Penguins Just Can’t Find Their Offense

The Pittsburgh Penguins have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist and yet they have really been struggling on offense. They come in off a 4-2 loss at Vancouver and have now averaged just 1.62 gpg over their last eight games. They are just 3-5 in those games. It’s hard to understand as the Pens have plenty of firepower and the new rules in the NHL have really aided the offenses in the early going. They will get their offense going at some point, but for now it is struggling. Scoring for them in their loss to the Canucks was Jake Guentzel, which was his 4th of the year and Greg McKegg, which was his 2nd of the year. The Pens have gone 4-1 at home. Taking the loss against the Canucks was Matt Murray, who allowed four goals on just 21 shot attempts to fall to 8-4 with a 3.05 GAA and a .902 save percentage on the year overall, while here at home he has gone 4-1 with a 1.98 GAA and a .940 save percentage. In his career, he has gone 25-8 with a 2.39 GAA in his home games and 8-3 with a 2.22 GAA during the month of November, while against the Pacific Division he has gone 8-3 with a 1.27 GAA, including 1–0 with a 0.00 GAA in one start against the Coyotes.

The Penguins have been poor on offense so far as they come in ranked 26th in the league in scoring at 2.63 gpg, while also ranking 5th in shots taken (35.6 spg) and 2nd in power play conversions, converting on 28.8% of their chances. At the defensive end of the ice, they have been poor as they come in ranked 26th in goals allowed, giving up 3.63 gpg, while also ranking 14th in shots allowed (31.7 spg) and 14th in penalty kill, allowing teams to convert on 18.8% of their chances.