Much like the players and coaches, I am at a loss for words. We need to talk about the Penguins third period collapses. In the last week, the Penguins have played five games. They held a 3rd period lead in four of those games. They held a multiple goal 3rd period lead in three of those games. Their record over the last week? 0-1-4. Stretches like this happen and hey at least they got 4/10 points, right? Absolutely wrong. The Ducks disaster happened; it was a one game. The Stars are a good team and tied up a one goal game, fine. Whatever happened on Saturday and Sunday this week is anything but fine.

After the putrid performance against Montreal on Thursday and the subsequent Jarry trade, it would have been fair to assume the Penguins may dish out another stinker Saturday. That’s not what happened though. The Penguins played a phenomenal hockey game. Such a good hockey game that they led the game 5-1 with 14 minutes remaining in the game. Yet, if you read the above paragraph, you would know that they did indeed go on to lose this game. Unacceptable. Much like the Ducks game, a post was hit that would have sealed the deal, this time it was Bryan Rust on an open net with under three minutes remaining. At least Rusty scored a beauty on the power-play:

Despite hitting the post, the Penguins still held a two-goal lead. That lead evaporated as quickly as it took me to embed the clips for the goals.

Sure, there were breakdowns, bad goaltending, and a slew of other things that went wrong but it’s just unacceptable. I am contractually obligated to write several hundred words for every blog, but I think anyone writing about this weekend could sum it all up with the word unacceptable. Once the Sharks tied the game it was all but certain the Pens would lose in overtime.

Fast forward to the very next day against the Utah Mammoth. The Penguins played horribly. They ended regulation with 16 shots on goal. The puck was basically glued inside their own zone for the entire game. Yet, they entered the third period with a mindboggling 3-0 lead. That lead lasted for about 5 minutes. Utah scored two goals in the first minute and a half of the third, the tying goal a few minutes later, and took the lead after a horrible challenge on the tying goal. It was a complete collapse. It was shocking to see a team captained by Sidney Crosby play with such little conviction. Sure, they didn’t have their best stuff on Sunday, but you entered the final frame with a multiple goal lead, you would have assumed that they would have buckled everything down and won the damn hockey game.

It was such a collapse that I really don’t even know who to call out. I don’t even really have analysis from the games because it was so baffling that I cannot even begin to properly analyze what happened. I thought Kindel’s line and Rust had good weekends. I think Karlsson is head and shoulders above the rest of the defense core, but he still has his defensive issues from time to time. However, everyone is to blame. From Sidney Crosby down to Ryan Graves and up to Dan Muse everyone deserves blame. It’s a shame this weekend is pitting fans against Muse who has done a wonderful job this year, especially because I don’t think the collapse(s) are a coaching issue it’s more likely something going on between the ears of the players on the ice. The players become tentative and start trying to force passes. Karlsson and Rakell even alluded to this yesterday, Karlsson said it isn’t an X’s and O’s problem. Rakell echoed that they aren’t trying to get pucks deep once they have a lead. Anyway, here are Utah’s first three goals…

I would like to take a second to also mention Sergei Murashov. He absolutely is not without blame for what happened Sunday. However, he was phenomenal in the first two periods. Utah should have evened that game up long before they did, but Murashov was there to shut the door. Until he wasn’t. He’s only 21 years old and has not played a lot of professional hockey so hiccups like this are going to happen. I still would argue that what we saw in the first two periods is what to expect of him, not what we saw in the final period. Again, not blameless but he’s not the player I would overreact on. I don’t know if it’s trading Skinner, or Silvos, but I do think the Pens need to install Murashov into the lineup on a more consistent basis. He has a Marc Andre Fleury like personality, and I think having that combined with a high-end skillset could be a huge boost for the room.

What can the Penguins do?

1. Sid holds a meeting. Muse, Dubas, and everyone else attends. He puts an end to this shit; tells the team he will not allow for them to squander the season in this manner. He points at Geno and says they owe 71 getting into the playoffs. Sid exits the room by grabbing a superman cape and then proceeds to dominate McDavid on Tuesday night.
2. Dubas should shake up the room more. Get Broz, or Avery Hayes, up with the team. Have Hayes traded or benched. Bring someone in from the trade market to create more in-house competition. Maybe ship someone out too. You have to trend carefully with any of these pathways because you risk further cracking an already fragile team. Dubas has 13 million in cap space, maybe the prudent move would be to bring someone in to help, show that you are still believe in this squad.
3. Dan Muse should sit Letang. Letang has been bad, and bench worthy. However, I would bench him just for the messaging. The Penguins brass will not put up with these types of games. Sure, this too could backfire and hurt the room, but they are big boys if this breaks them, they don’t deserve to make the playoffs anyway. A Kulak-Clifton second pair would be fine for a single game.
4. Hope and pray? It just seems so bleak. It was a disgusting, and again unacceptable, weekend. Hope and pray that the veterans of this team can figure it out. I can throw shit at the wall all day as to what they should do but it ultimately comes down to the team figuring their shit out and saying enough is enough.