Home » Sport » Three highlights of the embarrassing loss of penguins to the stars

Three highlights of the embarrassing loss of penguins to the stars

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to fight to avoid the basement of the Metropolitan Division. Last night, Monday night, they lost to the Dallas Stars 7-1, allowing six goals in the first period.

Even though the Penguins came close to setting a franchise record for goals against in a single period last night, it wasn’t destined to happen. With seven more goals conceded, Pittsburgh resumes NHL leadership in the category with 68 while seeing his goal differential drop to -21.

Related: 5 possible replacements for Penguins’ Mike Sullivan

As the Penguins remain two points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, their next opponents on Friday, let’s take a look at some highlights from Monday night.

This defeat is not all the fault of the goalkeepers

Joel Blomqvist started Monday after a brilliant performance against the Washington Capitals on Friday. Despite a confidence-building evening against one of the Metropolitan Division’s best teams, the young rookie wasn’t prepared for a legitimate Central Division Stanley Cup contender.

Unfortunately, Blomqvist lasted only ten minutes before Alex Nedeljkovic took over on the counterattack, allowing three goals in his first four shots. Eventually, he settled in and made 28 saves to keep the game from reaching double digits.

Ultimately, the goaltender is responsible for stopping the puck, but the entire team in front of him let him down on Monday, with so many outside runs thrown his way. Too many Stars players had great scoring opportunities due to mistakes and missed assignments. So people can blame the goalkeepers all they want, but this ugly defeat wasn’t entirely their fault.

The best defensive duo has a night to forget

Veteran Kris Letang and free agent Matt Grzelcyk currently occupy the top two defensive spots in the lineup. They posted a combined -7 on Monday, with Letang leading all skaters with a -4, their worst performance of the year.

Someone would have to go back to December 16, 2023 and March 7, 2024 to see the last time Letang had a -4, while Grzelcyk hasn’t had a -3 since December 23, 2018.

Something isn’t right between the two, whether it’s communication or playing style. This pair needs to improve their game because defensive failures have been a theme all season and there is no chance of moving up the table if these failures continue.

Fans weren’t happy with the entire team’s performance Monday, but a handful of players had rough nights, a trend that’s becoming all too familiar.

Where was the energy?

The Penguins arguably played their best game of 2024-25 on Friday against the Capitals, weathering a 2-0 comeback while riding some nice goaltending to a 4-2 victory.

However, on Monday at PPG Paints Arena, no one would have believed that this was the same team that had stopped Alex Ovechkin just three nights earlier. The Penguins came out flat and seemed so disinterested in the game that it was already 4-0 in favor of the Stars before anyone noticed, and the home team had five shots on goal.

Related: Tracking Sidney Crosby’s career goals: How close is the Penguins captain to 600 goals?

It was so frustrating that Sidney Crosby received two uncharacteristic penalties and, in one night, doubled his season total. Of course, something happened in the locker room because Pittsburgh came out to play better in the second and third periods, but they were outmatched the entire half and were doubled at 40-21.

Even though the statistics indicate that the Penguins were the more physical team, no one would have recognized it watching the game. Unfortunately, the same team that played with all its heart on Friday was not the same passionate group that showed up on Veterans Day.

Answers to quizzes on Penguins and Stars

How did you get into ours curiosities about the day of the match trial? Here are the answers.

  1. Lowell MacDonald

  2. Rick Kehoe

  3. I Binkley

  4. Tommaso Greiss

  5. Trevor Daley

  6. Brenda Morrow

  7. Kevin Stevens

  8. Andy Bathgate

  9. Kevin Hatcher

  10. Shawn Chambers

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.