The Penguins are in SHAMBLES...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in shambles as they are on a three-game skid right now and it's a big part to do with the lack of defense and offensive production from their defense as well. So in this video we're going to break down everything that's going wrong in Pittsburgh, talk about how we can kind of see some building blocks to a successful team and so much more. You're not going to miss this episode of Pittsburgh Penguins Digest. Before we dive into everything here, I just want to say We're on the road for 3,000 subscribers here on the channel. So if you're new here and you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the Pittsburgh Penguins, we're your home for it here on YouTube. Subscribe below. Hit that subscribe button. It's completely free to do so. But yes, today we're back talking about the Penguins as now they're on a three-game losing streak. And things are looking low as they've ever been here in Pittsburgh over the last couple of years. And it's been a big part due to some bad, you know, calls from their defense. In yesterday's video or the other day's video, we talked about Erik Karlsson and how he's been giving the puck away a lot. And, you know, it has been kind of saved by his offensive production. But there is another defenseman who is doing the same thing but isn't getting the same response offensively as we would like to see him this season. That's been a big part to why we haven't been successful as a unit this season. So let's get into it. Let's talk about it. obviously let's talk Letang's offense is fading without fewer minutes as we see him now his shot totals have completely dropped off here over these last couple of games one game he had zero shots you see here two one one two like he's not taking as many shots as we would like to see Letang take he's the guy who's known for shooting the puck trying to get redirections and over these last couple of games five games he's averaging about one shot a game so we need to see that production come up from Letang as well and just kind of looking at his ice time he's averaging about 20 minutes a night over these last few games so he's a guy who's getting a lot of minutes logging a lot of minutes but still not producing as well defensively or offensively as well so we need to see that pick up for Letang and just kind of looking at his season so far he does only have three points after the first couple of games of the season uh he has eight blocks 11 11 hits so far this season as well but he's not doing Letang things right he's not being you know the guy we uh all like you know expect him to be i mean he's definitely falling off i mean at his age right now if we just kind of compare some numbers across his career like uh this guy's at about 39 right now he's obviously in probably the last year of his career and the production has just completely dropped off for him uh last year he'd have 34 points 30 points uh but you know it's been uh Really, it's been a really slow year, slow start to the year for Letang. So we were really hoping that he would come out a lot hotter out the gates. But we haven't really seen that. And the big glaring thing that comes with Letang is his giveaways. He's already given the puck over 20 times this year, which is third most in the NHL. So his passing has kind of fallen off and his passes are getting intercepted. And, you know, he's given the puck away. And whenever you're giving the puck away, you're giving the opposition the opportunity to create goal scoring chances and this is why against the big teams like the Vegas Golden Knights we are getting stomped on so we just need to tighten up defensively make better passes make better zone exits and you know we will be better for it in the long run so hopefully we can see that obviously he does have 11 hits eight blocks but you know still we know Letang as a great puck moving guy great two-way guy and this season we haven't seen him you know at his at his peak and And, you know, maybe this is the decline for Letang, which is sad. But, you know, something needs to change. And as Crosby, you know, was talking about the defense, he said, nobody likes to lose. We know those areas we've got to improve on. We've got to fix it quick. And, you know, they don't want to let this slip because now they're just falling in the standings. You know, they're playing bad hockey. And when you do that, you're just going to, you know, end up costing yourselves a final shot at the playoffs and at the Stanley Cup because Letang, Crosby, Malkin, all these guys know that this is probably their final year all together to be able to go and compete and you know their their age is kind of getting to them right now besides Malkin and Crosby and Carlson you know Carlson you know he's kind of been you know dwindling this year as well so we really need the vets to step up they have been over the last couple of games but you know they just need to fix these areas what's costing them games and that's basically giving away the puck and one thing to definitely look forward to though is that Crosby's power play goal is only a first step it's kind of a step forward for them at this point their power play is at an 18 percent that needs to go up their penalty kill has been great at 83 percent so far this season but you know we see here just a quote from Crosby and he just wants more out of this power play so just execute you're going to get different kills some teams are going to pressure some are going to sit back a bit more whatever we play against we have to outwork them and we have to make sure we execute a little better just saying we just need to fix things we need to get a lot better and we got to do it quick because if we don't we're not going to make the playoffs this year because we thought that we probably could have got him in the third spot in the Metro but a lot of teams in the Metro are playing a lot better than expected especially the New York Rangers so we need to kind of lock in here if we're gonna get back to the playoffs obviously Crosby again we talked about how he had a slow goal scoring start in the last game gets another goal uh he's kind of taking the reins here and saying guys come on wake up we need to get back we need to get back into the playoffs and the only way to do that is if we all lock in and we all work as units and try to beat the last three teams in the Metro Division kind of looking at Crosby Crosby's point total across all nine games he's averaging about 0.7 points a game right now uh so we just need to see him you know maybe pick up that production a little bit and be the more of the you know Sid we do know who's a multi-point score scorer and stuff like this so hopefully we can see that over the last three games as a point every three three games so he wants to get this uh back on course and wants to get back into uh you know a playoff spot seeing his last goal comes from the left side you know on in the inner slot so uh you know he's just doing Crosby things and what improvement must look like he gives cleaner entries against pressure we just need to go shorter you know carry the puck up in the middle of the ice you know don't be having this long uh outstretched passes that are just getting picked off move the puck before lanes close and create traffic and second chances for this team as well So that's kind of what we got to do going forward, and obviously it was a bad, you know, loss to Vegas as the exposed problems beyond, you know, the Tangs, you know, slow start to the year. They beat us 6-2, which is a tough, I mean, Murashov had another bad showing, right? We thought, okay, maybe that was just a, you know, one bad one for Murashov, but his second start after that, he has 7-3-7 with 14 saves. And just kind of looking at his starts now, we've seen him have two great starts at the beginning of the year. and ever since that first start we had a 9-14 and it's really fallen off and it's had a steady decline. I still got a lot of faith in Murashov and I think he's going to be a great goaltender. It's just we need to play better defensively in front of him and stop giving up these chances, high-danger chances to these teams from our giveaways and his play will be better. If our defense plays better in front of him, he will be better for it. And I think our defense core has all the makings of being a very solid defensive core. They just need to put it all together right now And obviously, a big thing going forward for us is Sam Gerrard. He got tripped by a race to the puck and he went to the locker room. Status is right now day-to-day, so we'll have to see how he is going forward and what needs to change there in terms of the lineup and see what happens there. But as we see here now, defending as a five. That's really what we've got to do going forward. Track defenders during the rush. Protect the middle before chasing and avoid immediate breakdowns after scoring for sure. And we just need, Pittsburgh needs a complete response right now, right? This is what Dan Muse had to say about what this team needs to do. He says, together as a group, we've got to dig in. We have to find our consistency in our game. And offensively, at times, they've looked great. Defensively, at times, they've looked great. But just putting it all together and just playing a full 60 is what this team needs. And they just need their defense to lock in and stop making these bad, errant passes that are leading to goals for the other team. So looking at the standings here, obviously going forward, We are sixth right now in the Metro, and we're only a couple points off for hitting the third spot. So, you know, luckily we're not too far behind, so let's lock in, get a couple wins together, and it's going to be tough. Again, some tough competition coming up, but we need to win some of these games. The Utah Mammoth have had a hot start to this season, so that's going to be a tough test. This is going to be on the road as well. Then we come back home, and we play the Panthers, who have been absolutely dominating the lead, setting the record for natural hat tricks in three games in a row. So it's going to be a tough couple of games. And we're playing the Predators, who have been mediocre this season. So a big week for us. If we can come out of this week 2-1, I think we'll be back on track. And we'll be ready to go again to get to the playoffs. And we're looking a lot better. So this team needs to lock in, in practice, play a lot better together. And as they do that, we will see this team become better units. And they will start to win more hockey games. So like I said, a big week this week. hopefully we can beat the Mammoth and the and the Predators or either one of them and then the Nashville Predators coming out of this two uh two and one on the week and i think i'd be very happy with that and a lot of you guys would be too so let me know what you guys are feeling about this season do you think it's a wash do you think we're gonna we're gonna miss the playoffs let me know how you guys are feeling down below in the comment section if you enjoyed leave a like subscribe to the channel as always i've been host kc keep it on guys