It's hard to believe. Prior to last night's game against the Coyotes, the Penguins had not scored in thirteen games and in the last 36 times with the man advantage. This team, which has quality forwards like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel on the power play, fails to find the net at five-on-four.
This deficiency obviously has a big impact on the Penguins' bottom line, as they move seriously away from a spot in the series. For Kristopher Letang, the team's problems in the power play are currently putting a lot of strain on the morale of the players. “In the power play, it’s always your best players who are on the ice,” emphasized the Penguins defenseman in a telephone interview. If it doesn't work, you tense the stick a little tighter, and that plays a big role in morale at the end of the day, because problems on the power play take away a lot of momentum from the team.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
The more the Penguins get bogged down in the power play, the harder it will be for them to win close games. They have managed just five wins in sixteen games that ended with a difference of two goals or less.
“If you look at our record, you can also see that we are successful against the good teams in the league, but are not consistent against teams of lower caliber, which is also difficult to explain.”
Time remains
Obviously, the Penguins have far too much talent for power play problems to persist. The arrival of Erik Karlsson is not having the desired effect at the moment, but it is normal that there is a period of adjustment. Is it still time to hit the panic button when the Pittsburgh team still has a long way to go in hopes of making the playoffs? “It is still too early to draw a conclusion,” says Kristopher Letang. I don't think we'll have a clear picture of the season until the All-Star Game. At this point, we may have a better idea of which teams are dominating and which are fighting for participation in the series. In fact, everyone can win games now, but that won't always be the case.
It must also be said that the Penguins have gotten us used to having a fairly ordinary start to the season before dominating after the holiday season.
TOO MANY INJURIES
If in Montreal we ask ourselves what lies in the water to explain the high number of injuries, in Pittsburgh we ask ourselves the same question, but for much longer. “I just installed a water filter at home to make sure that wasn’t the problem,” Kristopher Letang says with a laugh. But seriously, I look at our situation with Bryan Rust, Noel Acciari, Rickard Rakell and Chad Ruhwedel being injured and we think that's just happening to us, but I know it's the same in Montreal. I've learned over time that the young guys who are recalled need to take advantage of their opportunity to help your team win despite injuries. That makes the difference.”
So these are two teams that will be faced with relatively similar problems tonight. Two teams that absolutely need a win to advance in the table. If you think the Canadiens have an advantage because the Penguins played yesterday, think again: Martin St-Louis' team has lost all six games since the start of the season against teams that played the day before.