The Pittsburgh Penguins were ran out of the building from the opening seconds in a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena.

“We weren’t good today,” head coach Dan Muse said of the loss.

Carolina overwhelmed Pittsburgh from start to finish with speed and back pressure in all three zones and aside from a few moments from Bryan Rust, one of a few Penguins who came to play, Pittsburgh lacked a response in the loss. Carolina went 3-for-3 on the power play and is cruising to a Metropolitan Division crown and possible home-ice throughout the first three rounds.

“I don’t think there’s anything we have that I’m going to look at and think we did very well. I think all parts of our game were off,” said Muse.

Later in action the New York Islanders got a massive 1-0 shutout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. 12 Games to go and everything is setting up for the Pittsburgh Penguins to go right down to the wire. Pittsburgh, Columbus and New York are separated by one point with the Penguins/Blue Jackets having a game in hand on the Isles. The Good— Pittsburgh has multiple avenues to make the postseason; 2nd or 3rd in Metro or one of the wildcard spots. —

The Bad:

The Penguins enter another gauntlet week vs Colorado, Ottawa and Dallas. It’s a big week for Dan Muse from a matchup standpoint. He’s pushed nearly every right button this season for a club that’s shown great resiliency at every turn but he’s having some rookie head coach moments with some of the situational matchups. Have to find ways to get the likes of Ben Kindel/Anthony Mantha in more offensive situations and even little things like late in the first period of Sunday’s game vs Carolina, Pittsburgh is hanging on for dear life to get to the end of the period down one and Pittsburgh opts to have Evgeni Malkin and Ryan Graves on the ice in the final minute and it almost kills them. The first couple shifts for 71 and you could tell he didn’t have it vs Carolina.

However, if there’s one major Achilles heel with this club that is likely to dictate whether Pittsburgh nabs a postseason berth or not is the goaltending.

Pittsburgh’s ability to put the puck in the net has underscored that the Penguins through 70 games have a team save percentage of .895 and that’s a number inflated by Tristan Jarry’s .909 SV% prior to being traded.

TeamTeam SV%
New York Islanders .907 SV%
Boston Bruins .902 SV%
Detroit Red Wings .901 SV%
Columbus Blue Jackets .900 SV%
Pittsburgh Penguins .895 SV%

Ilya Sorokin with a .913 SV% can win a series single handily and leads NHL with seven shutouts. ……..CBJ #1 starter Jet Greaves is boasting a 2.58 GAA and .910 SV% on the season…….Boston’s Jeremy Swayman same boat as Sorokin, a goaltender you don’t want to face and has regained his Vezina form at the right time and is red-hot this month with a 6-1-1 record and .934 SV%……..The Detroit Red Wings are extremely fragile team in the playoff race, yet, also have a significant edge in goal down the stretch over the Penguins. Veteran John Gibson 26-16-3 with a 2.58 GAA and .907 SV% on the season. Since the Olympic break Gibson has a .921 SV%, yet, the Red Wings have lost six of his 11 starts since the break……..

Arturs Silovs has an .894 SV% on the season, Stuart Skinner is at .887 SV% in 20 games with Pittsburgh. Silovs was atrocious in the win vs the Jets and is boasting an .867 SV% in month of March. Silovs has allowed four goals or more in four of his last five starts…..Meanwhile, Skinner is at .882 in six starts this month. Aside from the few Tristan Jarry moments earlier this season where Dan Muse operated like he had a #1 netminder in dishing out consecutive starts, the Penguins have believed in their philosophy that alternating goaltenders is the best route for this personnel group and is going to be strongly on the table if they make the postseason. It’s going to be a hotly debated subject whether Pittsburgh gets in or not as the lack of a true #1 looms large. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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