NEW YORK -- A few days ago, Ron Hextall could have been forgiven if he'd looked at his injury-ravaged lineup, shaken his head and wondered how the Penguins possibly were hovering near the top of the East Division. And whether he'd risk scuttling it all by tampering with his roster, even a little, before the NHL trade deadline Monday.
But that was before the Penguins' 7-5 loss in Boston Saturday, when they gave up five goals in the second period.
Before their 8-4 loss to the Rangers Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, when what the Penguins hoped would be a bounce-back game turned out instead to be a tragicomical sequel to their self-immolation at TD Garden a few days earlier.
Hextall has watched as his team mutated from one that had allowed as many as three goals just twice in the previous 14 games into one that has given up an average of three per period over the past five periods. After being so good defensively for so long, the Penguins suddenly look so lost in their own end that not even the auto club could help them find their way. And Hextall has only a handful of days to decide whether this group can correct all that has gone wrong of late, or whether he must alter the lineup while he still has a chance.
At least one thing seems certain.
Mike Sullivan and his staff will have no shortage of issues to address when the Penguins convene for a midday practice at Madison Square Garden Wednesday.
"We have to find a way to stop the bleeding," Marcus Pettersson said. "These last two games, it's not good enough."
Not even close, really. Not after they spotted the Rangers a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes, en route to allowing eight goals in a game for the first time since March 1, 2018.
Sure, the Penguins held New York to 25 shots, which isn't bad. Except that, oh, roughly 24 of those were good scoring chances, which is part of the reason Tristan Jarry turned aside just seven of 11 before giving way to Casey DeSmith at the start of the second period. DeSmith did only slightly -- slightly -- better, stopping 10 of 14.
"We're hanging our goalies out to dry," Jared McCann said.
Mind you, neither Jarry nor DeSmith was at his best. If either had been, the Rangers might have managed only six goals. Maybe seven.
"We just haven't played with the same sense of purpose and, as a result, the types of chances that we're giving up are extremely high (quality)," Sullivan said. "And it's hard to win games consistently when you give up the quality chances that we've given up the last two games."
True, but at least give the Penguins credit for this: They got to their game quickly against New York. Trouble is, it wasn't the game they wanted to play.
They had a little tough luck early -- the Rangers went in front to stay 95 seconds into the game, when Colin Blackwell banked a shot off Mike Matheson's left skate and past Jarry -- but quickly began causing their own problems.
Like when Mika Zibanejad was allowed to backhand a Pavel Buchnevich rebound past Jarry at 7:28 without any Penguin trying to disrupt him, and when the penalty-killers kicked off what would prove to be a perfect night -- they gave up three goals in three shorthanded situations -- by being scored on by Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome before the first intermission.
"We gave up huge chances for them, and they capitalized," Pettersson said.
The Penguins got a man-advantage goal of their own in that period -- McCann beat New York goalie Igor Shesterkin from the left point at 10:38 -- but the power play could only break even on the night, as Rangers defenseman Adam Fox scored a shorthanded goal in the third period:
That goal, coupled with one Buchnevich scored 19 seconds later, padded New York's margin of victory and compounded the Penguins' misery, but the Penguins' defensive failings had been exposed long before that.
They ran the gamut of letdowns and breakdowns, with an occasional wrinkle -- like the 2-on-0 break New York got early in the third period after Jason Zucker lost the puck -- added to the mix.
For better or worse, Sullivan believes there is not a single root cause of his team's recent defensive difficulties.
"I don't think it's any one thing," he said, citing lapses in attention to detail, poor decision-making with the puck and play away from it.
Which touches on just about every aspect of playing defense.
Can it all be fixed?
Sure.
The questions are, how? And how quickly?
Bryan Rust believes improved cohesion among whoever is on the ice at a given time is key.
"We've just been sloppy," he said. "We're not working as a unit out there. We need to get back to that quick. ... The more you're defending as a group of five -- even six, with the goalie out there -- that makes your team that much stronger."
Tough as this defeat was, the Penguins might have lost more than a couple of points Tuesday; defenseman John Marino left the game in the middle of the third period after being tripped by Buchnevich and appearing to land face-first on the ice.
Sullivan did not offer any information about the nature or severity of his injury when asked after the game.
The Penguins had another injury scare in the third when Jake Guentzel fell awkwardly near the New York blue line, then made his way slowly to the bench. He was back on the ice a few minutes later, though.
While Guentzel apparently was OK, his team was not.
Long before he went down, it had long since been diagnosed with a severely swollen goals-against average and multiple contusions of the ego.
Serious conditions, to be sure, but they don't have to be fatal.
At least not if they're treated immediately, and the Penguins proved in the early weeks of this season that they can apply a defensive tourniquet when they're hemorrhaging goals.
"We know what we can do when we play the right way, when we defend hard," Pettersson said.
The Penguins also have been reminded in the past five periods of what can happen when they don't.
And they don't like it.
"These are hard ones, because they sting," Sullivan said. "We have a proud group."
No one disputes that. What Hextall has to decide now is whether the group is good enough to stick with until the likes of Evgeni Malkin, Kasperi Kapanen, Brandon Tanev and Teddy Blueger are able to rejoin it.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Guentzel's goal at 8:04 of the third periods means he has scored in seven consecutive away games.
• Matheson and Brian Dumoulin also scored for the Penguins.
• Penguins defenseman Cody Ceci blocked three shots. His teammates combined to block five.
• McCann's power-play goal was his team-leading fifth.
• Six Penguins tied for the team lead with four shots on goal. Buchnevich led the Rangers with five.
• Nine Rangers recorded two or more points, the first time New York has had that many players do it in a game since March 31, 1986.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Madison Square Garden:
1. Artemi Panarin, Rangers
2. Adam Fox, Rangers
3. Mika Zibanejad, Rangers
THE INJURIES
• Center Evgeni Malkin is week-to-week because of an unspecified lower-body injury sustained March 16.
• Center Teddy Blueger has been out since March 15 with an unspecified upper-body injury, but practiced Friday.
• Winger Brandon Tanev is week-to-week with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained April 3.
• Defenseman Mark Friedman is day-to-day with an unspecified upper-body injury sustained March 4, but has been skating.
• Forward Kasperi Kapanen is week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained March 24 and hasn't skated yet.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Jared McCann-Evan Rodrigues
Zach Aston-Reese-Frederick Gaudreau-Sam Lafferty
Radim Zohorna-Mark Jankowski-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for David Quinn's Rangers:
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin-Ryan Strome-Colin Blackwell
Alexis Lafreniere-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko
Phil DiGiuseppe-Kevin Rooney-Vitali Kravtsov
Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Libor Hajek-Brendan Smith
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are scheduled to practice at Madison Square Garden Wednesday at noon before facing the Rangers there Thursday at 7:08 p.m.
THE CONTENT
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