The cause of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ recent struggles is easy to spot.
As the Penguins look to Tuesday’s road clash with the Calgary Flames, they are on a two-game losing skid, the latest a 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday to open a four-game Western Canada road swing.
At the root of Pittsburgh’s issues is the goals against, and the easy scapegoat is the goaltenders, notably Tristan Jarry, but there can be no doubt the skaters are not fulfilling their end of the bargain.
“We’re just giving too much up,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “I think we can’t give up what we’ve been giving up and expect to win consistently. Defensively we’ve got to find another level.”
The Penguins, who have three wins in seven games, have surrendered a league-high 31 goals against. As the saying goes, “You can’t outscore your problems.”
“It starts with just the right mindset,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think we’re quick to try to jump on the offense when we don’t have the puck, and we end up putting ourselves and our teammates in tough spots. So, I think we’ve got to have more of a mindset of playing defense first and recognizing when we don’t have control, or there’s a question of control.”
As much as the team defense has been lacking, the Penguins have indeed struggled between the pipes, one reason they are carrying three netminders during this road trip. Jarry, the season-opening goalie, has surrendered a dozen goals in only 6 1/2 periods of work, and did not even dress in Winnipeg.
Alex Nedeljkovic made his season debut in Winnipeg and rookie Joel Blomqvist has tended net in four outings.
The Flames are kicking off a three-game homestand after suffering a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, the lone blemish on the season after opening with four consecutive victories.
“We’ve put together a solid five games and we’re looking to add to it,” center Nazem Kadri said after Monday’s practice. “It would be nice to go 82-0, be really sweet to do that, but you’ll have to fight through some adversity, but there were stretches in that game where we had to fight back a little bit.”
That said, the Flames are well aware they must improve from Saturday’s performance. A couple of elements that proved costly were the number of penalties taken — five in total — and surrendering too many turnovers.
“When you look at it, a pretty good road game in a lot of ways,” coach Ryan Huska said. “We were good away from the puck, I thought we limited chances against, for the most part. We just weren’t sharp with the puck, and I think that’s where the game caught up to us in the end.”
As much as the Flames are interested in turning their fortunes, they are cognizant of keeping positive about their situation. Sure, there are aspects to work on, but they have plenty to be proud of to kick off the campaign and want to keep those positive vibes flowing.
“Our effort’s been good. We’ve been playing to our identity,” forward Ryan Lomberg said. “It shows in the results. We’ve played a good, complete game, for the most part.”
–Field Level Media
