Letang: Penguins show 'no energy, no momentum, no push' in loss to Lightning

TAMPA, Fla. -- On paper, the Penguins' 3-1 loss to the Lightning here in Tampa, Fla. might not look that bad. 

The two-goal deficit and relatively even shot totals of 27-25 Lightning give the impression that this was a close game. It wasn't.

With the exceptions of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust and Tristan Jarry, this was just a bad night for all involved. The Penguins had another slow start and were disjointed from the first period. The power play remained a non-factor and is now scoreless in its last 34 opportunities, including a 40-second 5-on-3 opportunity tonight. The usually strong penalty-kill faltered, allowing the Lightning to capitalize twice on four opportunities.

Mike Sullivan was asked after the game if this was the most disappointing performances he's seen from his team this season, and he offered a terse "No."

This may have been one of the most -- if not the most -- frustrating losses of the season, though. It looked an awful lot like a step back for this team, rather than just an off night, and the same old problems were the issues.

The Penguins were just here in Tampa, Fla. less than a week ago, and managed to produce one of the more brutal starts we've seen from them. They were being outshot 17-5 through 20 minutes, but trailed just 2-0 courtesy of an exceptional game by Jarry. A strong push back over the next 40 minutes, capped off by a goal from Jarry himself, allowed the Penguins to come away with a 4-2 win.

With that poor start fresh in their minds, the Penguins knew that coming out hot against the Lightning tonight was imperative, as Sullivan acknowledged that morning.

"That's going to be an important aspect of tonight's game, making sure we're ready from the drop of the puck," Sullivan said after the skate earlier in the day. "These guys come out strong at home. We've got to make sure we have a consistent effort."

They didn't. The urgency expected from a team that is now 11-11-3 on the season didn't show up until the last period of the game. The Lightning capitalized off two power play goals -- an Anthony Cirelli deflection in the first period, and then a rocket of a shot from Nikita Kucherov in the second. Tanner Jeannot made it a 3-0 game with a goal off of a rebound late in the second period, and then Guentzel got the Penguins' only goal off an Andrei Vasilevskiy misplay behind his own net and then a bounce off a Lightning defenseman in the final minute.

The desperation to dig out of that early hole was too little, and much too late -- completely unlike the last game the Penguins played in this building.

"I think Tampa was different tonight," Evgeni Malkin told me of what changed. "They probably knew we'd try to come back again, and they play smart and tough."

Regardless of how Tampa responded to the Penguins' slow start on either night, the Penguins are well aware that they need to stop putting themselves in those positions in the first place.

"Both games we waited and gave them so much ice," Malkin continued. "Last game they led two goals, now it's three goals. It's not what we want. We should play better in the first period, take the puck and play together, play No. 1 and not wait. Just play better in the first period. Don't wait so much."

Kris Letang said that the Penguins were just never able to get to their game.

"We didn't control the ebbs and flows of the game," he told me. "And as a result of that, it was a flatline. There was no energy, no momentum, no push. Maybe we had a little spark in the second. But when things are not going your way, you have to find a way to do something else or get your team going, whatever it is. Because if you only rely on your power play, your PK to win games, eventually, it's not going to work. You have to find ways, and that's what good teams do."

The Penguins haven't been able to rely on their power play for quite some time, but have managed to stay three points back of a playoff spot to this point because of the exceptional play of Jarry as of late, a penalty-kill that ranked eighth in the league with a strong 84.9% success rate before Wednesday, and decent five-on-five play, albeit with not much depth scoring. Kyle Dubas acknowledged that much in his appearance on the team's radio network with Josh Getzoff this week.

“Because of our goaltending, because of our penalty kill, and because of our ability at even strength, we've been able to stay in the race,” Dubas said. “If we can get the power play sorted out, and we continue to build on those other areas of our game, I think we're going to be in a good spot.”

The power play hasn't been sorted out. The Penguins went 0-for-4 tonight, including 40 seconds of a 5-on-3 opportunity, during which a Lightning player even lost his stick for a few seconds. The skid of 34 consecutive failed power plays is the worst such streak in franchise history, and this is arguably one of the most talented groups the power play has had with the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Guentzel, Rust, and now Erik Karlsson in the mix. Just like so many games this season, even just an average power play in this game could have been a difference between a win and a loss. If the Penguins got even just one goal on the power play tonight, and were able to generate momentum on the others, then maybe the result is much different. 

The Penguins have tried personnel changes on the power play. Letang was on the top unit for a second consecutive game, going with a two-defenseman look. When the Penguins got their second power play of the game late in the second period, they sent out a top unit of Letang, Crosby, Guentzel, Reilly Smith and Alex Nylander, a decision that was likely at least somewhat influenced by Rust's upper-body injury, apparently sustained sometime that period. But the rest of the unit was partially put in a blender, and nothing changed. 

"We tried power play changes again, and it didn't work again," Malkin said. "It's huge, the power play, tonight. They scored two (power play) goals. We score zero. It's why they won. We're still working on the power play. Like, 40 seconds 5 on 3, we should score. Maybe we have a chance to tie the game. We haven't scored in (12) games. I don't know what words to say right now."

The mantra throughout this streak has been that the underlying numbers on the Penguins' power play are there, they're good. That's the truth. The shot attempts, shots on goal rates are all toward the top of the league. That's not just garbage perimeter shots, either. Their rate of high-danger shots is among the best in the league. That's one of the reasons why the "just stick with it" mentality is persisted, because there's no way the power play can't eventually break through with the chances they're getting, right? Eventually this 6.31% shooting percentage on the power play, and even more abysmal 5.41% shooting percentage on high-danger power play shots has to turn around, right?

Letang has been one of the players who has cited on a couple of occasions the good things the power play has been doing other than scoring. But I asked him Wednesday if there's anything he think the players on the power play could be doing differently or better to lead to those shots going in.

"I mean, Guentzel hit the crossbar in the second," he said. "At the end, we were pretty close. We had some chances. I mean, right now, I think it's a mental game. And we're losing that battle right now. So maybe we can step back, relax and try to play a simpler game."

A "simpler" game might involve getting more dirty goals off redirects or rebounds, rather than looking for the perfect play, perfect pass, perfect shot. One thing that has been lacking in the Penguins' "underling numbers" on the power play is generated rebounds. With the exception of Malkin, the players on the Penguins' power play don't take shots that lead to rebound opportunities. Even if they did have a solid net-front presence, there wouldn't be anything there for that guy to knock in. A lot of the Penguins' shots get gloved down, rather than kicked out by a pad, creating a second opportunity. I asked Letang if he thinks there's anything to that.

"We're shooting to score," he told me. "We're not just going to shoot to get stats. Guys are aiming glove because they see a hole, it's probably the shot to take."

Teams are allowed to have off nights throughout the course of a season. The Penguins have put themselves in a position where they really can't afford to have too many more of them. But this didn't just seem like an "off" night. The penalty-kill was uncharacteristically "off," sure. But with the power play again failing to score on the chances they had, yet another slow start, and the "no energy, no momentum, no push" as Letang put it, this felt like more than an off night. This felt like a big step in the wrong direction.

Malkin said it was "hard to say" whether this was simply an off night for all involved or a step back, but said it was a "tough night, for sure."

The Penguins were coming off of two straight losses to the Flyers in which they at least got points, first for a shootout loss and then to an overtime loss. And while the results of those games were better, Letang didn't necessarily think that this loss was a big step back. The players didn't think they played well in those games, either.

"We're not happy right now," Letang said. "You just try to bury your head and keep working, and eventually you're going to get out of it."

The Penguins appeared to have a closed-door, players-only meeting after this loss. The locker room remained closed for quite some time after the final buzzer, and the coaching staff could be seen leaving the room early on during that wait. When the room opened, most players were still in there, an indication that a quick meeting of some sort had gone on.

The Penguins' locker room, with its core and other veteran players, is the most experienced in the league. They have leaders who know what it takes and what to say to get out of tough situations.

Time will tell whether they have the rest of the roster constructed is strong enough to make that turnaround happen.