Pittsburgh's Offensive Slump Downs Team

After the injury to Malkin, the Penguin’s offense has pretty much collapsed. They have just been shut out tonight while playing the Bruins, a team that is just beginning to find its talent.

Aside from the game they played against Anaheim, Pittsburgh’s offense has not been playing as well as it normally does. They scored two against the Kings and one against the Wild.

The shocking thing is that the Pens are now on a two goal scoreless streak. They were shut out by San Jose in their last game on Saturday and they were shut out again during tonight’s game against Boston.

Depth Issues, Injury, or Slump

Last year, I said that the Penguins were too one dimensional and they would not be able to play if one of their star players was injured. It would appear that this has been the case since Malkin was injured.

After he was injured, the Penguins have struggled. Losing Malkin would explain the loss of some offensive production, but not all of it.

The Penguins are a very deep team, with Crosby, Staal, Guerrin and Kennedy all proving that they can score goals. It doesn’t make sense that the Pens would be having so much offensive trouble with this kind of depth.

The only explanation left is that they are in a slump. However, that’s not the whole story, otherwise it would be too obvious and there would be no questions.

If you ask me, the slump started when Malkin went down. Losing one of their biggest offensive producers made the Pens lose a lot of momentum, which slowed down their offensive production.

However, I wouldn’t worry too much about this slow down, because it won’t last forever. Eventually, the Pens will get their game back and start posting good numbers on the scoreboard again.