The Penguins are playing better. But just to be sure, I put that to a couple of prominent players in the immediate aftermath of the 3-2 shootout loss to the Kings Friday night at Consol Energy Center:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hidk_DemJQ
And you know, they're right.
Again.
Just like they were right after the win in Denver. And two losses before that, the win in San Jose. And two losses before that, the win over the Blues.
Because that's quickly becoming the pattern here, isn't it?
If you want to take this season in bite-sized snippets, be my guest. There certainly is plenty from which to choose, including on this very night, none better than Evgeni Malkin's tantalizing 10-shot output that included this tying strike with 1:10 left in regulation ...
Geno was tremendous. So was Marc-Andre Fleury, even if he was dismantled by two virtuoso shootout goals by two superb players, Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik.
What's more, the Penguins generally skated, passed, shot, even hit with the bigger Kings, one of the NHL's hottest teams. The shot clock showed 42-40 for the home team, and it didn't lie other than failing to count the four posts they clanged behind Jonathan Quick.
So you go right ahead and take that. Take the point, too.
Me, I've still got a few questions, and not a single one of them will sound the slightest bit unfamiliar from the broader perspective:
1. WHERE'S DANIEL SPRONG?
Yeah, might as well start with the lowest-hanging.
Right after Jim Rutherford stunningly went public -- in a report from Anaheim by our Josh Yohe -- with his admonishment of Mike Johnston for scratching Sprong eight games in a row, the coach very clearly has held his nose while allowing Sprong to suit up, only to toss him the bread crumbs of a handful of shifts per game: Tuesday in Denver, Sprong logged 6:06. In this game, he logged 5:01 and didn't set foot on the ice for the final 31 minutes of the game.
My God.
Look, if Sprong were the lowliest prospect on the planet, if he wasn't capable of lacing up his own skates, the simple fact that the GM issued the coach a public order would figure to trump all. It evidently doesn't.
And that's to say nothing of the possibility that, gosh, maybe Sprong could actually help the cause if given a chance.
Asked afterward why Sprong didn't play in the second half of a wide-open game in which both teams were eager for the kind of finish this kid can deliver in his sleep, this was Johnston's reply: "Yeah, I just thought, defensively, he still ... he still has to be better defensively. And his first shift of the game, he dove in to get a loose puck, and the Kopitar line had a three-on-two quickly back the other way at the end of their shift. He just has to recognize defensively where to be. And right in that moment, you say, 'OK, I better start to watch him closely.' "
I'll repeat: My God.
If he'd benched everyone Kopitar made look bad, or benched everyone who contributed to an odd-man break, he'd have been left without any players by game's end.
If he'd applied the same standard to Ian Cole getting scorched on Tanner Pearson's gorgeous opening goal with a rookie-like lunge at the puck rather than the body, Cole might be facing a firing squad by sunrise:
And this is to say nothing of Rutherford also telling our site, in that same report, that he wanted to see more of Adam Clendening. So Clendening was scratched for a fifth consecutive game, this time in favor of the fading remnants of Rob Scuderi, even though Kris Letang was unable to play.
What is it with this guy?
It's absurd to ask, but does he want to be fired?
2. WHY CAN'T THEY SCORE?
On its surface, this might seem unfair, especially on a 42-shot, four-post night. But again, step back to see the picture that's really forming.
The Penguins have now scored 66 goals in 28 games, a 2.37 average that ranks 27th in the league. Below the Devils. Below the Sabres. Below the Hurricanes. And that corresponds directly to a 7.69 shooting percentage that also ranks 27th.
When the Blues passed through town a couple weeks ago, the always thoughtful Ken Hitchcock answered a rather innocuous question about the Penguins' inability to score with this: "What surprises me is the number of chances -- quality chances -- they're getting in which they're not scoring. That's what jumped out at me."
As it should. It's this team's most dominant trait to date, and it's absolutely been Sidney Crosby's: The captain has registered 79 shots and has scored on six.
But why?
Well, the obvious answer, and it's correct, is that the stars -- exempting Malkin -- haven't finished as they should, especially on the power play. That means Crosby and Phil Kessel, who's needed a team-high 94 shots for his nine goals and, on this night, missed the emptiest net of all then failed to bury an overtime breakaway. Both could be doing better in bearing down to finish. Both are way too gifted to be stuck in single-digit shooting percentages.
There's got to more to it when it goes teamwide, though, and there is: Johnston's system, as much as I appreciate it theoretically when he can activate all six defensemen, relies on a pack mentality. That means everyone starts fairly low on the breakout, with the centers exceptionally low. And that, in turn, means that almost 120 feet of ice need to get covered by all five skaters just to reach the other zone.
Several times in this game, I isolated on Crosby and the rest of the Penguins' centers, and that's what they did time after time. All the way back to between their own circles, a couple of passes through the neutral zone, and then they'd penetrate.
Could it be they've got nothing left for the finish?
Phil Kessel and Drew Doughty take a breather during the three-on-three overtime. -- DKPS