Penguins Special Teams Continue to Disappoint
In the midst of a seven game losing streak, the Penguins special teams need to improve.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are desperate for answers in the middle of their lengthy losing streak. One of the areas that has let them down the most is their special teams units. Their power play is underachieving and their penalty kill is giving up costly goals. In order to claw their way out of this seven game skid, they need to improve their dismal power play and penalty killing units.
Power Play Woes
The Penguins' power play has struggled to find an identity to begin the season, despite converting on nine of 45 chances in 12 games played. Their 20% scoring rate ranks in the top half of the league. However, over the course of the seven game losing streak, they are four for 26, good for a measly 15% conversion rate.
While their conversion rate isn't the biggest concern, there are several problematic areas that they need to improve.
The first issue is turning the puck over. Their loss to the Seattle Kraken had the most recent example of the top power play unit giving the opposing team a golden opportunity. After taking a cross-check in the back, Evgeni Malkin makes an ill-advised drop pass out of the reach of the diving Kris Letang. This results in Seattle forward, Morgan Geekie, getting a full-length breakaway opportunity on Tristan Jarry.
The second issue is their pass first mentality. With the talent on the first Penguins' power play, there is a tendency to move the puck around the perimeter from one highly skilled player to the next.
This has plagued the Penguins for the entire Crosby-Malkin era, but it seems to be especially problematic over this seven game losing streak. Not only are they not getting enough shots on net, but this pass-first mentality is directly causing their frequent turnovers on the power play as well.
The solution is a simple one: shoot the puck. As the team looks to break free from this losing streak, they need to abandon the "perfect play". Instead, they need to focus on getting pucks on net, swarming the goaltender, and tucking in a few dirty goals.
Penalties Kill
The Penguins penalty kill is bad. There is no way around this. They ended last season poorly, and picked up in an even worse place this year. The absence of Teddy Blueger only exacerbating the issue, this penalty killing unit is single-handedly dragging this team down.
In 12 games played, they have surrendered 11 goals in 41 opportunities, resulting in a 73% penalty-kill rate. Their unimpressive rate currently ranks 29th in the league, and it is only been more disappointing during their losing streak.
In the seven game skid, the Penguins have given up six goals in 22 opportunities, hovering right around that 73% success rate. The biggest problem with their penalty killing is that they are using ineffective, defensively liable players.
The Penguins currently deploy Brian Dumoulin and Jan Rutta as the first penalty killing defensemen. With Dumoulin's struggles in the defensive end, a possible solution would be to play Marcus Pettersson and Rutta and possibly elevate PO Joseph to play alongside Jeff Petry on the second pair of penalty killers.
Similarly, head coach Mike Sullivan needs to end the Kasperi Kapanen on the penalty kill experiment. He saw the ice for 3:02 on the penalty kill against the Kraken. When Blueger does return, it should relegate Kapanen from the rotation.
However, it's not just Kapanen who is struggling. Brock McGinn and Ryan Poehling, who both saw more than three minutes of penalty kill ice time, often look out of place defending against opposing power plays.
The Penguins need to improve their special teams quickly. As they continue to slide in this losing streak, the Pens need to look to their power play and penalty killing units to bail them out or to score a timely goal. In order to avoid an eight game losing streak, they'll need more from everyone, but especially more from their special teams.
Make sure you bookmark Inside the Penguins for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more!
- Subscribe to Inside the Penguins on YouTube
- Follow Inside the Penguins on Twitter: @InsidePenguins