Penguins lose 2 goals to replay, lose game to Sabres
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are no strangers to the advantages a successful coach’s challenge can provide.
Entering Saturday, they had won three of the five challenges Mike Sullivan and company have issued from the bench this season.
On Saturday they once again saw plenty of benefits from coach’s challenges.
For the Buffalo Sabres.
Officials nullified two would-be goals in the first period by the Penguins, who were unable to generate enough legal offense in a 3-1 loss to the Sabres at PPG Paints Arena.
Each euthanized score came in the first period with the Sabres already in the lead. It marked the first time in franchise history that the Penguins had a pair of potential goals wiped off the ledger by coach’s challenges in the same game according to longtime historian Bob Grove.
(Note: The NHL first introduced coach’s challenges in the 2015-16 season.)
When the Penguins were in a position to score valid goals, they did not take advantage of those opportunities, as they were capable of placing only a single puck behind goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stopped 40 shots of the legal variety, including a handful of breakaways.
“It’s just kind of feels like one of those nights where the goaltender steals the game,” said Penguins forward Jake Guentzel, who had a potential goal snuffed out by Sabres video coach Justin White. “(Luukkonen) played really well and hats off to him. We had a lot of chances. Just for some reason, the puck wasn’t going in tonight.”
The visitors put the first one in 2:53 into regulation when forward Alex Tuch scored his 10th goal of the season.
After claiming a loose puck in front of the Penguins’ bench, Sabres forward Tage Thompson fed a pass back to the defensive zone for defenseman Connor Clifton. Retreating back to the right circle, Clifton surveyed his options and took advantage of a disjointed line change by the Penguins by snapping a brilliant stretch pass to the far blue line, springing Tuch on a partial breakaway. As Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson and forward Jansen Harkins pursued in vain, Tuch lifted a wrister from above the left circle and scorched Jarry’s blocker on the near side. Clifton and Thompson had assists.
The Penguins appeared to tie the game with a goal by forward Drew O’Connor off a dazzling pass from Sidney Crosby at 15:59 of the first period but the Sabres issued a successful coach’s challenge claiming the sequence was offside, nullifying the score.
Per replays, Crosby was past the offensive blue line by a few strides before Guentzel gained the offensive zone with the puck.
Less than three minutes later, Guentzel seemingly scored off a redirection at 18:55 of the first period but another challenge by Sabres coach Don Granato on the grounds of goaltending interference spoiled those hopes.
Replays showed Guentzel’s right hip making contact with the head of goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on the sequence.
Guentzel offered no argument to the final ruling.
“I just got his head there in the red (line of the crease) there. You could tell,” he said. “You just can’t hit the goalie. It’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s not much but you can kind of see from the overhead (replay). It’s just pretty close. The puck seemed like it was going in no matter what. But it just happened. It’s one of those that’s it’s nothing you can do.”
Guentzel’s coach offered a much different response.
“I didn’t think it was goalie interference,” Sullivan said. “Based on that decision, our coaching staff needs to take a long look at the criteria of our understanding of what it is. Jake’s in the white paint, first and foremost. I get it, there’s some contact with the goaltender in the blue (paint). But for me, the puck’s going in the net anyway. We could talk about this forever.
“I don’t agree with the call.”
Per a statement by the league explaining the decision:
“Video review determined that Jake Guentzel made contact with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen impairing his ability to play his position prior to Guentzel’s goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, ‘Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.’”
Following a second period that featured no goals of any degree of licitness, the Penguins tied the game with a goal during a five-on-three power-play sequence at 7:49 of the third period.
Circumnavigating the offensive zone from the left wing to the right wall, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson dished a pass to forward Evgeni Malkin below the right circle. From there, Malkin one-touched a forehand pass back to the interior of the circle where Karlsson chopped a slap-pass to the far side of the crease where forward Rickard Rakell tapped in a backhand shot for his fourth goal. Karlsson and Malkin claimed assists.
That was the lone success on the evening for the Penguins on the power play as they were 1 for 5 with the man advantage.
“We got the tying goal there, so that was good,” Rakell said. “We didn’t spend as much time in their zone as we wanted to. We’ll look at it, we’ll build on it and get better.”
The Sabres reclaimed the lead at 15:22 of the third frame via forward Zemgus Girgenson’s third goal off something of a frantic sequence
From the left point of the offensive zone, Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson gripped and ripped a wrister. Rakell applied pressure on Samuelsson and wound up getting a piece of the puck with his stick. That led to the puck glancing off the stick of Sabres forward Eric Robinson, stationed in the slot. From there, the puck clunked off the left skate of Karlsson, positioned above the crease. The end result was a rebound just to the right of the blue paint, which Girgensons cleaned up with a backhand shot beyond the grasp of Jarry’s glove. Robinson and Samuelsson registered assists.
Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin secured victory with his 12th goal at 18:24 of the third. As Jarry tried to vacate the net for an extra attacker, Dahlin airmailed a forehand shot from the Sabres’ zone, beating Jarry who made a desperate scramble to return to his crease. There were no assists.
Jarry made 29 saves on 32 shots as his record fell to 11-12-2.
While the final result was hardly appetizing, the Penguins seemed sated by the large helping of quality scoring chances they generated.
“I thought we did a good job staying in it,” Rakell said. “We had those two goals called off. We did a good job tying it up but just not good enough.”
The Penguins have had a good life off of coach’s challenges for many years.
But not Saturday.
“Whenever those happen, you just know it’s not a good sign,” Guentzel said. “Because those guys (video coaches) are so good at what they do.”
Notes:
• Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson appeared in his 400th career game.
• Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea and forward Radim Zohorna were healthy scratches.