The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to avoid matching their longest losing streak under coach Mike Sullivan when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
The Penguins have dropped six in a row, getting outscored 27-13 in the process.
Sullivan, who’s in his 10th season with Pittsburgh, said there’s an assortment of factors leading to the downturn, but it begins with the decisions the Penguins are making with the puck.
“We put ourselves and our teammates in very difficult spots,” Sullivan said. “The first step in becoming a solid team defensively is managing the puck appropriately. Otherwise, you’re inviting easy offense.”
Indeed, Pittsburgh has allowed at least four goals in each of the past seven games and nine times in 11 contests this season.
“We’re giving up too much,” Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby said. “Can’t win consistently when you give up the quality of chances or the amount of goals that we’re giving up. We have to find a way to limit our mistakes. If we’re going to make them, they can’t be big ones.”
Sullivan said the Penguins need to start thinking defense first.
“We’re going to defend our way out of this,” he said. “We’re not going to score our way out of this. That’s what we’re trying to work at. For me, it starts with a mindset. It starts with an attitude. Your intentions need to be in the right place. When they are, now we have a chance to be better defensively.”
The Ducks enter the final game of their four-game road trip feeling confident after beating the New York Islanders 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Anaheim received another outstanding effort from goalie Lukas Dostal, who made 40 saves against the Islanders, the second time he has hit that mark this season.
He has also allowed two goals or fewer in four straight starts.
“He was terrific,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “We knew that they shot the puck a lot going into it. There’s certain teams in the league that have a certain style of hockey that invites a lot of shots. Lukas did a great job, and I thought we did a good job of blocking shots, too.”
One area that’s improving for the Ducks as the season unfolds is their power play.
They started the season 0-for-20 with the man-advantage and were 2-for-26 heading into Tuesday’s game. Anaheim then scored its first two goals on the power play before finishing 2-for-3 to improve to 13.8 percent this season.
“I think we’re just supporting each other (on the power play),” said Troy Terry, who scored the second power play goal – against New York. “Even when it goes off the rails a little bit, just knowing that you’ve got three or four on the battle, knowing where your releases are.”
Terry referred to the centering pass made by Mason McTavish that resulted in his goal and the tip-in goal by Leo Carlsson off a shot from Frank Vatrano that resulted in the other power-play tally.
“Loosened up the grip a little bit and gave us a little more confidence around the net,” Terry said.
Terry’s goal on Tuesday was the 100th of his career and extended his point streak to eight games (five goals, three assists).
–Field Level Media