Penguins Embarrassed By Senators, 6-2

I sure hope the Penguins weren't counting on Sergei Gonchar or Max Talbot to be their saviors.

If they were, they need to go back to the drawing board.

Despite the return of both key regulars to the Pittsburgh lineup last night, the Penguins went out and promptly got flattened by the Ottawa Senators, 6-2.

Last night's game reminded me a bit of the game the Penguins played on the road against the Los Angeles Kings several weeks ago.

Pittsburgh was undefeated on the road at 7-0 going into that game and held a 2-1 lead going into the 3rd period, but I felt all along that the Penguins were getting outplayed in that contest and that it was only a matter of time before it caught up with them.

Last night -- the Pens' 4th straight loss away from home dating back to the Kings' game -- was no different.

Again, the Penguins were in the game going into the third period, at least on the scoreboard (even if they were down 2-1, instead of ahead), but they weren't playing well and the Senators finally got rewarded in the final frame for their energy, forecheck and general all-around desire all over the ice.

Jordan Staal had staked Pittsburgh to a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the contest, completing a nice tic-tac-toe play started when Gonchar passed the puck from his own end up the far wing off the boards to Bill Guerin. Guerin one touched the biscuit to an on-rushing Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis broke towards the goal and Staal joined the play just ahead of a backchecker to create somewhat of a 2-on-1.

Dupuis fed it to Staal who re-directed the puck with his long reach past Senators' netminder Pascal LeClaire.

Before last night, the Penguins had only lost a single game in regulation when scoring first under HCDB.

So much for that theory.

Matt Carkner scored later that period to tie the game -- in what would be the first of the next SIX straight goals for Ottawa -- culminating a good 45 seconds or so of consecutive play in the Pens' zone.

Milan Michalek scored in the second period to make it 2-1 Ottawa in a frame where the Penguins failed to score on 3 key power plays -- and looked bad doing it -- to try and recapture some momentum.

One of those man advantages carried into the 3rd period. Not only did Pittsburgh continue to fail miserably with their power play, they let Chris Kelly walk out of the penalty box and score on a breakaway as soon as it was over.

At that point, the wind came out of the sails for the Penguins. Chris Phillips scored twice after that -- one a horrible angle goal, and then a 2nd one that had Fleury looking half-hearted like the rest of the team. That 2nd goal by Phillips promptly chased #29 to the bench.

Jonathan Cheechoo got a 6th tally on Fleury's replacement, Brent Johnson, before Evgeni Malkin finally took advantage of a power play late in the game and got a goal which was meaningless except for the fact that it marked the Penguins 2nd power play goal in 2 games.

Hey, baby steps, boys and girls. Baby steps.

I was extremely disappointed in the Pens' performance last night. Despite outhitting Ottawa, the Senators notably outworked them, especially on the forecheck. Pittsburgh didn't show enough desire to get loose-pucks and were lazy all over the ice. And not only did they seem half-hearted in the defensive zone, they didn't seem to bear down in the offensive zone, either. I don't know if it was an expectation that with #55 or #25 coming back, things would be easy, or whether it was overlooking the Senators a little bit, or something else, but suffice it to say -- neither of those things should have happened.

You can't count on Gonchar or Talbot to make everything right. And Ottawa has been playing decent hockey this season. They are only 5 points behind the Penguins in the standings.

The Pens' contingent of AHL defensemen also didn't audition as well last night as they have the last few games. Deryk Engelland, in particular, struggled noticably. He was a minus 4 on the night.

Fleury is now 2-6 in his last 8 games, and 3-7 in his last 10. The whole team isn't playing as well as it, and he's certainly a part of that.

Pittsburgh has no choice but to just try and forget about this one. They should focus their energy on trying to bounce back Saturday night in Atlanta against an improving Thrashers' team that can light the lamp.

Hopefully they'll get a result better than the follow up to the Kings' game, which was a 5-0 beating at the hands of the San Jose Sharks.

More over the weekend.