Tim Benz: Sharper goaltending would help, but Penguins' pattern of blown leads goes well beyond that

After the Pittsburgh Penguins’ latest loss, a 6-3 defeat in Buffalo on Wednesday night, head coach Mike Sullivan tamped down any suggestion that second-string goalie Casey DeSmith was to blame.

As he should have.

“I thought Casey competed hard for us tonight,” Sullivan insisted. “I thought the goals they got were pretty good looks. … I just think we have to be better as a team.”

Agreed.

Granted DeSmith allowed four of the six goals before a pair of empty netters, to blow a 3-1 third period lead.

But what’s going wrong with the Penguins is well beyond the backup goaltender.

Or starter Tristan Jarry having a bad night Tuesday when the Pens lost to the Boston Bruins 6-5 in overtime after holding a 5-2 lead in the second period.

No, the problems with the Penguins are not restricted to the six foot-by-eight-foot patch of blue paint. These are 200-foot, 20-man roster, entire coaching staff, 60-minute kind of problems.

The Penguins have become a “Seinfeld” bit on skates. “They know how to take the lead. They just don’t know how to hold the lead. And that’s really the most important part of the lead. The holding.”

The Penguins are now 4-5-2, good for just 10 points. That’s the second lowest point total in the Metropolitan Division and the third lowest in the Eastern Conference.

At some point in five of their seven losses, the Penguins had a lead. All five of those blown leads occurred in the final 30 minutes of the game. Four of them were multi-goal leads. Three of them were multi-goal leads in the third period.

“We haven’t done a good enough job of either getting the next one to build on the lead, or keeping them off the board,” captain Sidney Crosby said after the defeat in Buffalo. “It’s been different things.”

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That essentially speaks to the schism of opinions expressed from the Penguins locker room after the loss to the Bruins. Defenseman Marcus Pettersson said that Pens were back on their “heels” too much in the defeat. Sullivan disagreed saying that the team was still playing on its “toes.”

To me, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that very soon Sullivan uses his whole foot to kick the Penguins in their collective backside and get this team committed to playing the right way with the lead.

Because at this point, the mounting losses are starting to become scary. After all, this is an aging team. It may not have a springtime surge to climb out of the big hole it is digging for itself in early fall.

“You never want to go through a stretch like this,” winger Jake Guentzel said. “We have the leadership to get out of it. We have to go game-by-game now to make sure we get back strong.”

Last night, look no further than some of the Penguins star players. At least Guentzel had a third-period goal off an assist from Kris Letang. But Guentzel, Crosby and Rust were all a minus-4. Crosby and Rust had no points. Letang was a minus-3 with the one assist.

“We have got to find a way to get some swagger back in our game,” Sullivan said. “We have to make sure that we reset our mindset and figure out what we can from this one. This one stings, but we have to figure out what to take from it and become a better team.”

In theory, an opportunity for that to happen rolls around Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena. The second-year Seattle Kraken franchise comes to town at a pedestrian 5-4-2. But they are 3-1-1 on the road and have already beaten the Penguins this season by a score of 3-1.

In comeback fashion. Go figure.

With seven road games looming between now and Nov. 20, the Penguins would best be served to find that “swagger” as soon as possible.

And everyone involved would be best served figuring out reasons for their late-game collapses beyond the goaltending.