Pens Drop 3rd Straight in 4-3 Loss to Kings

Recap by Penguins Featured Contributor Patricia Beninato

Apparently for the Penguins, January, not March, is the month to go in like a lion and out like a lamb.

The Pens barrelled into the first month of 2022 with hat tricks and great goaltending and victories all over the place. In their last game of the month against the L.A. Kings at PPG Paints Arena, they lost 4-3 for their third defeat in a row. 

You know how it’s always announced that the Pens tend to win if they score first? Well, they didn’t … for the fifth consecutive game. In fact, it took until 1:13 in the second period before the Kings’ Alex Iafallo broke the scoring drought on a snap shot, helped by Anze Kopitar. But hey, we have Sidney Crosby, who is still quite Crosby-like, particularly with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang flanking him on the power-play line. Sid tied the game up at 8:29 with flashy set-ups by Tanger and Geno, notching his 498th career lamp-lighter. Alas, the tie was destined to last only a couple of minutes, as up-and-coming Kings rookie Trevor Moore backhanded one over Tristan Jarry’s glove hand. Drew Doughty came along at 13:49 and added to the lead, his multiple tries stuffing a Kopitar pass under Jarry’s left pad finally successful.

As I tweeted during the third period, the Penguins have such a good first line. Rust/Crosby/Guentzel is a most excellent combination. We also know that Rust never sleeps even if Neil Young pulls it off Spotify, and Rusty didn’t nod off here, taking a slick Tanger backhander and putting it past Cal Petersen to cut the lead to one at 6:17. The line combined for another Rust goal at 10:02, netting Guentzy his 300th career point and Sid his three gazillionth or something like that.

But the Kings aren’t quite the laughing stocks they’ve been for the past couple of seasons, and Trevor Moore was like, “hey, Rusty, I can score two goals too.” And he did, with another smack over Jarry’s glove at 13:21 that gave me unsettling Matt Murray flashbacks.

There will be ebbs and flows in every season no matter how good (or bad) a team is. The Penguins have played a lot of games this month, and the Olympic break they were anticipating isn’t happening, just more games. While they do summon bursts of energy, in these three losses they’ve been noticeably slower. Other than the Rust/Crosby/Guentzel line, chemistry is even more fitful. Evan Rodrigues’s production has fallen off big time, although he still brings the fire. Kasperi Kapanen looks lost, and his continued line bouncing isn’t helping. 

It’s not time to freak out, but Mike Sullivan needs to give his secondary line rosters a chance before booting combos after one unproductive game. Sully’s a fiddler by nature, I know. Sometimes he just needs to play a different tune.