"We Just Didn't Win on the Scoreboard"

Saturday’s 3-1 setback to the Sabres felt like one of those games where the Penguins deserved better, but they weren’t able to get the result in just their third regulation loss since Dec. 12 (they’ve now gone 8-3-1 over that span).

Rickard Rakell scored their lone goal – the only one that counted, that is, as the Sabres successfully challenged two of Pittsburgh’s tallies and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 41 saves for the Sabres.

“We definitely had our chances tonight. I thought we did a good job staying in it even though we had those two goals called off,” Rakell said. “We did a good job tying it up. Not good enough down at the end to get it done.”

The Penguins loved their pushback in Thursday’s wild 6-5 win over Boston, and it was on display again on a night filled with adversities. The Penguins responded well after many of the tough moments they faced in the game, starting when the Sabres opened the scoring less than three minutes in.

Pittsburgh followed that up with a great shift that featured a takeaway from Evgeni Malkin and kept pushing from there, finding the back of the net twice, but each one getting overturned for a different reason. First, Drew O’Connor’s tally – which came off a pretty passing sequence between him, Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel – was determined to be offside. Later, Guentzel was called for goalie interference on what would have been his 19^th goal of the season.

“I thought we were just rolling by then,” Rakell said. “We felt like we were right there and had zone time. We created pretty much every shift. It’s a tough bounce getting those disallowed, but I didn’t think it affected us too much at the start of the game because it just gave us momentum to keep going.”

In the second period, the Penguins had two unsuccessful breakaway attempts after the captain’s was denied in the first. They continued to create chances before Tristan Jarry came up with some big shorthanded stops on Buffalo’s first power play of the night.

Speaking of the penalty kill, the Penguins had to come up with another one early in the third for delay of game, even though replays showed that Jansen Harkins’ clearing attempt glanced off the blade of a Sabres stick. Afterward, Pittsburgh went to a two-minute 5-on-3 power play after Connor Clifton and Zemus Girgensons took separate penalties.

With seconds left on the two-man advantage, Erik Karlsson set up Rakell to cap off a beautiful sequence spearheaded by the Penguins defenseman. Unfortunately, the Penguins couldn’t build from there, surrendering the game-winner with less than five minutes to go. Rakell then lost possession of the puck along the boards in the offensive zone while Jarry was skating to the bench for the extra attacker, and Rasmus Dahlin fired it into the net as the Penguins netminder tried to scramble back.

The Penguins weren’t thrilled with their play in the final five minutes, a tough ending to an otherwise strong performance for the group.

“We had our chances to get it done,” Rakell said. “They got a break at the end for the 2-1 lead, and not a great turnover by me to make it 3-1 to close out the game. We for sure had our chances tonight, we just have to be better.”

Here’s what Head Coach Mike Sullivan had to say after the game.

I know you liked the pushback in the last game against Boston. What did you think of it tonight? “There was a lot of the game that we really liked, and I feel like we generated an exorbitant amount of scoring chances. I don’t know how many breakaways we had; I don’t know how many posts we hit. But we had a number of Grade-A looks, and the puck didn’t always go in the net for us. You can't always control that. But I thought from a from a team process standpoint, I thought the guys were competing hard. I thought we controlled territory; we did a lot of the things that we set out to accomplish. We just didn't win on the scoreboard.”

Were you expecting that goal to come back by Jake? Do you have any objections to the goaltender interference call? “Well, I didn't think it was goalie interference. Based on that decision, our coaching staff needs to take a long look at the criteria of our understanding of what it is. Jake’s in the white paint first and foremost. I get it, there's some contact with the goaltender in the blue, but for me, the puck’s going in the net anyway. We could talk about this forever. I don't agree with the call, and our coaching staff is going to have a long discussion on the criteria and trying to define it better, because that wasn't my understanding.”

How did you think Tristan played tonight, coming off the game against Washington? “I thought he competed hard.”

What was your overall assessment of the power play in its entirety tonight? “I thought they had some good moments. I thought there were opportunities to shoot the puck, and we were passing it up, a lot. I thought we had more opportunities to put the puck on the net. We were looking for that next play that didn't materialize. They obviously get a huge goal 5-on-3.”