Tim Benz: Penguins' tailspin provides familiar look at an unfamiliar time of year

Watching the Pittsburgh Penguins in March this year has been like watching the Pirates in August most years.

They are bad. They are out of it. And they are playing like they know it.

What’s next at PPG Paints Arena? It’s probably too dangerous to shoot off Zambelli fireworks displays inside. So, how are the Pens going to keep fans entertained during these blowout losses?

The second-intermission stretch? On-ice pierogi races? Pup at PPG Paints nights every Tuesday?

Since Feb. 29, the Pens are 1-6. Their three most recent losses have all occurred since word came out Thursday afternoon that the franchise was trading Jake Guentzel to Carolina. The results were a 6-0 shutout loss at home that night to Washington, a 5-1 defeat in Boston on Saturday and a 4-0 shutout to Edmonton.

Who is going to be in goal on Tuesday at Ottawa? Kip Wells or Josh Fogg?

Particularly vexing of late has been the Penguins’ inability to put the puck in the net. As if being outscored 15-1 over their last three games wasn’t bad enough, consider that the Pens have managed just that one measly score on 119 shots on goal during that time.

“The quality looks that we’re getting, those are the ones where you’d like to believe that we’re going to finish,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve had some two-on-ones. We’ve had some odd man rushes, some odd man looks on the powerplay. For example, on the powerplay in Boston, we had a four-on-one look at the net front and we didn’t convert. Those are pretty high-quality opportunities. You’d like to believe that those will start going for us.”

Indeed. You’d like to think so. We’ve all been anticipating a change in fortune in that regard for some time now.

Forward Reilly Smith offered an explanation as to why the results haven’t changed.

“We’re getting a lot of shots. We’re not putting them in the back of the net. Part of that is probably confidence,” he said.

Sure. At this point, who on the ice for the Penguins has any reason to be confident about anything? That trickles back to the goalies too.

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Since that wild 7-6 win over Philadelphia on Feb. 25, the collective save percentage for Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic is just .858 and the team’s goals against average is 4.33.

“Collectively, as a team, I don’t think we’ve played very well,” Jarry said. “I think we’ve been giving up a lot of chances, and, obviously, the puck hasn’t been going in for us. So I think it puts a cloud over a lot of guys.

“It’s tough when things are going this way, and when the puck’s not going in, and we’re giving up a lot of chances. I think that’s just a microcosm of our game and in total.”

The low-hanging fruit is to explain away the Penguins’ awful play of late by saying that they are just bummed out over the trade of Guentzel; that the trade is an acknowledgment the season is over. So why keep killing themselves as if they are playing for a wild-card spot?

OK. But they don’t have to be this bad.

Also, let’s remember the six goals allowed to Philly, the blown two-goal lead in Calgary, and that atrocious 6-1 loss in Edmonton all happened in advance of the trade deadline, not after it.

In fact, it was efforts like those all year that resulted in Guentzel being dealt in the first place. Therefore, it’s a little hard to put forth an excuse of an emotionally deflated dressing room as an acceptable reason for the organization’s recent collapse.

“I think we just have to work our way out of this as a team,” Smith said. “I think that’s the only way you’re going to do it. We’re getting good opportunities. But we’re not getting good second opportunities. At the same time, we’re giving up too many Grade-A chances at our end.”

Smith is right. At 8.7%, the Penguins rank 30th in shooting percentage. For a team that has boasted allegedly skilled stars such as Guentzel, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson all year, that number is embarrassing.

Meanwhile, when it comes to the percentage of high-danger scoring chances allowed that are resulting in goals, the Pens are eighth worst in the league at 10.8%.

Somebody better teach Oliver Onion and company how to skate.

Listen: This week’s hockey podcast with Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network analyzes the Penguins’ March swoon, their shooting slump, and the prospects acquired for Jake Guentzel.