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01/14 23:49 CST 'It's not good enough.' Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the
Penguins are floundering at midseason
'It's not good enough.' Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins are
floundering at midseason
By WILL GRAVES
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) --- Sitting in a quiet dressing room on Tuesday night after
another blown lead turned into another crippling loss in a season increasingly
filled with them, Evgeni Malkin spoke quietly.
The Pittsburgh Penguins star has long served as the franchise's emotional core,
the Russian's passion serving as the yin to longtime captain Sidney Crosby's
more reserved yang.
Malkin is well aware his historic partnership with Crosby and Kris Letang is
nearing an end. The final chapter is not going the way the longest-tenured trio
of teammates in major North American sports planned, particularly for Malkin,
whose three Stanley Cup rings were reportedly stolen during a home invasion
over the weekend.
So after two periods of dominance against Seattle morphed into a 4-2 defeat to
cap a maddening homestand in which the Penguins won just once in five tries ---
the lone victory against Connor McDavid and Edmonton --- Malkin shook his head
and gave a frank assessment of what is threatening to become another lost
season.
"It's not good enough," he said. "I hope we look in the mirror, tonight and
tomorrow and start playing better."
The All-Star break is a few weeks away, but time already feels like it's
starting to run out. The Penguins begin a seven-game, 12-day road trip on
Friday in Buffalo on the fringe of the playoff chase in the underwhelming
Eastern Conference, the prospect of missing out on the postseason for a third
straight year becoming all the more real with every defensive breakdown, every
soft goal, every missed opportunity.
"We see standings," said Malkin, who had an assist in his return from a
four-game absence due to an upper-body injury. "I think we understand we miss
playoffs and it's half-season gone. We understand everything. (If) we want to
play playoffs, we need to play so much better, every zone, every moment."
Yet that kind of consistency has been elusive for most of the season save for a
promising stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas in which Pittsburgh clawed
back into contention following a nightmarish opening six weeks.
The optimism, however, has dimmed since the holiday break. Pittsburgh is just
2-5-3 over its last 10 to fall back under .500 after letting Seattle's Jamie
Oleksiak and Eeli Tolvanen score 49 seconds apart in the third period to turn a
2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Both goals highlighted the Penguins' erratic play in the defensive end.
Oleksiak came onto the ice on a line change, took the puck at the top of the
Pittsburgh zone and skated unchallenged down the slot before beating Tristan
Jarry.
Moments later, Tolvanen stood alone in front of the net to tap in a centering
pass from Shane White to put the Kraken in front.
"It's really frustrating," defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. "We're giving
away points. We have nobody to blame but ourselves."
It's not that the Penguins can't defend. They held Tampa Bay to two shots in
the first period on Sunday. They did the same to the Kraken just over 48 hours
later. Both times, the opponents skated off with the win after breakdowns at
critical times.
"If I had the answer I'd fix it," said Mike Sullivan, the NHL's second-longest
tenured coach. "We simply have to do a better job (in our end) and that falls
on me."
Malkin isn't sure he agrees. The Penguins were a playoff fixture during his
first 16 seasons in the league and he has raised the Stanley Cup three times.
During that era, a certain standard was set. Pittsburgh hasn't lived up to it
for quite a while.
"I think everybody understands what's going on," he said. "We have nice
organization. We have great history."
All NHL dynasties end, though general manager Kyle Dubas said before the season
began that he didn't think the Penguins needed to strip the franchise down "to
the studs" to rebuild. He has injected some much-needed youth onto the roster,
including trading for Philip Tomasino, who scored his fifth goal on Tuesday.
Yet every step forward has been met with a step back. Goaltenders Jarry and
Alex Nedeljkovic have shown a propensity to give up early goals. They've
allowed opponents to score on their first shot nine times in 46 games, forcing
Pittsburgh to play catchup too frequently.
While Crosby in particular remains a marvel --- he's on pace to average a point
a game for what would be a record 20th straight season --- the Penguins don't
have the firepower that once came so easily. Their margin for error is smaller
and they remain one of the league's oldest teams.
Spending the next two weeks crisscrossing North America could give them a
chance to steal away and hit the reset button. Or it could drop them into a
hole so deep they could be essentially out of it by Groundhog Day. It could go
either way. No one knows that more than Malkin.
"We need to play so much harder," Malkin said.
And do it quickly.
___
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