Penguins hardly have look of a contender
With Crosby on the sidelines, once-mighty Pittsburgh flounders at bottom of Eastern Conference
OTTAWA — Times are tough for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but there are different levels of crisis situations.
If the Penguins were truly up against it, if they were forced to throw everything possible at the Ottawa Senators on Saturday to turn around their season, captain Sidney Crosby would have done more than just take a few practice strides at Canadian Tire Centre early Saturday afternoon.
As the old saying goes, if it were a playoff game, the best player in hockey could very well have been in the lineup for Saturday night’s game, despite dealing with what has officially been described as an upper-body injury.
That said, though, the Penguins certainly needed a jolt of something to try to shake them out of the 1-7-1 slide that had them sitting 16th and dead last in the Eastern Conference even before Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Senators.
That’s why former Senator Derick Brassard was rushed back into the lineup Saturday from a groin injury that had kept him out since Oct. 27. Brassard, who had one goal and four assists in eight games before suffering the ailment, wasn’t originally expected to makethetrip.
It marked Brassard’s first game back home in Ottawa since he was traded to Pittsburgh last February.
“The toughest thing for me so far in my career was playing with the Senators against New York (Rangers) in the playoffs,” Brassard said of the reunion. “It’s always a little bit weird to come back and play your old friends, your former team, but you just have to put everything aside and just try to focus on playing. We’re in a tough stretch right now. We have a lot more things to worry about.”
The Penguins haven’t looked this disjointed since early in the 2015-16 season, when current coach Mike Sullivan stepped in to replace Mike Johnston. At that time, the Penguins owned a 15-10-3 record.
Fast forward three seasons and they skated into the CTC with a 7-7-3 record. Sullivan, who just happened to be coaching career game No. 400, acknowledged that the current stumbles have represented one of the more difficult stretches he has gone through with the Penguins.
“What I will say is I have so much respect for this league and how hard it is and how competitive it is,” he said, when asked to look back at it all. “It can be humbling. We are going through an experience right now that is humbling and we’re trying to work out of a difficult situation.”
No team is going anywhere without decent goaltending and special teams, and the Penguins are sputtering in both departments.
Matt Murray, the guy who stood in the way of the Senators advancing to the Stanley Cup Final and went on to backstop the Penguins to the 2017 Stanley Cup, has lost his magic touch.
He entered Saturday’s game with a 3.90 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage that ranked 48th in the NHL.
The Penguins also came in to Ottawa on the heels of allowing Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point to score three power-play goals in a 91-second span on Thursday. The Penguins had killed off only 16 of 23 opposition power plays in five games before facing the Senators.
Earlier in the week, general manager Jim Rutherford shook up the roster with a trade that sent Carl Hagelin to the Los Angeles Kings for Tanner Pearson.
There is plenty of time for the Penguins to climb back into a playoff spot, but they’re expected to win, and to win a lot.
Yet when expectations are modest, as was the case with the Senators at the season’s outset, an 8-8-3 record before Saturday’s win — nearly identical to the Penguins’ mark — is considered a success, of sorts.
“No, not at all,” Brassard said when asked if he was surprised the Senators have been competitive. “When you have a player like (Mark) Stone up front that plays the right way, that loves the game … I think he’s one of the most underrated players in the league. They probably have a future star on the back end (Thomas Chabot) and lot of good, young players with a good mix of veteran players.”
In Ottawa, it’s now all about patience for a brighter tomorrow.
In Pittsburgh, it’s now all about holding on to elite status for as long as possible.
We are going through an experience right now that is humbling.” Head coach Mike Sullivan