Penguins road woes continue
position to accomplish something.”
Against Detroit, the Penguins started strong — Sidney Crosby scored in the first minute — but allowed the Red Wings to seize control of the gamein the second period and pull away in the third. The loss included plenty of deficiencies that have become familiar in recent games.
First off, it came on the road. The Penguins are 1520-4 on the road this season, the only Eastern Conference team with a losing record away from home that likely will make the playoffs. They’re 2-5-1 in their past eight away contests. That stretch has included losses to the New York Islanders and Red Wings, both well out of the playoff picture.
“It’s been [a problem] lately,” Letang said. “We have games that have kind of slipped away. But I think we’re beating ourselves. We’re beating ourselves with turnovers, lack of management with the puck.”
Those problems seemed to crop up Tuesday night, especially on special teams.
The Penguins penalty kill, which has been dreadful recently, gave up yet another goal, their 10th goal allowed in their past nine games. This one came at 14:28 of the second period, from Frans Nielsen. Luke Glendening scored less than a minute later, and the Red Wings were off to the races.
“You’re going to give up goals, you’re going to make mistakes, but we can’t allow teams to grab momentum like that, giving up a couple of quick ones,” Crosby said.
And, when the Penguins had a chance to get back in the game, on a power play early in the third period, they couldn’t even muster a shot attempt. The Red Wings added an insurance goal a few minutes later and — after Letang briefly made it 4-2 — an empty-netter to seal the win.
“Lack of urgency, period,” Letang said. “When you go into a game against a team that’s young, hungry, has nothing to lose, they’re going to put it out there. They just worked harder than us, and there was no response from our team. That’s a problem. We’ll have to figure it out.”
The Penguins had 12 shots on Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard through the first two periods and finished with 24.
“I thought we had some zone time, we had some possession time, but not a whole lot to show for it,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “When teams defend hard, you’ve got to get into the hard areas. You’ve got to get inside the dots, you’ve got to be willing to go to the net and take a cross-check and look to get a stick on a puck or get your nose over it for a rebound. I didn’t think we were willing to do that tonight.”
The Penguins aren’t in any significant risk of missing the playoffs — not yet, anyways. They’re seven points clear of the cut line with five games left. But until they have that little ‘x’ next to their name in the standings, Sullivanwants his team to remember they shouldn’t counton anything.
“As I’ve said all along here, we’re fighting for our life for a playoff spot,” Sullivan said. “Nothing’s inevitable in this game. We’ve got to go out and earn it every day. It doesn’t matter who your opponent is, every game is hard to win. This is a hard league, and so we’re going to have another difficult one in our next game.”
That next game is Thursday night in Newark, N.J. The Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3, Tuesday night to move within four points of the Penguins in the standings, with a game in hand. The Philadeplphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets are within two points of the second-place Penguins.
“After tonight, when all the games are going to be done, we’re going to see standings that a little closer again,” Letang said. “It’s going to be down to the last game of the year. We have to have some urgency and get those points when we can grab them.”