The Pittsburgh Penguins have major issues to fix despite ending their losing streak.
A 4-1 victory for the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Arizona Coyotes ends a disastrous road trip on a relatively high note. Jake Guentzel scored two goals at 5v5, and the Penguins got back into the win column, but issues remain for this team.
The power play once thought to have been revived, finished the night 0-6 and allowed multiple shorthanded opportunities to a Coyotes penalty kill that came into the game ranked in the bottom third of the league.
While their movement without the puck has improved, the Penguins have fallen back into overpassing instead of getting shots on the net. As a result, they have struggled to keep the puck in the offensive zone, let alone score goals.
Another issue that remains evident is the struggles of the Penguins bottom six. Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen both collected a goal on the road trip, but the general performance of the bottom forwards lines has not been good enough.
One way the Penguins could look to fix this issue is with a trade, but the current state of the trade market could make that difficult. A much easier solution is to call up one of their young forwards from the AHL and give them an extended look in the lineup.
The Penguins may have ended their losing streak, but they still have some things to iron out moving forward.
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