The Penguins’ 5-2 loss at New Jersey Tuesday night featured some of this season’s greatest hits:
*New Jersey blew open a 2-1 game by scoring two goals in 16 seconds midway through the third period.
*Evgeni Malkin’s lazy hooking penalty in the second period gave the Devils a power play that they converted to take the lead for good.
Stuff like that has been happening consistently for years.
Some other frequent problems are:
*Conceding goals right after scoring.
*A power play that ranks 29th in the NHL punctuated by 10 short-handed goals against.
*The Penguins have played 14 overtime games, winning during three-on-three just three times. They don’t practice three-on-three.
These aren’t things that can necessarily be fixed.
These are things that bad teams do. The Penguins are a bad team.
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