Wednesday's Penguins Report

The Penguins head into the All-Star break looking for answers as they sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference Standings. Tuesday night the Penguins had the opportunity to go into the break winning four of five when they faced off against the Carolina Hurricanes but the Penguins were not able to take advantage of playing at home and the Hurricanes playing the night before.

The Penguins jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period with Evgeni Malkin scoring his 19th goal of the season but the Penguins couldn’t solve Cam Ward after that. Ward made 32 saves and the Penguins were outshot 40-33 as they lost to the Hurricanes 2-1 Tuesday night at Mellon Arena.

The Hurricanes (23-20-5) jumped ahead of the Penguins by one point in the standings and Tuesday’s loss was a tough loss to take for a team who thought they were about to turn the corner.

Michel Therrien’s Post-Game Comments: "That's a game that I thought we were going to win," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "I thought we were prepared, I thought we played well in the first period, we had chances."Cam Ward was outstanding and he kept their team in the game."

Power Play Comes up short: Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason was assessed a double-minor at 15:45 of the third period, and the Penguins had a prime opportunity to send the game to overtime. The Penguins had a slew of scoring chances and Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward shut the door. The Penguins special teams have been an major disappointment this season. Through 48 games the Penguins power play is only connecting at 16.8%. The Penalty kill isn’t much better at 79.5%.

The past couple games the Penguins have altered their set up with Evgeni Malkin playing on the left side and in the middle for the majority of the time. Malkin did score a power play goal against the Hurricanes but Crosby should be working off of the left side with Malkin on the right side. Sergei Gonchar is deeply missed on the power play but the absence of Gonchar is no excuse for the Penguins struggles. A team with Sidney Crosby, Evgnei Malkin, Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney should not be struggling like the Penguins are.

Major Need: Physical presence in front of the net; Right handed shot down low

All-Star Break Report: What to look for via trades, personnel, ect