BOSTON — There’s no shortage of problems with the Penguins right now.
Too many odd-man rushes allowed. Some breakdowns close to their net. How about three power-play goals allowed to the Boston Bruins on Thursday in an 8-4 loss at TD Garden? There was a lack of discipline at times and a poor start. Plus, two rookie goalies who struggled.
But of all the things bugging the local hockey club at the moment, here are two positives to take away from this particular beatdown: Not only do the Penguins have the horses to turn quickly this around, it seems they’re stepping up to ensure that happens.
“In every area, we got beat,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “That’s the bottom line. We have to learn from it and move on.”
“I’ve got to do a better job as their coach to make sure that the details and the focus that’s necessary to play the game the right way is there,” Mike Sullivan said.
“We have to play better defensively and tighten up our game,” Kris Letang said.
This was more than lip service or some sort of show.
At one point during postgame media availability, Patric Hornqvist emerged and tried to field questions so Evgeni Malkin didn’t have to. Malkin wouldn’t budge. It’s one of the few games all season where the captain and both alternates spoke.
Nobody went off the rails, but nobody was particularly happy, either.
“We need to understand, we can’t play the game like this,” Malkin said before rattling off various scores — 6-5, 7-6 — of teams trying to one-up each other. “We need to understand that the game starts in the defensive zone.”
Pick through the play-by-play of this one at your own peril, but here are a couple plays that paint the picture of the Penguins’ defensive inefficiency:
• After a Riley Sheahan goal late in the first period, David Krejci took a point shot from Nick Holden and beat Tristan Jarry on the power play. The Penguins lost track of Krejci.
• Krejci found more open ice at 14:33 of the second, potting the rebound for another power-play goal.
• David Pastrnak was practically invisible on his goal at 17:42 of the second period, though this one was turned into a laugher long before that.
• There was plenty of scrambling early, too. Krejci and Rick Nash scored goals during another disjointed showing for the Matt Hunwick-Jamie Oleksiak pairing.
“We’re not playing defensively,” Kris Letang said. “Yes, we have all the power in the world to score goals, but at the end of the day, you’re going to have to play well defensively.
“When we score a lot of goals, it’s when we play well defensively. We create turnovers. We suffocate teams in their zone. We have to get back to that.”
The Penguins have dropped three in a row, their first three-game losing streak since mid-December. They’re now 17-7-1 since Jan. 1, but lately they’ve not resembled the team that has been largely dominant in 2018.
Why?
For one, the Penguins have been playing with the puck less. Boston had it for long stretches and won far too many puck battles for Sullivan’s liking.
“When you lose those puck battles, it’s hard to play the game that we want to play,” Sullivan said. “We’re a better team when we have the puck. We’re a better team when we control territory. And I didn’t think we did a good enough job of that tonight.”
To Sullivan’s point, the Penguins controlled just 33.3 percent of the five-on-five shot attempts, an absolutely abysmal number.
Defending off the rush continues to be an issue for the Penguins as well.
“We’re giving up so many two-on-ones, three-on-twos right now,” Letang said. “There are so many good players and teams in the league. They’re going to make plays and score goals.”
The Penguins are one of those, of course. Three bad games won’t change that. But they do have some issues they need to address:
• Carter Rowney was on the ice for five of Boston’s goals. For a defensive specialist, that’s not good.
• Conor Sheary has four goals in 42 games. For a top-nine winger, that’s not good.
• The Penguins went 0 for 4 on the power play. For a team that has been reliant on its power play, and a team that’s getting crazy few chances with the extra man, that’s not good.
• Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry split this one in net, and neither looked comfortable. They’re rookies with no safety net, the Penguins’ lone options until Matt Murray (concussion) gets back.
But here’s the good news: The Penguins are nowhere close to as bad as they were Thursday, and they know it.
In fact, if their postgame demeanor said anything it’s that they’re tired of dealing with this sort of stuff. New Jersey is winning. Philadelphia is winning. The Metropolitan Division is there for the taking.
Until the past three games, the Penguins were among the hottest teams in the NHL. Their leaders emphasized the need to absorb this one, learn from it, but also move on.
“This is a team effort,” Sullivan said. “We all have to be better.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: March 2, 2018, 3:10 a.m.
