Penguins out due to Jarry injury, failure to close series against Rangers

The Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Sunday.

Pittsburgh extended its playoff streak to 16 seasons, the longest active in the major North American professional sports leagues. It won the Stanley Cup three times during that span (2009, 2016, 2017).
This was the fourth straight season the Penguins failed to advance past an opening-round series. They lost to the New York Islanders in the first round in 2019 and 2021 and were eliminated from the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers by the Montreal Canadiens, losing the best-of-5 series in four games.
The skinny
Potential unrestricted free agents:Evgeni Malkin, F; Kris Letang, D; Bryan Rust, F; Rickard Rakell, F; Casey DeSmith, G; Nathan Beaulieu, D; Brian Boyle, F; Evan Rodrigues, F; Louis Domingue, G
Potential restricted free agents:Kasperi Kapanen, F; Danton Heinen, F
Potential 2022 Draft picks: 5
Here are five reasons the Penguins were eliminated:

1. Down to Domingue

The Penguins entered the series without No. 1 goalie Tristan Jarry, who sustained a lower-body injury April 14. In the second overtime of Game 1, they lost DeSmith to a core muscle injury that required season-ending surgery.
Domingue entered to make 17 saves in what would be a 4-3 victory in triple-overtime, but that was unsustainable. He allowed at least four goals in four of five starts, losing his final two, before Jarry returned for Game 7.
"Casey and Louis did a great job," Jarry said. "Obviously you want to be in there battling with them every night. Something that hurt the most is just not being able to be out there and just go to battle with the guys."

2. Failure to close

With the Penguins leading the best-of-7 series 3-1, Letang gave them a 2-0 lead at 7:58 of the second period in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden. That evaporated when Adam Fox and
Alexis Lafreniere
scored 1:30 apart, and Jacob Trouba put New York ahead 3-2 at 17:53.
Jake Guentzel tied it 3-3 before the period ended, but Filip Chytil and Ryan Lindgren scored the final two goals to hand Pittsburgh a 5-3 loss.
Back home, the Penguins took another 2-0 lead in Game 6. They blew it again in the second period, tied it, then allowed two third-period goals in a 5-3 loss.
Pittsburgh was ahead 3-2 in Game 7 before Mika Zibanejad scored at 14:15 of the third. Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal 4:46 into overtime to send the Penguins home.
"Two good teams are out there competing," coach Mike Sullivan said. "Sometimes we had leads, sometimes they had leads. … It's hockey."

3. Losing Crosby

Sidney Crosby was hit by Trouba at 9:15 of the second period in Game 5. He took two more shifts before leaving with an upper-body injury. He did not play Game 6 but returned for Game 7.
Before the injury, the Penguins captain scored nine points (two goals, seven assists) in five games. He was coming off a three-point game (one goal, two assists) in Game 4, a 7-2 win.

4. Killed by penalties

The penalty kill was a strength for the Penguins throughout the regular season, ranking third in the NHL (84.4 percent). The opposite was true in the playoffs.
Pittsburgh allowed six goals on 19 New York power plays, surrendering at least one in five of the seven games.
After Brock McGinn turned the puck over to K'Andre Miller in Game 7, he held the Rangers defenseman to prevent a goal on the ensuing breakaway. That led to the overtime winner from Panarin, one last power-play goal for the Rangers to close the series.

5. Top-line dependence

After scoring six points (three goals, three assists) in 14 games the previous three postseasons, Crosby showed up this series. The same was true for his linemates.
Guentzel scored eight goals, at least one in six of the seven games. Rust scored eight points (two goals, six assists).
Malkin did his part at second-line center with six points (three goals, three assists). Third-line center Jeff Carter scored four goals.
The remaining nine forwards combined for seven goals, six coming from Rodrigues and Heinen (three each).
"We had a ton of adversity," Crosby said. "The way we played all series, I thought we did a really good job throughout the series of getting better and getting leads. The only thing we couldn't do is put them away."