WHAT HAPPENED:
The Penguins' win streak ended at six games as they fell to Boston, 2-1, on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. Brandon Tanev scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh. Casey DeSmith made 31 saves.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
Well, to say the Penguins faced their fair share of adversity tonight would be an understatement.
Before the game, they learned they would be without Teddy Blueger, who is longer-term with an upper-body injury, joining Jason Zucker, Jared McCann, John Marino and Mark Friedman on the injury list.
During the game, they lost Evgeni Malkin to a lower-body injury in the first period and Brandon Tanev to a game misconduct in the second period (that came with a five-minute major they had to kill off).
That meant the Penguins were down to 10 forwards during the second game of a back-to-back set against a tough opponent in an already condensed schedule, and spent a lot of it shorthanded, taxing them even more.
And while they ultimately weren't able to get the result they wanted, head coach Mike Sullivan liked how his team battled.
"I was proud of the group and how hard we competed tonight," Sullivan said. "I think this group has a certain resilience to them that they show night in and night out. And that's an important attribute to have to win in this league. That's what we told them after the game. I thought we gave ourselves a chance tonight. It's unfortunate we didn't get any points out of it."
With Blueger being scratched, Mark Jankowski moved up into his spot between Zach Aston-Reese and Tanev, while Sam Lafferty slotted into his between Colton Sceviour and Anthony Angello.
But then Malkin took a hit from Jarrod Tinordi in the corner of the offensive zone just a few minutes into the first period. He was slow to get up, but finished his shift. After talking with head athletic trainer Chris Stewart on the bench, Malkin headed to the locker room.
He returned briefly for one shift on the power play, but then went back to the dressing room and did not return the rest of the night. Sullivan said he is currently being evaluated.
It was a tough break for Malkin, who entered tonight on an eight-game point streak and had been playing absolutely dominant hockey as of late.
"Nobody likes to see that," Crosby said. "Guys that are stepping in are just trying to go out there one shift at a time. You're just trying to push and make sure that whoever's out there sets up the next line for a good shift. You never like to see any teammate hurt and leave the game. You want to go out there and do the job and get the win for him. Unfortunately we weren't able to do that."
In his absence, a makeshift line of Tanev, Evan Rodrigues and Kasperi Kapanen was thrown together. They showed some quick chemistry, as they connected for a goal from Tanev. Unfortunately, the winger would join Malkin in the locker room the next period.
Tanev lined up Tinordi for a hit in the neutral zone, sending him crashing into the boards in front of the Bruins bench. Tinordi went down and stayed there, getting tended to by the Bruins medical staff before getting helped off the ice.
Tanev was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. Crosby had this to say about the hit after the game:
"I haven't seen it a ton. I saw one quick replay. I hope Tinordi's okay. He went in pretty awkward. But I don't think there was any intent. I thought he hit him clean, he hit him timely as far as the puck being there. He did go in awkwardly, so you never like to see that. I didn't think it warranted a five-minute. The refs are out there trying to protect us and keep us safe. I get it. I can see them trying to do that. But I didn't see it that way. I hope he's okay and I hope as players, we can get some clarity on what's a good hit and what's not. It's tough to really gauge when you're out there....
