Penguins fall short in 2-1 loss to Norfolk
Published: November 7, 2009
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share thisWILKES-BARRE TWP. - This not scoring goals thing isn't new to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
They haven't had a prolific offensive outing - say, one where they scored more than twice - in three weeks now.
But this loss, by a 2-1 score to the Norfolk Admirals at the Wachovia Arena on Friday night, was different.
For two periods, the Penguins didn't just fail to score. They failed to sustain a forecheck, generate many shots or even possess the puck.
It was some of the worst hockey they've played in the young season.
By the time they turned things around in the third period, putting 17 shots on net and getting within a goal thanks to Ryan Bayda, it was too late.
"In the third period, we played with a lot more urgency. The first two periods, for whatever reason, we were flat," Bayda said.
"We weren't doing anything out there."
The Admirals spent the entire first shift in the Penguins' defensive zone, and eventually, Ben Lovejoy was called for a cross-check at the 43-second mark to give Norfolk a power play.
About a minute later, NHL veteran Mark Parrish took a pass from Paul Szczechura in the slot and fired a shot past goalie John Curry to give Norfolk the lead for good.
It was one of three power plays the Admirals earned in the first period. The Penguins went on the power play once in the first two periods, and that advantage lasted just 74 seconds.
The Penguins have struggled to score on the power play lately, misfiring on 16 straight chances over the last five games.
They're going to need a little more time than that to figure out a way to snap the skid.
"The first two periods, we didn't really have the puck in the offensive zone very much. We didn't have the puck at all, really," Bayda said.
"We're not putting ourselves in position to draw penalties. If they have the puck and we're chasing them, we're going to be taking penalties like we did in the first period. It's not putting ourselves in the right situations."
Later in the first period, Matt Syroczynski slapped in the rebound of an Adam Hall shot to give the Admirals a 2-0 advantage, and the way the Penguins are scoring, that seemed like a massive mountain to climb.
They tried to scale it in the third period by establishing a forecheck and getting the defensemen more involved in the offense, and their efforts paid off to an extent.
They outshot Norfolk 17-7 and scored with Curry pulled when Luca Caputi dug out a puck behind the net and centered to Bayda, who slipped a shot past goalie Dustin Tokarski with 1:50 left.
The equalizer, however, never came.
"That's certainly the way we should be playing the entire game," coach Todd Reirden said. "That's the disappointing part. A coaching move with two minutes to go to play Dustin Jeffrey as a defenseman to create more offense - OK, that we can't do all game. But that isn't why we started to dictate the pace of play and why we wanted to forecheck harder and put them on their heels, which is what we finally did. We made a little bit different commitment to playing the right way in the third period."
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