The nice start that the Pittsburgh Penguins had this season has faded into the memory. After a disastrous performance against the San Jose Sharks that saw them blow a 5-1 lead with 14 minutes to play within the third period and fall 6-5 in additional time, the nightmarish play continued for the Penguins Sunday against the Utah Mammoth. Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead into the third period, but they fell apart in the ultimate 20 minutes and dropped a 5-4 additional time decision.
The Penguins are clearly staggering because the team approaches the halfway point of the season.
The Penguins made an enormous move as they traded goaltender Tristan Jarry and minor league forward Sam Poulin to the Edmonton Oilers for goalie Stuart Skinner, defenseman Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round draft pick. This move doesn’t appear like it can save the Penguins, as Skinner was not lighting it up with the Oilers.
It will not be much help to the Oilers, either. General manager Stan Bowman had his eyes on Jarry and believes he may give Edmonton a lift, but there may be little within the goaltender’s background to make anyone think that he could be a winning factor for this team within the postseason.
The implosions against the Sharks and Mammoth are the worst examples because the defense has been shattered in recent games. General manager Kyle Dubas and first-year head coach Dan Muse have to deal with this issue.
Older veterans on the blue line proving to be a liability for Penguins
The Penguins were in a position to get off to a surprisingly good start this season as each Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin put up big numbers that allowed Pittsburgh to get the jump on several opponents and construct significant leads. Moreover, the Penguins defense also was doing its job as Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang were in a position to deliver in complementary roles that allowed the team to dictate the pace of the sport.
Nevertheless, the defense has struggled mightily in recent weeks and this appears to be an enormous problem area. Karlsson has at all times been often called an offensive defenseman but his defensive play has at all times been an area of concern.
Letang has been a a lot better all-around player because he has been consistent on each ends of the ice, but that isn’t any longer the case. He has lost greater than a step on the age of 38, and his play has been shoddy. He has struggled to carry on to the puck and he tends to panic and find himself out of position after he makes a mistake.
It’s unlikely that those two will recover at this point of their careers.
Pittsburgh’s defense also features Ryan Shea, Parker Wotherspoon, Ryan Graves and Connor Clifton. None of those players are difference makers or shut down defenders. It’s totally clear that Dubas has to do something to assist the Penguins defense.
Muse has tried to take the pressure off of his players by putting the blame on himself, nevertheless it is obvious the defense is just not ok to maintain the Penguins in contention.
“We have now to be disciplined,” he said. “We clearly need to be higher five-on-six at the tip of games. There are multiple parts to it. We’ll proceed to work on it, proceed to deal with it. There’s no doubt in my mind that this group can play a lot better than they’re. But we now have to get there.”
Goaltending also has to enhance
The trade of Jarry for Skinner doesn’t look like the form of move that may help the Penguins on the goaltender position. Within the loss to the Mammoth, Muse had Sergei Murashov in goal and never the previous Oiler netminder.
Prior to the trade, Jarry had played in 14 games for the Penguins and he had a 2.66 goals against average together with a .909 save percentage and 9-3-1 record. Silovs has a 3.20 GAA and an .893 save percentage together with a 4-4-6 record. Murashov’s start against the the Mammoth was just his fourth start of the season.
Skinner played in 23 games for the Oilers prior to the trade, and he has delivered a ho-hum 11-8-4 record for the back to back Stanley Cup finalists. He has a 2.83 GAA together with an .894 save percentage. Skinner has never had higher than 2.62 GAA during his 6-year profession with the Oilers and his best save percentage is .913. There’s nothing to suggest that Skinner will give the Penguins with anything greater than bizarre goaltending.
This team needs assistance on the blue line and a dose of self-confidence that has been drained significantly because the season has progressed.