Charitable Penguins Again Go Down 5-3 To Avalanche

With a 6-13-1 record in their last 20 games, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here.

After another 5-3 road loss, this time to the Colorado Avalanche, on Saturday, there was little that happened in the game which the Penguins haven't been guilty of repeatedly lately.

Poor goaltending.

Lack of confidence.

Bad defensive play.

No willingness to work hard and win battles.

The Penguins stuck with Colorado during a lot of the game. The problem was that they were consistenly playing from behind. The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead, then center Evgeni Malkin took advantage of a Colorado too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty to score on the power play and make the game 2-1.

It was Malkin's first goal in ten games and his first power play goal in TWENTY FIVE contests.

Sheesh.

The Avalanche got another goal to go up by 2 again, then center Sidney Crosby tied it for the flightless birds. The pattern repeated with Colorado going up again, only to have center Jordan Staal score his first shorthanded goal of the season to once more bring the Penguins within 1 goal at 4-3.

In less than a minute, however, the Avalanche got on the board again, and that's the way the game ended -- with the Penguins allowing another team who had struggled to score goals have their way in the Penguins zone, around the net, and with their goaltenders.

The Penguins show absolutely no sign of getting out of their funk anytime soon, and things don't get easier with 4 games this week against the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and New York Rangers.

The fact that the Penguins currently give off no indication that they can start winning is exactly why there is so much speculation surrounding the team lately, and that doesn't figure to change unless and until they start putting wins together. But they may not begin winning again with this group this season unless and until some drastic move is made to try and shake the team out of its funk.

Time will tell.

More later this week.