To stay alive, Penguins must offset Canadiens' blue line contribution

Whatever you pick, you aren’t wrong.

Just about any complaint you want to raise about the Pittsburgh Penguins in their preliminary-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, you are right.

• They aren’t scoring enough.

• They are getting out-worked.

• They are getting out-coached.

• Montreal’s goalie has been better.

• The “third” line stinks.

• The power play was brutal the first two games.

Yup. All that is true.

So, don’t assume I’m advancing this as the biggest reason why the Penguins are facing elimination Friday in their best-of-five series.

But it is a big deal.

Montreal’s blue line is completely outplaying the Penguins’. And it’s not even close.

Look at the Canadiens’ 4-3 victory in Game 3. Ben Chiarot was a plus-4 with two assists. Jeff Petry scored the game-winning goal. Shea Weber had a goal and two assists.

“We have to keep playing below the goal line and keep pucks deep all the time,” Penguins winger Patric Hornqvist said Thursday. “They have three defensemen (Weber, Chiarot, Petry) who play a lot of minutes. So every time we have a chance to get a lick on them, make life hard for those three. Keep battling for pucks, and hold onto the puck a little bit more in the offensive zone. And keep taking it to the net.”

Meanwhile, for the Penguins, Kris Letang had four giveaways in Game 3. John Marino was beaten down the wall to set up one of the Canadiens’ goals. Jack Johnson was a minus-3. Justin Schultz was a minus-2.

None of the Penguins defensemen have a goal. None of them have more than one assist. Kris Letang has 81 minutes of ice time and no points.

“Whenever we play tight to our forwards and give support to them down low, we can pinch down,” defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “Really be hard to play against. Come wave after wave and follow up on plays. (If we do that), we are a hard team to play against.”

That being said, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan doesn’t want to see the Penguins defensemen force the issue offensively.

“They have to take what the game gives them,” Sullivan after practice Thursday. “When we have the chance to get pucks on the net from the offensive blue line, they have to hit the net and get the pucks down in that area and give guys an opportunity to get a stick on it — or potentially a next-play rebound opportunity.”

Sullivan says the defensemen also have to absorb the flow of the offense on the fly as well.

“They have to pick their spots on the rush,” Sullivan said. “They have to get involved. We have to present a four-man attack as often as we can.”

In Friday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast, TribLIVE Penguins beat writer Seth Rorabaugh joins me to talk about the blue line mismatch.

We also get into what decision Mike Sullivan will — and should — make in goal between Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry. We analyze what should be done with Patrick Marleau. And we talk about if Hornqvist should be elevated to a bigger role five-on-five.

Hopefully, it’s not our only playoff conversation with Seth. But click below just in case it is.

LISTEN: Tim Benz and Seth Rorabaugh talk how about what the Penguins need to do to win Game 4 against the Canadiens

After the game, make sure you watch “Hockey in the Hub” with Mark Madden and me on the TribLIVE Facebook stream.