Penguins Offense Reaching New Low

The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the worst scoring teams in the NHL this month.

Nov 7, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) looks up against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Lenovo Center. / James Guillory-Imagn Images

Things are not going well for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their defense is among the worst in the NHL, and goaltending is not far behind. Offensively, the Penguins partially masked those issues early in the season, keeping them competitive in October.

Fast forward to today, scoring more than two goals in a game has become nearly impossible for this Penguins team. Pittsburgh has scored two or fewer goals in seven of their last ten games.

As a result, the Penguins are 30th in the NHL with 2.09 goals per game (G/GP) in November. That's a drastic fall from the 2.92 G/GP they scored in October despite being shut out twice. Their 5v5 scoring also shrunk from 24 goals in October to 15 in November.

There is one explanation for the Penguins' lack of scoring in November. They stopped shooting the puck.

In October, the Penguins were 5th in the NHL in shots on goal per game (32.2), scoring 9.1 percent of the time. This month, they have fallen to 20th in that category (27.7), scoring on 7.5 percent of their shots.

Players throughout the lineup are experiencing lengthy goalless droughts. Evgeni Malkin has scored twice in the last 13 games. Rickard Rakell scored six goals in October but has just one goal in his previous 12 games. Even Erik Karlsson (one in 21) and Kris Letang (zero in 17) have failed to contribute.

The Penguins are producing less than they did during their pre-trade deadline crash last season (2.5 G/GP), a stretch that led to Jake Guentzel's departure from the organization.

These struggles, combined with continued issues in the defensive zone, have dropped the Penguins to last in the Metropolitan division and have them on pace for their worst season since Sidney Crosby's rookie year.

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