John Steigerwald: Penguins' rough stretch no reason to panic

The Pittsburgh Penguins stink right now.

The Washington Capitals might be worse.

You’ve probably noticed how things have been going for the Penguins lately. They lost their sixth in a row Saturday night, 5-0 to San Jose, in a game they might as well have been playing in their bare feet.

The Penguins have dropped from first place in the Metropolitan Division 10 days ago to third, behind, of all teams, the Flyers. The panic might not be in the streets yet, but it’s sitting on the front porch.

Maybe this will calm things down: The Capitals, who are still in first place, entered Sunday having lost six of seven and seven of 10. They lost four in a row, then won two and lost at Winnipeg, 3-0, on Thursday night and to finish February with a record of 4-7-1.

The Penguins were 5-7-1 and weren’t the only team to lose to bad opponents. Washington lost at New Jersey and at Arizona.

It’s a long season. Too long, really, probably by about 20 games. Most years, even the best teams manage to have a bad streak before they get through six-and-a-half months and 82 games.

Hockey might just be a little too rough and demanding to expect teams to stay healthy and/or interested for that long.

I won’t bore you with the well-documented, ridiculous number of injuries the Penguins have had to overcome, but all teams lose players and have to adjust.

And all teams have to figure out how to get out of a funk at some point in the season.

The defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues started February by losing five in a row and six of seven. They have a three-point lead in the Central Division.

Good thing for the Penguins the New York Islanders, who are only two points behind them, have lost three in a row and seven of nine.

The Columbus Blue Jackets were moving up in the Metro after winning six in a row to finish January with a 9-2 record. Their coach, John Tortorella, was getting lots of Coach of the Year consideration.

They went 4-11 in February, and that included an eight-game losing streak.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had lost four in a row before beating Calgary on Saturday night. Speaking of panic, the Lightning also found out Saturday their captain and 29-goal scorer, Steven Stamkos, needs core muscle surgery and will be out six to eight weeks.

Like August in baseball, February is the dog-days month in hockey, especially for teams that are pretty sure they’re going to be in the playoffs.

Everything changes in March, especially for good teams that have allowed themselves to let lesser teams creep up on them. Those four-point games begin to acquire a playoff feel. Kind of like the feel of that Penguins-Capitals game last Sunday.

The Capitals had lost seven of nine before that one.

Nobody would have accused either team of looking disinterested in that 5-3 loss by the Penguins. Why would anybody be surprised a team like the Penguins would have some trouble getting up for three games out west against bad teams?

And, by the way, some of the better teams that are still chugging along might have gotten the blahs out of their systems early. The Boston Bruins are leading the league in points. They lost five in a row and eight of nine in December. From Dec. 5 to Jan. 4, they lost 11 of 15. That’s a pretty bad month. Definitely worse than the Penguins in February. Boston seems to have recovered nicely.

It’s a long season. Two and a half months to go. Calm down.

Now, if the Penguins lose to Ottawa at home Tuesday night, it might be time to get off that porch, head for the streets and do some serious panicking.