PITTSBURGH — Mike Sullivan had a message for his scuffling hockey club Tuesday.
“We’re going to defend our way out of this,” he said. “We’re not going to score our way out of this.”
Things didn’t go how Sullivan hoped in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins are on a 0-5-1 slide. They have allowed 27 goals over the span, surrendering at least four in each game. Opponents have placed 177 shots on goal.
There are times when numbers lie. These are not those times for the Penguins.
One goalie is broken. That would be Tristan Jarry, on an AHL conditioning assignment through next week. A rookie, Joel Blomqvist, and veteran journeyman, Alex Nedeljkovic, are attempting to prevent the fort from collapsing under bombardment in Pittsburgh.
Perhaps it doesn’t matter who takes the blue-painted crease at this point. If the Penguins are going to execute either poorly or with indifference in their zone and their defensemen and forwards keep attempting irresponsible passes with the puck even Marc-André Fleury in his prime would wilt.
On some level, Fleury’s final start in Pittsburgh on Tuesday had to bring up nightmares from when his Penguins left their Flower to become a sitting duck. Only when that happened over a decade ago, the Penguins’ best players were younger versions of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang — and the rosters were so stacked with talent those teams could win even amid defensive breakdowns.
Not anymore. Not even close.
Crosby scored three points, all assists, in this loss to the Wild. Malkin had that many points in a loss in Vancouver on Saturday night.
While not a hard and fast rule, the Penguins usually win when one of their two probable first-ballot Hall of Famers puts up a crooked number. They’re 2-2-0 when that happens this season.
Sure, it’s early in the marathon of an NHL campaign.
Still, if the best the Penguins can do is go .500 when Crosby or Malkin go off — and a performance better than two points likely rates as going off for players in their late 30s, each with over 1,000 games on the resume — then it’s probably time for president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas to re-evaluate everything going forward.
What is happening with the Penguins feels different than slow starts from previous seasons. Then, it was usually one thing — a struggling power play, injuries, older players needing time to get going, spotty goaltending, etc. — that kept the Penguins from opening with a flourish.
It’s not just one thing keeping them near the bottom of the standings.
It’s everything. It’s anything. It’s all the things.
It’s also so desperate that Sullivan, for the first time in his 10 seasons, has resorted to regularly playing Crosby and Malkin on the same line at even strength. They started the game that way Tuesday, and it wasn’t so Sullivan could put Crosby, Malkin, and Letang on the ice as a symbolic gesture to officially begin a game against Fleury, their beloved former teammate, one final time in Pittsburgh.
Sullivan said the day before he was playing Crosby and Malkin together more than ever. He conceded after this loss that doing so weakens his team down the middle.
What are his other options?
If the Penguins aren’t going to or can’t defend — and it’s an open question as to which one it is — they do need to score their way out of this funk.
Their roster is not built to shut down opposition. The problem is, it’s also not one built to boat-race opponents, either.
Sound sad? Wait, it gets worse.
Bryan Rust is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He was hurt in Vancouver. It’s his second stint on the injury list, and his absence is noticeable in all areas.
There were rebounds to be had against Fleury on Tuesday. Rust is one of the few wingers who can or is willing to be in a position to capitalize.
There were numerous instances when a back-tracking forward might have accounted for lacking positioning by a defenseman. Rust is one of the few wingers who can or is willing to do that, too.
Rust isn’t the Penguins’ best forward, but he’s probably their most indispensable after Crosby and Malkin. His game is complete, compared to others who are deployed either for scoring or defending.
None of them are defending, and only a few are scoring.
Rickard Rakell notched a couple of goals against the Wild, bringing his total to six. Took him 43 games to get that many last season.
Rickard Rakell gets a piece of Pettersson’s shot to bring the Penguins within 1 in the third!#LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/WnZeug39T2
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) October 30, 2024
Rakell was the No. 3 on the top line with Crosby and Malkin. If Sullivan is going to go with that trio — and a reasonable person could argue he must given the Penguins’ record and Rust’s absence — Rakell will need to score in bunches for his team to have any chance to win.
It’s debatable if the Penguins can win, at least enough, to overcome a wretched start. They are 0-6-0 against teams that qualified for the playoffs last season. They are 1-5-1 against teams with a .500 or better points percentage this season.
They aren’t very good, not right now. Every opponent will look at the once-mighty Penguins as an opportunity to earn two points — and likely regret failing to do so.
After home games against the Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens through the weekend, the Penguins will head on another road trip — their third of three or more games already — to face the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals. Those teams don’t play in buildings usually hospitable to the Penguins.
In Pittsburgh, daylight is dwindling. Within a few weeks, the locals will wake up and return home from work in darkness.
It’s not dark yet for the Penguins, but it’s getting there.
(Photo: Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)
