Well folks the Penguins’ losing streak is now seven straight games. Evgeni Malkin has not played in any of those loses. Silovs has only won one game in his last eleven starts. Sid’s line doesn’t look like Sid’s line. Letang is going to play until he’s 90 years old, and unfortunately, he doesn’t seem like he can play anymore at 38. Things are bad. Someone needs to do something to turn this around. I floated making a trade, the trade freeze for the holidays is today. Mason Marchment is on the block, so too is Kiefer Sherwood. Do we want to pay the cost to acquire one of those guys? No, absolutely not. However, we need a spark and those two provide sparks. When Brandon Tanev was on the Penguins and zipping around the ice, they rarely had duds like they had in Ottawa last night because you always had one guy who was buzzing which uplifted the entire team.

There are only so many times that Dan Muse can say “it’s on all of us.” There needs to be action and accountability. Change the lineup, get some guys from Wilkes up here that are going to play with hunger. Maybe dip Malkin in some sort of healing fountain so we get Batman (Crosby) back his Robin. I certainly don’t have the right answers, that’s not my job, but I do think having Hayes/Heinen replacing Lizotte/Malkin is not what the lineup needs.

In the past week, there was plenty of things to assess during the games. Sometimes, I chose not to do so because I was so disappointed in the play that resulted in the third period meltdowns. Last night’s performance doesn’t really warrant a break-down because they showed absolutely no life. They were struggling to enter the offensive zone all night. Every single pass looked like they were trying to not fall off the edge of Rainbow Road after drinking a 12 pack. Having the dads in attendance gave them absolutely no juice. If I were to have performed like that in front of my father, he would have bag skated me like Herb Brooks did to Team USA in 1980. There is no excuse for the way they played, it was embarrassing and the season is offically on the line.

I don’t think it would have mattered, but what the fuck were the refs doing last night? They might’ve been the only people on the ice to have been worse than the Penguins. First, two minutes into the game they called Silovs for a trip (first highlight of the clip)? What the fuck was that. Then Rakell’s goal was called off for goaltender interference. In what world was that goaltender interference, the contact was primarily made by the Ottawa defender, and Ullmark completely flopped. Embarrassing officiating. Muse said he would have challenged the call again and I certainly cannot blame him. It was such a bizarre night for the officials, something that we have seen a few times this season. Having a rookie head coach who has yet to gain the respect of the stripes is going to lead to ref shows like last night. I am of the belief that refs are egomaniacs, most of them are failed hockey players so the way they cope is by making games all about themselves. Horrible showing by the zebras, but again that’s not why we lost.

Something is wrong with Sid. I’m not sure he got hurt when Letang hit him in the foot the other night, or maybe he’s just in a small funk. Either way, they have no shot at winning games unless he throws on a Superman cape. Typically, when Sid’s off his game, Geno is there to steady the ship, but Geno is in Pittsburgh right now rehabbing his shoulder. Dare I say you break up the Rakell-Sid-Rust line they have been getting hemmed in their own zone and hemorrhaging goals against. It doesn’t have to be a permanent change but maybe splitting them up would do them all some good. You continue this slide, and they’ll be broken up anyway as Dubas would almost be forced to trade Rakell and likely Rust too.

Let’s give Ottawa some credit for their performance, they played an amazing brand of hockey. They were quick to pucks and made life hell for the Penguins in the neutral zone. They capitalized on bad bounces and moved the puck with extreme precision. Even given how well they played if this Penguins team brought their work boots, they could’ve easily have beat that team.

In other news, Sydney Sweeney has a new movie coming out. This doesn’t relate to hockey at all. However, the Penguins could take something from her stylist. Maybe no one on this planet understands how to do their job perfectly on a daily basis. If the Penguins could show the same sort of consistency, this seven-game slide would never have happened. If the Penguins treated their defensive zone coverage, or play with a lead, the same way this stylist treats Sweeney’s front porch, their record would be more similar to Colorado’s. I will be going to see the movie this weekend, first for the plot, and second to appreciate all the great work that Sweeney’s stylist does.