The Pittsburgh Penguins inability to close out games may come back to haunt them.
It's always important to win games in the NHL, but even more so when the game is decided by one goal. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a horrendous 3-8 record this season when games extend past 60 minutes and are 7-4-8 in one-score games.
A losing record in one-score games is an issue, but the amount of blown leads the Penguins have suffered this season has been detrimental to their current positioning in the standings. If the Penguins win half of those one-goal losses, they would be in third place in the Metropolitan division, only four points out of the top-seed Carolina Hurricanes.
The latest loss came on Sunday, as the Penguins fell 2-1 in overtime to the New Jersey Devils despite outplaying them throughout most of the game. This loss highlighted one of the reasons the Penguins are falling short in close contests, the lack of goals from secondary scorers.
Sidney Crosby scored the only goal of the game, but the best scoring chance belonged to Ryan Poehling. After a successful forecheck from Drew O'Connor, the puck bounced free to Poehling as Devils goalie Vitek Vanicek was sprawling to recover in his crease. Poehling elevated the puck a bit too much. It deflected off the crossbar and out of danger.
That missed opportunity came early in the third period, and the Penguins continued to control play for the rest of regulation. Unfortunately, they never had another chance that open and failed to beat Vanicek.
The Penguins top six forwards have accounted for 81% of the Penguins goals in the past ten games. If they want to close out these close contests, they need help from all corners of their lineup.
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