Penguins Need Penalty Killers to Get Healthy
The Pittsburgh Penguins are seeing their penalty kill slip with key players out with injuries.
While the last two games have seen the Pittsburgh Penguins power play come alive for four goals after a month of not scoring, the opposite end of their special teams has been a disaster.
With multiple top penalty killers out of the lineup due to injuries, the Penguins have struggled to keep the puck out of their own net.
Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto have been out of the lineup since the start of December, while Bryan Rust followed them a few days later.
That’s three of the Penguins’ top penalty killing forwards, leaving Lars Eller to do a ton of heavy lifting.
Before losing Acciari, Nieto, and Rust, the Penguins sported one of the best penalty killing units in the NHL, shutting down some of the top power plays in crucial situations.
Without those key names, even with some big wins from the Penguins, the penalty kill has started to slip.
The penalty killing unit is still top 10 in the league but have been leaking goals against in three of their last four games, two of those contests they allowed multiple goals.
There have still been bright spots, like killing off a Drew O’Connor penalty extremely late against the Montreal Candiens or Evgeni Malkin’s call in that game’s overtime frame.
As the power play wakes up, goaltending has been on points, and the 5-on-5 play of the Penguins remains consistent, the last step for the Penguins to take is getting their penalty kill back in order.
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