The 16,526 fans at PPG Paints Arena who bought a ticket for Monday night's matchup between the Penguins and Stars were treated to a terrible slice of local hockey history.
And soon, much of what they witnessed might be history, as well.
As in, the past tense.
Just three days after a third period Friday in Washington that might have represented their most complete, compelling 20 minutes of the season, the Penguins followed up by ceding a half-dozen goals in the first 20 minutes of this 7-1 loss to the Stars, the most allowed in franchise history for a first period at home, and only the fourth time they allowed six in the first frame anywhere, per historian Bob Grove. The only other occasion of ceding six and scoring none came 46 years ago.
"There's not much to say when it's 6-0," Sidney Crosby said when asked how the home locker room handled that first intermission. "You know, you've just got to play through it. You can't quit, you can't give up. We put ourselves in that position, we've got to keep playing and see what happens. Besides that, you can't change the period. You know it happened, and you've got to find ways to play through it."
There was never any illusion -- even when the game was still relatively close early in the first -- that the Penguins had a chance. No life, no pushback.
"We just gave in," Marcus Pettersson said. "It's inexcusable. In front of our home crowd, too. We gave in after two goals. It's inexcusable."
Pettersson also referred to the scene as "the same old thing."
That's indisputable. The Penguins are capable of competing as they did against the contending Capitals, but such showings are rare, as seen in their 6-9-2 record and defensive metrics. And they already appear bound for a third consecutive spring out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
So, what now?
The Penguins won't go full-rebuild until Crosby retires. He's earned that. But this can't continue. And that sentiment, from what I'm hearing, runs to the top of the team's hockey structure.
A league source told me earlier this week that Kyle Dubas has made it known to other teams that "everyone is available, except 87." And while Dubas has done well to replenish the pool with picks and prospects over the past year or so, the objective of any near-future moves wouldn't be to add more futures. Rather, it'd be to acquire actual players back, since this isn't a "tear-it-down-to-the-studs rebuild" yet, as Dubas likes to say. He remains committed to trying to win with at least Crosby. Ownership made that promise to Crosby over the summer, that the Penguins would be better this season.
Also, everyone but Crosby being available tracks with what else is known about the plans for the foreseeable future.
For example, their most prominent pending free agent next summer is Pettersson, who wants to remain in Pittsburgh. But, as I wrote in Friday Insider last month, the Penguins have stayed no-contact with Pettersson's side, without even preliminary talks. That's because Dubas is looking to "protect all of our options" -- and one of those options remains moving on from bigger assets as they retool the team quickly.
Another example: Dubas goes on some scouting missions himself. Last year, in addition to some trips to watch NHL games, he did a lot of work scouting prospects -- the Penguins' own, and some that weren't theirs yet. For example, Dubas made a personal trip out to see the University of Michigan play last season, months before acquiring Michigan's Rutger McGroarty.
Dubas has been busy this season scouting other NHL games -- some speculated that was related to his role as director of player personnel for Hockey Canada for this season's 4 Nations Face-Off, but Dubas has clarified that he's doing nothing for Hockey Canada that takes away from his job with the Penguins, and that it's the Penguins' off days that end up getting used for Hockey Canada work. So, when Dubas does something like he did on Monday -- going to watch Canadiens-Sabres in Buffalo, and according to a source brought assistant general manager Jason Spezza plus manager of minor league operations Amanda Kessel with him, it's pretty safe to say that what he's looking at isn't related to any international tournament.
Of course, not everyone but Crosby can actually be traded. In addition to Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Erik Karlsson all have complete no-movement clauses. And while one could assume someone like Karlsson might be willing to waive that clause to go to a contender, it's hard to imagine that many contenders both have a need and the cap space for someone like Karlsson and his $10 million cap hit for three seasons. Seven more players have various levels of limited no-trade clauses, including one of the three goaltenders on the roster in Tristan Jarry.
The Penguins knew moves needed to be made well before Monday's abomination against Dallas. If anything, that horrendous first period and near-total lack of response just validated that, and maybe increased the urgency.
