After starting the season 0-3, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Johnston appeared to be on the hot seat, but saved face when the Penguins went 10-2 over the next 12 games. The Penguins scored four goals only twice during the stretch and needed overtime or a shootout in three of the games.
The trend started last year, with the Penguins scoring at least four goals only three times in 26 games through March and April, including the playoffs.
Despite juggling the lines and adjusting the power play, the offensive woes continue to be glaringly apparent. Perhaps the system needs to go.
Evgeni Malkin currently leads the Penguins with 12 points in 17 games and ranks 70th in the NHL. Phil Kessel ranks outside the top 100. Sidney Crosby ranks outside the top 150.
On a positive note, the Penguins rank fourth in the league in average goals against per game at 2.18, but, back to the bad, 26th in average goals for per game.
The Penguins lost 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night despite Columbus averaging 3.44 goals against per game (29th in the NHL) and lost 4-0 to the New Jersey Devils, ranked 20th in the NHL in average goals for per game, the next night.
Granted, the Penguins blueline needs another top pairing defender, the inability of every star player to be struggling so mightily offensively points to a flaw in the system. A better balance needs to be established. Superstars like Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and Letang (eight points in 17 games) need to power the Penguins.
The Penguins currently employ Jacques Martin, a former NHL head coach with nearly 1,300 games of experience behind the bench, as a special assistant coach. Martin never coached a team with the offensive potential of the Penguins and still managed to make the playoffs 13 of 17 seasons (missing three times with the lowly Florida Panthers from 2005–08).
Martin last served as a head coach over three seasons ago in 2011–12 and spent parts of the last few seasons not behind the bench, but in practice working with the players and on pre-scouting assignments, dissecting the opposition from the press box.
With firsthand knowledge of the players on Penguins roster and success at the NHL level, Martin almost assuredly takes over behind the bench if the team decides to oust Johnston.
Photo credit: NBC
