The Penguins compete level has been much improved of late and it continued in Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. That continues to be a positive sign in the Penguins keeping their head above water for now.

Tuesday night was strictly a talent loss. The Avalanche’s high-end talent with three Superstars in their prime is what the Penguins were 10-12 years ago. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen could do anything they wanted on the ice. They were just too much for the Penguins to deal with. And Mike Sullivan didn’t have his A-game coaching by any means. Amongst the issues It took him way too long to finally decide to make an attempt to get the Crosby line away from the MacKinnon/Rantanen line.

At the end of the day, it was a night where the Penguins had to get great goaltending and have a monstrous day on the power play. They got neither. Pittsburgh went 0-for-4 on the power play and managed just four shots. A classic case of the coaching staff overthinking things with these two man units. It worked one game so they tried to push it again and it went about as expected. And the issue was the Crosby unit was a mess for much of the night and better hand was the Karlsson unit, yet, Crosby’s unit kept getting the bulk of start time.

“I didn’t think it was good tonight,” said Sullivan. “We didn’t move pucks as quickly, our entries weren’t as clean……I just didn’t think our decision making or our execution was as crisp, and the pace and the tempo that we moved the puck on the power play, I thought wasn’t as good as it was the other night against Toronto.

Colorado did an excellent job on the penalty kill of making the Penguins uncomfortable on zone entries. They took great angles in the neutral zone and forcing the Penguins to the outside with nowhere to go.

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Players Buzz

Nathan MacKinnon’s unique blend of speed and power and he just barrels down the ice with the puck is such a different element and something to see in person. MacKinnon’s prowess on the ice often takes away how unique of a player Mikko Rantanen is with his size/skill dynamic as a power forward winger. This is a really special player where he projects to also age well.

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Stock Up

Michael Bunting/Cody Glass | Michael Bunting with 3 goals in his last five games has propelled himself back to that late spring level. That’s a big development for the Penguins. Behind Rust/Rakell, Bunting has to be the Penguins third best winger most nights. He’s back to being a presence inside the dots and his wall play is markedly improved from the first 4-6 weeks of the season. Cody Glass notched his first goal as a Penguin and there continues to be a belief in the Penguins organization their remains untapped offensive ability in his game. Glass has some attributes to like that I get. Speed, he’s physical at times on the forecheck, but is he always going to be a player where he should produce more than he does? He’s one of the key players moving forward the Penguins are evaluating that they could still peg to be a candidate to resign and stick around…….

Stock Down

Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin? Evgeni Malkin with 1 goal in his last 14 games just doesn’t have that explosive adrenaline rush to his game he seemed to have over the first month. Crosby with no goals in his last seven games and only two goals in his last 16, you’re also seeing how hard it is becoming for those two to put the puck in the net this season. Understandable at their age but it wasn’t a surprise to see Sullivan in the third try to put those two together for a couple shifts.

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Goaltending Decision for Thursday Night? Sullivan talked before the game that Tristan Jarry was taking steps to re-emerging as the #1. At Montreal Thursday Night, the best move would be to throw him right back out there against the Canadiens in what should be a very winnable game…………..Owen Pickering had his first rough game thus far. Let’s see how the coaches react to this one because they often make odd decisions with young players after a bad game. To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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