After the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the New York Rangers 6-0 on Saturday, Mike Sullivan had a fervent defense of Jeff Carter and Brian Dumoulin — essentially deflecting media criticism of those two players and their struggles.

“(Media) like to pick on certain guys,” Sullivan said. “You like to go to them all the time. We respectfully disagree with you on a lot of circumstances. When goals are scored, we look at a lot of the details on the hows and the whys. The reality is it’s more than one person for the most part when goals end up in the back of your net. Those are easy guys to pick on. What I will tell you is (that) all year long, we’ve put them in difficult circumstances. Those guys play against top players in defensive situations all the time… It’s a team game out there. There’s six guys on the ice, and it’s all of those guys’ responsibility to execute.”

The coach also continued to stick up for goalie Tristan Jarry by saying it’s still up to the Penguins coaches to “work with him to get him to his best game” after his mid-season injuries. Jarry played just three times between Dec. 30 and Feb. 20.

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OK, so if it’s not Jarry, Carter or Dumoulin, then what’s going wrong? Who else is at fault? Why have the Penguins lost three in a row? Why are they just 34-35 (not separating overtime results) on the season? How are they in such danger of losing their hold on the Eastern Conference’s last playoff spot?

Is Sullivan partially to blame? During this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLIVE said that’s absolutely the case.

“Part of this is on Sullivan, too. He has them playing an unrealistic style for what they have,” Madden said.

Madden pointed to a turnover during a penalty kill by Dumoulin that resulted in a goal for the Rangers just before the end of the first period as an example of players looking bad based on the style of game Sullivan wants them to play.

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 19, 2023

“(Dumoulin) could’ve just rifled the puck down the rink. But he was trying to make a pass with 12 or 13 seconds left. It turned over, and it went in the net,” Madden said. “Well, he’s making that pass because they want him to. They always want everything to be about some sort of execution instead of just getting it the (heck) out of the zone. So, while Dumoulin needs to be better there, that’s what they want him to do. For sure it is.”

Madden says it is time for Sullivan to adapt and understand that this Penguins team is no longer built like the clubs that won Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.

“He is too dug in with who is going to play and in what role. And he is too dug in with the way they play. The latter may be more damaging,” Madden continued. “You have to accept what you’ve got and play differently. And they are just not going to do that. The Penguins like to pound their chest and say, ‘This is who we are! This is how we play!’ Well, yeah, it just got you beat 6-0 in New York. Way to go.”

Also, in the podcast, Madden has a rough assessment of Jarry’s performance. We look at the Penguins’ shaky playoff chances. We analyze NFL free agency for the Steelers so far. And we get into Pitt’s elimination from the NCAA Tournament.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden discuss the Penguins’ recent games and playoff chances

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