Sluggish offense plagues Penguins
And what they can do to fix it
TAMPA, Fla. — After most games, Tanner Pearson will sneak a peek at his stats, wondering how many shots he attempted and how many went on goal. Lately, the results haven’t been pretty. Pearson has just 11 shots on goal over his past 10 games and no goals in that stretch. Furthermore, he has just 22 shot attempts (all situations) and one assist over his past 10, and the results seem to be getting worse.
“Over the last three games [before Thursday], I think I had two attempts and one on net,” Pearson said, nailing his exact numbers. “That’s not going to cut it.”
No, it’s most certainly not, especially considering Pearson hasn’t attempted a shot in three of the Penguins’ past five games and has enjoyed a total of zero scoring chances — again, all situations — in that same period.
“I think he has to bring a little bit more urgency to his game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Pearson. “He has to be harder on pucks. He’s got to hang on to pucks in the offensive zone. He’s got to go to the net when we have possession.”
But the good news, at least — if you want to call it that — is that Pearson’s hardly alone. Four of the Penguins’ eight wingers right now need a jump-start.
Here’s a look at the others who are scuffling a bit at the moment:
• Since returning from a concussion — his fifth since November 2014 — Patric Hornqvist doesn’t have a point in the past seven games.
That’s his longest run of zeros since an 11-game stretch in 2011-12 and similar to a couple of dry spells he had in 2015-16 — an assist in nine games to start, no points in 11 of 12 later in the year.
We’ll get to actual solutions here in a bit, but it goes without saying the Penguins need more from Hornqvist … and typically they’ve gotten it.
Despite the dry spells, we’re talking about a player who has averaged 25 goals and 49 points in the eight NHL seasons in which he has played the majority of games.
“The puck isn’t going in for me right now,” Hornqvist said. “Everyone goes through these stretches. You just have to stick with it.
“That’s the reason why you’re playing here, and you’ve been scoring goals before. You just have to stick with it and not get frustrated. It’s hard.”
Few players this side of Bryan Rust are as streaky as Hornqvist, and it’s likely he’s only a fortuitous bounce away from getting hot.
“If one can go in the net,” Sullivan said, “they tend to come in bunches for him.”
• Although he has gone three consecutive games without a point, Phil Kessel has produced offense most nights. The problem has been shots on goal; Kessel isn’t getting nearly enough of them.
Despite possessing one of the league’s most lethal shots, Kessel, for whatever reason, has decided against using it. He currently is on pace for 210 shots on goal, which would be his lowest season total since his rookie year (2006-07).
Kessel, to his credit, has a shooting percentage of .152, but he’s simply not getting enough on net, with just a single shot on goal in seven of his past 10.
The issue of not shooting enough, though, is hardly confined to one player.
Sullivan said the Penguins video session Friday morning consisted almost entirely of drilling home a simple point: Shoot the puck already, would you?
Such passivity has been an especially large issue on the power play, where the Penguins are 1 for their past 18.
“As I said to the guys [Friday] morning, we’re trying to pass it in the net,” Sullivan said.
“I think we have to shoot it in the net. If it doesn’t go in, at least it gives us a chance to bang a rebound in.”
• While Pearson has gone cold lately, he did produce eight goals in the 25 games before this current slide. A larger problem has been Dominik Simon’s lack of production.
In his past 31 games, Simon has just three goals and 11 points despite seeing plenty of time in the top six.
And while someone such as Rust — who has been one of the best forwards lately — can add value on a variety of lines, Simon has rarely given the Penguins much when deployed as one of the bottom six.
OK, so now what?
Besides shooting more, there are a couple of things the Penguins can do.
One, put Hornqvist back with Crosby and see if that works. There’s certainly a history of Jake Guentzel, Crosby and Hornqvist being very good together, most recently in the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Second, shift Nick Bjugstad back to center, at least until Malkin returns. That was the original plan, before it was suddenly scrapped after the 4-0 loss Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Matt Cullen can do a lot of things to help the Penguins, but he looked overmatched Thursday as their second-line center between Kessel and Rust, forcing Sullivan to go a couple of different directions in the third period.
Bjugstad and Kessel actually had some chemistry together, and it might not be the worst thing to see if Pearson can fit into that dynamic. Deploying Pearson on your fourth line is ... well, less than ideal.
That would put Rust on a blue-collar third line with Jared McCann and Simon, which may not be the worst thing, either.
Simon could play his natural side. Rust, too. All three can skate, Simon excels at finding guys in tight areas, and Rust can use his speed and tenacity to slip into those tiny creases.
There’s no guarantee any of that will happen, of course. The Penguins didn’t do line rushes at practice Friday, and it could change at the drop of a hat anyway.
But at this point, the Penguins have far too many passengers up front.
They need to find a way to get those guys going.