Penguins Problems Intensify, So Where Are the Changes?

The trap door beneath the Pittsburgh Penguins has opened and instead of being near the top of the Eastern Conference, which is where they would be if they had even modest lead-holding capabilities.

Instead, the Penguins are only a couple of loser points out of the basement. The short stack is eight blown multi-goal leads and a 3-3-2 record. That’s eight missed points; even assuming they hold only six of those eight points, they’d have the sixth-best record in the conference.

Woulda-shoulda-perhaps coulda?

So, where are the changes?

From Kris Letang to coach Mike Sullivan, you’ve heard the song before and it’s not climbing the charts with its popularity. The Penguins admit they need to find consistency. They need it every shift.

“Inconsistenty, obviously. I think it’s something that’s part of an individual problem, and I think it translates to team performance,” Letang said. “I think we two good periods, and you go one (bad one), it’s enough to lose you the game. In Vancouver, we played 55 minutes. Really, we let down for five minutes. We have to be able to sustain 60 minutes of play and do it night in, night out. And we’re not doing that right now.”

It’s true, but in Aerosmith’s lyrical words, it’s the same old story, the same old song and dance.

Sullivan was asked how to effect the change. Is it personnel changes? Accountability? More film meetings? The coach rattled off a litany of things the Penguins need, and need to do.

“All of the above. We’ve got to practice it. When we get opportunities to practice, we try to learn through the game film. There’s a level of accountability that we try to utilize to make sure that we’re holding people to a certain standard and a certain level of expectation,” said Sullivan. “I’ve said this on so many occasions, it’s hard to have success in this league if you don’t keep it out of your net. We’ve got to defend harder. We got to be harder to play against. I don’t think that’s any secret. And that’s been the area of our game that that has to improve if we’re going to get different results.”

It all makes sense and is perfectly logical. However, it’s been 21 games, and the problems aren’t improving. To rattle off the problems with specificity and jersey numbers would be like Sidney Crosby lining up pucks to blast on the net before practice.

Erik Karlsson’s casual attitude toward defense.
Matt Grzelcyk’s visibly declining game; his skating is slow and he’s prone to puck-watching.
Jack St. Ivany’s inconsistency.
Ryan Graves’s implosions.

And that’s just the defensemen.

The forwards have collectively taken turns missing assignments. On Saturday, Anthony Beauvillier and Sidney Crosby allowed slow-footed San Jose Sharks center Mikael Granlund to breeze by for a momentum-seizing goal, which led to San Jose’s three-goal comeback.

If you pick a forward, you’ll be able to find a collection of mistakes that have spotted an opponent an important goal. If there’s an innocent among the group, it might be Blake Lizotte, who has played only seven games.

Otherwise, the group is not only guilty of gargantuan mental mistakes but of failing to deal with the momentum swings encapsulated in nearly every game. The team is wholly responsible for quitting in some games or buckling in others.

As Tampa Bay, San Jose, Minnesota, Vancouver (et al.) rallied to soar past the Penguins when they’re bad, they are really … really, really bad.

“At the end of the day, it boils down to a lot of things–that’s attention to detail. In some instances, it’s doing your job and trusting that your linemates are going to do theirs,” Sullivan said. “And when the puck goes in the corner and it turns into a one-on-one puck battle, inevitably the game breaks down to a battle between me and you, and who’s more willing to win the puck and who’s going to pay the price? And those are are all the areas that go into being a team that’s hard to play against, and being a team that stingy defensively. We’re capable of being that. We have shown that at times, but not nearly consistently enough.”

Sullivan has served Graves some press box nachos and occasionally St. Ivany, but there hasn’t been a large message sent to a member of the top-four defensemen, though a Western Union telegram with a stern message is more than earned.

So, too, has Tristan Jarry paid a price. But it shouldn’t end there.

And what about general manager Kyle Dubas?

We know he sees this mess, in part born of his poor off-season acquisitions who have done little to alter the team’s trajectory despite claiming about $12 million in salary cap space (Grzelcyk, Anthony Beauvillier, Cody Glass, Kevin Hayes, Blake Lizotte).

Sullivan has swapped the lines more than a fisherman, scratched a few culprits, and banished Jarry, but as he was last season, Dubas remains inactive.

So, again, where are the changes?