The Penguins, at their core, have always predicated their playing style around their offensive prowess. Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin. Those four names are all that need said as for why. It's been their game and it's always going to be their game.
Within that, they've been at their best when they defend well. Not necessarily well enough to be considered a top-three defensive team in the league, for instance, but well enough to further leverage and get the most out of their offensive muscle.
In their final game before a bye week and the All-Star break, the basement-dwelling Sharks -- playing on the second night of a back-to-back -- posed a prime opportunity for the Penguins to carry some momentum into the hiatus. Such a thought fell flat on its face as the Penguins lost, 6-4, here at PPG Paints Arena Saturday while their troublesome defensive work reared its head once again.
I'll get it out of the way right now that while the Sharks are indeed among the worst teams in the league, they aren't exactly slouches offensively. They entered Saturday's game with the ninth-highest rate of goals scored at 5-on-5 in the NHL this season and rank right in the middle of the pack at creating quality chances. Still, the Sharks were not only playing on the second night of a back-to-back, but dealing with an illness running through the team. They shouldn't have been able to give the Penguins nearly as many problems as they did.
But was it really the Sharks giving the Penguins problems? Or was it the home team succumbing to self-inflicted wounds as they've done so often this season?
Take a look at the Sharks' ice-breaking goal just 1:25 into the game:
There's nothing high-level going on here from the Sharks. Not even close. All they did was take advantage of the real estate the Penguins so kindly gave them. And all it took was a simple pass up top, then back down below the goal. It pulled Malkin to the perimeter and against the grain of the eventual goal scorer, all while baiting both Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry (who have been the Penguins' most effective defense pairing this season) behind the net to converge on one player.
The puck was in the back of the net within a snap of a finger.
"We have to have more heightened awareness away from the puck where dangerous players are and maybe read the situation a bit better," Brian Dumoulin said after the game.
Dumoulin's sentiments are applicable to any of the five goals the Penguins surrendered with Casey DeSmith actually in the crease and not pulled for the extra attacker at the end of the game, but it's especially true on the Sharks' tying goal with just seven seconds left in the first period. The Penguins somehow managed to let Erik Karlsson -- producing points at a greater frequency than Crosby this season, mind you -- sneak right behind everyone and to the front of the net for an uncontested tap-in.
It wasn't Danton Heinen's finest defensive moment:
Heinen deserves the finger wag for that one, but he was guilty of the exact thing each of his teammates were doing: Puck-watching. It's been a massive problem at various points of the season, and this sequence does nothing to suggest a whole lot is changing. Just go back and look how all five Penguins skaters are basically converging on Alexander Barabanov right before he dished out front to Karlsson.
As you're probably figuring out by now, there's not one element or component that's causing the Penguins' defensive problems. It's a culmination of issues. So many issues that solutions seem nearly out of reach.
On the Sharks' third goal to take a 3-2 lead early in the second period, it was a matter of making foolish plays with the puck:
Malkin has 100% earned himself some leeway to make riskier plays that lead to offense because, well, they lead to offense. But he tried that exact play just a moment before and it didn't work. In a 2-2 game that you need to win, against that opponent, it just can't happen.
"It’s frustrating when we beat ourselves because we don’t manage the puck appropriately in the critical areas of the rink," Mike Sullivan said. "And when you look at some of the goals they scored tonight, it was a direct result of that."
Malkin finished the night with two goals and an assist, but it was one of his worst games of the season when it came to taking care of the puck at critical times.
"They have good players and they can put the puck in the back of the net, especially when we’re careless with the puck in the neutral zone and especially when we don’t get pucks deep," Dumoulin said. "We’ve got to do a better job at the end of shifts just getting pucks deep to live another day."
The Sharks' fourth goal of the night wasn't as much of a defensive breakdown as it was being unlucky that a long-distance shot deflected off Jason Zucker before going upstairs on DeSmith. However, the Sharks' fifth goal to take the lead late in the game was such a blunder from P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel that I had to give it its own Freeze Frame.
Even aside from the problems already highlighted that led to goals against, the Penguins were just far too easy to dissect whether it was in transition or on the cycle. It really felt as if something bad was about to happen nearly every time the Sharks crossed center-red with possession.
I'd say that's well-reflected in this chart displaying each of the Sharks' unblocked shot attempts during all situations, reaching a total of 4.0 expected goals:
EVOLVING-HOCKEY.COM
Squares are scaled to their expected goal (xG) value. Larger = higher value. Green = shot, orange = miss, yellow = goal.
The Sharks didn't shoot all that much from distance or the perimeter because they mostly had their way getting to prime scoring areas.
"There’s so many areas of the game, it’s not only one," Kris Letang said. "Sometimes it’s focus, where your head’s at when you’re in the game. We have a break coming up and hopefully we use it well."
These Penguins are capable of playing the type of game that's required for long-term success, but they've executed it for an entire game far too infrequently to suggest they're capable of simply flipping a switch whenever they so choose. Is there growing concern among the team about their defensive inconsistencies?
"Yeah," Letang responded without hesitation. "As the season gets to the last stretch and in the playoffs, teams are really good defensively. They don’t give you much, so you cannot win just by scoring goals. You have to be able to defend and play a strong system. We have to clean it up."
And while Dumoulin didn't say one way or the other if there's growing concern, he's well aware the team needs to be tighter from top to bottom.
"Whether it be offensive or defensive, it’s all five guys on the ice," he said. "It’s not just the defensive core, it’s everyone, including the goalies. I don’t think it’s on anyone, we’ve got to be better as a full team."
The Penguins have gotten pretty good at saying the right things in the face of adversity. Now it's time to put purposeful action behind their words before it's too late.
