BOSTON — Sidney Crosby sat at his stall in the Penguins locker room trying to come up with an explanation for his team’s continued inability to score goals.
It’s a very unfamiliar situation for him — the Penguins have been one of the NHL’s highest-scoring teams his entire career — but it’s a storyline that’s dominated Pittsburgh’s season through 30 games.
Wednesday night’s game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden could have been a turning point for Crosby and the Penguins. The Pittsburgh captain entered the matchup with 37 points in 28 career games versus the B’s, but he failed to add to that total in a 3-0 loss.
Crosby finished with just three shots on goal and won 46 percent of his faceoffs in 18:47 of ice time.
“Every game is different,” Crosby said. “Tonight maybe things end differently if one of those doesn’t hit the crossbar early. Those things happen, but we have to find a way to just score some ugly ones, and once we get one or two, hopefully the floodgates open for us.
“We can’t let it bother us, and at the same time we can’t accept it. Yeah, we hit a couple crossbars but teams hit crossbars and score different ways, too. That’s totally on us to find ways to score goals, and it may have to be ugly ones until we start to get some bounces.”
The Penguins’ lack of goals didn’t come from a lack of effort, or shots. They fired 69 shot attempts (59 at even strength), 34 of which hit the target. The problem was Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask could see most of those shots because the Pens failed to create much traffic around the crease. Rask was forced to make just four high-danger saves, per War on Ice.
“You look at our last few games, 40-plus shots a couple times,” Crosby said. “(The Bruins) are a team really confident playing with a lead, and if all of a sudden we get that first one, maybe things open up for us and gain a bit more confidence, and maybe it’s different. But we got to find a way to change our fate in games and get an ugly one and not allow those posts or bad bounces to hurt us.”
The Penguins must improve as soon as possible because the possibility of earning a playoff spot from the Metropolitan Division is slipping away fast. The New York Islanders are third and have an eight-point lead on the Pens. The New York Rangers are nine points up and the Washington Capitals are starting to run away with first place.
Making matters worse for the Pens is the Atlantic Division has been more competitive than expected. It’s possible that no wild card playoff spots could come out of the Metro.
This is a challenge unfamiliar to Pittsburgh, and it will reveal a lot about the character of this group.
“We need points. Every single point is important,” Crosby said. “The league is so tight. Any points you can get — this is a position that’s probably new to us. We’re going to see how we react, and I think it’s a good challenge for us.
“It’s hopefully going to keep us sharp and force us to have that desperation we need to compete every night.”
Thumbnail photo via Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports Images
