The Penguins did not have very many bright spots this past week as they lost back to back games to the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. However, the Pens did see some great plays from two of their stars.

On Wednesday vs. the Red Wings, Evgeni Malkin recorded a goal just 53 seconds into the game and extended his personal point streak to three games. In that same game, Erik Karlsson put up a goal and two assists to total three points on the night, with one of those assists coming on the Malkin goal.  

Star production isn’t always enough to claim a win though, as a lack of defense overall and poor play in the second period is what ultimately led to the Penguins’ demise.  

Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel fanned on a check on Austin Czarnik as he entered the Penguin’s zone. Czarnik would then pass to Alex DeBrincat for a goal to tie it at 1-1 in the first period.

The Red Wings put up three goals in the second period to make it 4-1 going into the final frame. Detroit took advantage of the Penguins defensive woes on all three goals. Pierre-Olivier Joseph was not able to pressure Dylan Larkin before he made a pass to Ben Chariot for the Red Wings second goal.

Kris Letang and Chad Ruhwedel both failed to tie up Red Wings players who were standing right in front of the net, which led to two more goals. Letang didn’t defend Andrew Copp who scored on a tip-in, and Ruhwedel left David Perron alone for a rebound on the power play.

The Penguins tried to make a push in the third period with goals coming from Karlsson and Bryan Rust, but the Red Wings would stave off the comeback and score two empty net goals to make the final score 6-3.

The Penguins traveled to St. Louis on Saturday to face the Blues where their defense once again troubled them. The Blues held a 1-0 lead for about half of the first period, but the Penguins tied it with five seconds left in the period when Evgeni Malkin scored on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box. Malkin now has eight points through his first five games of the season. 

The big killer for the Penguins for the rest of the game was the odd man rushes that they gave up. Each of the Blues’ next three goals came after they entered the Penguins zone on an odd man rush.

The Penguins would get a late third period goal from recent minor league call-up Radim Zohorna to make it 4-2, but there wasn’t much push from the Pens to tie the game after that.

If the Penguins want to be better in their next few games, they need their defense to play their positions better, and they need more production from their bottom six forwards. The third line of Zohorna, Drew O’Connor, and Lars Eller did play a good game on Saturday with each of those players getting a point on that late goal. But the bottom six have been overall quiet when it comes to scoring and their games need improvement as a whole.

The Penguins will play the second game of a four game homestand on Thursday at 7p.m. against the Colorado Avalanche.