Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan Blasts Certain Players for Disastrous Performance in Loss to Hurricanes
Photo credit: YouTube
The Carolina Hurricanes swept the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1, and head coach Mike Sullivan was incensed about some of his players' lack of work ethic.
Thursday's 5-1 victory over the Penguins at Lenovo Center marked the Hurricanes' eighth consecutive victory. After recovering from a preseason concussion, Blake Lizotte scored Pittsburgh's only goal, his second in four games.
Carolina prioritized quality over quantity, especially in the first period, even though the Penguins ended up having a 36-19 shot advantage on the evening. A re-direct that went past Alex Nedeljkovic in the first minute of play gave the Hurricanes the lead.
The fact that Karlsson was at the center of both of the first period's goals was the most concerning. Less than a minute into the match, former Penguin Jordan Staal passed the puck to Jordan Martinook, who got behind Karlsson and scored to make it 1-0.
Some of his players' work ethic infuriated Sullivan
«I thought we had a lot of guys who played really hard and didn't get rewarded for their efforts,» Sullivan said. «I think there were a few guys that didn't live up to the expectations. It's hard. We need everybody to bring it every night to have a chance to win.»
When asked if he thought some of his players didn't play hard, Sullivan said he did.
«I thought a lot of the group tonight played extremely hard,» he responded.
Although Sullivan didn't directly mention Karlsson by name - even though he probably should have.
«We talk about playing behind them, making hard plays. We make a soft play,» Sullivan said via video posted by the team. «We don't play him. It ends up in the back of our net.»
When Karlsson gave up the wall to allow Jack Roslovic to make a lovely bank pass to Sebastian Aho, he also got caught in the middle of the second goal that was allowed. Karlsson then made matters worse by not staying with Roslovic, who scored the game's second goal after Aho's return pass.
Before Roslovic scored again on the third goal, the Hurricanes worked the puck around Pittsburgh's defensive zone, leaving Karlsson and five other Penguins unsure of where to go on defense.
After the game, Karlsson was asked to evaluate his performance
«Not bad,» he said. «Unfortunate sometimes. It's tough sometimes when your first shift, they score on the first play, and it starts snowballing the other way. It's just one of those days where you got to keep your head down and try and be in the right position at all times. And even if you're just a little off, sometimes it doesn't go your way. And that's just one of those nights. I've had many of them, and I'm sure I've had some more. I just have got to figure out a way to control them.»
Karlsson was correct about one thing, though. Especially as a Penguin, he has experienced "many" of those evenings. As a defenseman, it has been a career of chasing points at the expense of defense. To the tune of three Norris Trophies, the cost-benefit analysis has been worthwhile for the majority of that career.
It's funny that he finds his own play "not bad" and "unfortunate." He is somewhat correct, I suppose, in that his trip to Raleigh wasn't "bad." It was disgusting.
«it's very tough. You give up the first shot of the game, and it's never a good feeling,» Nedeljkovic said. «Especially since I thought we played really well that first period, only gave them four shots. Two of them end up in the net. It sucks. It's a crappy feeling. That was the difference in the game, was their guy (Pyotr Kochetkov) was that much better than I was.»
As Sidney Crosby and the Penguins wrap up their three-game divisional road trip in Washington on Friday, they must find a win quickly.
| POLL | ||
8 NOVEMBRE | 66 ANSWERS Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan Blasts Certain Players for Disastrous Performance in Loss to Hurricanes Will the Pittsburgh Penguins win their last road game tonight against the Washington Capitals? | ||
| Yes | 32 | 48.5 % |
| No | 34 | 51.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
Latest 10 stories
