Road trip highlights soft spots

Playoff race is in sight despite loss

DENVER — Nobody said this would be easy.

Games in Winnipeg and Colorado, two of the NHL’s most dynamic offenses. Back-to-back, no less, with difficult travel in between.

For the Penguins to return with two points should be considered progress, given the hole they’ve dug for themselves.

“We played two of the better teams in the league,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after the 6-3 loss to the Avalanche at Denver’s Pepsi Center on Wednesday. “They’re both quick. They both can skate. They both have size. We were right there with both of them.”

Thinking big picture: If the Penguins can handle Winnipeg and Colorado on the road, how will they fare against the Metropolitan Division, where they’re a point behind the Islanders, two shy of the Hurricanes and three back from the resurgent Rangers?

The Penguins have areas of their game they must address, but perhaps the takeaway from this trip should be that a playoff spot is not so lofty of a goal.

“I think we played well,” Kris Letang said. “The effort was there. There were mistakes here and there. In this league, it’s tough to come back in games.”

Which is why the Penguins would be wise to avoid 3-0 deficits. They know that.

But stats show the Penguins are hardly a slowstarting team. Their 29 firstperiod goals rank third in the NHL. Their first-period goal differential (plus-7) is better than all but San Jose (plus-10). In 12 road games, the Penguins have scored first 75 percent of the time.

But spotting a team the cushion that the Penguins gave Colorado Wednesday is a recipe for a loss.

“They’re really hot right now, and you’re three goals down,” Letang said. “We burned a lot of energy to get back into the game.”

This trip also featured the top two power plays in the league. The penalty kill put together two clean sheets, allowing just three man-advantage opportunities.

Since the night they gave the Lightning seven chances, killing three, the Penguins have had to kill just 12 penalties in six games — and did that successfully.

“We’ve been more patient,” Zach Aston-Reese said. “Most teams in the NHL have the same power play. We’ve been a little bit more patient withholding the middle, forcing them to attack from outside. It’s been working for us.

“It also helps when you stay out of the box.”

Some individual storylines from the trip were tough to ignore, too.

Much has been made about the play of Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry. But they’ve played how you’d expect: Like a 27-yearold journeyman and a 23year-old who’s likely not fully developed yet.

There were saves they should have made and they need to be better. But they’re not making $4 million a year. They’re pretty much punching at their salary-cap weight. The Penguins must be tighter defensively in front of them to win games.

Against two of the NHL’s top offenses, the Penguins showed signs of doing that. Clean up the soft ones and it shouldn’t be a hindrance.

Sidney Crosby is on another planet: Battling in the corners, making absurd passes and scoring a lot. The Penguins captain has been their best player and it hasn’t been very close.

When you know you can count on performances like that night in and night out, it’s tough not to follow.

“Our captain has come up big,” Brassard said.

That’s good, because the middle two lines are in a weird state of flux right now.

Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel haven’t done much together lately. Sullivan separated them for the third period in Winnipeg and after the game, he said he was curious about what Kessel and Brassard could do together.

If Wednesday’s game was any indication, we have our answer: nothing. It was bad.

Kessel was on the ice for just three five-on-five shot attempts (for the team, not individually) and 12 against, a shot share of 20 percent. Brassard wasn’t much better at 5-to-14. Neither recorded a shot on goal. They were on the ice for one high-danger scoring chance.

If that continues, there’s zero reason Sullivan would ride this out.

“He’s a guy who’s talented offensively,” Brassard said. “We’ll try to be better next game.”

That would be Saturday, hosting the Flyers, and the Penguins would be psyched up if they had Patric Hornqvist back for that one.

The last takeaway from this one is how badly the Penguins need Hornqvist back from his concussion.

They haven’t had a ton of power-play opportunities since Hornqvist got hurt last Friday in Boston, just seven in three-plus games. But a couple of times, the power play had a chance to make a difference and was unable to generate much of anything.

The first occasion was in the third period against Boston, and it happened again Wednesday.

“We have to do a better job on power plays,” Crosby said. And nobody simplifies things like Hornqvist.

According to Penguins historian Bob Grove, Hornqvist has missed 45 regularseason games in his Penguins career. In those, the power play converted at 16.7 percent, which would have been in the bottom-fifth of the NHL last season.

With Hornqvist, the Penguins click at 22.3 percent.

“He’s a unique player for us,” Sullivan said. “He plays a fearless game.”

Starting with Saturday’s game against the Flyers, the schedule softens for the Penguins. If they’re able to match how they played against two powerhouses, chances are they’ll be fine.