Mark Madden: Penguins can't be fixed before playoffs, but here are some ideas anyway

If the Pittsburgh Penguins continue performing as they have for the past month, they’re going to get swept in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Not just eliminated, but swept.

The Penguins have lost 11 of 17 and appear to be slowing down with every game. They nearly ground to a halt Tuesday in a 5-1 loss to visiting Edmonton. The Penguins got booed at home, which smacked of both ingratitude and reality. Oilers superstar Connor McDavid had four points, giving him eight points in two games against the Penguins this season.

It was a stink sandwich, and the bites keep getting bigger.

It doesn’t matter who the Penguins play in the first round. There is no favorable opponent. Detroit isn’t a possibility.

Can it be fixed? Probably not. But here are some ideas:

• Evgeni Malkin must be much better 5-on-5 or the Penguins can’t help but be a one-line team. Malkin has 40 points in 40 games, but half those are on the power play. His 5-on-5 metrics stink. His play between and at the blue lines is atrocious. Malkin needs to simplify for the team’s benefit. He is mostly a liability. Save the nostalgia for when his number gets retired.

• Use Kasperi Kapanen in the middle six even though he has been awful. Him producing is unlikely. But if Kapanen is scratched, whoever replaces him won’t help much. Use Kapanen with Malkin or Jeff Carter and hope his talent improbably ignites. (It’s a long shot.) Kapanen got scratched Sunday at Philadelphia. His father, ex-NHLer Sami, was there to watch. Ding dong! Hello!

• Coach Mike Sullivan’s new line combinations quickly got ripped asunder Tuesday when Jason Zucker got injured. (Of course, he did.) But Sullivan’s goal is to distribute the Penguins’ firepower relatively evenly below the Sidney Crosby-Jake Guentzel-Bryan Rust trio. It puts Brock McGinn on Malkin’s wing, which is odd. But it’s worth a try. Rolling four lines is a must.

• Sullivan needs a Plan B. He prefers speed uber alles, but that’s not working against a lot of teams, including the Oilers on Tuesday and the New York Rangers every time. The Penguins aren’t as fast as they were, or as they want to be, but insist on fooling themselves. The Penguins need to trap and counterattack, using their speed selectively. (But they won’t.)

• The Penguins must stop conceding goals in the first, last and next minutes. Since March 11, the Penguins have allowed a goal within two minutes of scoring 11 times. Eight of those 11 came within a minute. Five came within 30 seconds. Edmonton scored within 25 seconds of the Penguins tying Tuesday’s game 1-1. That reflects inexcusable lack of focus. You had one job. …

A lot of things just are what they are:

• The Penguins have a sketchy defense corps. Kris Letang is having a career year. Mike Matheson is very good. Chad Ruhwedel is as good as he can be. The rest are varying degrees of disappointing. That’s very unlike Brian Dumoulin. It’s become par for John Marino’s course.

• Casey DeSmith is doing fine. Since Tristan Jarry got hurt, DeSmith’s goals-against average in the four games since is 2.04, his save percentage .945. If DeSmith is pressed into playoff duty, he won’t be the reason the Penguins lose. He won’t be the reason they win, either.

• Over his last 18 games, Crosby has 11 goals and 14 assists. Guentzel has 11 goals and 11 assists over his last 18 games. Those two are excelling. So is Letang. The Penguins are still struggling. Yikes.

The Penguins have little chance to win a playoff series. They haven’t won one since 2018 and are visibly disintegrating. Their run is over, and probably ended in 2018 when they lost to Washington in the second round. It’s organic and could not have been prevented. The Penguins were better longer than, say, Chicago because Crosby has been better longer.

The Penguins have made the playoffs 16 straight years, the longest current streak in North American sports. They were legit Stanley Cup contenders from 2008-18, winning three times and making another final. Theirs is no disgrace.

But if the team’s past Cup winners want motivation, this is absolutely, 100% their last playoff together. Major change is afoot. Fenway Sports Group didn’t spend $900 million buying the Penguins to leave things intact after a fourth straight one-and-done.

So the Penguins’ core should make the most of what time it has left together.

We should all make the most of watching it, too. No boos. Only gratitude.