The Penguins went into the holiday break on a 9-3-1 run and returned feeling refreshed after a few days away and ready to keep their momentum rolling.
Instead, it came to a halt on Saturday against the Islanders, with New York earning a 6-3 win at UBS Arena in the first game of a home-and-home series.
“I don't think we played as smart. We just didn't play a conscientious game like the game we've been playing for the last six weeks,” Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “I just think our decisions with the puck weren't where they needed to be. We didn't play straight ahead. We talked about playing simple before the game, just the importance of simplicity and playing straight ahead. I just don't think we did it well enough.”
The NHL schedule makers tend to pit these Metro Division opponents against each other after the holiday break, with the Penguins usually traveling to New York on the morning of Dec. 27 for a game that night, since teams are not allowed to travel during the three-day holiday break per the CBA.
But this year, with the game on Dec. 28, Pittsburgh was able to practice on Friday before having a full morning skate today. It seemed to benefit the Penguins early on, as they were pretty crisp on an early power play.
While the Islanders appeared to capitalize shortly after that, the Penguins successfully challenged for goalie interference. New York officially got one with just over five minutes to go in the first, but Pittsburgh responded by capitalizing on the man-advantage.
Michael Bunting got the goal, his third in the last two games, which was also his 200th career point. At first, Sidney Crosby was credited with the secondary assist, which would have moved the captain ahead of Mario Lemieux for the most assists in Penguins franchise history. But a scoring change left Rickard Rakell with the only assist.
The Islanders tilted the ice in the second, scoring three unanswered goals in exactly four minutes as the Penguins were scrambling and leaving Tristan Jarry to face some quality chances. But the fourth line started swinging momentum back in Pittsburgh’s direction, as Noel Acciari got the puck over the line to make it 4-2. And with 2.7 seconds remaining, Rakell got his team-leading 17th of the season to cut the deficit to one after 40 minutes.
But the Islanders shut down the Penguins in the final frame, with Casey Cizikas scoring his second of the night to make it 5-3, and Anders Lee icing the victory with an empty-netter.
“We got to do a better job controlling the puck, helping each other, winning the netfront on both sides tonight. We didn’t get the job done. We were not good enough,” Rakell said.
Sunday’s puck drop is scheduled for 5:30 PM back at PPG Paints Arena.
“The only good thing is that we get to play another game against the same guys in less than 24 hours. I think we all know that we have to be a lot better than we were today,” Erik Karlsson said. “They were the better team for pretty much 60 minutes. It’s unfortunate, because we really wanted to get off to a good start here with the first game back after the break, and we did the exact opposite. It sucks, but we got to move on, and hopefully we can be better tomorrow.”
