Penguins Facing Regression From Multiple Key Players

The Pittsburgh Penguins are struggling to find a playoff spot and certain players might be cause for concern.

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins currently sit two points out of a playoff spot and are quickly nearing the midpoint of the 2023-24 season.

After 38 games, the Penguins hold a 19-15-4 record and quite a few of those wins have come thanks to the elite play from their captain Sidney Crosby.

What Crosby isn’t getting a ton of, however, is help from a few certain players around the lineup.

The Penguins are seeing bouts of inconsistency and regression from key names and it’s really hurting the team’s overall performance.

As a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, Reilly Smith was a useful asset who could find goals with regularity and be a good enough playmaker to round out his game.

Even on the defensive side of the puck, Smith helped push the Golden Knights to great heights in their first six seasons of existence.

In 2023-24, however, Smith’s consistency has just about evaporated and that early hot start with linemate Evgeni Malkin seems like ancient history.

In 38 games this year, Smith has scored eight goals and 12 assists for 20 total points but has struggled with multiple scoreless streaks over four games.

A majority of his points also came in the early stages of the season as in the last 25 games, Smith has totaled just eight points (2G-6A).

“It’s been a challenging year,” is exactly how P.O. Joseph described his 2023-24 season with only 11 games played up to this point.

Head coach Mike Sullivan has proven to not be afraid of handing out healthy scratches this year, and Joseph has been the recipient of quite a few this year.

Thanks to some poor play from Ryan Graves, the Penguins haven’t had much choice but to put Joseph on the second line with Erik Karlsson.

In the first full game of giving that a whirl, Joseph and Karlsson combined for a minus-5; Karlsson was on the ice for each of the Buffalo Sabres three goals and Joseph on for two of them.

Joseph saw healthy scratches thanks to some unreliable play to start the season, and now nearing the midway point, things aren’t getting any better.

The Penguins were carried through the early stated of the season by their goaltending, but more recently, both Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic have taken some steps back.

Jarry and Nedeljkovic have allowed some easy goals over their last few outings, forcing Penguins’ skaters to play at a higher level.

The Penguins went from one of the best teams at keeping pucks out of their net to allowing 12 goals in the last three games.

There is still plenty of time for Jarry and Nedeljkovic to turn their play around, but these are some early signs of a regression from one of the top duos in the NHL.

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