WASHINGTON — Now is the time for the Penguins to get themselves in gear.
They took back-to-back drubbings over the weekend, their quick two-game road trip ending Sunday with a disheartening 6-1 loss against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. They have now lost seven of their last nine games.
Here in the middle of November, there is plenty of highway left. But the Penguins have the lowest points percentage in the deep Metropolitan Division and sit eight points total out of first place, shared by Washington and Carolina. Given the caliber of this division, they cannot afford to fall too far back from the pack.
Granted, they have a good reason for looking so disjointed the last three weeks. Only nine players have suited up for every game due to COVID-19 outbreaks and injuries. Their two former MVPs have combined to play in just two games. And their two-time Cup-winning head coach was just unavailable for five games.
But they need real victories, not moral ones. The time for excuses is now up.
When the puck dropped Sunday, the Penguins were as close to full strength as they have been all season. Sidney Crosby and Brian Dumoulin rejoined the lineup, as did Chad Ruhwedel and Marcus Pettersson, after coming off the COVID list.
Coach Mike Sullivan was back behind the bench, too, after his bout with the virus. The Penguins, who lost Saturday in Ottawa, went 2-1-2 in his absence.
The only one unavailable was Evgeni Malkin. And his return to practice looms.
Even with Crosby and those others back, the Penguins got blasted again Sunday. Tristan Jarry wasn’t bad but he still gave up six goals on 32 shots. And in their two losses over the weekend, the Penguins got outscored by a 12-4 margin.
Entering Sunday, the Penguins had not scored a power-play goal in their last seven games. They had gone 23 straight opportunities without lighting the lamp despite some good looks, including a few shots off the pipes, over the past week.
“Well, I’d like to see them score,” Sullivan said of that unit before the game.
Somebody scored on their first power play Sunday, but it wasn’t the Penguins.
During another failed foray into the offensive zone, the Penguins gave away the puck to Tom Wilson. He went the other way on a 2-on-1 with Martin Fehervary. He got it over to the Capitals blue-liner, who put a shot past Jarry’s blocker.
The Capitals made it 2-0 later in the first period after a breakdown in transition defense. Pettersson scrambled to try to get back and poke the backdoor pass away. But Alex Ovechkin threaded it through to the goal-scorer, Garnet Hathaway.
Jake Guentzel scored on a nifty move late in the period to get back within a goal. But the Capitals would pull away from the Penguins in the second period.
After Jarry kept several good chances out, former Penguins prospect Daniel Sprong made it 3-1. Dumoulin had a brutal turnover at his blue line, leading to another odd-man rush. Lars Eller made a pass through a sliding Kris Letang to Sprong, who went top shelf on Jarry, his old Wilkes-Barre/Scranton teammate.
Less than three minutes later, with 1:24 left in the second, another ex-Penguin got on the board. This time it was Conor Sheary who snapped a shot past Jarry. When the horn blared to end the period, the fans at Capital One Arena roared.
Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 5-1 in the third, flamboyantly flapping his arms in his signature goal celebration. Wilson piled another one a few minutes later.
This was just the second game of the season for Crosby. He missed the first seven after wrist surgery before returning to the lineup Oct. 30. Four days later, Dumoulin and he went on the COVID list Nov. 3 after they were confirmed positive for COVID. Crosby, who experienced mild symptoms, got back on the ice Saturday.
The captain was on the ice for Guentzel’s first-period goal. And his line had a few other promising but unproductive shifts throughout the game. But Crosby was on the ice for two goals against while getting more than 16 minutes of ice time. Crosby should get better as he gets his lungs fully back and knocks off the rust.
The Penguins will host the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday before embarking on a three-game road trip to Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg.
It will be a critical seven-day stretch for the Penguins, who better get going.
