Mark Madden: There's no easy fix for Penguins, but here are some things to try

It’s not time to panic, mainly because panic never helps.

But the Penguins are doing things bad teams do. Consider Sunday’s 6-2 home loss to Carolina:

• After losing 5-2 at home to Washington on Saturday, Evgeni Malkin lectured his teammates (and himself) for all that went wrong. Against Carolina, he whacked the stick out of a foe’s hands with the puck nowhere near to take a dumb penalty 75 seconds in.

• The Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first period. They held that edge for just 33 seconds. Carolina’s goal was scored by Morgan Geekie, playing his first NHL game.

• The power play was 1 for 7, scoring only during a five-on-three. The only momentum the Penguins power play generated was for Carolina. The frustration was palpable and plentiful.

• Carolina used a minor league goalie. At least it wasn’t the Zamboni goalie.

• Even the few Penguins who had played OK despite the team’s stench faltered. Case in point: John Marino, whose usual composure devolved into flailing like an amateur.

The Penguins’ problems are great, and they are many.

The humanoids prefer pinpointing the GM, coach or a player (see Johnson, Jack) by way of scapegoating. But this is way beyond. The Penguins, as a group and individually, simply must play better. No one is blameless.

The Penguins beat Toronto, 5-2, on Feb. 18 to claim first place in the Metro Division. Right then, I would have given them a 50-50 chance to make the Stanley Cup Final.

Right now, I’d say they’re 50-50 to make the playoffs, maybe 60-40.

The Penguins’ slide is precipitous. Every opponent seems daunting. The Penguins are at New Jersey on Tuesday. The Devils sit last in the Metro. But they’re 6-1-2 in their last nine games. They’ve allowed two goals or fewer in six of those games.

Uh-oh.

No one adjustment can fix the Penguins. Nor can several adjustments. This isn’t chess. Moving pieces around won’t turn pawns into kings.

But a few things are worth trying:

• Pick a goalie. Neither has earned the No. 1 job. Neither steals games. But maybe allowing one to feel like the starter will boost him. The push of competition didn’t help.

Tristan Jarry has better numbers. He has been superior. But the plan always was to turn back to Matt Murray. So do that.

• Put your best six forwards on your top two lines. Go with Jason Zucker-Sidney Crosby-Patric Hornqvist, and Jared McCann-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust.

If Conor Sheary wasn’t good enough to skate on Jack Eichel’s line in Buffalo, don’t play him with Crosby in Pittsburgh. Patrick Marleau is 40. He’s not a top-six anymore.

Hornqvist is having a good season, and it’s the time of year when hockey gets played below the hash marks. McCann hasn’t scored in 21 games, but he can fly, and he still has three more goals than Marleau.

• Rethink the power play’s philosophy, and tweak the personnel. Rust is having a career year, but he is no threat on the left half-wall. Keep Justin Schultz up top, and replace Rust with Kris Letang. He is a more forceful presence and will help with zone entries. Put Hornqvist in front, not Zucker.

Then shoot the puck more. It’s cliched when the crowd clamors for that. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

The Penguins power play always thinks back-door tap-in. The unit scores 20.3% of the time, which is mediocre but not terrible. But it almost never generates momentum when it doesn’t score. It doesn’t make the other team scramble.

Do what Philadelphia does: Shoot constantly from the circles, crash from the weak side. Tee up Malkin. Rinse and repeat. At least make that Plan B and use it when what’s preferred falters. Getting the puck to the net collapses the foe’s PK. More room to work with. It’s too easy to kill a penalty against the Penguins.

• Any personnel moves would be inconsequential. Schultz is struggling. Chad Ruhwedel could replace him. But that skews the power play. Keep Evan Rodrigues on the fourth line, if only because he is the lone Penguin who didn’t stink vs. Carolina.

The Penguins are playing terribly but aren’t yet in ruins. They have more points than they did after 68 games in each of the last two seasons — 84 > 81 and 82. (Then again, the Penguins won one playoff round total between 2018 and ‘19.)

The Penguins don’t look like a Stanley Cup contender.

But few thought they looked like one in 2016.

Play better. Analysis beyond that is mostly filler. The Penguins have the components.