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What does it mean? Great picture. This loss of match 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs for the Penguins against the Islanders.
For me, this means that a series that I think would go into Pittsburgh's five games will now end in six.
That's all.
Otherwise, this 4-3 loss in overtime was essentially a stage opening of a multi-act play that went exactly as planned.
To close. From front to back. No advance ever greater than a goal. A tie that forced overtime.
Overall, we found some scoring chances and more penalty shootouts than expected. And for as good as Islanders goaltender Robin Lehner – he was injured with 41 saves – if coach Barry Trotz's much-vaunted defense continues to give the Penguins so much of a chance they will eventually ruin him.
None of this means that Penguins fans should be content with how this defeat unfolded. Because a lot went wrong.
Let's start with the end.
Anatomy of a heart breaker
How much has gone wrong with Josh Bailey's overtime winner?
The sequence began with the killing of the Penguins and karma caught up with them. Phil Kessel kept the puck in the area by cutting right across Tom Kuhnhackl from behind to regain possession. Then he let slip a pbad to Brian Dumoulin, who made a superb play to shake Kuhnhackl. Dumoulin created a space to open a shooting lane back, forced Lehner down and had a lot of space to make a shot.
But he missed. This has electrified a break in the other direction for the Islanders. The Penguin was once again lucky when Dominik Simon intercepted a pbad in the neutral zone and pushed the puck towards Kris Letang.
That's where everything came off the rails.
Letang tried to play one against three against the Islanders defense with a partial change of the Penguins after the match.
When Letang handed the puck, Mathew Barzal had to face Penguins goaltender Matt Murray.
"I'm not sure we have the awareness we needed in this situation," said Mike Sullivan.
Letang hurried back. Murray tried to remove the net by throwing his stick. Dumoulin is unleashed on the shot Barzal coming out of the post. But Bailey scored on the rebound.
This is one.
Game 1 goes to @NYIslanders after the winner of Josh Bailey OT! #YES YES YES #LGI #Isles pic.twitter.com/8xAOd6Guzq
– MSG networks (@MSGNetworks) April 11, 2019
The Penguins examined the game for interference and interference from the goalkeepers. But, rightly, the call was suspended and the Penguins left the losers.
After two exams of possible goals against the Islanders before the OT winner, this one showed up as shown on the ice.
Decisions of the range
While Dumoulin and Zach Aston-Reese were ready to come back from injury, Sullivan had to put two players on the bench.
I did not like both decisions.
Olli Maatta remained dressed despite the return of Dumoulin. Jack Johnson was benched. I would have reversed it. And nothing that I saw from Maatta last night did not change me. He was a minus-2, had no credit for a shot, had two gifts, had bad icing, did not block a shot and had no shot on goal.
Maatta could not find the puck on the Islanders' first goal and, later in the game, he lost the ball, which led to another Isles score.
POLL: Do you agree with #Pens coach Mike Sullivan's decision to sit defenseman Jack Johnson for the first game of the # Stanley Cup playoffs against the #Isles? Vote below and tell us what you could have done differently. https://t.co/QR6BdHp3XI
– Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) April 10, 2019
In the meantime, I have no problem inserting Aston-Reese, but I would have done it at the expense of Garrett Wilson and not Teddy Blueger.
When I see Wilson trying to pbad between his legs like he did in the first period, I've seen enough.
Blueger, however, can do this kind of game. And others. But not in the press.
Sid was not Sid
It was not Sidney Crosby's usual dominant performance against the Islanders, other than the first quarter of overtime, in which he owned, but did not score.
His line was almost scored in the seventh minute of the third, 3-2. His line was thrown off the ice in the first minute of play, but Kuhnhackl's first unauthorized goal was dropped.
Crosby finished with a minus-1, had three giveaways and no points to remember, lost 14 of 24 clashes and scored only two shots in 22:43.
The penalty to kill
New York scored its first chance on the power play and was effective on its other chance.
Maybe Johnson can help the Penguins if he is back in the lineup on Friday.
Hope this decision is made.
The beginning
The Penguins were supposed to be a polite, experienced and experienced team in the match against New York.
But they looked nervous, nervous and overworked in the first minutes.
The start of the match was similar to the 2007 opener against the Senators when the Penguins did not even appear as if they belonged to the ice, losing 6-1 and losing 6-3.
Matt Murray scored two pucks in the first 100 seconds. Fortunately for the penguins, only one counted. But in the first minutes of the game, they were largely outmatched and were lucky enough to be 1-1 at the end of the match, thanks to a goal from Phil Kessel.
Apart from all that … it was a good night.
Tim Benz is an editor of Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be republished. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.
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