Penguins Flunked First Test; What Comes Next

The Pittsburgh Penguins won just three of their first ten games. After vowing to learn from their abysmal start last season, the team had nearly an identical record (3-6-1) following the often-defining 10-game segment at the beginning of the season.

The team has since split the last two games, increasing their win total to a whopping four games in the first 12.

If the first 10 games were an early semester test, the Penguins would have received a big red F.

Even in wins, their game was, at best, haphazard and chaotic and, at worst, lifeless and dispirited. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman opined after the Penguins lost Marc-Andre Fleury and the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, “It felt like we saw the end of the Penguins era.”

Coach Mike Sullivan has used different lines in most of the first 12 games, though injuries have forced only a couple of changes. Unlike last season, the Penguins coach has not bit his tongue or waited patiently for the soufflé to rise this season.

With options dwindling, Sullivan paired Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin with Rickard Rakell on the right wing. The offensive results from the line have been the best-case scenario; Rakell scored a pair of goals Tuesday in a loss to Minnesota, and Crosby scored a pair of goals in the win over Anaheim.

“When you go through a skid like we went through, that’s not an easy experience for any of us. Our players are proud guys, and they’re accomplished guys. When it doesn’t go the right way, nobody feels that more than them and us as a group of coaches,” Sullivan said. “And so to play the type of game that we played (Thursday), I thought it was it was really a complete game on both sides of the puck … I think that’s something to feel good about. When you get the result, and you win–we’re all in this thing to win–So that feels good. I think the important thing now is our ability to follow it up with a similar effort and with the same intentions, playing a game with less risk and committing to play defense.”

It’s true, despite the failure of the first 10 games, Sullivan’s active hunt for solutions, and the fact that no team could possibly be as bad defensively as the Penguins have been, there is reason for optimism.

No team could possibly be as destructively impulsive as the Penguins have been. Surely, the veteran Penguins players who are capable of so much better will indeed progress toward the mean, right?

Right?

Unlike last season, it would seem Sullivan will have a quick hook for those who don’t snap to it. But is that enough to earn a passing grade by the mid-terms, which could well be the final grade for this team? Fans shouldn’t underestimate the looming collision between potential and promises made to remain competitive.

The Penguins are hovering near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. A six-game winless streak in which only one point was earned will do that. Last season, general manager Kyle Dubas set his first deadline to become competitive in December. Then he adjusted to the All-Star break. Then, the trade deadline.

This season, the Penguins have already given away their mental cushion or margin for error. They are only two points out of a playoff spot, but seven teams are between them and the second wild-card spot. They know better this year, and there’s no more “What, me worry?” attitude.

Following Montreal, which is the second-worst defensive team in the NHL, on Saturday, the Penguins’ real test will be a three-game trip against the division rivals from the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, and Washington Capitals.

Following that are home games against Stanley Cup contenders, including Dallas, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.

The confidence bounce and improved play must carry through the next 10-game segment. And the one after that.

If the team can’t get its act together for an extended period, there would be no reason for management to hold out hope for a miracle this season. The cumulative history of the last two seasons provides no respite nor optimism that results can change. That will remain the case until the team proves otherwise.

That case must be made in the next 10, or there’s almost no chance the rest of the tests will matter.