The Penguins are in rare company after their 5-4 shootout loss to the Hurricanes Tuesday night at Lenovo Center.
The loss was their 10th loss in a shootout this season, falling to 1-10 on the season. In the two decades since the shootout was introduced in the NHL, only six teams have lost more in a single season. No team has lost as many as the Penguins have in the last decade. They're only three losses away from tying the all-time single-season loss record, set when the Devils dropped 13 back in 2013-14.
As has been the case all season, it's not just one thing -- the goaltenders and the shooters are both struggling. Stuart Skinner stopped Seth Jarvis, but conceded goals to both Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake. The Penguins again switched up their shooter lineup and tried Ben Kindel for the first time, and though he scored, Egor Chinakhov and Anthony Mantha failed to scored on their attempts:
Skinner, who was the biggest reason they got to overtime in the first place, fell on the sword.
"I'm gonna blame myself on it," he said. "I think when you face three shots, you can't be letting in two. It just kind of deflates your own team on the bench, and kind of puts the pressure on our own guys, which as a goalie you never want to do. So I had to do a better job in the shootout."
Yeah, ideally Skinner would stop more than one shot. But he didn't get a ton of help, either. But it's also hard to question the decision to put in the shooters Dan Muse did -- Kindel had never been used before despite being great in practice shootouts, and it worked. Chinakhov entered tonight a respectable 2-for-4 on the season, 4-for-9 all-time, and just couldn't finish. Mantha entered this game 0-for-2 in attempts this season, but was coming off of a great game himself.
Some of their other options who have scored this season -- Kevin Hayes, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby -- of course weren't available. Rickard Rakell is a guy who historically has been pretty great in shootouts, but has struggled this season with a 1-for-4 success rate.
Rakell wasn't responsible for anything in the shootout tonight, but he also felt like turning away from him and trying someone like Kindel made a lot of sense.
"You just try different things," he said of what needs to change to win in the shootout. "I think that's what we've got to keep doing. You always want to go, you always want to try to win it for your team. But I've had my fair share of chances. When a chance comes again, I'll be ready."
That's the thing, too. It's not like they aren't preparing. There seems to be this notion from fans that it must just be from a lack of practice, and if they just go back to practicing the shootout regularly like Dan Bylsma did, that would solve everything. But they do practice the shootout regularly. They do it in short bursts between drills. They do long, team-wide shootout sessions, often making a game out of it like Bylsma did. They do them in the middle of practice. They do them to end practice. Some days, you'll have the goalies on fire, stopping all of their teammates. Some days, the shooters can't stop finding the back of the net. Usually, it's somewhere in the middle.
"I mean, we practice (the shootout) pretty much every chance that we have a practice," an exasperated Rakell said, shaking his head. "I just don't know what to say."
Muse, still, didn't have much as far as answers. And really, you can't blame him. They're practicing the shootouts, trying different shooters, have had different goaltenders in net for them, and the result is almost always the same.
"Obviously, it hasn't been working," Muse said. "It still didn't work tonight. As I've said before, I'll take plenty of blame for this myself. I've got to do a better job of putting these guys in good situations for this. We've got to work together. Odds are we're going to be in another one. We'll be in some more. We can keep looking for ways and trying different guys and work till we get it."
It's easy to write off shootouts as a nonsense skills competition, and something they won't have to worry about in the playoffs. But reality is that it's a part of the game, and it could be something that keeps them out of the playoffs entirely. The Penguins are tied with the Islanders for second in the division with a game in hand. The Blue Jackets are only three points behind them. If even half of these shootout losses were wins, that would be five massive points in the standings that would have them more comfortably in a playoff position, and creeping up on the Hurricanes for first in the division.
The Penguins realize the importance of these points. But what ails them in these shootouts, and how to fix it, remains a mystery.
THE ASYLUM
Insane: Now 1-10 in shootouts
The Penguins are in rare company after their 5-4 shootout loss to the Hurricanes Tuesday night at Lenovo Center.
The loss was their 10th loss in a shootout this season, falling to 1-10 on the season. In the two decades since the shootout was introduced in the NHL, only six teams have lost more in a single season. No team has lost as many as the Penguins have in the last decade. They're only three losses away from tying the all-time single-season loss record, set when the Devils dropped 13 back in 2013-14.
As has been the case all season, it's not just one thing -- the goaltenders and the shooters are both struggling. Stuart Skinner stopped Seth Jarvis, but conceded goals to both Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake. The Penguins again switched up their shooter lineup and tried Ben Kindel for the first time, and though he scored, Egor Chinakhov and Anthony Mantha failed to scored on their attempts:
Skinner, who was the biggest reason they got to overtime in the first place, fell on the sword.
"I'm gonna blame myself on it," he said. "I think when you face three shots, you can't be letting in two. It just kind of deflates your own team on the bench, and kind of puts the pressure on our own guys, which as a goalie you never want to do. So I had to do a better job in the shootout."
Yeah, ideally Skinner would stop more than one shot. But he didn't get a ton of help, either. But it's also hard to question the decision to put in the shooters Dan Muse did -- Kindel had never been used before despite being great in practice shootouts, and it worked. Chinakhov entered tonight a respectable 2-for-4 on the season, 4-for-9 all-time, and just couldn't finish. Mantha entered this game 0-for-2 in attempts this season, but was coming off of a great game himself.
Some of their other options who have scored this season -- Kevin Hayes, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby -- of course weren't available. Rickard Rakell is a guy who historically has been pretty great in shootouts, but has struggled this season with a 1-for-4 success rate.
Rakell wasn't responsible for anything in the shootout tonight, but he also felt like turning away from him and trying someone like Kindel made a lot of sense.
"You just try different things," he said of what needs to change to win in the shootout. "I think that's what we've got to keep doing. You always want to go, you always want to try to win it for your team. But I've had my fair share of chances. When a chance comes again, I'll be ready."
That's the thing, too. It's not like they aren't preparing. There seems to be this notion from fans that it must just be from a lack of practice, and if they just go back to practicing the shootout regularly like Dan Bylsma did, that would solve everything. But they do practice the shootout regularly. They do it in short bursts between drills. They do long, team-wide shootout sessions, often making a game out of it like Bylsma did. They do them in the middle of practice. They do them to end practice. Some days, you'll have the goalies on fire, stopping all of their teammates. Some days, the shooters can't stop finding the back of the net. Usually, it's somewhere in the middle.
"I mean, we practice (the shootout) pretty much every chance that we have a practice," an exasperated Rakell said, shaking his head. "I just don't know what to say."
Muse, still, didn't have much as far as answers. And really, you can't blame him. They're practicing the shootouts, trying different shooters, have had different goaltenders in net for them, and the result is almost always the same.
"Obviously, it hasn't been working," Muse said. "It still didn't work tonight. As I've said before, I'll take plenty of blame for this myself. I've got to do a better job of putting these guys in good situations for this. We've got to work together. Odds are we're going to be in another one. We'll be in some more. We can keep looking for ways and trying different guys and work till we get it."
It's easy to write off shootouts as a nonsense skills competition, and something they won't have to worry about in the playoffs. But reality is that it's a part of the game, and it could be something that keeps them out of the playoffs entirely. The Penguins are tied with the Islanders for second in the division with a game in hand. The Blue Jackets are only three points behind them. If even half of these shootout losses were wins, that would be five massive points in the standings that would have them more comfortably in a playoff position, and creeping up on the Hurricanes for first in the division.
The Penguins realize the importance of these points. But what ails them in these shootouts, and how to fix it, remains a mystery.
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