The Pens have lost three straight games and four of their last five contests overall. Their current skid has dropped the club to a 16-14-3 record, sixth place in the Metro Division and eighth overall in the Eastern Conference.
Pens search for answers to skid
"I think every team in the league goes through ups and downs, and we're no different," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "We just have to make sure that we do everything we can to minimize the skid we're in right now. We need a good effort, a resilient attitude in tomorrow night's game (against Arizona) and control what we can to get the result that we're looking for."
The Pens are a battle-tested team. Two years ago the club overcame a slow start and key injuries to win the Stanley Cup. Last season, 286 man-games lost piled up and they played the entire playoffs without their No. 1 defenseman in Kris Letang. That didn't stop them from repeating as champs.
If any team knows how to break out of a funk, it's this group.
"They've been through so much and have overcome so many challenges in my tenure here," Sullivan said. "There's no reason why we can't continue to do that."
"Nobody likes to lose, but I don't think we're rattled," captain Sidney Crosby said. "It's a tough point when you're generating chances and in close games and you're finding ways to let them slip. That's the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes it goes the other way."
"We have to get back to basics," forward Patric Hornqvist said. "Outwork the guy next to you, support your teammate and if we do that we'll be fine."
Overall, the Penguins are happy with their efforts. Even though they've lost four of the last five games, all five games were decided by one goal. And prior to that, Pittsburgh ran off four straight wins.
The Penguins have been on the cusp of success. Crosby feels when they do get that win it will start to turn to the team's fate.
"We're working through it, but I think we've done some good things the last couple of weeks," Crosby said. "We haven't necessarily been rewarded … We just have to find a way to get that first one and try to build from there."
"I think we've played better than our record (indicates)," Sullivan said. "There are some encouraging aspects of our game that we know if we continue to stay with it in certain areas we think we'll get some results. We believe in this group of players. We know we need to get better in some areas as well. We've tried to identify those. We had a film session this morning trying to identify a couple of those areas and give them clear evidence and why we think the way we think."
One area Sullivan has preached to his team is being stronger on pucks in the defensive zone. He believes that will lead to more offense. But overall, the team is pleased with the effort.
"I think if we continue to make sure we defend well - we've done a better job of that - if we continue to do that pucks will go in on the other side of things," Crosby said.
"We're working pretty hard, but we aren't working smart enough," Hornqvist said. "We have to make sure we're stopping on pucks and doing those small things. Our work ethic is there, but we have to work smarter out there."
Most importantly, the team hasn't lost confidence or belief in itself.
"I think you have to recognize the situation. We're in one of those right now," Crosby said. "We need some big plays. We've got the guys in here that can do it."
"We're capable. We believe in this group that we have," Sullivan said. "It's important for us right now to stay resilient from an attitude standpoint and make sure that we keep some confidence and some swagger about us that will allow us to have success."
