Madden Monday: Penguins still need to figure out how to put together their 'puzzle pieces'

You had to love the irony surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins giveaway for fans attending Sunday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It was a puzzle. Yes, a 500-piece “Paint the Ice” puzzle kit.

Based on head coach Mike Sullivan’s “our roster is our roster” comment from last week, the metaphor had to resonate with general manager Ron Hextall.

There are plenty of puzzle pieces that need to be moved around for this team before the trade deadline. But, given the franchise’s salary cap constraints, there aren’t very many places to move them.

For one night, though, all the pieces did manage to fall into place against the Lightning, as the Penguins trounced their Eastern Conference rival 7-3. It was almost a 180-degree turnaround from the atrocious 7-2 performance we witnessed from the Penguins against the Edmonton Oilers last week.

In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLIVE and 105.9 The X said this kind of performance is exactly what the doctor ordered for these Penguins.

“A lot of it is cumulative,” Madden said. “You generate opportunities. You didn’t have much luck in St. Louis (three goals on 48 shots during a 3-2 win) Saturday. You get a lot of luck against Tampa Bay. So I think the seven goals were well earned.”

Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin scored his first goal of the year. The club also managed to get three goals from the struggling bottom-six forwards. Drew O’Connor, Teddy Blueger and Jeff Carter all scored.

A textbook tip in front from Drew O'Connor gets the @penguins on the board first! pic.twitter.com/J9rgH438tD

— NHL (@NHL) February 26, 2023

Coach Sullivan on Blueger's scoring slump before tonight: "Confidence is such a big part of sports... Confidence comes and goes - it's fleeting. The good news is, you can get it back as fast as you lose it. It starts with a good play and you can build."

We're building, folks! pic.twitter.com/2qnIrdlsAk

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 27, 2023

BIG JEFF CARTER GIVES PITTSBURGH THE BIG 5-2 LEAD! pic.twitter.com/bjwGfa2Mfw

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 27, 2023

That was just Carter’s second goal since Jan. 8. O’Connor’s last goal was Jan. 24. Blueger hadn’t scored since Dec. 6.

“It’s good to see them get goals. But does it lead to a lot bigger and better? Does this mean the bottom six has solved their problems? No. It hardly means that,” Madden said of the third- and fourth-line forwards.

What does this mean for Hextall then and his approach to the trade deadline? After it looked like the Penguins were dead following that loss to Edmonton, they’ve now won two in a row. Will the GM be more aggressive before Friday’s trade deadline, now that it appears the players have stopped the bleeding following a four-game losing streak?

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“I’d have to know what he was thinking at any point during his tenure as Penguins GM to answer,” Madden quipped.

Aside from the Penguins, Madden and I discussed many NHL topics league wide. We got into the state of the Eastern Conference as the trade deadline approaches, the looming RSN problems and some interesting comments from Marc-Andre Fleury. We also investigated some NFL rules change ideas and Madden’s review of “Cocaine Bear.”

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk Penguins and NFL