It’s safe to say that the Pittsburgh Penguins are not happy about being down 2-0 to the New York Islanders. This became evident in the waning seconds of their 3-1 loss that took place in front of a raucous crowd at Nassau Coliseum on Friday. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin started to goon things up a bit with a cross-check to the back of Scott Mayfield as he was jostling for the puck on the boards. Brock Nelson was not about to allow that kind of shit to happen to a teammate and started getting into it with Malkin. Shortly after, Mayfield popped over to the Malkin-Nelson fight and got a hit on the Penguin for himself. Once the final buzzer went off, a bit of a scuffle broke out.
The Penguins have every reason to be mad about their recent performances. The loss in Game 1 happened after sloppy defense allowed Josh Bailey to more or less score on an empty net. In this loss, Pittsburgh held a lead for all of three minutes before New York was able to tie things up at one goal a piece. Two methodical goals that carved up the Penguins’ attempts at defense soon followed. Pittsburgh also experienced twice as many calls as New York did which, justified or not, is a good way to push a player’s composure over the edge. Of course, the Penguins could probably have done better to at least pretend they’re not frustrated to high hell, but with the Islanders backing them into a corner, it’s not like they have many options left to begin with.
There’s also some notable history with the position that both teams are currently in. The last time the Penguins were down 2-0 in a series was in 2013, when the Boston Bruins swept them in the conference finals. A good portion of this aging Pittsburgh roster actually experienced that series. As for the Islanders, this is the first 2-0 series lead the franchise has had in the playoffs since 1983—a year that none of the players on New York’s roster were alivefor.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The Islanders and their fierce checking have kept the Penguins’ high-scoring captain, Sidney Crosby, muzzled for the first two games of their N.H.L. first-round series. Not coincidentally, the Islanders lead, two games to none, as the best-of-seven series shifts to Pittsburgh.
Crosby, a three-time Stanley Cup winner who scored at least 100 points this season for the sixth time in his 14-year career, has more regular-season points against the Islanders (113) than against any other opponent. But he has come up empty so far in these playoffs to the delight of the Islanders’ howling crowd at Nassau Coliseum, which derided Crosby often with loud chants of his name.
Crosby, like many of his Penguins teammates, has been flummoxed by the Islanders, especially on Friday night in Game 2. The Islanders won, 3-1, by scoring twice in the third period before the visitors trudged off to contemplate their fate.
The only goal on Friday by Pittsburgh’s vaunted offense, which also features the high-scoring forwards Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel, was by defenseman Erik Gudbranson on an assist from Malkin. Kessel, Malkin and defenseman Justin Schultz scored in Game 1 on Wednesday night, when the Islanders won, 4-3, in overtime.
The Islanders had not won the first two games of a playoff series since they swept Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup finals.
“We’re just playing hard; that’s our goal out there,” said Islanders center Casey Cizikas, whose checking line, which included Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck, was often matched against Crosby. “We’re playing smart and trying to be physical when we can.”
The game plan is working well: The Islanders held Crosby to one shot in Game 2 after he had two shots on goaltender Robin Lehner in Game 1.
Pittsburgh has not had to deal with a 2-0 series deficit since the 2013 Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Bruins. But Crosby was measured and composed as he voiced confidence going into the games in Pittsburgh: Game 3 on Sunday afternoon and Game 4 on Tuesday night.
“We generated good chances,” he said. “We just have to make sure we do a good job with the ones we get. We had opportunities similar to the last game. We didn’t get the lead, and they hung around.”
The Penguins fired 44 shots at Lehner in Game 1 and another 33 in Game 2. Lehner, whose comeback season has been a prominent theme for the Islanders, said his team’s focus and work ethic were to credit for stifling the Penguins’ gifted offense.
“We didn’t feel nervous,” Lehner said. “We trusted that if we stuck to our game, we were going to come out with the win.”
Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan, who has a 9-1 playoff series record since becoming Pittsburgh’s coach during the 2015-16 season, said he envisioned Crosby and his linemate Guentzel, who led the Penguins with 40 goals, returning to form as the series progresses.
“I’m not disappointed in those guys,” Sullivan said. “They are too good. They are too important for our team. I know how hard they compete, and I know how much they care.”
But the Islanders will be there to thwart them as they try to avenge a loss to the Penguins in the opening round of the playoffs in 2013. The impact of Coach Barry Trotz continued to be evident in the their steady and panic-free play.
Goals by Jordan Eberle and Josh Bailey provided the margin of victory, and Crosby and Co. could not muster much in the closing minutes against Lehner, whose only two playoff victories in his nine-year career have come in the past week.
“It’s a credit to our defense corps, how well they are playing,” center Anders Lee, the team captain, said. “Our team as a whole is doing our best. We have all bought in together.”
Now the Islanders will be confronted by Pittsburgh’s roaring crowd at PPG Paints Arena, a rink where Crosby has played postseason games every year except for his rookie campaign.
He has 66 goals and 185 points in 162 playoff games, so it is unlikely that two subpar games will be an issue. A 31-year-old center, Crosby said the heightened pressure to win could produce better results.
“The urgency becomes higher — that should bring out the best in us,” said Crosby, who had 23 goals and 44 assists combined in the three previous postseasons. “It’s just tight right now, close checking. That’s the way this series is going. They did a good job at home. We have to go home and do the same thing.”
Sullivan agreed with his franchise player and saw no reason to fret about Crosby’s two-game production drought. The coach made sure to emphasize to his team just how much hockey remained to be played.
“The message I said to the players after the game is that it’s the first to win four games, not two,” Sullivan said. “We have to go back home, control what we can and win one game. Then we’ll go from there.”
The cliches flowed from the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room Friday night but the stark reality is the Penguins face an undaunted opponent which has simplified the game to such a level that only matching their intensity and dedication will do. Cliches will likely flow from the locker room again Saturday, too. The other stark reality is the Penguins are in deep, deep trouble.
Led by head coach Barry Trotz, New York has a body on every puck and a body on every player. The time and space to be creative do not exist. The Penguins began to excel at the hard, low play late in the regular season but they didn’t face a team which clung to the system out of sheer desperation and rigid belief.
“The message, as I said to the players after the game, is that it’s the first team to win four games, not two,” head coach Mike Sullivan. “And so we’ve got to go back home, control what we can.”
Down 2-0 in the best of seven series means the Penguins have to win four of the next five games against the New York Islanders who are now emboldened by their success. And the Penguins have to feel just a little shaken.
New York was a team which was supposed to struggle. They lost their franchise player last summer. Making the playoffs was supposed to be a stretch, but 103 points in the regular season and a 2-0 series lead confirm their legitimacy.
It’s about grinding out goals and earning space, now.
“We’ve got to win one game and then we’ll go from there,” Sullivan said.
Despite the Penguins talent advantage, New York has earned a majority of the scoring chances during the competitive play. Excluding the final minutes in Game 2 in which New York was protecting a two-goal lead, New York has maintained about 52% of the scoring chances. In Game 2, New York also had 58% of the high danger scoring chances. They had 52% in Game 1 all stats according to NaturalStatTrick.com).
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has nary expressed a hint of worry or concern yet. Not in his voice or body language.
“I think we just have to execute a little better but we generated some good chances, so we have to make sure we take advantage of the ones we get,” Crosby said. “That’s going to be the difference in games.”
In the first two games, the Penguins have not yet led for three minutes. Their first lead was in the second period of Game 2 but less than three minutes later, New York tied the game on another Penguins defensive miscue (Barzal undressed Marcus Pettersson at center ice and Erik Gudbranson was unable to defend two New York forwards who crashed the net for the loose puck).
“We would have at least liked to get one here but it didn’t happen. They did a good job here for two games,” Sidney Crosby said. “We’ve got to go home with the mindset to win a game.”
The New York Islanders scored the fewest goals of any Eastern Conference team in the playoffs. In the regular season, their offensive output put them near the bottom of the conference. Yet they have scored seven goals in the first two games.
New York was also the stingiest team in the league during the regular season. They allowed less than 200 goals. They’ve allowed just four goals in the first two games, which is keeping with their strategy.
To steal a line from my esteemed colleague Shelly Anderson, New York coach Barry Trotz hasn’t fired a shot or made a save in the series but his fingerprints are all over it.
The Penguins desperately need to get a lead and force New York to need a goal.
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