There have been a lot of changes to the way hockey is played in the NHL the last several years.
Officials have called more obstruction fouls, for example.
Goaltenders have been prohibited from playing the puck in a trapezoid area behind the net.
What the league has not changed, however, is that games are still 3 periods and 60 minutes.
The Pittsburgh Penguins must have missed the memo on that.
If last night's 6-2 road beating at the hands of the 13th place team in the Eastern Conference, the Florida Panthers, isn't evidence of that, little else could be.
The Penguins came out of the gate strong, as they needed to after a lackluster performance the afternoon before in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning -- their 4th straight defeat.
Pittsburgh controlled play throughout the first period, outshot Florida 20-8, and led 2-1 on the strength of goals by Tyler Kennedy -- his first in 14 games -- and Sidney Crosby, his 24th of the season.
At that point, the Pens' needed to come out of the gate in the second frame and step on the Panthers' throats. If I was Dan Bylsma, that's what I would have stressed over and over during the intermission.
So what happened?
The Penguins were promptly outshot, outhustled and outplayed in a second period where Florida outshot them 16-9 and went to the break with two goals and a 3-2 lead.
Things didn't get better in the final period, either.
While Pittsburgh tossed 22 shots at Panthers' goaltender Tomas Vokoun, Florida was the team that scored, tallying 3 more times, including an empty netter, to mercilessly end the game 6-2.
Radek Dvorak had the hat trick for the Panthers.
Hey, at least the Penguins only blew a 2-0 lead in this one, as opposed to the 3-0 lead they blew to the Buffalo Sabres earlier in the week.
Pittsburgh did put up 48 shots on Vokoun last night, but that total is deceiving, as our Boys of Winter again didn't play with the needed urgency throughout the second and third periods.
Marc-Andre Fleury -- starting both games in the weekend's back-to-back situation -- struggled, stopping 29 of 34 shots.
Clearly, he isn't the only one for the Penguins leaving little on the ice right now.
Evgeni Malkin again struggled mightily, and finished the game scoreless with a -4 rating. He took the blame for the defeat afterwards, but Pittsburgh's problems run far deeper than a guy who, despite his current slump, remains on a point-per-game pace.
Much of the issue for the Penguins right now -- aside from their disturbing lack of intensity -- lies in their own end. They are spending too much time there, and not doing a good job with their coverages. Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang led the way last night -- both were -3 in the game -- but the entire defense corps has been average, at best, the last 3 weeks.
It didn't help that Sergei Gonchar missed his second straight game with a bruised foot, but Pittsburgh's defensive struggles began while he was in the lineup.
They need to tighten up and tighten up quickly, because if they made the Florida Panthers look like an offensive juggernaut, they are in real danger of their next opponent -- the Atlanta Thrashers -- on Tuesday at Mellon Arena.
Atlanta can make a team playing as poorly defensively as the Penguins are right now pay.
Dearly.
No matter what, it's critical that the Penguins stop the bleeding. Now. They were slumping mid-year at this point last season too, and we all know how much of a stretch it was that they even got into the post-season. The Penguins simply must do whatever is necessary to avoid going into a similar long-term funk.
Or else they might find themselves in the same boat as their defending Super Bowl Champion brethren from Pittsburgh -- the Steelers --whose season ended yesterday without any post-season play thanks largely to a mid-season swoon they were unable to recover from.
More this week.
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