3 takeaways: Improved penalty kill rendered irrelevant as Penguins' losing streak reaches 7

Three takeaways from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 loss to Seattle Saturday evening:

Worst skid since 2006

Failing to come away with a win Saturday night against the Kraken put the Penguins in less-than-ideal company as far as the franchise’s longest losing streaks in recent memory are concerned.

By allowing the game-winning goal with less than four minutes in regulation to Seattle’s Brandon Tanev, their current skid has now increased to seven games.

Not since early 2006, during the back half of Sidney Crosby’s rookie season, have the Penguins lost that many games in a row.

Those Penguins dropped seven straight between Jan. 26 and Feb. 8, 2006, in a year that also featured a nine- and 10-game losing streak.

It’s now been a full two weeks since the Penguins (4-6-2) managed to come away with a victory. During that span, the Penguins have accrued just one measly point via an overtime loss to Boston on Nov. 1, a game in which they blew a 5-2 third-period lead.

“It’s tough. It’s difficult,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “Right now, it’s a tough track. You look at the game as a whole, we did a lot of good things, but we’re making a few mistakes and when you’re losing, that’s magnified more.

“That’s the situation we’re in and we’ve just got to try to build off it, continue to play good hockey and trust that we’ll get rewarded.”

Penalty kill improves

For just the third time through 12 games played on the year, the Penguins did not allow a power-play goal to the opposition.

All three power-play tries by the Kraken, a team whose unit ranked sixth in the NHL (27.9%) heading into Saturday evening, were unsuccessful.

That said, the Kraken missed out on a power-play goal by mere seconds Saturday.

With only a few moments left on a man-advantage in the second period, the Kraken began a final rush through the neutral zone just as Crosby finished his time in the penalty box for interference.

From the offensive boards, Seattle’s Morgan Geekie attempted a centering pass to the slot for Tanev, who was unable to take control of the puck. Instead, it fortuitously ricocheted off Tanev squarely into the orbit of Yanni Gourde, who was breaking towards the net.

Gourde, in the right place at the right time, had to do little but redirect the puck, which he deposited over the right shoulder of Tristan Jarry to give the Kraken a 2-1 lead.

While Gourde’s goal came as the Penguins were recalibrating in the defense zone as Crosby rejoined the action, to be precise, it was an even-strength score.

However a moot point it is, given the end result, the Penguins’ penalty kill went a perfect 3 of 3 on the night.

“I thought they did a real good job tonight,” Sullivan said of his team’s penalty kill. “(Seattle) had limited zone time. I thought we did a good job (of) making the zone entries difficult and we were active down the ice. They score right as one (penalty) expires. I guess you could consider it a 5 on 5 goal. It was a little bit of a broken play. But I thought overall it was much better.”

Bryan Rust, who, in the absence of key penalty killer Teddy Blueger has been thrust into a prominent role within that unit, concurred.

“I thought the PK was good,” he said. “I thought we were pressuring, limiting their chances. I thought it was better.”

Lineup changes

Already, through just over one month of the season, the Penguins have used their fair share of different lineup combinations among forwards.

That originally was done out of necessity, with past injuries to Jake Guentzel and Jason Zucker, along with the current undisclosed injury sidelining Jeff Carter, making such switcharoos necessary.

But now, with the Penguins’ inability to emerge from this current seven-game funk, Sullivan indicated after Saturday’s loss that future tweaks to the lineup may be of a more strategic nature.

“We’re trying to figure out what we can do as a coaching staff to try to get a spark here,” he said. “Moving people around throughout the course of a game is part of that.”

More so than any of his teammates, Danton Heinen has exemplified the Penguins’ need and willingness to change lineups.

Skating as the right wing on the fourth line Saturday along with Sam Poulin and Drew O’Conner, Heinen is now the only Penguin to have played with every line in at least one game.

Starting off the year as the left wing on Carter’s third line, Sullivan bumped Heinen up to Crosby’s first line, filling in for when Guentzel was unavailable for a handful of games at the end of October.

On Oct. 28, in the Penguins’ loss in Vancouver, Heinen played the game on the second line to the left of Evgeni Malkin, taking Zucker’s usual spot while Carter converted to a right winger for the night.

Unfortunately for Heinen, the fluctuation of his nightly on-ice partners has not sparked a resurgence of offensive output.

After recording six points (three goals, three assists) through his first five games, Heinen has been blanked in those departments over the last seven games, encompassing the entirety of the Penguins’ losing streak.

Heinen logged 13:46 of ice time Saturday, recording three hits and a shot on goal in the loss.