The Penguins' power play is nearing rock bottom, if it's not there already.
Ranked 28th in the NHL after an 0-for-2 showing in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Hurricanes here at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night, the Penguins are letting precious standings points slip away due to their inability to find the back of the net on the power play.
That's not to say the power play is the only problem the team faces, but it's -- theoretically -- the one problem that has the highest chance of turning things around.
At some point, something's got to change, right?
Four minutes. The Penguins had four minutes on the power play against the Hurricanes. They mustered all of one shot attempt (blocked) that came off the stick of Jason Zucker at the tail end of the second man-advantage opportunity.
The Hurricanes, however, managed to generate two shot attempts of their own while short-handed, both of which were of the extreme-danger variety. Here's the second, stemming from Evgeni Malkin playing with his food in the middle of the ice after crossing the offensive blue line:
That's far too casual considering the absolute lack of a pulse on the power play for the majority of the season.
Since Oct. 29, no team in the NHL has a worse success rate on the power play than the Penguins at a paltry 9.8%. They've gone six games without a power-play goal. And despite all logic suggesting a power play with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Kris Letang just needed some time to get going, things are only getting worse.
Letang didn't play on Tuesday due to illness, though I'm not sure how much his presence would've impacted the two lousy opportunities the Penguins had.
"Well, we had a hard time getting it off the yellow," Mike Sullivan said following the game, referring to the Penguins' inability to possess the puck away from the wall. "Give Carolina credit, they put a lot of pressure on us, but we couldn’t seem to get ahold of it to get it off the yellow to be able to establish any sort of possession. And so, that was the biggest challenge, and if you can’t get it off the yellow, it’s hard to establish a shot and simplify the puck. You got to gain possession first."
That was the case from the second the Penguins' first power play started:
"We just didn’t do a good enough job tonight," Sullivan said, "just beating that pressure."
The Hurricanes did do an outstanding job on the penalty-kill, but part of that was because of how easy the Penguins made it for them to do so. Throwing the puck back and forth along the wall, not supporting the puck, not working in and through the middle of the ice at all, very little off-puck movement.
Not only do such faults result in a lack of opportunities and chances, but it fuels them for your opponent. Only four teams in the NHL are allowing a greater rate of expected goals against while on the power play than the Penguins this season.
The Penguins' power play has just been ... lifeless.
Watch Bryan Rust, who has one power-play goal all season, fly into the zone with possession only for all of his teammates to motionlessly watch from the blue line:
I get that at this point of the game the Penguins were leading, but where's the sense of urgency?
Where's the sense of urgency to hound and retrieve loose pucks?:
It's one thing to have one of the best players of all-time dumping the puck into the zone on the power play, it's something entirely different to give such a pedestrian effort to re-establish possession.
Whenever the Penguins can set up -- and I'm not a 'shoooooot' guy here -- they can't help themselves but try and pass the puck into the back of the net. They'll say as much themselves. One of the best weapons the power play has is Malkin's one-timer, but it's not used anywhere near enough, and when they're able to create that look, Malkin has been hesitating and looking for an extra pass.
With that being one of the only imminent threats to opposing penalty-kills, it's becoming increasingly easy to sit on and stymie, as the Penguins seemingly have absolutely no plan of attack otherwise.
Malkin has two power-play goals all season. Guentzel has two. Crosby has one. Letang has one.
Rickard Rakell, who can't seem to buy a spot on the top unit no matter what he does, has two despite logging the seventh-most power-play time on the team.
Personnel changes need to happen. Giving Rakell a look with the top unit would be a great start. Why not get Zucker out there with the top unit, too? He's been great all season, is a great forechecker and would be just fine at the net-front.
Stylistic changes need to happen, too. Despite creating chances and not converting on them last season, the Penguins' power play isn't even creating many chances now.
The ineptitude of what should be one of the team's biggest strengths has gone on for long enough.
