Roadtrip Blues: Pens' Complete O-For With 4-2 Loss to Canadiens

There's no big storyline from last night's 4-2 Penguins' loss to the Canadiens' in Montreal.

Just more of what we've seen from the Penguins a lot of the season.

Poor defense.

Subpar special teams play.

Lack of scoring depth.

I could go on, but the record has been broken many times over this season.

If it keeps up, the fat lady will be warming up soon.

The Penguins got a great start to last night's contest just a few minutes into the game when rookie LW Luca Caputi scored his first NHL goal on his first NHL shift after a scramble around Montreal netminder Cary Price.

The last Penguin rookie to score his first goal on his first NHL shift was some guy named Lemieux.

Things quickly went downhill for the Penguins after that, starting with the rest of that initial frame when they were outshot 15-7.

Ultimately, Montreal built a 3-1 lead going into the 3rd period on the strength of a big shorthanded goal by Canadiens' forward Chris Higgins halfway through the second frame as he worked past Ryan Whitney to go in and beat Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury high to the glove side on a breakaway.

Whitney has really struggled defensively since his return. He was -4 last night and now is a -12 since his return from a foot problem a little more than a month ago.

Penguins' center -- and now Alternate Captain for the rest of the season -- Evgeni Malkin made things interesting by scoring on a power play goal halfway through the 3rd period, but to the Canadiens' credit, they didn't sit on the lead. They kept pressing and were rewarded when winger Andre Kostitsyn finished off a 3-on-2 to seal things for Montreal with just over 4 minutes left.

And with that, the Penguins were left to continue to look up at 8th place Florida (and 9th place Carolina) in the Eastern Conference standings. The Penguins are 3 points back of Florida because the the Panthers last night beat the same Toronto Maple Leafs team Pittsburgh couldn't defeat on Saturday. Fortunately, Carolina lost to the Vancouver Canucks. Both teams have games in hand on the Penguins, however (Florida - 2; Carolina - 1).

I was hoping the Penguins would go on a solid run to position themselves squarely in the playoff mix, but they are rapidly running out of time for that. If they best they can do is their recent 5 wins in 7 games stretch they just squashed by going winless on their last 3-game road trip, it's going to be a tough road to the post-season. It's looking more and more like they are going to be in a dogfight until the end just to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Penguins play tonight at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Although the Lightning are beneath Pittsburgh in the standings, nothing is a given with this club. At least Tampa also played last night (and lost).

NOTES:

It looks like the Penguins are going to keep Luca Caputi around for a little while -- maybe until Ruslan Fedotenko returns. Chris Minard will probably be out of the lineup tonight, if not sent down. Caputi looked good last night and, after his goal, got some time the rest of the way on Malkin's line and on special teams. It would be really nice if the Penguins could have Caputi make an impact down the stretch. Pittsburgh has had some capable call-ups, but nobody is going off like gangbusters for them this season.

Philipe Boucher and Hal Gill were healthy scratches for the Penguins last night, as Alex Goligoski got back on the blueline.

Sergei Gonchar has been cleared for contact in practice and appears no worse for wear after going through his first full-scale workout. He's on track to return in a few weeks and, even if he's rusty (which he will surely be), it will be a boost to the Penguins, both offensively and defensively.

Recap tomorrow.