Pittsburgh Hockey Insider has no direct affiliation to the Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL or NHLPA
Penguins loss to Hurricanes exposes structural flaw that contenders don't have
Photo credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Three Carolina power-play goals on four chances turned Pittsburgh's 83.2 percent season penalty kill from strength into warning siren.
Seth Rorabaugh's TribLive angle around the kill and the officiating was fair. The sharper read is that Pittsburgh lost its structure before it lost its cool.
Carolina beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on March 22. Sebastian Aho scored on the man advantage 47 seconds in, and Pittsburgh spent the rest of the afternoon chasing the game.
The best penalty kill in the league got pulled apart by quick seams, net-front traffic, and clears that never got far enough down the ice.
This was not only a bad day between the pipes. It was a roster-execution problem, especially from the support layers that are supposed to settle chaos.
By the second period, Carolina owned the inside. Seth Jarvis finished at the top of the crease, and Pittsburgh looked late on every second touch.
The bluntest summary ended up on X.
"Today, we didn't do much of anything."
Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins got warned
Fans can live with a loss. They hate the kind that hands the next opponent a clean map.
Egor Chinakhov scored the lone goal, Bryan Rust pushed his point streak to seven games, and none of it changed the feel. The Penguins were reacting all night.
Pittsburgh is still 35-19-16 with 86 points, second in the Metropolitan. That is why this game matters, because it exposed a flaw in a contender's daily details.
When the kill gets stretched, this group still lacks enough calm, heavy clearers in the lower part of the lineup. That is roster construction, not bad luck.
Colorado visits Tuesday, so the fix is immediate. Harder clears, tighter net-front box-outs, and less time spent jawing at officials has to be the response.
Sidney Crosby leads the club with 28 goals, but even he cannot patch habits by himself. Sunday was a warning shot, and the next test arrives fast.
Also read on HockeyUnplugged :
Pittsburgh Penguins' playoff hopes weaken as defensive breakdowns continue in March
Pittsburgh Penguins' playoff hopes weaken as defensive breakdowns continue in March
| POLL | ||
MARS 23|71 ANSWERS Penguins loss to Hurricanes exposes structural flaw that contenders don't have Did this loss reveal a real playoff flaw? | ||
| Yes | 51 | 71.8 % |
| No | 20 | 28.2 % |
| List of polls | ||