Coming off an amazing game against the Washington Capitals on Friday, the Pittsburgh Penguins were embarrassed by the Dallas Stars on Monday, letting in six goals in only the first period.
As of right now, the team’s record is 6-9-2. No one expected greatness from the Penguins this year, but their play during some recent games had been unforeseen.
The defense has been extremely weak, and the unstable goalie situation does not help. Goaltending has been a problem for the Penguins for the past few seasons. Tristan Jarry put on a less-than-admirable performance early in the season and was sent down to the AHL, but now he has been brought back up.
Jarry and the team’s other goalies, Alex Nedeljkovic and Joel Blomqvist, are certainly talented. But without a defense to protect them, they cannot be expected to carry the team’s game.
The Penguins have undoubtedly had their good games this season, but inconsistency continues to burden the team. However, this may not be the team’s fault but the coaching.
Mike Sullivan has been the Penguins’ head coach for nine years. Typically, coaches in the NHL last a quarter of that time with a team. It seems that the players just don’t respond to Sullivan anymore. A coach can only say “We need to be better” so many times before it just goes in one ear and out the other.
Sullivan was a great coach during the Stanley Cup-winning seasons. He was blunt and not afraid to say it how it was. As a result, fans saw a completely dominant team. The work he did will always be appreciated by fans.
But what matters now is how he directs the players and how they execute plays. His work ethic just doesn’t work well with the team he has now. Because of this, the next best route for the Penguins to take is to evaluate the coaching situation and find a new head coach.
