On Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ six-game winning streak ended with a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators in their final home game before the Olympic break.
Erik Karlsson commented on the team’s performance, saying, “What we had today wasn’t much, and we still hung in there all the way to the end. It’s obviously never fun losing, but I don’t think that we deserved to win this one, even though we were hoping that we could hang in there a little bit to the end and at least get into overtime.”
The Penguins opened scoring with a goal by Egor Chinakhov from an Evgeni Malkin pass. However, Ottawa controlled much of the play. Goaltender Arturs Silovs made several key saves in the first period to keep his team competitive.
Blake Lizotte praised Silovs’ effort: “I think him and [Skinner] have been standing on their head every night for us and tonight, unfortunately, Artie was forced into that. He did a great job and deserved better from us out in front of him.”
Through two periods, Pittsburgh was outshot 22-10. Despite strong results since the holiday break—going 13-2-2—the team struggled with puck possession and offensive pressure during this game.
Karlsson reflected on their struggles: “I don’t think that we played the game that we have been for the past six weeks. This was probably one of the very few games where we couldn’t seem to figure out how we wanted to play. I don’t think anyone in here, myself included, feels very good about how we started.”
Penalties also affected Pittsburgh’s performance as they took four consecutive penalties early on.
“It’s just too many penalties,” Lizotte said. “It takes guys out of the game. But from a team perspective, that’s disappointing to take that many. But from a PK perspective, really proud of the way the guys battled tonight, even though we didn’t have our best stuff.”
In the third period, Ottawa took its first lead when Tim Stutzle scored after Drake Batherson’s breakaway attempt. The Penguins responded quickly as Ryan Shea’s shot led to Novak scoring his tenth goal of the season.
Lizotte described their late effort: “I think when you come out flat for two periods and you’re still in the game, you have a chance to win. I think there was a little bit of juice there, but overall, you’re not going to win many hockey games playing like that over 60 minutes.”
With just over five minutes left in regulation time, Claude Giroux scored following contact near Pittsburgh’s net—a play disputed by Silovs and challenged by Head Coach Dan Muse for goaltender interference. After review, officials upheld Ottawa’s goal.
Silovs questioned the decision: “He came in, I stopped the puck. He goes like 25 miles (per hour) going down. What (do) they expect me to do? I would understand if it would go straight away in. Then, I would agree with the call. But it’s a second effort. I don’t really agree with the call.”
Pittsburgh pulled Silovs for an extra attacker late but could not tie up against Linus Ullmark and Ottawa’s defense.
Looking ahead to Tuesday’s game against New York Islanders Karlsson stated: “This was not the brand of hockey that we’ve been accustomed to playing… Gotta wash this one away… We got a big game again tomorrow…”
Coach Muse discussed key moments postgame:
How did you see the sequence unfold on the game-winning goal? What was the explanation that you received?: I didn’t get an explanation. I saw it as they called a slash, he makes the save, and is run into, no chance at all. There’s nothing else that he can do there. I felt like that was one we could challenge. That’s why I challenged it. I don’t have any explanation.
Was tonight’s game just a flat performance? Is there anything that you can put your finger on?: It was flat, it was execution, races, battles. I think [Silovs] had a really strong game, and our penalty kill did a good job. Outside of that, I don’t think there’s much else I’m walking away here liking.
Is there a way to handle the systems and structure that Ottawa had tonight?: No, we’ve seen it this year. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen it… You look at missed opportunities… We’re not making them… We weren’t doing that tonight… And so now we spent… majority of game either defending or without puck… that’s credit to them… But at same time …we got look in mirror tonight … only reason close game … because of Artie.
With huge game tomorrow against Islanders was tonight wake-up call?: Because it’s quick turnaround … can’t just say didn’t happen … have be better than this … opportunity tomorrow show ourselves there’s much better game…
You’ve had couple challenges this year haven’t gone your way around net Does league explain what is or isn’t goaltender interference?: Yeah… there are lot factors at play … We get all explanations … So … would challenge again.
