SUNRISE, FL–After a joyous ceremony to honor the legendary career of former Penguin and Panther Patric Hornqvist, Pittsburgh got under way in a crucial game in Florida.

Prior to the start of this mini road trip to Tampa Bay and Sunrise, President and General Manager Kyle Dubas said this stretch would be massive in determining the course of the season. He said this in particular about the Tampa Bay game, saying it would be “indicative of where we’re at” as a team.

In response to that challenge, the Penguins played another uninspiring, and frankly disinterested game in Tampa Bay against the Lightning. Jake Guentzel potted one in the final minutes to save a 3-0 shutout for the Lightning, but that really didn’t matter.

Pittsburgh lost in bad fashion, again.

Now, this time facing a very good Panthers team, the Penguins come up short yet again, and with each passing loss, the situation gets more dire.

First things first, the game itself: a rockin’ atmosphere in Florida with the Hornqvist buzz, the Penguins and Panthers get off to a good, fast paced game in the opening frame. Some chances at both ends, but the defenses come up large fr each time.

Despite the no score, it was a pretty entertaining period. The crowd was into it, and much more importantly, the Penguins looked competent.

Heading into the second, Reilly Smith finally breaks his lengthy goal scoring drought, getting a breakaway chance where he dekes out Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 Pittsburgh.

It was Smith’s first goal since November 4th, and his first point in the month of December. Valterri Puustinen, who was called up mere hours prior, earned an assist on the goal.

I thought the Penguins, like usual, did not find a way to keep the energy up and playa complete 60 minutes, but I did think they kept it through most of the second. Late in that period, in some chaos near Tristan Jarry’s net, the puck squeaks free, and Florida’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson taps it in for a goal.

That got the crowd roaring, and shifted the momentum Florida’s way. Coming out for the third, the Penguins looked like a team that was simply trying to cling to a 1-1 tie. Instead, Eetu Luostarinen breaks the tie and makes it 2-1 Panthers.

Pittsburgh can’t battle back, and ultimately fall 3-1. Now to the thoughts:

The Power Play…AGAIN

This game doesn’t first end without an absolute gift handed to the Penguins. With under three minutes to go, Florida’s Anton Lundell gets called for a hooking penalty. If there was ever, EVER, a chance for the Penguins to score on a power play, it was right there, right then.

Even with the goalie pulled and a 6-on-4 advantage, the Penguins cannot capitalize, and Florida gets the empty netter.

The Penguins power play went 0 for 3 tonight, and will officially go an entire month without scoring before the Penguins play again. It’s more than flat out unacceptable at this point, it’s malpractice.

I know we’ve all heard this before, but until the Penguins can at least score a goal on the power play, it bears repeating: they are so desperately in need of a Hornqvist-type player on the power play.

The Penguins have no one to muck things up and create chaos in front of the net, one of Hornqvist’s specialties. But at this point, even a prime Patric Hornqvist might not be able to save this sorry squad.

Pittsburgh’s power play is the biggest reason they are where they are right now: 11-12-3 and outside the playoff picture.

The New Guys

As for the other problems, such as the depth on the bottom six lines, the organization tried to address that by making several roster moves. The team sent forwards Joona Koppanen and Alex Nylander back down to the AHL, and called up Valterri Puustinen, Jonathan Gruden, and Marc Johnstone.

Puustinen had the aforementioned assist,and I thought he looked rather comfortable in a top six role alongside Evgeni Malkin and Reilly Smith.

Gruden, making his season debut and Johnstone, making his NHL debut, also looked pretty good. I liked what I saw from them and I am hopeful that can start to show up on the stat sheet moving forward.

Johnstone’s path to the big show, which culminated last night in his NHL debut at age 27, is incredible, and hopefully within the next few days I can put together a timeline on his journey.

Mike Sullivan

I hate that I’m saying this, but it’s time.

Look, the business of hockey is a messy one. It’s one that often makes the head coach the scapegoat for a team, when he is either not the problem or only one of many problems on the team.

It seems as if that is where we are with Mike Sullivan. The team needs something, anything, to try and reverse fortunes if they have any hopes of saving the season. Firing the head coach is always the first choice.

At the same time however, it’s clear his message has gotten stale with the team. They don’t seem to respond to him anymore, and they definitely aren’t playing like a team that is inspired to play for him.

And if we are arguing for the firing of Sullivan, his recent résumé is rather damning for a team with contending aspirations.

Since the 2017 Stanley Cup, the team has won just a single playoff round, coming the year after in 2018 against Philadelphia. Since then, the Penguins were bounced in the first round/qualifying round in four straight years, and last year, missed the playoffs altogether.

If Kyle Dubas did decide it’s time to move on from Sullivan, now is an ideal time in the schedule to do so. The team has a three day break before returning to Pittsburgh to play at home Tuesday night.

Should the Penguins fire Sullivan as soon as today, that would give at least a little time for a new head coach to get acclimated.

Amerant Bank Arena

Lastly, I just wanted to give a shoutout to the Florida Panthers’ arena. It’s a beautiful stadium with an even more beautiful courtyard outside, and I met several awesome people inside the arena.

I had never been to this arena before but I would definitely recommend it in the atmosphere category. As for the cost one…well, that’s a bit of a different tale.

But still, a stadium worthy of a shoutout.

(Featured photo by Matias J. Ocner)