Pittsburgh Penguins must look to the past for inspiration

The Pittsburgh Penguins are at the bottom of the standings for the first time since the 2005-06 season. Will they be able to turn things around and replicate a feat they achieved in 2010-11?

There is no denying the Pittsburgh Penguins have struggled mightily through their first 17 games of the 2018-19 season. With a record of 7-7-3, Pittsburgh is near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. They also face a steep uphill battle to reclaim the power in the Metropolitan Division, Eastern Conference, and NHL.

While it is hardly time blow the roster up, more changes appear to be on the horizon. Based on comments from general manager Jim Rutherford, the team may have an extremely different look by the conclusion of the regular season.

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Back in the 2010-11 season, the Penguins faced a similar situation. A record of 8-8-0-1 stood after the first 17 games and many of the same questions were present. Questionable goaltending, unbalanced scoring, and a team built for success were struggling to find cohesion.

Forward Thinking

This season the Penguins have scored 56 goals. The top line of Sidney Crosby (eight), Jake Guentzel (six) and Dominik Simon (four) have scored 22 goals, or 32 percent of the team’s total goals. Meanwhile, Evgeni Malkin (seven) and Phil Kessel (nine) contributing another 28 percent of the goal total. Together that accounts for 60 percent of the Penguins’ total offence spread across the top two lines.

In 2010-11, the Penguins scored six fewer goals (50) than the current season total with the top line of Crosby (11), Chris Kunitz (five), and Pascal Dupuis (four) producing 40 percent of the team’s total offense through 17 games. The rest of the goal output was dispersed fairly equally through the rest of the lineup with only two players (Eric Godard and Chris Conner) failing to register a point. In comparison, five players on the current Penguins roster have zero points.

The bottom line is the Penguins will need some serious contributions from the bottom six forwards if they want to drive up their win total.

Between The Pipes

The goaltending situation in 2010-11 is eerily familiar to the scenario Pittsburgh faces today. In 2010-11, their number one goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury struggled to find his game and faced some stiff competition from Brent Johnson, who provided the strength between the pipes for the Penguins. Johnson was 6-2-1 with a goals-against average of 2.11.

Fleury would be able to sympathize with Matt Murray‘s current predicament. In eight starts, Fleury was 2-6, with a goals-against average of 3.23. He allowed 18 of 33 goals that were scored against the Penguins.

Murray’s current record stands at 4-5-1 with a goals-against average of 3.90. He has also allowed the bulk of the goals scored against the Penguins with 36 of 52 opposition goals coming while Murray has been in net. Casey DeSmith has reprised Johnson’s role as the backup this season, earning a record of 3-3-2 and a goals-against average of 2.25.

Lessons Learned

The good news is there is still plenty of time for the Penguins to right the ship and get back into championship form. Pittsburgh’s Management will do what it can from a personal standpoint, but it will be up to the team to execute the plan and deliver results.

The team from the 2010-11 season found their groove and claimed first in the Atlantic Division and made the playoffs, even with the long-term injuries that claimed Crosby, Malkin and Jordan Staal for half-a-season each.