Mark Madden: Penguins have shown they can be good but also inconsistent and stubborn

The Penguins had won five straight going into Saturday’s home game vs. Toronto. They reminded us that they could still be a good team.

Then, in that game, they reminded us that they could be a bad team. They lost handily, 4-1.

A mangled line change gifted Toronto’s Mitch Marner a breakaway goal just 40 seconds into the game, igniting a rare tantrum by Sidney Crosby on the bench. The Penguins allowed a two-on-one off a neutral-zone draw with 17 seconds left in the first period. No harm done, but for heck’s sake. Jeff Petry got a penalty 54 seconds into the second period. Jake Guentzel took one six seconds into the third.

The Penguins are the NHL’s oldest team, with an average age near 30. There’s a bunch of Stanley Cup rings in that dressing room.

But, given their experience and guile, which they so rarely utilize, the Penguins’ stupidity can be absolutely appalling.

It mostly stems from a familiar source: The Penguins refuse to see themselves as they are. It’s not 2017, or ’16, or ’09. They show glimpses of that, but not enough.

The Penguins got outshot 17-5 in the first period. They had played the day before, but so had the Maple Leafs.

But the Maple Leafs are younger.

When the Penguins play back-to-back nights, they are 1-4-1 in the second game. They’ve been outscored 25-15 in those games and outshot (yikes) 244-161.

There’s no fixing that. There’s no fixing old. The Penguins don’t want to be smarter.

The Penguins also don’t have a third line.

The top six is producing and looks good, Bryan Rust’s one goal in 12 games duly noted. The fourth line has performed beyond expectations. Josh Archibald and Ryan Poehling have four goals each. Teddy Blueger has been energetic since returning from injury.

But, on the third line, Danton Heinen has no goals in 17 games. Brock McGinn had five goals in seven games recently, but he’s really a fourth-liner.

Whatever energy the third line’s wings provide is negated by what appears to be the death rattle of center Jeff Carter’s career. Carter, 37, has one goal in 15 games, and that was into an empty net. Carter is slow, much too slow for a team that fancies itself based on speed. His slide is compounded by still attempting to play like he’s a top-six.

It’s time to consider resting Carter for one leg of back-to-back games. Dress usual scratch Kasperi Kapanen and slide Poehling to center. (Using Kapanen oozes desperation.)

The Penguins need to fix their power play, too.

The power play is converting 16.7% of the time. That’s fifth-worst in the NHL. That’s utterly unacceptable given the array of talent.

The power play doesn’t score enough, nor does it seize momentum enough. It passes too much, doesn’t shoot enough and is too often all over the place.

As this space has noted, the power play doesn’t have a true point man or re-set point. That duty doesn’t have to be performed up top. Mario Lemieux and Phil Kessel both did it at the left half-wall. They settled down and reorganized.

It’s time to give Crosby that job at the right half-wall.

That would take the right half-wall away from Evgeni Malkin. Malkin has a fierce one-timer but doesn’t shoot it nearly enough, perhaps because no one tees him up properly. Malkin has two power-play goals in 22 games. That’s chump change.

Put Malkin on the left half-wall. He can just as easily not shoot the one-timer from there, and would be far from totally lost. Talent adjusts.

Crosby doesn’t get enough touches down low. He’s the team’s best playmaker and passer. Use Crosby where those skills can be put to maximum use. He could better control the pace of the power play, and provide some calm.

Not that stats are a concern, but Crosby costs himself 8-10 assists per year by not playing the right half-wall. You get helpers from insignificant touches there because the puck constantly rotates through. (Crosby would very probably like to play that spot, but acquiesces to Malkin’s preference while utilizing his own excellence in traffic.)

The Penguins can be good. They just have to more consistently figure out how.

It requires swallowing some pride. They should slow the game down in the second leg of back-to-backs. Better to do it voluntarily and under control than to have it happen organically and shoved down your throat.

They should also start Casey DeSmith against the weaker foe in those back-to-backs. Stop pretending him and Tristan Jarry are equals.