Game Recap: Avalanche 5

Things are not going well for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their offense seemed to return, at least from their core group of scorers. Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play, Sidney Crosby scored at even strength and Jordan Staal scored shorthanded, but the Pittsburgh Penguins still lost 5-3 in Colorado.

The Penguins defense was their weakness today, much like it has been in many games recently. The Penguins were outshot once again and they made it far too easy for the Avalanche players to enter the zone and, even worse, get in front of the Penguins net.

The decision to start Dany Sabourin over Marc-Andre Fleury was a strange one. I didn't agree with it when it was announced. Now, I don't think that Sabourin was the reason for the loss, but Marc-Andre Fleury is the Pittsburgh Penguins starting goaltender. Unless he is injured, playing especially poorly, or facing back-to-back games, Marc-Andre Fleury should be playing as often as possible.

But, like I said, defense was the major problem today.

Philippe Boucher has not played well recently. Hal Gill and Ryan Whitney are not the same players they were before their respective injuries. Brooks Orpik is not getting the opposition's players away from the net. Neither is Hal Gill.

Speaking of being in front of the net, the Penguins forwards simply refuse to do it. I have no idea why. They can see how the opposition is scoring on them by going to the net, and yet they are not doing it.

Should Michel Therrien be concerned for his job at this point? The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette says no.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have problems. Several problems. There is no quick fix to the way this team has been playing recently.

It's not going to get easier. The Penguins play back-to-back games against Philadelphia and Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday.