Playoffs No Cinch for Sagging Penguins

As I watched bits and pieces of the Penguins’ recent 4-0 loss to Carolina from my perch at the Wright’s Gym front desk, a disturbing thought occurred to me. While the young, hungry Hurricanes resembled the black-and-gold squads that blazed to back-to-back Stanley Cups, our punchless Pens looked a lot like GM Jim Rutherford’s old Carolina teams. Ones that routinely missed the playoffs.

Indeed, with our collective game in another stall (3-6-1 in our last 10 games), there’s a fair chance our guys will be breaking out their golf clubs come April instead of chasing the Stanley Cup.

Hard to imagine a battle-tested team boasting an elite core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Kris Letang might wind up on the outside looking in. But there are a number of disturbing trends that’ve continued almost unabated through this roller coaster of a season. I’ll try to address some of them.

Go Play in Traffic

There’s no denying the Pens possess plenty of skill. In addition to the aforementioned stars, second-tier guys like Patric Hornqvist and newcomers Nick Bjugstad and Tanner Pearson have 20-goal seasons on their resume.

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