Defensive defensemen are getting burned, both with bad pinches and in the defensive zone. There are multiple lines with no chemistry and little production. And a team that isn’t ready to play. But the combined problems seem to point to something larger, and fundamentally wrong with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The individual issues would seem easy to correct. Stop making ghastly mistakes in the form of throwing the puck to the wrong team, make simple plays to establish the forecheck to stack shifts and gain momentum, and…be prepared to play.
Yet, the Penguins have not done those things with consistency. A 3-3-1 record is probably more generous than they deserve after squandering a 5-1 lead to the Montreal Canadiens in the second game of the season but winning in overtime, and escaping with a shootout loss in Columbus last week. Nay, the Penguins have deserved to win only two games, and the other five have been action-comedies befitting a straight-to-Netflix release.
While there were no chairs tossed, tables turned over, or general destruction on the inside, the first signs of frustration were public Tuesday night following the Penguins’ dreadful 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Evgeni Malkin said the team took Chicago lightly.
“It’s the same, like last year. We had one game good, one game down. You know, we played a great game against Dallas, and tonight, they scored on the first shot, and we were not ready to play,” said Evgeni Malkin.
Kris Letang carped about not being prepared to outwork and outbattle Chicago.
“I don’t think we were ready for a team that brings that much pressure on the forecheck, and they really come with five guys,” said Letang. “You know, they sat on our wings, they forecheck, they forecheck hard. So when you’re not ready to outbattle the opponent, it is going to be a long night.”
Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was with the team in Chicago and was not in a gregarious mood during or after the game, marching in and out of the dressing room.
Perhaps the Penguins players understand the situation on a much deeper level. After all, on Day 1 of training camp, Erik Karlsson plainly stated, “the team is kind of in a weird spot.”
He wasn’t wrong. The transition got stuck in the middle of all directions and thus went nowhere. General manager Kyle Dubas passed on re-signing steady left-handed defenseman Ryan Shea, allowing the 29-year-old to sign a five-year deal with a $4 million average annual value with Edmonton, opting instead for a 35-year-old right-hander, Trevor van Riemsdyk, to take his place at the same $4 million AAV for two years.
Andrei Kuzmenko is a 30-year-old reclamation project, and while he will remain exempt from criticism due to unspeakable tragedy, the decision to sign him is not exempt. Nor is overhauling the blue line with a few defensemen who have, to this point, not been an improvement.
So how does a team go from a surprising and often electric season to failing to get up for games? How does a defensive corps give away so many pucks? How does a team not adjust when Chicago jumps the walls, leaving the center of the ice open for consistent exploitation?
Last season, the Penguins started 8-2-2. It was the foundation for their playoff run as the good tidings and belief spread throughout the room.
But this season, something is wrong. The Penguins are pulling the cord, but the engine isn’t starting. To a man, the team and coach have rejected any insinuations that problems stem from training camp being short but veteran players are bluntly pointing out issues that shouldn’t exist on a regular basis, but do. And coach Dan Muse could probably juggle his lines in hundreds of different ways without finding more than a couple that mesh.
Esteemed colleague Dave Molinari’s take Wednesday morning isn’t dissimilar: “Where’s the Urgency?”
As noted in the postgame report card Tuesday, Muse seems to have found a gem by putting Nick Robertson on the fourth line with Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar. He used that line more than any other at even strength against Chicago. That line even played more than Sidney Crosby’s top line at 5v5.
Is it really a fourth line if it gets the most ice time?
However, the middle six has floundered. While Tommy Novak led the team in goals until Nick Robertson scored Tuesday, Novak’s play has largely been invisible, and the line with Egor Chinakhov and Evgeni Malkin has revolved around Malkin, scoring just two goals in 70 minutes of 5v5 play.
Muse has used his third line as a laboratory around center Ben Kindel. Elmer Soderblom, Ville Koivunen, Andrei Kuzmenko, the traded-away Filip Hallander, and Bryan Rust. Every possibility but Robertson, actually.
And indeed, the veterans can call out the team for unpreparedness. Being in a “weird spot.” And all of it is true. But the problem seems like more than simply early-season jelling or a coach figuring out line combinations before the Perfection timer pops out all of the pieces again.
The Penguins’ room had a detached feeling Tuesday night. Perhaps more than just media and fans have noticed the caught-between-all-paths approach, and it’s harder to buy into something when you don’t know what you’re buying.
In the coming few weeks, the Penguins will join the Philadelphia Flyers at the bottom, or perhaps they will figure out what really ails them and begin to reclaim last year’s second-place status. The one thing no one wants is to remain mired in the muck and mud of mediocrity smack dab in the middle.
Tags:Andrei Kuzmenko Blake Lizotte Erik Karlsson Evgeni Malkin Kris Letang Nick Robertson Ryan Shea Trevor van Riemsdyk
Categorized:Pittsburgh Penguins