There’s always a point in the season where people doubt the Penguins.
The last two NHL seasons contained lulls mid-year where people doubted if the Pittsburgh Penguins had what it took to make any sort of run at a title. In 2015-2016, they had to fire their coach in December while sitting on the outside of the playoff race looking in. Last season, they entered the playoffs with a battered defense that no one thought could hold up for a second grueling deep push into the playoffs. Of course, the Penguins proved both times that they deserved the Stanley Cup behind MVP performances from Sidney Crosby.
This season, in pursuit of their third title in three years, the Penguins appear to be nothing noteworthy so far. They are winning enough to keep pace in their division, maintaining a playoff spot, but their performances are inconsistent at every position. The offense, particularly at even strength, is lacking the signature power expected from a team touting all-world talent in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel. The defense is full of holes and mental lapses in spite of the return of Kris Letang and a supporting cast equal to that of the past two seasons’ title teams. The goaltending situation is the only one that makes sense, as the departure of Marc Andre Fleury through the expansion draft has hurt significantly as a back-up goaltender has yet to win a game this season for the Penguins, leaving Matt Murray looking fatigued at times. All of these combine to justify concerns over the Penguins’ chance at another Cup this season.
However, remember how the last two teams put it together at the right time to take home the most prized trophy, even if the other individual awards went home with players on other teams. In 2016 and 2017, the only regular season award taken home by a Penguin was the Rocket Richard Trophy to Sidney Crosby in 2017 for leading the league in goals. Yet, Pittsburgh held parades at the end of both seasons. This is a team that is fine with those individual awards going other places as long as they get that Cup.
Right now, it is fair to wonder if the Penguins are sleeping giants, waiting for the right time to kick it up a notch and start playing at the level they can, or if the last two years are finally catching up with them to prevent what they have been capable of in the past. Look at the stats. Through 22 games, Crosby has 6 goals and 10 assists, Malkin has 7 goals and 14 assists, and Kessel leads the team with 8 goals and 16 assists. These are not the numbers of the players who have been at the top of the game for the last decade-plus. As a team, the Penguins have scored the 20th most goals in the league with 59 (as of Tuesday morning). They are tied for second-worst in the league with 74 goals against. They have the third-most penalty minutes per game with 12:27. This all would spell trouble if it continued deep into the season and into the playoffs.
But that’s just it: nobody believes that Mike Sullivan and Sidney Crosby won’t right this ship before it’s too late. Sure, they’ve lost 3 of their last 5, and the losses were against rivals in Washington, Nashville, and Chicago, but the progress was clear in each of those losses. They lost to Chicago 10-1 in the second game of the season. On Saturday, in the twenty-second game of the season, they lost 2-1 in a hard-fought game that required spectacular goaltending from Corey Crawford to preserve Chicago’s victory at the end of the game. The Penguins got some valuable time off after that game, which has been rare for them so far this season. They jump back into action on Wednesday against Vancouver, but will be without the services of Evgeni Malkin who suffered an upper-body injury. We will see if the time to run some hard practices benefits this team looking to generate more offense without the power play and play consistently strong in their own zone.
A couple of positives have progressed over the last week as well: Matt Hunwick’s return and the emergence of a third line. Hunwick came back against Chicago after missing 15 games, scoring a shorthanded goal – the team’s lone tally for the night. His return will prove helpful as his skating and awareness were missed even with Chad Ruhwedel doing his best to fill in. Also, Conor Sheary, Patric Hornqvist, and Riley Sheahan have come out over the past week to make their case as this year’s HBK line. Versus Buffalo last Tuesday, Sheary had 2 goals, Hornqvist had a goal and 2 assists, and Sheahan had an assist. Against Ottawa, Hornqvist scored the first goal of the game before Sheahan scored the last. This line is looking like it might provide the depth scoring this team was looking for.
If these positives continue to trend upward, then only two big questions face the Penguins before considering that they might remain champions this season: Can their elite talent step up to the level we know they’ve been capable of before (particularly Crosby and Letang)? And can they sort out their goaltending issues? If the Penguins get these two things taken care of, then the rest of the league should look out for these currently sleeping giants. Nobody should be counting them out at this point.
