Although the NHL season is only 11 games old, the Pittsburgh Penguins are already in one of the deepest funks of any team with playoff aspirations.
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For the second consecutive game, they jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to watch their opponents rally back and pick up two points, this time the Minnesota Wild, led by Marc-Andre Fleury.
It’s too early in the season to push the panic button, but with every additional loss, the need to make drastic changes becomes more pressing.
Let’s discuss what happened last night.
Another Game, Another Blown Lead
The Penguins haven’t won a game in six contests, and one of the common takeaways from those games is that Pittsburgh has had a lead at some point. When they started the road trip, they jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Winnipeg before finishing the trip with a comfortable 2-0 lead in Vancouver, only to lose each one.
On Tuesday night, facing the oldest netminder in the NHL, the Penguins gave the fans false hope by building up a 2-0 lead. However, before the end of the first period, it was gone. By the end of the second, they trailed, and by the final buzzer, they lost yet again.
Despite ranking as a top-scoring team, the Penguins can’t seem to stop opponents from dominating them in their defensive zone and remain the team with the most goals against. The system is broken, and since players can’t be easily replaced, another dominio has to fall.
Penguins Lack Motivation After Milestone Night
On Oct. 16, Sidney Crosby (1,600 points) and Evgeni Malkin (500 goals) reached personal milestones, and the Penguins escaped the evening’s contest with an overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
At that point, the club was 3-2-0 with 20 goals scored and 21 against. As two legendary players chased history, many teammates rallied and tried to help both superstars reach their goals.
Since that night against the Sabres, Pittsburgh has gone 0-5-1 with 13 goals scored and 27 against for a goal differential of minus-14.
Other players like Rickard Rakell, Drew O’Connor, Kevin Hayes, and Lars Eller have stepped up to provide offense, but it’s clear that the team isn’t playing passionate hockey now.
Related: NHL 500 Goal Club
Even though many people want to point fingers at the team’s leadership core, it’s not like Crosby (ten points) and Malkin (14 points) are not producing since they rank first and second in team scoring.
However, outside of that magical night, they are not acting like difference makers, which is one reason the Penguins cannot recover from blown leads.
Defense Isn’t the Only Concern
When examining the box score from Tuesday’s game, the six Penguins’ defensive skaters combined to be minus-4, with Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson finishing the night even.
Meanwhile, with the line shuffling among the forwards, only three had a positive plus/minus rating after the game, with nine finishing the night in the negatives.
Out of every player to don a Penguins sweater this season, only Rickard has a positive plus/minus rating at plus-3, while O’Connor (minus-9) and Kris Letang (minus-8) lead the pack.
After them, four players have minus-7 ratings, with the defenseman occupying four of the top ten worst ratings on the team.
Related: 5 Possible Replacements For Penguins’ Mike Sullivan
Although social media would have you believe that the Penguins’ shortcomings are squarely on the shoulders of defenders, it’s clear that the forwards are also missing their assignments, which has led to this abysmal 3-7-1 record.
Penguins & Wild Trivia Answers
How did you score in our Game Day Trivia quiz? Here are the answers.
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Detroit Red Wings
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Five
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Tom Barrasso
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2014-15
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Mark Reechi
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2011, 2015
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0-2-0
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Brooks Orpik
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5-4-0 (now 6-4-0)
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Ian Cole
Game Day Trivia is published during the first period of Penguins games, so come back on Thursday, Oct. 31, when they host the Anaheim Ducks.
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