Well, it’s not often that I get to use an Olivia Rodrigo song as a headline. It’s bittersweet, because that’s a first checked off, but it comes after another lousy night of Penguins hockey.
In a surprisingly nasty game for two teams that don’t see each other that often, the Penguins fell to the Florida Panthers in a shootout, 3-2.
This game was a battle of special teams, which the Penguins are well accustomed to losing in. Crazily enough, however, Pittsburgh’s power play did score last night. Jake Guentzel capitalized on an early penalty by the Panthers to get Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead to start this game off right.
But even when they take a step forward, they have to immediately take three steps back.
There should be absolutely no one left in this city who hasn’t had it with the power play.
The sheer ineptitude to do anything on the power play has cost them yet again, and last night against Florida may have been the worst example yet.
The Panthers literally tried to hand the game to the Penguins, who did everything in their power to not accept a win in a game they absolutely had to have.
Pittsburgh went 1/7 on power plays in this game, a 3-2 shootout loss to Florida on home ice. In almost any other game, fans would be excited to even see a power play goal in a game, that’s how scarred they’ve been this season. But the other seven, let me say that again, seven power plays were so incredibly bad, it erases any progress that power play goal may have created.
This included a blown partial 5-on-3, a wasted double minor, and a failure to capitalize on several stupid penalties by the Panthers, particularly Sam Bennett, who seemed determined to single handedly force his team to lose that game.
Bennett took three separate penalties last night, including a reckless and frankly dangerous hit on Rickard Rakell, who did not have the puck, in open ice.
The Panthers were called for six penalties in a row, something that literally never happens in the NHL.
But all those efforts on behalf of the Panthers are to no avail. No one can out-stupid the Pittsburgh Penguins power play.
There have been so many times I have called for major chances on the power play. And I wasn’t alone. But this feels like a new all-time low for this power play unit.
They can’t even enter the zone properly, the most basic of power play mechanics. And once they are in the zone, all they do is waste time.
What is Erik Karlsson doing here? He isn’t setting up a shot, he isn’t clapping one from the point. He’s playing patty cake with the puck with Evgeni Malkin, who is all too willing to pass it right back.
At this point, I’m not even sure if there is a way to fix this sorry bunch. Mike Sullivan is now equally as responsible as Todd Reirden for the lack of execution on this power play, one that routinely trots out four future Hall of Famers who cannot get the job done.
Erik Karlsson needs to be taken off the top unit. He is doing nothing to help set up anything productive. Instead, he is actively hurting this unit. He constantly turns the puck over, and cannot find any way to generate offense from the blue line.
The Penguins need to put Kris Letang back on that top unit. Listen, we weren’t all parading in the streets about the power play last season, when Letang was still the guy. But man, it wasn’t nearly as bad as this.
Evgeni Malkin also should be moved off the top unit. I know, I know, his late game heroics helped force the game into overtime, netting the Penguins a very valuable point in the standings. But his work on the power play has been abysmal of late.
It’s important to note that during the team’s eighth power play of the night, coming late in the third period, the Penguins did show chances on the top unit. Valtteri Puustinen was in Evgeni Malkin’s spot, while Kris Letang had taken over for Erik Karlsson.
Whether that’s any significant sign that Karlsson and/or Malkin are out of the top unit for any length of time remains to be seen.
But even that may not be enough. This group just looks fundamentally broken.
It is the biggest reason why they are so far out of a playoff spot come late January. If they were in virtually any other position except 31st in the league in power play percentage, they would at the very least have a fighting chance at the postseason.
With one game left (tonight vs Montreal) before the All Star break, it will provide the Penguins a chance to re-think things. If you’re the coaching staff, how do you mend a deeply shattered power play unit? If you’re general manager, do you try and make a change the pace and wake everyone up?
It’s a lot of heavy questions, ones that really should not still exist this late into the season. This team really only has a few weeks left to save the season, and I’m really starting to worry they don’t understand that.
(Featured photo by Pamela Smith/Getty Images)
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