Mark Madden: Penguins' loss to Blackhawks in must-win game was one of worst in franchise history

The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t good. Listing their blown leads and losses to rotten teams would take too long, and it adds up to a simple description: horse manure.

Tuesday’s 5-2 home defeat to Chicago was one of the worst losses in franchise history, given what was at stake and the execrable caliber of the foe.

Chicago was tied for the fewest points in the NHL before beating the Penguins. Tuesday’s win was Chicago’s second in 13 games. None of the Blackhawks’ 11 losses in that span had been by less than two goals. No loser points. Just losing. (Chicago had played the night before, too.)

The chant went up: “Fire Hextall!” But GM Ron Hextall wasn’t to blame for Tuesday’s debacle.

Oh, Hextall has done an awful job. He should be terminated and will be.

But Hextall wasn’t on the ice. He assembled a flawed team, sure, but not so flawed that there’s any good excuse for losing to the Blackhawks, a team that needed a better chance of drafting phenom Connor Bedard with the first overall draft pick than it needed two points Tuesday. Both teams got damaged by the result. (The Blackhawks’ chance of winning the Bedard lottery went from 25.5% to 13.5%. Yikes.)

We shouldn’t be outraged. Most had the Penguins pegged as a borderline playoff team, a wild card at best. (Me, too.)

But the Penguins lost to a terrible team after getting an improbable reprieve Monday when Washington beat the New York Islanders.

That’s unforgivable. It’s the lowest point of a disappointing season.

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So the Penguins’ 16-year playoff streak is over, becoming official after the Islanders defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, on Wednesday. It stopped meaning much when they stopped winning playoff series. They haven’t done that since 2018.

It’s a bad team now. But that’s not the fault of the core three. They’re running on fumes but did all they could to get a crap roster to the playoffs. Evgeni Malkin had the Penguins’ first goal Tuesday. Sidney Crosby had eight shots, including a fistful of good chances.

Crosby and Malkin have played every game this season. That’s the first time they’ve done that in the same campaign. That somehow got wasted.

The Penguins are a slow team that thinks it’s fast. Many foes are much quicker.

The Penguins play a speed-based style that no longer fits their roster.

The Penguins are woefully small and weak. They play the equivalent of men’s league no-check.

Tristan Jarry is not a winning goalie. He leaked in two bad goals vs. Chicago. The goal that made it 3-1 came with him facing his net. (Memo to young goaltenders: Don’t do that.)

But the primary problem is the Penguins have a bunch of bad players.

It’s easier to list the defensemen who are competent: Kris Letang and the injured Marcus Pettersson. Every other blueliner is some degree of lousy. Same goes for every forward below the top six. The goaltending is poor.

This space will soon recommend roster changes and tactical adjustments. The former will be difficult because of eight contracted players who have some form of no-movement clause. The latter will be unlikely due to stubbornness.

Next year promises more of the same, only worse.

Tuesday’s game felt bad from the start. Malkin had a great chance right away but got stopped. Then Chicago played well for a bit. That got the Blackhawks interested.

The Penguins got few second shots and few shots through traffic. Their power play went 1 for 5 but was mostly an abomination, a monument to the Penguins’ conceit. Do the same thing again and again whether it works or not. No sign of a Plan B.

A lot of things could have long ago put the Penguins safely into a playoff spot. Humility, composure and malleability are among them.

The Penguins weren’t flat Tuesday. They were just bad.