Penguins Still Finding Ways to Lose
The Pittsburgh Penguins are still trying to put a complete game together
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The Pittsburgh Penguins currently sit in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division and have been pretty inconsistent throughout the month of November. There are some areas that have seen significant improvement since the start of the season, such as goaltending and the bottom six. However, there are still some very weak spots in Pittsburgh’s game, such as the power play. With the halfway point of the season quickly approaching, the Penguins have to figure out a way to improve these problem areas.
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Penguins Still Battling Inconsistency
On Nov. 24, the Penguins lost 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres. They had a 2-0 lead heading into the third period and were very much in control. But in true Pittsburgh fashion, they took their foot off the gas in the third period and allowed Buffalo to come back and win the game. Letting up in the final period and blowing the lead is not a new concept to the Penguins as they struggled with that a lot last season.
Pittsburgh had a chance to go up 3-0 in the second period when they got on the power play, but that part of their game has not been good for a while now. The Penguins power play currently ranks 30th in the NHL and have now had 34 consecutive power plays without a goal. Against the Sabres, the power play was all perimeter passing, the zone entries were awful and no one was getting to the net. There is no shoot-first mentality and no one seems to want to go to the high-danger areas.
The Penguins have been playing a 1-3-1 system on the power play, which has not been working. They have tried moving key players such as Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang around in hopes of finding a spark, but so far nothing has worked. The players look completely out of sync, and the power play sucks the momentum out of the game. Associate coach Todd Reirden, who also runs the power play unit, has not been doing a good job of adjusting his strategies. The fact is that opposing teams are not afraid to play aggressively and take penalties against Pittsburgh because their power play doesn’t score with much regularity.
On Nov. 25, the Penguins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2. They played a pretty solid game through the first two periods; however, in the third period, they were not playing with the same sense of urgency. They only recorded three shots on goal in the final period. They managed to escape with the win because Toronto has its own set of problems. But, against a team like the New York Rangers, taking it easy in the third period will not bring a favorable result.
Penguins Bright Spots
The power play is a huge area of concern, but there are also a lot of things to like about the Penguins right now. Depth scoring, which has been an ongoing issue for the team in recent seasons, is starting to pick up. Noel Acciari scored a goal against the Maple Leafs to tie the game in the second period. Lars Eller notched a goal in the second period against the Sabres giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. He ended the night with three shots on goal and two faceoff wins on seven attempts.
Goaltending has also been an underrated strength for the Penguins in the last few weeks. Second-string goalie Alex Nedeljkovic returned from a lower-body injury on Nov. 19 against the Vegas Golden Knights and blocked 38 shots in the Penguins’ 3-0 victory. On Dec. 4, Pittsburgh lost 2-1 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers. Nedeljkovic made 31 saves with more than a few of them being absolute highway robberies. Pittsburgh gave up too many good looks during the game and their goalie bailed them out more than once. Starting goaltender Tristan Jarry has also been performing well with a .917 save percentage on the year. The team may have finally found the perfect goalie tandem.
The power play is not the only problem with the Penguins game right now, but it is the biggest. With the amount of talent they have, there is no reason they should not be finding success. With bottom-six scoring and goaltending trending in the right direction, Pittsburgh just needs to figure out a way to get production from their power play. If they can do that, they will have no problem making the playoffs.