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It may be a good thing that the Pittsburgh Penguins play their next 10 games against Eastern Conference teams.
They have nothing to show from their recent clashes with what the West has to offer.
The Penguins have lost only twice in their last six games and both defeats have been opposed to the powers of the Western Conference. The latest was a 4-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at the PPG Paints Arena.
Five days after losing at home to the Calgary Flames, leaders of the Pacific Division, the Penguins have fallen behind and never catch up to the Sharks, who have the second-highest points in the West.
"You're going to have nights like tonight when it's not going the way you want it," said coach Mike Sullivan, who was fouled with 4 minutes and 36 seconds after seven penalties, including four misconducts. , which were inflicted on the teams. . "The most important thing is that we react in the right way to those situations."
The next chance will come Saturday at the Stadium Stadium outdoor game in Philadelphia. Like the previous four teams that the Penguins beat, the Flyers remain out of the playoffs.
"I think we think about it because it's two important points. You do not want to chain the losses, "said Sidney Crosby, who fell victim to one of these misconducts and lost his six-point streak. "You must be able to bounce back. We have done good things. We made some mistakes early, and that were big mistakes. "
It was decided in the first half, when the Penguins conceded two power play goals and one shorthanded goal. The Sharks added another power play goal later, scoring a 5-on-3 advantage.
Tomas Hertl, author of a hat trick against the Penguins at the January 15 rally in San Jose, scored two goals and Evander Kane added a shorthanded goal in the first.
Casey DeSmith has allowed four goals on 33 shots. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones stopped 26 shots for his second shutout of the season.
"We still have some chances to come back in second and third place," said Crosby. "Unfortunately, we did not have this first opportunity to allow us to go back and forth."
Special teams were not the only problem for the Penguins. Patrick Hornqvist has played 14 straight games without a point and Phil Kessel has not scored in his last 11 games.
With 56 seconds left in the first game, the Penguins faced their first test when Jack Johnson was sent off.
"It snowballed from there," Sullivan said.
In the blink of an eye, the Sharks have turned the advantage of man ahead of 1-0. Hertl raised a puck in front of a sprawling DeSmith, finding the upper right corner.
The Penguins had a chance to play power in the middle of the period, but Brent Burns pushed Kessel's stick puck. Kane jumped on the puck and had nothing but ice in front of him.
Kane skated alone on DeSmith. The goalkeeper made the first stop, but Kane made a second attempt to put the Penguins in a 2-0 hole.
It was the 13th shorthanded penalty goal by the Penguins, the largest number among NHL teams.
Zach Aston-Reese was punished for stumbling at 8:05 of the end of the period, and the Sharks took advantage of a turnaround for the Penguins to finish tic-tac-toe in front of goal. As Matt Cullen dipped to the net and the Sharks, Kevin Labanc slipped the puck to Hertl, who opened the scoring to score 3-0.
"We gave them what I thought were three pretty easy goals," Sullivan said. "It's hard to overcome."
In the second, Jones stopped Kessel a minute later and Joe Thornton blocked Evgeni Malkin on a breakaway as he came out of the box after receiving a penalty kick. At the end of the period, Kessel had the puck on his stick near the crease but did not attempt to shoot. Jones stopped Crosby at close range while there was 3.4 seconds left and the Penguins on the power play.
Despite some chances of quality, the Penguins opened the third period in seven minutes without shooting. Kessel missed an opportunity to reduce the deficit when he felt an attempt to the right of the cage.
The boiling point was reached with remaining 4:36. During the scrum, Crosby exchanged blows (and a punch) with Brenden Dillon and Micheal Haley of San Jose.
"It's frustrating," DeSmith said. "These guys do things to them. If they do not like it, they have every right to take it to themselves. Late in the game like this, these situations happen a bit, especially when the level of frustration increases. "
The Penguins hope that the only thing that goes on Saturday in Philadelphia is their total points. With 71 points, the Penguins only have two points ahead of Columbus for the last place in the East.
"You have to turn the page quickly and go ahead," said Cullen. "We are extremely frustrated by this one and disappointed by this one. We do not have time to sit down and linger on it. "
Joe Rutter is an editor of Tribune-Review. You can contact Joe by email at [email protected] or via Twitter. .
