PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Even though the Pens lost five of six before an overtime victory over Montreal Saturday there is hope. Maybe has hopeful as it's been all season as the season resumes on Tuesday.
It's not even as much as what the Pens have done, but what some other teams haven't. Flying through the first half of the season, Philadelphia has lost five straight. The Islanders already fired its coach and have won two of its last 10. The Devils are 3-7 in the last 10 games and the Capitals, who spent most of the season ahead of the Pens are now tied with them and the -31 goal differential is starting to show more in their results. Even the Rangers are 4-6 over the last 10 games and their secure hold on first place is now only a two-point lead over the Hurricanes.
Even in the losses, signs of better play. It's not to excuse the blown game at Vegas or the lousy effort at Arizona, but points in 10 of the last 14 games.
· Evgeni Malkin has points in his last five games, even a huge goal against Florida on Friday
· Third-line center Lars Eller is somehow a plus two and has goals in two of the last three games
· The streaky Rickard Rakell has multi-point games in two of his last five
· Defenseman Erik Karlsson had a 10-game point streak broken against Montreal
The Pens are also likely to add forward Reilly Smith back from injury after the All-Star Break and they signed former first-round pick forward Jesse Puljujarvi. While Smith hasn't been what they hoped (8 goals, 12 assists in 40 games) after the June trade with Las Vegas, he's like getting a trade addition now. The 32-year-old had 26 goals last season, if he can tap into some of that, the Pens will only improve.
Puljujarvi, who started in practice on Sunday on the third line, had nine points (four goals) in 13 games after signing a professional tryout in December. Last year the 6'4" winger split time between Edmonton and Carolina with 16 points in 75 games.
The schedule when play resumes Tuesday is promising with the Pens playing only three teams in the top three in their division and that includes the struggling Flyers. The Pens resume with a near home-and-home with third-place Winnipeg with a game at Minnesota in-between. The Pens are at home against Florida before a solo road game at last-place Chicago. Then a four-game homestand-Kings, Islanders, Canadiens and Flyers.
Having played the fewest games in the Metropolitan Division, the Pens are currently in fifth place, a point behind the Islanders and five behind Philadelphia for third. Philly has played four more games than the Pens.
How far this team will go will be decided by the power play. The Panthers exploited it on Friday by taking liberties with Kris Letang without fearing any consequence. The Pens are 31st in the NHL hitting at an embarrassing 13.1%. They are on the edge of the playoffs with that ridiculously bad number. If they can just get to middle-of-the-pack.
You would hope Pens brass are meeting and making, or at least considering, tough decisions regarding personnel on special teams. They have better overall goaltending from last season, they are deeper in the bottom six. Sidney Crosby is scoring at a pace he hasn't since 2016-17.
Even with the rollercoaster of this season and the failure of the power play, they still have it in front of them. Getting into the playoffs is very attainable and given what we've seen from the Eastern Conference, aside from the Bruins, no team is unbeatable, even in a series.
A rocky 3-7 October, a stretch of losing seven of nine, this Pens team is not done yet.
"This team, it takes everything they have to pull out wins," Pens Stanley Cup champion Tyler Kennedy said on the Fan Morning Show. "They are digging in. They are learning how to win, slowly. When you look at how they started as to how they are now. They are a lot better team."
"If you get them in the first round, they might upset someone because they are playing that playoff, dawg hockey that you need to play to get those wins in the playoffs."
