Penguins/Utah Recap: Pittsburgh brutalized in another loss, but get milestone Crosby goal

Sidney Crosby gets 600th career goal, but Utah easily defeats Pittsburgh 6-1

Pregame

Lots of changes from last night for Pittsburgh. Kevin Hayes is back from the IR, Ryan Graves is back from healthy scratch banishment and Alex Nedeljkovic gets the crease.

The yet-to-be-named Hockey Club from Utah has the following lineup for their first ever trip to Pittsburgh.

First period

It takes Utah until their third shot on goal to score, Graves and Matt Grzelcyk both chase below the goal line, Dylan Guenther makes a slick pass back out the same side he skates into and Jack McBain’s shot on goal isn’t even that good but it catches Nedeljkovic moving laterally enough to slip in. 1-0.

It’s not too long before Mikhail Sergachev extends it to a 2-0 game with plenty of time from the middle of the ice to slip one in.

Same old, same old for the Penguins. Lackadaisical defense, not good enough to do much on the other end. 2-0 UHC.

Second period

Utah takes two penalties within 21 seconds to give the Pens a lot of 5v3 time. It takes them a while but finally they are able to score. And it’s history! Erik Karlsson lays one over for Sidney Crosby on the right side and the captain enters the 600 goal club.

It would be nice if that goal inspired the Pens to raise their level and turn the corner, if only for the night. But there aren’t many nice stories around the Pittsburgh Penguins this season. Nick Bjugstad scores with a deflection in front of the net to extend the lead to 3-1 and Utah wouldn’t be in jeopardy again for the rest of the game.

Pittsburgh gets it to intermission down two goals.

Third period

Any doubts about the outcome are erased when Guenther gains inside position on Marcus Pettersson and wins a battle at the front of the net to chop in a goal. The Utah lead moves to 4-1.

Utah adds insult to injury less than a minute later when Alex Kerfoot is able to get to the net and tip in a point shot. 5-1

There’s no mercy from the ol’ Hockey Club tonight, they send their top power play out late in the game to pad stats and it enables Guenther to add another goal to his total.

Some thoughts

• Another uninspired effort all around, what can ya say? There are far too many bad players on the team, who combine to not play particularly hard to make up for their talent deficit. You can go down the list, it’s not a pretty sight with the way this team is constructed, coached but also plays. At a certain point players have to take pride in being in the NHL and work to show why they’re there. The Penguins play most games with the intensity of a men’s league game with an 11:30pm start (and the good half of the team didn’t show up). It’s brutal and almost everyone with a hand in the hockey side of the business right now should feel some shame and pressure about their part in what the club has turned into in its current form.
• At least Crosby scored the fancy goal number to trigger some well-deserved celebrations and justify the purpose of everyone coming out to the arena or tune in.