Penguins Hit Hard by Reality; What Comes Next Could Hurt More

The Pittsburgh Penguins are embroiled in frustration leading to a lack of commitment in the most important parts of the game. They’ve played well enough to win for a few weeks, only to lose all but two and careen to the back of the pack in the Eastern Conference playoff race as the shining hope of a five-game homestand instead cast a pall of darkness.

Tuesday night, it looked and sounded as if the anvil of reality had dropped squarely upon their collective heads. In the larger sense, the grim foreclosure of greater hopes has begun.

The Penguins dominated the Seattle Kraken for the better part of two periods. Even into the third, they were outshooting their West Coast opponents 30-10. And that’s where the frustration of previous losses and failed scoring chances reared its ugly head.

Despite allowing very few shots, the Penguins were lazy in the defensive zone from the start and failed to elevate themselves in the offensive zone to get the goal that could have broken the game wide open.

More soft goaltending by Tristan Jarry even put them in a 1-0 hole.

That defensive zone deficiency became a gaping wound in the third. Seattle scored a pair of goals 49 seconds apart as even Sidney Crosby’s line looked like a disorganized pee wee team for a moment leading to a stunning and deflating 4-2 loss to Seattle at PPG Paints Arena.

The bad news keeps piling up, too.

The Penguins lost four of five games on the homestand (1-3-1) and are 2-5-3 in their last 10 games, most of which they’ve been in a position to win. The Penguins trail the second wild-card holding Columbus Blue Jackets by four points, and Columbus has two games in hand. There are four teams between the Penguins and that wild card spot.

For a team that admitted watching the standings way back in November, the hope of a five-game homestand while essentially being tied for a playoff spot was a tremendous opportunity that became a mortally wounding defeat.

The locker room rightfully chided itself Tuesday. The frustration was wrapped in exasperation and a tinge of despair. It was quite the cocktail of distilled dispirits as coach Mike Sullivan shouldered some of the blame, too.

“I’ve got to do a better job coaching these guys on our play in our own end and defending away from the puck and making sure that we’re on the same page there,” Sullivan said.

It’s not simply that things aren’t going right for the Penguins. Or that there are too many players who are slumping. It’s that many of the Penguins are producing to exactly career norms and if the big guns who are now in their late 30s don’t save the day, the Penguins are kaput. For example, Cody Glass had an open net in the second period but hit sprawled Seattle goalie Joey Daccord. Evgeni Malkin had a wide-open net later in the second period, and his shot sailed over the net.

The pair are a perfect microcosm.

As the angst grew, the team didn’t just miss chances; it lacked conviction to earn better ones. They held the puck and controlled the game, but they didn’t attack with a burning need to score. In a larger sense, the Penguins lack an emotional bulldozer like Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk, who will put his head down and clear two defensemen near the crease so a teammate can score–as he did against the Penguins leading to a crucial goal.

Unlike most of the last 20 years, the Penguins now lack a depth of players who need only a couple of chances per game to light the lamp.

The dearth of goals and, quite frankly, the lack of great scoring chances despite puck possession created a collage of emotions that manifested itself in an increasingly discouraged effort Tuesday.

“When you’re in control of that game, the first period, we’re playing well,” Letang said. “Maybe we got frustrated about not scoring, and details slipped and opened up the door for them defensively. We have to do better.”

To wit, the Penguins were outshooting Seattle 30-10 into the third period, including a 16-2 edge in the first period. Yet they trailed 1-0 early in the game and led only 2-1.

“So knowing (we can play well) is important, but at the same time, we’ve got to close out games,” captain Sidney Crosby with a head shake and trailing voice. “So yeah, we need to do it. Whatever it looks like. We just need to find ways to get to points.”

Accepting Defeat?

Tuesday night was a little bit different than bouncing off rock bottom in late November. That team was downtrodden and playing terribly. Sullivan and the coaches were able to pick them up, pump some ego, and turn around a few players, especially Erik Karlsson.

This time, the deflated team is playing well and losing. They simply can’t win. If mistakes don’t get them, failure to convert chances or unreliable goaltending will.

The biggest problem surely seems to be that they are realizing that reality. They are realizing it all.

The Penguins know they’re in trouble, and they don’t know who to turn to. Sidney Crosby can only do so much. There are too many Anthony Beauvillier and Cody Glass types who are playing well enough to be on an NHL roster, but they are not players to be heavily leaned upon. That’s just not their station in the league. Add Drew O’Connor and the revived Kevin Hayes to the list.

The Penguins have enough good players but not enough players who make a difference, and that is the chasm, or in this case, the canyon between winning and losing, especially as teams escalate urgency and desire in the second half.

A few more saves wouldn’t hurt either.

As coach Francis Anzalone has noted on the Pittsburgh Hockey Now YouTube channel and the most recent No Pucks Given podcast, the Penguins’ margin for error on any given night is much smaller than most of their opponents. The team needs to be dialed in with A-level goaltending to win.

If they have their B game or get B-level goaltending, they lose. See also losses to Carolina, Columbus, Tampa Bay, and Seattle. The look on their faces and the tone of their voices were a bit different from the shock and hopelessness earlier this season. Then, they had time and a chance to improve if they played better. Tuesday night, they again dealt with defeat after playing well.

If the Penguins were 3-1-1 on the five games at home, which they could have done, they’d be three points ahead of Columbus (five if they beat Columbus). Instead, they trail even the Philadelphia Flyers.

The recent losses are weighing on the room. The coming changes could be cataclysmic and perhaps should be. As Pittsburgh Hockey Now confirmed recently, there have been no contract talks with defenseman Marcus Pettersson, and Karlsson admitted to us that the door to leaving is open if the Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas takes the long route to reestablish the team as contenders.

Karlsson said his future was “up in the air,” but he was focused on making the playoffs here.

It seems the players are the only ones who didn’t know Dubas is indeed going to take the long road, trading the immediate for future assets instead of spending future assets on immediate help.

If contract talks haven’t already begun with Pettersson, that should tell you everything you need to know before the March 7 trade deadline. There are more than a handful of other pending unrestricted free agents, including defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and O’Connor.

There is little reason to keep the pending UFAs unless they factor into long-term plans. Only O’Connor might fit that category.

Reality seems to be hitting the Penguins players hard. And Dubas’s coming actions might hit even harder.