The Pittsburgh Penguins are yet to look like a new, more consistent team since returning from the break.
PITTSBURGH - When coming out of the All-Star break, everyone in the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room talked about finding consistency and hitting the reset button.
From the Penguins players the coaching staff, they all said the same thing pretty much verbatim as they were clearly unhappy with how they entered the break.
Now, seven games back from break, the search for consistency rages on and the reset button is yet to be hit.
Since returning from break, the Penguins have gone 3-4-0 including dropping their last three; if anything, they’re finding consistency as the losing team.
A lot of folks say they keep finding ‘new ways to lose,’ but there’s nothing really ‘new’ about how the Penguins have lost their last three.
They look like the more dominant team early in a game, catch a lead, but somewhere along the way, the wheels just fall off.
“Instead of finding a way to win, we found a way to lose,” Mike Sullivan said. “We made a couple of mistakes that ended up in the back of our net."
It’s easier said than done that they just need to minimize the mistakes, but where do the mistake lay?
The defense is getting caught either flat footed or pinching at the most inopportune times, giving opponents a boatload of scoring opportunities.
The players in the room still feel a sense of confidence understanding that there are guys on the team that can be true leaders to success.
“Plenty of games left,” Bryan Rust said. “We’ve got a lot of real good players in here who have seen a lot of things. Not worried about it.”
Rust said it's on the players to play to their strengths and build off of the confidence that is still there.
The Penguins look like a sinking ship right now, the players will say they’re still confident but they look dejected; whether it’s personnel or some unforeseen turnaround, something has to change.
The clock is ticking and the change needs to come fast.
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