The Pittsburgh Penguins battled back and tied the game with a late Evgeni Malkin goal to get into overtime and earn a standings point. They ultimately dropped the contest in the shootout. Scraping a point from the brink of another goose egg is better than not, but still not good enough. The Penguins made their bed and now they have to sleep in it. They have to start making up the points somewhere and last night they did not take advantage.

Speaking of advantages the power play was a dismal one for eight. It continues to be a tire fire and quite frankly it makes me sick to watch. I was patient earlier in the year when things were rocky. It never crossed my mind we’d be over halfway done with the season with it still looking the way it is considering the talent available. It is a complete abomination. At one point last night they were one for seven and it actually improved(!) their season power play percentage. It’s been that bad. The players aren’t blameless, but this is a coaching problem. I'm not on some kind of fire Mike Sullivan or bust mindset, but at some point the failure of this power play has to have some accountability and for me it is the coaching. It is a fireable power play by any measure.

No idea if there would be any interest on his end, but there is a man by the name of Bruce Boudreau who is currently a senior advisor for the Niagara Ice Dogs who I imagine wouldn't mind an NHL gig. Would this create an elephant in the room situation for Mike Sullivan? Yes, yes it would. I think having a potential replacement on the staff is a prudent move at this point.

Teams are clearly playing them hard because they don’t respect the Penguins ability to work themselves out of being boxed in. They are playing Malkin hard on the half wall and Karlsson up top and I don’t blame the opposition. The Penguins do not work the puck low on a consistent basis to keep anyone honest. They play into what the killers want. Work the puck down low with Sid as a release valve and have Jake pop out below the goal line on the other side just to spread things out and slow things down. Instead, they continue to shovel forth the most predictable rubbish. It is really disappointing the season is getting away from them in what should be a strength is in practice their biggest weakness.

Now the Penguins did score on the power play last night. Yet, that even came with a qualifier. If you watch the play you can see a Panther heading to the bench to retrieve a new stick after theirs broke. If not for the broken stick they are probably 0-fer on the night.

Evgeni Malkin’s last-minute goal got the team into overtime and once upon a time that used to mean there was a high probability of picking up the extra point. This is no longer the case. The fact of the matter is the Penguins are old and don’t skate as well as other teams and thus the 3v3 is now a weakness. It’s understandable given the aging core. It doesn’t mean it isn’t jarring to see after a decade and a half or so of dominance. The lack of skating prowess causes apprehension and thus little cohesion in how they attack.

One side note on the 3v3 overtime is I think it is long past due to amend how the 3v3 situations are played. I don’t want to completely eliminate ragging the puck back after you gain entry. I do want to limit it. I think if you gain the offensive blue line with possession and then take it back outside the blue line then there should be a backcourt style rule that prevents the team with the puck from going back behind the red line. If they do then it is an offensive faceoff and treated like an icing. No line change for the guilty team. I think this would put a little more external pressure on keeping an attack going. You can still use the space in between the blue and red line for a regroup, but not egregiously like we see all the time now. i don’t blame the players for doing it. It makes sense. I would take it away from them, though. The 3v3 isn’t quite as interesting as it once was.

Lastly, the shootout was another area of strength of yesteryear. You had Marc-Andre Fleury, one of the best shootout goaltenders of all-time backed by the Crosby, Malkin, Letang trio (and Erik Christensen for those who know). While I don’t expect the goalies to match Fleury’s brilliance in shootouts the trio just isn’t what it was in shootouts. Most times Malkin and Letang don’t even go anymore. Sid still goes, but it is the most dull thing ever. I can’t stand the slow skating quick attempt snap shot thing he does. I can’t stand it because it is his go to instead of a change up. Come in with speed and at an angle and at least give the appearance a deke may be on the way. I really don’t like nitpicking Sidney Crosby because he’s the man. This is just one of those pet peeves I can’t shake. He’s gotta change it up for performance reasons and for nothing else entertainment reasons, selfishly.

There's no time for the team to feel sorry for themselves. The Montreal Canadiens are in town for tonight’s matchup. This is a must win game at this point. You can’t drop any more winnable games like these. They’ve dug too big a hole.

We’re at that part of the season which can be summed up by street legend Marlo Stanfield. Do it or don’t, I got places to be.

Thanks for reading!

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