Offense has been way down for the Pittsburgh Penguins, forcing their head coach to call out the team.

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh Penguins had a golden opportunity to put themselves within striking distance of a playoff spot heading into key games on back-to-back nights. Rather than returning home in good spirits with a solid chance of climbing the standings, they slip and lose both games, falling further into a hole.

After a 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, the Penguins hold a 23-19-7 record with 53 standings points. That places them seven points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Things aren’t going well for the Penguins, as their scoring from anyone outside the top line has completely dried up. After the loss, head coach Mike Sullivan let his displeasure known by calling out his team.

“We need more guys to step up,” Sullivan said. “I’m probably stating the obvious when I say that. It takes a complete effort. We need everybody to make contributions here throughout our lineup on both sides of the puck.”

The power play once again failed to score a goal and likely cost the Penguins in a one-goal game, but scoring has hit rock bottom in multiple areas of the team. The current iteration of the bottom six has combined for 10 goals since the turn of the New Year 14 games ago. Lars Eller and Rickard Rakell have combined for six of those 10.

Only four players on the Penguins roster have scored more than 10 goals on the season, leading the team to dip to 26^th in league scoring. With just 142 total goals scored, the Penguins have downright struggled to threaten on offense.

Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic are doing all they can to keep the puck out of their net, but the offense continues to let them down. Thanks to the work from the netminders, the Penguins are one of only two teams in the entire NHL not in a playoff spot with a positive goal differential.

Teams gave the Penguins great opportunities to take advantage and maybe steal a spot in the playoff race, but their lack of offense has let them down completely.

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