Penguins have plenty to fix before season's 1st matchup with Rangers

It’s not often that the Pittsburgh Penguins have to wait until late February to play their Metropolitan Division rival New York Rangers. Now that they get to do so, though, they may want to wait a little longer.

After a rotten 6-1 loss to the last-place New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, the constantly up-and-down Penguins have lost three in a row, all in regulation.

The Penguins’ current slump comes immediately after a four-game winning streak out of the All-Star break. Before the break, the Penguins had lost four in a row. That slide was on the heels of a six-game win streak that dated to Jan. 15.

Mike Sullivan says there’s a correlation between poor puck-management decisions and losing performances in those recent outings.

“We beat ourselves in a lot of ways. I don’t think it is from a lack of effort,” Sullivan said. “In certain areas, there are lapses in the game. We’re just not diligent with decisions we make with the puck. We put ourselves in tough spots with some of the decisions we make. I think we’ve got to do a better job taking care of the puck.”

Defenseman Mike Matheson pointed to some other specifics that are cropping up as repeated issues. He pointed the finger at himself for getting too many shots blocked in the offensive end against the Devils. As a team, New Jersey blocked 13 shot attempts by the Penguins.

Matheson also said clearing the net-front in their own end of the ice is a detail of the game that needs to improve for Pittsburgh.

“Our net-front all year is an area we’ve been trying to get better at. We haven’t quite made it there yet. … That’s the first thing that comes to mind for me as a defenseman,” Matheson said.

Meanwhile, captain Sidney Crosby is blaming poor starts. The Penguins have given up the first goal in their past five games and in nine of their last 10.

“It would go a long way if we could give ourselves a better start,” Crosby said. “We’ve been chasing games the last few. And it hasn’t turned out great for us.”

As for the Rangers (71 points), they are coming to PPG Paints Arena as winners in five of their past six games and have jumped over the Penguins (70) into second place in the Metro.

Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin has been particularly good of late. He has started every contest in that six-game stretch, personally allowing no more than two goals in any of them. The Rangers’ lone loss in that span was a 3-2 defeat to the Detroit Red Wings via a shootout Feb. 17.

Shesterkin’s goals allowed per game is 1.98. That was good for second in the NHL as of the conclusion of games played Thursday night. His .940 save percentage leads the NHL.

In February, his numbers are pacing even better as he has stopped 95.8% of the shots he’s faced this month while allowing just 1.36 goals per game.

To Crosby’s earlier point, not exactly the kind of goalie you play catch up against if you get down early.

“It seems like it is taking us a while to get into games and by that time we are chasing the game,” Crosby said. “We’re just not executing. Anywhere.”

Another problem facing the Pens is a lack of five-on-five output of late. The club can only boast three even-strength goals over the last three games. That’s a problem that could be magnified against the Rangers as they have a penalty kill unit that is clicking at 83.7%, the seventh-best in the NHL.

Regardless of which order the Penguins fix all of these recent deficiencies, they better do so quickly. After the Rangers’ visit, the Pens play six of their next nine on the road. Seven of those games are against teams currently in a playoff position.

The Penguins hold one of those spots in the Eastern Conference and decidedly so as they are 15 points clear of Columbus in ninth place. But if positioning within the bracket means anything to the Penguins, reversing this recent losing trend and starting a new streak in the opposite direction better happen soon.

Listen: Seth Rorabaugh and Tim Benz try to explain an ugly loss for the Penguins against the New Jersey Devils. Plus they examine the team’s first matchup against the Rangers, discuss Tristan Jarry’s play and react to an out-of-nowhere injury to the blue line.