In Case You Were Wondering ... Why the Pens Are Strugglin' Right Now

Everyone has their reasons why they think the Pittsburgh Penguins are struggling, many of which are inaccurate (sorry guys). The reasons are as clear as day, if you understand the game of hockey and know how to play it. And because of that, the solutions are pretty simple, in my opinion.

Let me start out by saying that the Pens are by far the worst team in the league right now when they are in their own zone and in the neutral zone. Anyone who has "Center Ice" at their dispense, and has the ability to watch the elite teams in the league such as Boston, Detroit, San Jose, etc., know that these teams have absolutely no problem moving the puck from their zone into the attacking zone.

If it were an official stat on NHL.com, the Pens would lead the league in "turnovers in the neutral or defensive zone that either resulted in a goal or penalty that in turn resulted in a goal for the opposing team." When Pittsburgh takes on Philadelphia on Tuesday and the Penguins happen lose, keep track of how many times the puck is turned over from behind their net to the Flyers red line that either resulted in a scoring chance, an odd-man rush, or a goal.

Secondly, the Pens are making horrible decisions on simple hockey plays right now. Let me use the Florida game to explain my point. The first goal, we won't even discuss because Marc-Andre Fluery is still looking at the left point for the pass. On the second goal, Ryan Whitney pinches in deep to try to hold the puck in. Anyone who plays hockey or is a student of the game knows that when a D-man pinches, a forward is supposed to cover his point just in case the puck gets through.

And, what do you know? The puck gets through, and Florida goes two-on-one the other way and scores. On the 4-on-4 breakaway goal that the Panthers' Nathan Horton scored, the Penguins were standing still in Florida's zone when they had possession behind the Panthers' net. Horton sees this and takes off right past Whitney and Alex Goligoski. The puck gets through them, and Horton is gone. The list of stupid little plays like this goes on.

Pittsburgh needs to shore up the fundamentals of their game before the Penguins can focus on the more major X's and O's of why their struggling. Which now brings me to their power play, which is a straight disaster right now.

I'm never one to blame coaching for everything, because these are professional athletes getting paid the big bucks to perform and make things happen. But in this case, I do place the woes of the power play unit partly on Mike Yeo and the Pittsburgh coaching staff.

First of all, can someone please tell me why Petr Sykora is not on the top power play line (10 of his 16 goals have come with a man-or-more advantage)? I understand putting Jordan Staal in front of the net to cause traffic but how's that been working for ya, Pens?

I'm somewhat confused on why Pittsburgh doesn't go to a conventional power play with two defensemen (Whitney and Kris Letang/Goligoski), and three forwards (Evgeni Malkin, Crosby, Sykora). Recently the Penguins have gone to this, but every so often you see Malkin lurking back at the point, where he is basically ineffective. Now people are going to say, "Malkin has a cannon of a slapper and he is able to let it go from the point." That is true, but if it were effective, why before Colorado did he not score a PPG in 20-plus games?

Secondly, Pittsburgh has no setup to its power play. This "get to center and blast it around" strategy works, I'd say, 10 percent of the time. Where is the controlled dump-in? Where is a set play that makes it easier to get into the zone without having to dump in? It's not impossible.

Watch the top ten PP teams in the league and watch how easily they maneuver into the zone without blasting it around the wall. Then once they set up, it's utter confusion between the forwards and the D-men. Note to Sid: opposiong PK's have figured out the slap-pass. Start firing towards the net. It's so easy to say, "get it to the net," but seriously, "GET IT TO THE NET!" I understand that if Goligoski has the puck at the point, he can shoot it through someone's kneecap, but when Sid has a lane, and there are bodies in front, forget the "Whitney Play" and let one fly; it sure worked for you against the Rangers in the playoffs!

In closing—since I doubt many readers even got this far—everything is wrong with the Pens; one cannot single out any one particular thing. The goaltending and the defense need to be better, puck possession and management need to improve, the special teams are killing the team right now, and the offense needs to start filling the net. Hell, even the coaching needs to be better.

But more than anything, the Pens need to bury their noses and start playing blue-collar hockey. Night in and night out, they need to win the battles in the corners, they need to take the physical intensity to the other team, and they need to play better, smarter hockey.

The Pens are at their best when they're having fun, and right now, there aren't too many smiles in that locker room. Get back to basics, Pittsburgh. Get back to being the team that represented the East in the Stanley Cup Finals last year. Get back to being the team that no one wanted to play.

Everyone wants to trade this person and fire that person, but the problems need to be solved in-house before anyone from the outside can make this team better. Three points out of a playoff birth, the drive to the playoffs starts tomorrow in Philly...LETS GO PENS!!!