The Jets may not be one of the best teams in the league, but they sure are fun. For my money it is between Winnipeg and Toronto for most interesting teams to watch on any given night. They have a bunch of interesting forwards and enough defensemen to compliment an offensive first approach.
After dropping a 2-1 decision to the Wild the Penguins once again were stuck scoring only a single goal. The problem on Sunday was that they gave up seven. The Jets weren’t screwing around and by the end of the first period the game was over. Blake Wheeler had a hat trick in the opening frame. Two of his goals came on Matt Murray and the third goal came on Casey DeSmith’s first shot against in the NHL. It was a great goal. Welcome to the league!
So what’s going on with the Penguins? This isn’t the first game they have been completely blown out. The common theme here seems to be the second game the Penguins have to play on a back to back situation. Bad news for the Penguins if this is the reason for the struggles; they have 19 total back to back games this year which leads the league. I do think there is some merit to the problem being back to back games.
Even when fully healthy this Penguins team isn’t as deep as the past two seasons. This puts a lot of stress on Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel. All of whom are at least 30 years old. The top heavy approach isn’t going to work every night and when it doesn’t work, it really doesn’t work.
Another variable at play is goaltending. When Pittsburgh was being outplayed in the playoffs last year the goaltending was terrific. If the goaltending is anything less than terrific you are going to give up goals when you aren’t great defensively. Last year during the playoff run the Penguins had an all stuations save percentage of .928 and an EVSV% of .932. The volume of shot attempts against the Penguins at even strength during the playoffs was 59.34. Here’s the comparison between the playoffs and what has happened so far this year.
The Penguins are actually generating more chances when compared to the 2017 playoff run, but they are still giving up more than they take. The biggest difference is that the goaltending isn’t saving them like it did in the playoffs last year. In theory I don’t mind the Penguins trading shot attempts and scoring chances with other teams because they have had scoring depth and goaltending. This year is a little bit different and if they are going to roll forward with this approach they need the depth players to step up more and goaltending will need to be at least average.
A lot of statistical models are favoring the Penguins for the President’s Trophy, but this team has holes. There is potential for future roster moves. This team is very vulnerable if the wrong people get hurt. You are seeing an example of that with Justin Schultz missing due to a concussion.
Fortunately, for the Penguins they have mixed in some wins playing the way they have. It’s been a mixed bag. Things could be worse, they could be the New York Rangers who are losing home games left and right.
Up next the Penguins annual trip to Western Canada. Your guess is as good as mine with how they do.
Thanks for reading!