Penguins losing streak hearkens back to franchise's darker days

When they face the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have a chance to end the losing streak they’ve been mired in since Oct. 24.

Failing to stop the six-game skid will put them in the same territory as the worst team to take the ice during the Sidney Crosby era.

The Penguins’ last seven-game losing streak came during Crosby’s rookie season in 2005-06. Those Penguins went 22-46-14 and finished dead last in the Eastern Conference.

Featuring an 18-year-old Crosby, the Penguins dropped their first nine games of the year, suffered a 10-game losing streak shortly after the calendar flipped to 2006, and then, after snapping that skid with a lone win against Washington in late January, proceeded to lose another seven consecutive games.

Drawing further parallels between that year’s team and the 2022-23 Penguins would be a useless exercise.

But the Penguins’ current rough stretch is worth putting into context.

For the players trying to earn a tally in the win column, keeping eyes away from the rearview mirror is necessary.

“I think you have to realize the situation you’re in, but then you’ve got to put it to the side,” forward Danton Heinen said. “You learn from it, put it behind you and then, when that next game starts or that next shift starts or whatever it is, you’ve got to stay in that moment and worry about that.”

That’s not to say the Penguins are indifferent to their ongoing struggles.

With an average player age of just over 30, per Cap Friendly, the Penguins are the oldest team in the NHL.

The majority of the team’s players have been around the block when it comes to winning and losing. But for seasoned veterans such as Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and others with multiple campaigns in the NHL under their belts, losing still comes with the same sting.

“It’s not an easy experience to go through a stretch of games where you don’t get the result like we have here over the last couple of weeks,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “This is a proud group. They’re all totally invested in trying to help our team win hockey games, and when it doesn’t go that way, they’re also human beings.

“There’s that human element that is always a part of it, and that doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced group or you’re not.”

As far as running diagnostics is concerned, Sullivan and his assistants have had no shortage of defective areas to examine.

Netminders Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith have been far from flawless, with the Penguins surrendering at least five goals in four of the six games of the losing streak.

On the other side of that coin, one could easily point to a lack of offense (three goals in three games) to close out the month of October against Calgary, Vancouver and Seattle.

Or how about the Penguins’ inability to hold leads, particularly late in games?

Looking back to the start of this losing streak, the Penguins allowed five unanswered goals to Edmonton on Oct. 24, three straight goals to both the Canucks and Kraken on Oct. 28 and 29, blew a 5-2 third-period lead to Boston on Tuesday and allowed Buffalo to score five goals in a row in a 6-3 loss to the Sabres on Wednesday.

The effectiveness of the Penguins’ goaltending and potency of their offense has varied over the last 10 days. Much to the chagrin of players and coaches, the lackluster performance of the Penguins’ penalty killing has not been subject to fluctuation.

The Penguins have surrendered power-play goals to the opposition in nine of 11 games played. At 71.1%, the Penguins’ penalty kill ranks 28th out of 32 clubs.

Winger Teddy Blueger has not debuted yet this season, having battled an undisclosed injury since late September, which ultimately landed him on long term injured reserve (retroactive to Oct. 11). He has been a fixture on the Penguins’ penalty kill for multiple seasons now.

His absence undoubtedly has played a part in that unit’s struggles, with Blueger having a reputation as the team’s premiere penalty killer.

Unfortunately for his teammates, Blueger said he hasn’t gleaned anything enlightening about how to shore things up on the penalty kill.

“Obviously, it looks pretty easy from the stands, but I know it’s definitely not like that on the ice,” Blueger said. “It’s hard, and I think that we’ve been battling. There’s ups and downs over the course of the year, and I think we’ve played some good hockey. We’ve got to change the tide, obviously, here, but as far as tips or what I’m seeing, nothing really.”

The last time the Penguins and Kraken met, on Oct. 29, Seattle came away with a 3-1 victory.

The Kraken boast the fifth-best power-play in the NHL, with a 27.9% success rate.

At the end of the day, the Penguins have no choice but to march onward, playing one game at a time and doing whatever they can to rediscover what propelled them to a 4-0-1 start.

“We just need to make sure that we can control what we can,” Sullivan said. “That starts with a certain mindset, a certain attitude going into every day, that we’re going to bring a certain level of energy and enthusiasm that’s going to give us the best chance to have success.”