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On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins misplaced for the second straight sport, falling to the undefeated Winnipeg Jets 6-3 at Canada Life Centre.
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Though the ultimate rating will not inform the entire story, the Penguins opened the scoring and constructed up a 2-0 lead earlier than falling behind 3-2 and tying the competition within the third interval 3-3.
Nonetheless, Pittsburgh would give up three consecutive objectives, together with an empty netter, to start their four-game street journey with a loss.
Let’s focus on some takeaways from Sunday’s motion.
Penguins Start Important Journey With a Loss
The Penguins left the pleasant confines of PPG Paints Area for a visit by way of Western Canada, which started on Sunday towards the Jets. Subsequent, they face the undefeated in-regulation Calgary Flames and the latest Stanley Cup Finalists Edmonton Oilers. They wrap up the journey with the struggling Vancouver Canucks.
Although Pittsburgh ranks third within the NHL for objectives scored, stopping them has turn out to be a hot-button matter nearly two weeks into the season. The one drawback is, exterior of the upcoming matchup with the Oilers, the Flames and Canucks do not surrender many objectives.
The Jets are the one undefeated crew left, however they did not even play Connor Hellbuyck for Sunday’s contest, that means the Penguins are not the dreaded opponent they as soon as had been. It will likely be fascinating to see how the remainder of the street journey performs out, but when they go 0-4, there might be lots of speak about adjustments forward of their matchup towards Marc-Andre Fleury and the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 29.
Perhaps the Primary Downside Is not…Goaltending?
Nedeljkovic began on Sunday after a win within the AHL on a conditioning stint just some days in the past. He is the third goalie to play for the Penguins this season, and regardless of some strong saves, he additionally grew to become the third goalie to give up at the least 4 objectives in a single sport.
As a lot as social media desires the remainder of the hockey neighborhood to imagine that these losses are on the shoulders of the boys in pads, maybe that is not the basis of the issue. In spite of everything, it takes a crew to blow a 2-0 lead, and it takes all 20 skaters to overlook their assignments, which results in six objectives towards.
As talked about above, this swing by way of Western Canada will outline the Penguins’ season. If the crew begins the yr 3-7-0, it’ll considerably have an effect on its shot on the playoffs and can be a worse begin than 2015-16, when the group fired its final coach.
Until a drastic lineup overhaul happens, this would be the 2024-25 lineup for the subsequent few months. The gamers or the system are responsible for this poor begin; just one could be changed solely.
Stars Quiet (Once more) on Sunday Afternoon
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson every have one objective apiece by way of seven video games. In the meantime, Lars Eller has 4 objectives, thanks to a different two-goal effort on Sunday.
It is nice to see the offense unfold out, however the Penguins win and lose based mostly on how their superstars carry out. They’re solely 3-4-0, however the boys driving the offensive are the least seemingly candidates.
Nobody anticipated Rickard Rakell, Drew O’Connor, and Kevin Hayes to be among the many crew’s prime goal-scorers, however they’re.
Furthermore, solely 4 gamers have a constructive plus/minus score, with Eller and defenseman Ryan Graves main the crew at plus-2.
Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Bryan Rust had been all minus-3 towards the Jets. These should not good numbers for the crew’s management core. Somebody has to snap the crew out of their funk, starting with these core gamers.
