Barring anything unforeseen — and “unforeseen” has an undefeated record over the past 12 months — the New York Islanders are scheduled to move into the new, state-of-the-art UBS Arena on Long Island by the start of the 2021-22 season.
That meant Sunday’s game against the Islanders was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ last regular-season contest at venerable Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y.
They certainly looked like they had vacated the premises prematurely as they stumbled through a wretched 2-0 loss that could have induced drowsiness on a cadaver.
It marked the Islanders’ first shutout of the Penguins in more than three decades.
Engaging with one another for the second time in the span of 20 hours, each squad looked sluggish at times, but the Penguins displayed the urgency of an actual slug. With narcolepsy.
Failing to record a shot on net until 15 minutes, 51 seconds into regulation, the Penguins were outshot 30-20.
“Zero shots for first (15:51), we should play better for sure,” forward Evgeni Malkin said. “Everyone, forwards, (defensemen). It’s a really, really slow start.”
The Penguins didn’t exactly threaten to break any land speed records in the middle or final portions of this game either.
When they weren’t failing to put pucks on net, they were failing to avoid the penalty box as they granted the Islanders five power-play chances, two of which were converted.
As a result, the Penguins’ penalty killers now have allowed goals in 15 of the 20 games they have played this season.
Coach Mike Sullivan was terse when asked what is ailing his penalty kill — and with most of his answers during a brief postgame news conference.
“It’s a number of things,” Sullivan fumed. “It’s just not good enough. We’ve got to be better.”
That was evident on Sunday as the only offense came from a ho-hum Islanders power play that entered the contest ranked 13th in the league.
The Islanders first struck late in the first period at the 19:20 mark. Controlling the puck in the right circle of the offensive zone, Islanders forward Josh Bailey faked a shot, then fed a pass to defenseman Nick Leddy. Surveying the zone for a moment, Leddy dealt a pass to the left dot for forward Oliver Wahlstrom, who zipped a one-timer past goaltender Casey DeSmith’s glove on the far side for his third goal.
It became 2-0 at 14:56 of the second period. Taking a seam pass in the right circle of the offensive zone, Bailey controlled the puck, allowed a play to develop and fed a pass to forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, also in the circle. Pageau chopped a one-timer through a stick check by Penguins forward Bryan Rust, and the puck found the net via DeSmith’s five hole.
DeSmith made 28 saves on 30 shots in his first game since Feb. 11.
Rookie goaltender Ilya Sorokin, playing his first game against the Penguins, recorded the Islanders’ first shutout of the Penguins since Kelly Hrudey made 27 saves in a 9-0 home win Jan. 9, 1986.
Having gone 51-58-12 in 121 regular season games at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Penguins probably won’t look back fondly on what was potentially their final visit to the venue.
Besides, they’re well occupied just trying to find a solution for their malfunctioning penalty kill.
“Obviously, it’s just something that we have to keep getting better and work on,” defenseman John Marino said.
“That’s a struggle right now and something that we need to improve on.”
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Penguins/NHL | Sports
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