The Penguins decided to split their power play units evenly, and it has paid off for them so far. After blowing out the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered another setback on Saturday night, losing a tightly contested 3-2 overtime match to the Ottawa Senators. In the season's first meeting, the Penguins rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits but could not keep Senators captain Brady Tkachuk from scoring the overtime winner at 1:46. Since their season-high four-game winning streak, Pittsburgh has altered wins and losses but remains one point out of the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference, which the Senators currently hold. WHERE ARE CROSBY AND MALKIN'S GOALS? Captain Sidney Crosby may have had over 600 goals in his career, but he has only had two lamplighters in the past 18 games. Moreover, Evgeni Malkin has just four goals since netting his 500th goal 27 games ago. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH3O6f-tEsE[/embed] The two future Hall of Famers account for just six of the Penguins' last 77 goals, and the team is 10-12-5 during that stretch. In a must-win situation on Saturday night against a team in the wildcard race, the two Pittsburgh stars were held pointless again. Malkin failed to gather a point in his 19th contest, and Crosby, the team's leading scorer, went pointless for the 12th time. JARRY STUMBLES, BUT THE TEAM DOESN'T COVER FOR HIM Tristan Jarry has had an up-and-down campaign, and when the Senators scored at 7:34 of the first period, some may think it was his worst goal against this season. After failing to make a save, the Penguins goalie scrambled and flopped around like a fish out of water, only to miss the chance to be in position to make the save on Thomas Chabot's slap shot. He bounced back and made some key saves to keep Pittsburgh in the contest down 1-0 headed into the third. Although he had no chance on Drake Batherson's goal, the overtime winner could be deemed soft. Yet, the Penguins didn't do enough to support their goalie on Saturday night. In the first, they had three shots in the first 18 minutes and then didn't register one in the game's final 4:38. In between, they scored two goals, but they chased the game from start to finish and, after almost reaching double digits on Thursday, did not provide their netminder with any run support against the Senators. ARE THE PENGUINS TRUE CONTENDERS? It's been a Jekyll and Hyde month for the Penguins, who have altered wins and losses in the past six outings. Interestingly, their 3-2-1 record in December has come at the expense of some Stanley Cup contenders, like the Panthers, Rangers, Maple Leafs, and Avalanche, plus the Canadiens and Senators. After easily defeating the NHL's 29th-ranked team (Montreal), Pittsburgh had some humble pie on Saturday against the Senators, a team in the middle of the wildcard race. Meanwhile, the Penguins have suffered defeats to the Rangers and Avalanche, who seem to play at a higher level. If Pittsburgh was serious about its playoff chances, it needed a win against a scrappy Ottawa team. Instead, they went up against a hot goalie and could not evaluate their play to get a critical two points they need to make up later in the season. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PENGUINS & SENATORS TRIVIA ANSWERS How did you score in our Game Day Trivia [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/penguins-senators-game-day-hockey-trivia-dec-14] quiz? Here are the answers. 1. undefined 2. undefined 3. undefined 4. undefined 5. undefined 6. undefined 7. undefined 8. undefined 9. undefined 10. undefined Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjEwNjYwNDIwMDI3OTUwOTI5/thnpitbanner.png]
