Tim Benz: Pens play 'points game' poorly to open crucial 5-game homestand
Pittsburgh Penguins winger Bryan Rust doesn’t care that 40 of 82 games remain on the schedule. The extra point they gave away to a division rival Tuesday night is worthy of some angst.
“It’s never too early to play the points game,” Rust said with some agitation. “There’s (nine) points between the first wild card and last (place) in the conference. We’ve got to be playing the points game.”
That “points game” for the Penguins really should be getting two points every night.
It really should be getting two points with regulation wins every night.
It really should be getting two points, with regulation wins against Metropolitan Division foes, when you are up two goals at home late in the third period.
It really should.
But the Penguins didn’t adhere to those edicts Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They blew a 3-1 lead with less than eight minutes to go, then lost the game 4-3 in a shootout (2-0).
That shootout loss means the Blue Jackets tied the Penguins with 42 points for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division.
Columbus escaped down Interstate 70 with two points in their back pocket when they should’ve had none. Meanwhile, the Pens skated out of their own building with just one point when they should’ve had two.
Since the Blue Jackets have only played 41 games so far and the Pens have played 42, Columbus now sits in the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot at the halfway point of the season, with the Penguins in ninth.
That’s the “points game” Rust was talking about, and the Penguins are playing it poorly.
With eight losses beyond regulation this year, the Penguins have given back eight very attainable points. Sure, every team in the NHL could sing a sob story here or there about letting a point slip through their fingers when two were in their grasp. But eight is more than anyone else in the Eastern Conference. Only the Vancouver Canucks out west, with nine such results, have more in the NHL.
“We know how tight it is in the standings,” forward Rickard Rakell said. “It’s probably going to be that way the rest of the way. We know that every point matters. It’s very frustrating.”
If anyone had a right to express frustration Tuesday, it was Rakell. The blown lead wasted his excellent two-goal performance. He’s up to 20 on the season.
"AN ABSOLUTE LASER BEAM!" - @armdog pic.twitter.com/xg6fDoLRzq
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 8, 2025
That's 20 goals this season for Rickard Rakell ???? pic.twitter.com/JoskZOtCVZ
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 8, 2025
Particularly vexing is that the Pens did this on a night when the franchise is opening up a five-game homestand. After Edmonton (second place in the Pacific Division with 53 points) visits PPG Paints Arena on Thursday, Ottawa and Tampa Bay come in Saturday and Sunday.
The Lightning are currently in the seventh playoff spot with 44 points. Ottawa is 10th, right behind the Penguins, with 41 points.
It sure would’ve been nice to set the tone for how this stretch could go with a clean, tidy, 3-1 regulation win over one of those three other teams in the Pens’ orbit for playoff positioning.
Instead, the Penguins burped up the lead and undercut their own momentum for the rest of the crucial week that lies ahead.
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“We’ve played some good teams. We’ve played some good games. We’ve played some games where we could’ve been better,” losing goaltender Tristan Jarry said after 26 saves. “It’s just leveling that out. It’s bringing that same game to every game. We are not getting the results we want. We are getting points. But we need those wins.”
The Pens have now lost five times in their past six tries. The last three in a row have all come with loser points.
That is typically emblematic of the franchise’s big-picture state of affairs. They are half in a rebuild while half in a playoff race.
They are half committed to looking toward the future while also half committed to holding open the window of competitiveness for Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.
The problem is the window is stuck, so it won’t open any further than it already is and won’t slam shut so everybody can just move on.
If any single game so far in the 2024-25 season has crystallized that dilemma, Tuesday night’s defeat certainly did.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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