Following a wonderful October start where the Penguins shocked all by playing so well, November has ended up becoming a reality check. Pittsburgh is just 2-4-3 this calendar month, the second worst in the NHL
in points and points percentage. That’s erased all the edges their 8-2-2 start provided.
Coach Dan Muse can feel it, he gave his most pointed and upset press conference of the game following the Pens’ 3-2 OT loss to Seattle.
The usually measured and optimistic Muse was mad. He had good reason to be after Friday’s 5-0 shutout loss to Minnesota followed up by blowing a 2-1 third period lead to Seattle that ended up being an overtime loss last night.
“Our game was better, but we just came out of this weekend with one out of four points, and that’s not good enough. And so, was our process better? It was. We need to get points. We had an opportunity to, and so, it’s a fine line. Like, those little details, the little things that can make a difference here, finding a way to get another opportunity, finding a way to take away one of theirs. And so, I’m not going to sit here and say that that’s good enough. It’s not. We’re past that. We need points right now. And we have a weekend here where the game is no good yesterday, it was much better today, but if you go through this month, it’s been too many games here where we said there’s positives to take from. So, I liked our game more. I thought we did a lot of things that we need to do on a consistent basis. I think we did a lot of things that are going to lead to success, but one out of four points on the weekend is not good enough.”
Scoring goals lately has been a real problem for the Penguins, who have only averaged 2.22 goals per game in November. Last night marked the sixth time in nine November games that Pittsburgh has scored two goals or less.
“Tonight, it was just finishing. I mean, tonight, there’s a couple of things there that we talked about that I think we’ll go back and look at that we have to sharpen up. But in terms of chances, I’ll go back after this and we’ll look at it again, but we outchanced them by a lot. They were quality looks. So I think in terms of that part of it, I think what was missing was just finishing it. But that is a part of it. And so, we need to do that, too. Again, just having the looks, just having the chances right now is not good enough. You see how tight everything is right now in this league, like, we can’t afford to be just giving away points. And again, there was a lot of goo. I’m not going to go past that and say that there wasn’t. The brand of hockey we played today was better. But I’m not going to keep coming in here and saying that that one point is good enough. It’s not. And I think we’re better than that. Our standard needs to be better than that.”
Whether the Penguins truly are better than that — especially with seven players from the opening night roster now on injured reserve — is debatable. This is a team using Kevin Hayes in a key role and using others like Joona Koppanen, Danton Heinen, Sam Poulin, Matt Dumba and Ryan Graves at all; which puts a limit on just how good a team actually can be.
It’s tough, because now the Pens really will see their nose to the grindstone as far as their schedule goes. After a lax November, courtesy of the rest on either side of a trip to Sweden, Pittsburgh plays 15 games in a 28-day stretch that begins on Wednesday and lasts until their Christmas break happens from December 24 – 27.
This is where Muse and GM Kyle Dubas might have to consider what comes next. The offense clearly needs a boost, too many forwards in the lineup are empty bodies. The good news on that front is that Dubas is almost constantly shuffling through players on the fringes, such as last week when underperforming forward Philip Tomasino was waived and Poulin came up to take his place. Worked in theory, if not in practice since Poulin (unfortunately per his usual) didn’t make much of an impact in the NHL.
Still, there’s more that can be done. Tristan Broz has a team-high eight goals in Wilkes-Barre. Rutger McGroarty has scored a goal in both games he’s played in with the WBS Pens since his return. Avery Hayes has recently returned from injury as well. The Pens made waves – and did well – by demoting players like Heinen and Graves to the AHL in October. Injury necessitated they come back to the NHL, but it’s not difficult to draw a downward line in performance when the ‘comfortable veterans’ came back to when the wheels started to come off for the Pens’ season.
That will be on Dubas, and time is ticking away to where he can’t delay much longer by bringing up some youngsters from the AHL and sidelining some of the players not bringing much to the table. (While they’re at it, how about figuring out or changing the ‘plan’ for Harrison Brunicke, since the current plan is is involving not playing for three weeks at a time only to watch veterans like Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba bumble through games with limited upside).
This period of time is a vulnerable one for the Penguins. Their power play is still hot (33.3% in November), their goalies are still generally playing pretty well, no small part from the boost rookie Sergei Murashov has provided. It would be for the best if Dubas didn’t delay in leaning into that and trying to give as much juice as he can to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the current mix of veterans who don’t play with much urgency or quality in their game have to be minimalized. A lot of them were sent away from the NHL for a reason, and even though injuries have re-opened the door out of necessity, it’s bringing down Pittsburgh’s season. Muse and Dubas can try to weather the storm and hope the return of Rickard Rakell and Justin Brazeau will cure what ails them, but they’re running back to the pack and seeing their excellent start disappear the longer they delay action on it.
