Penguins Slump Continues After Being Swept by Bruins, 4-2

The Penguins didn't do their win-loss record any favors last night at the TD Banknorth Center in Boston, where the Bruins continued their now 10-game winning streak by beating Pittsburgh, 4-2.

They also proved that "players-only" meetings don't always result in victories the next time out on the ice.

But despite the loss, the Penguins may have set the groundwork for how they can get out of their funk and reappear as a factor in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Penguins outshot the Bruins, 32-25 and can't be accused of leaving their hard hats in Pittsbrugh. In fact, they probably carried the better of the play for a slight majority of the game, especially in the 3rd period, when they got within 1 on a goal by Ruslan Fedotenko with about 14 minutes to go and then pressed for the equalizer every second of the rest of the way before the Bruins sealed the game with an empty net goal.

In the end, the Bruins were just too difficult to overcome. They got contributions from the usual suspects -- Marc Savard, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and veteran P.J. Axelsson -- and continued to show why they are one of the measuring sticks by which the Penguins need to stack up against this season.

Dustin Jeffrey scored the other marker for the Penguins -- his first in the National Hockey League -- and Dany Sabourin, who started for Marc-Andre Fleury, played relatively well in stopping 22 shots. He gave the Penguins a chance.

What really hurt Pittsburgh, however, was their failure to score on the power play. They went 0-for-5 on the man advantage and, now for the fifth game in a row, failed to cash in with their special teams. When a team plays on even terms with their opponent much of the game, the power play can be the difference-maker. The Penguins just aren't getting that from their power play right now. They're really missing a physical presence out there to cause havoc in front of the opposing team's goaltender. All the Penguins are doing is moving the puck around the perimeter. They aren't working the puck around the net enough. Until they change that, they are going to struggle on the power play. And that's one of the reasons why they are in the funk that they're in.

The Penguins play again Saturday afternoon against the Florida Panthers. If they bring the same work ethic as they did against Boston, they'll at least have a chance to win. That's all they can hope for right now.