said. “If we do that and some systematic breakdowns that we have to shore up and we do those things, the skill and the speed will come into play and take over. We’ll get there.”
Notes
· Pens were 0 for 3 on the power play (10 shots), now 2 for 16 for the season
· Bryan Rust had the Pens lone goal late in the first period on a patient two-on-one feed from Jake Guentzel with 38 seconds left in the 1st period to give the Pens a 1-0 lead
· Defenseman John Ludvig continues to be evaluated after being knocked out of the game on a collision in the second period, but Nedeljkovic said he was around the team after the game. Sullivan said they are hopeful he is going to be ok
· Dallas was plus nine in blocked shots
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