Ryan Graves hasn't made a stellar first impression, but is still warming up to his role with the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s been no secret that the Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled to produce on the power play to start the 2023-24 season, but the cold streak continued. Against the Ottawa Senators, the Penguins were presented with a pair of man advantage opportunities, but couldn’t find the back of the net. Missing out on those two chances extended a scoreless streak to six games and 16 total opportunities. Heading into the season, a revamped power play with Erik Karlsson added to the unit was expected to bring a ton of offense. The Penguins have gotten the exact opposite so far with only two goals on 20 total chances. Now, sitting in last place in the Metropolitan Division, the Penguins are still looking for answers with the man advantage. “We’ve got to try and keep our swagger,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We got to simplify the game. If you look at the underlying numbers, they’re one of the top groups in the league. They’re generating opportunities, the puck hasn’t gone in for them.” Sullivan seems to always be an optimist about the power play, and the underlying numbers might look good, but the hard numbers don’t. Again, two goals on 20 opportunities; both goals happened in the same game, but the same player, Sidney Crosby. He may be optimistic, but Sullivan is aware that the group needs to find some real success. “Part of the process needs to be we need to simplify it,” Sullivan said. “We need to shoot the puck more. I think we’ve got to make it hard at the net front.” In terms of shots, it’s clear the Penguins aren’t taking enough of them; in their two chances against the Senators, they only nabbed four total shots. Sometimes, they generate the shots, but nothing is beating netminders, and that’s holding the Penguins back as a whole. It doesn’t seem like changes are coming to the system or the group any time soon, as Sullivan plans to ‘stay with it,’ something’s got to give soon. Make sure you bookmark Inside the Penguins [http://insidethepenguins.com/]for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more. Strong First Period Not Enough for Penguins [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/strong-period-not-enough-pittsburgh-penguins] Former Penguins Prospect Severely Injured in EIHL Game [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/pittsburgh-penguins-adam-johnson-severely-injured-game] Someone Needs To Take Charge on Penguins Power Play [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/players/someone-take-charge-pittsburgh-penguins-power-play] Penguins Forward's Start Based in Bad Luck [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/pittsburgh-penguins-jake-guentzel-start-bad-luck] Penguins Need Forward To Find Groove [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/players/pittsburgh-penguins-need-rickard-rakell-groove] * undefined * undefined
