Overall you have to be pretty pleased with the past week if you are a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. They went on a three-game road trip through Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Dallas and won the first two games
in regulation, and then still collected a point in the latter game after mostly outplaying and shutting down one of the best teams in hockey. Out of a possible six points, they collected five of them and remain in a pretty solid position in the playoff race.
The point totals make the standings look close and packed together, but keep in mind how few games the Penguins have played compared to other teams.
They have the same number of points as the New York Rangers ….. but have played four fewer games.
They have one fewer point than the New York Islanders …. but have played in three fewer games.
They are one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils …. but have played in two fewer games.
Points percentage is where you need to be looking right now, and by that the Penguins still have the seventh-best record in the entire NHL and the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. They have played 27 games and only lost seven of them in regulation. They have 13 regulation wins, which is the fourth most in hockey despite playing in the second fewest games.
There is a lot to like right now about where they are.
There are, however, two big negatives that keep creeping into things. They keep losing leads in the third period (or leads in general), and they still can not win in a shootout. Both things happened on Sunday in Dallas to prevent the Penguins from having a perfect 3-0 road trip.
They are leaving some points on the table by going 0-4 in shootouts and 1-6 in games decided beyond regulation. Even winning two or three of those games would have them even higher in the standings and probably really change the outlook on the season and their recent play. Those missed points might also add up for a team that will probably end up closer to the playoff bubble. The third period leads are something they just have to get better at protecting. I thought they did a mostly good job on Sunday until the final two minutes when the fourth line had a bad shift that resulted in an icing, and then got caught in a 6-on-5 situation and could not get off the ice.
They just need to be better situationally and have more attention to detail in those moments at a team.
The shootouts are more of an annoyance because they do not happen that often, but at some point you did need to win at least one of them. While Tristan Jarry at least gave them a chance on Sunday, the Penguins skaters looked helpless against Stars goalie Jake Oettinger. The struggles of the Penguins shooters in these things has been a little overlooked due to how bad Arturs Silovs was in his shootouts earlier this season, but they looked awful again on Sunday. It was the same three shooters we typically see in these things: Bryan Rust, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.
Crosby is always going to be there, and he probably should be, because even though it is not one of his strengths he is still good enough at it.
Rust and Letang need to be dumped from the rotation. Especially Letang. Since the start of the 2017 season he is 4-for-24 in shootout attempts. The magic he had in his career is gone in these moments. Rust is 2-for-11 over the past three years.
Among the many things that have helped turn this Penguins season around, the presence of some exciting youth is high on the list. It is time to give them a chance in these moments. Let Ben Kindel take an attempt. Put Ville Koivunen out there. Justin Brazeau has demonstrated some smooth hands in tight spaces. Let’s see what he can do. If the Penguins find themselves in another shootout this week, somebody new needs to be sent over the boards.
Speaking of this week, the Penguins return home to start a five-game home stand, and will play four of those games this week.
It is an interesting set of teams coming in, starting with Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. The Ducks are as good of an offensive team as there is in the league, but are still kind of a mess defensively and are currently without starting goalie Lukas Dostal. Anaheim won the first meeting this season on a late power play goal following a delay of game penalty in the closing minutes of regulation. The Ducks have the sixth-best points percentage in the NHL.
On Thursday, the Montreal Canadiens are in town and they are kind of the Eastern Conference version of Anaheim. Exciting young offense, some issues on the defensive end and abysmal goaltending.
Over the weekend, the Penguins have a back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday with the San Jose Sharks and Utah Mammoth coming into town. Saturday’s game will give you an opportunity to see one of the NHL’s best young stars in Macklin Celebrini, who is an absolute freak to watch. He is incredible. He and Will Smith give the Sharks a dynamic young forward duo, but the rest of the roster is still very lacking. The Sharks have some of the absolute worst 5-on-5 numbers in hockey this season.
Utah, on the other hand, has some of the best 5-on-5 numbers, but has not really received the type of goaltending that is allowing them to take the step forward that a lot of people expected them to take.
It is not quite as challenging of a week as this past week on paper, but these teams do all present their own special set of challenges. Especially offensively, and especially on an individual level. But there are going to be opportunities for the Penguins, and they are not really facing any elite goalies during this stretch. Given that all of these games are at home if the Penguins can come away with five or six points this week that would be a good week. It should perhaps be the expectation.
