PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – We’re getting closer to do-or-die time with the Pens and their postseason hopes. If you think they don’t feel it too look at all of the line changes and more power play alterations as the Pens host the Islanders Tuesday night.
Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said before Sunday’s game it was the biggest game of the year, until the next game and that will be the biggest game of the year. That’s obviously an approach, but their situation is getting precarious to where it’s almost like elimination games, especially within the division or conference.
Top 3 hopes
The glass half-full in you could say the Pens have four games in hand as they trail the Flyers by 10 points for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Win all of them and you’re right there. Here is the problem with games in hand, to make that work to your advantage—you have to win. The Pens haven’t had a four-game winning streak since November when they won five straight. This team is three games under .500 and currently put a waiver claim as a winger on Evgeni Malkin’s second line.
Wild Card
Ok, so it’s a tough climb to get into the top three, there is the chance at the last two Wild Card spots. Remember when you talk Wild Card you bring in the Atlantic Division as well. The Pens are currently 10 points behind Tampa Bay in the top Wild Card spot and nine behind Detroit in the second. The Lightning have played five more games than the Pens and Detroit three more. Again, an advantage if you win those games, but also maybe an advantage for a team like Tampa to get longer breaks between games at this time of year.
If the Pens had no one else to climb, it might be more attainable, but there are several teams ahead of them besides the Lightning and Red Wings with the Pens sitting at 55 points in 52 games
· New Jersey (54 games) 60 points
· Islanders (54 games) 58 points
· Capitals (53 games) 56 points
Right behind the Pens are a couple of teams you might thing wouldn’t have a chance, but are still hanging around
· Buffalo (55 games) 52 points
· Montreal (55 games) 52 points
“It's a volatile league, and we still have a chance,” said defenseman Erik Karlsson. “We know that we're going to need to win a lot of games, and games like (Sunday), they hurt because we need those two points so badly. We just have to find that little spark. We need to find a way to score more than one or two goals per game in this league, when scoring is up.”
Since January 8, the Pens have had one game over three goals. With all of those players with huge career stats, the Pens are 28th in the NHL in goals scored. Actually five-on-five, the Pens are pretty solid it’s just the wretched power play. Currently 30th in the NHL at 13.7%. They’ve moved Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang to the second unit again and are dealing with a top unit without injured forward Jake Guentzel.
“It's one of those things where especially late in games or tight games like that where you got to find a way to score that goal or get that big play and turn things around,” said Pens captain Sidney Crosby. “But, we're right there. That's the thing. We're doing a lot of good things and we got to get over that hump."
He’s right about some of that, but every team deals with bad bounces. The difference with the Pens is they can’t take advantage of the good opportunities. The power play is a gift allowing them to use their talents to get back in games. They don’t take advantage of it. In the game Sunday, while they did score their only goal on the power play, they also gave up the game winner on a Kings short-handed goal.
Now you have opponents free to take liberties against a team that doesn’t want to fight with the desire to play a skilled game. Why should they worry about beating up Guentzel? No one but maybe Crosby, Malkin or Letang will fight back. You don’t have to worry about a power play and now Guentzel is out a month.
There are 30 games left and before you think about hopping other teams, you need to fix what is in front of you. It’s a potential four-point game against the Islanders Tuesday night.
“We're definitely in a win-now mentality that the season’s getting shorter and the games are running out,” said defenseman Ryan Graves, who was dropped to a third pair defenseman. “We need to make moves to get back in the playoffs. We have games in hand, but they don't matter if you don't win them. So, I mean, if we don't win the next two games we're not going to give up. But yeah, there’s an elevated importance on honestly, the rest of the season.”