Protection Falters, Penguins Fall To Jets, 6-3

After being unable to generate any semblance of offense in opposition to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night time, the Pittsburgh Penguins appeared to capitalize on probabilities and dictate play in Winnipeg on Sunday.

The offense, for essentially the most half, wasn’t a difficulty. Nonetheless, their defensive play was.

The Penguins blew a 2-0 lead and in the end fell to the Jets, 6-3. Kevin Hayes and Lars Eller – twice – scored for Pittsburgh, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to carry off Winnipeg, which is the one remaining undefeated NHL crew.

Pittsburgh registered 42 photographs on purpose, and Winnipeg blocked 25 photographs. So, the offensive effort was there, the Penguins have been just too irresponsible with the puck.

“From an effort standpoint, I assumed our crew performed actually arduous,” head coach Mike Sullivan mentioned. “I feel we have got to play a bit of smarter. And that is on all of us to attempt to treatment a few of these areas.”

Listed here are a number of observations from tonight’s recreation:

– Alex Nedejlkovic, who made 31 saves on 37 Winnipeg photographs. These numbers do not look nice on the floor for Ned, however make no mistake: He was good on this recreation.

The Penguins’ defensive breakdowns are a obvious downside. Defensemen are becoming a member of the frenzy too early and leaving their companions and forwards out to dry. Forwards aren’t masking. Web-front protection is abysmal. Manner too many turnovers within the defensive and impartial zones.

If the Penguins do not handle their crew protection – which has given up extra objectives than some other crew within the league at 31 – it will not matter who’s in purpose. Goaltending can solely accomplish that a lot to masks defensive deficiencies as obvious as those who the Penguins are displaying proper now.

Related: 3 Takeaways From Penguins’ 6-3 Loss To Jets

– The highest two defensive pairings have been atrocious tonight, however Kris Letang and Marcus Pettersson have been significantly brutal.

It hasn’t been a superb begin to the season for both of them. Letang was caught pinching and becoming a member of the frenzy prematurely on a number of events, and Pettersson retains getting beat one-on-one and on the net-front.

This is perhaps a few of the worst hockey I’ve seen Pettersson play in a Penguins’ uniform. And the timing couldn’t be worse for him, as he is a pending unrestricted free agent in a contract 12 months.

– One thing will not be proper with Sidney Crosby.

Over the previous few video games, he largely wasn’t taking faceoffs when sharing the ice with one other middle possibility. He wasn’t taking pictures the puck a lot. Issues on that entrance appeared to semi-revert to regular Sunday, so that may be a good signal.

However he and Bryan Rust are a large number in all three zones proper now. They have been on the ice for 5 Winnipeg objectives. They have been turnovers machines. They don’t seem to be attaining a lot sustained stress within the offensive zone.

They actually need to start out stepping up if the Penguins are going to win video games.

Related: Penguins Fail To Generate Offense, Fall to Hurricanes, 4-1

– The highest-six continues to be a large number as a complete. Malkin’s line, regardless of lacking the scoresheet the previous two video games, continues to be producing some probabilities, however they don’t seem to be almost as loud as they have been within the first 5 video games.

Your complete lineup was put right into a blender for this recreation, however I did like the choice to place Jesse Puljujarvi within the top-six. Even when Michael Bunting returns to the lineup, I feel Puljujarvi has earned an prolonged look there in addition to Drew O’Connor.

Personally? I would prefer to see Rakell with Crosby and Rust for a number of video games to see if he can spark some offense on that line. I like the thought of a mixture of O’Connor and Puljujarvi with Malkin.

– Regardless of the negatives popping out of this recreation, one shining vivid spot on the season to date has been the bottom-six.

GM and POHO Kyle Dubas knew what he was doing when making an attempt to assemble a bottom-six that may produce. As a result of thet have performed simply that.

Hayes has three objectives, as many as Rakell. Eller leads the crew in objectives with 4. Others like O’Connor (three objectives, 4 factors) and Puljujarvi (one purpose, 5 factors) began within the bottom-six and have been elevated due to their manufacturing.

It is a very encouraging signal for the Penguins. That is one thing that should proceed all through the season, and if it does, it ought to give them an opportunity to win lots of hockey video games.

Related: Malkin And Crosby Hit Major Milestones As Penguins Defeat Sabres In Overtime, 6-5