from Frank Seravalli of TSN,

The Penguins (10-7-0) have never seemed happy - or even on the right page this season, not even after ripping off nine wins in a 10-game stretch from Oct. 15 to Nov. 6. No sense of accomplishment, or that the Penguins had righted the ship after a 0-3 start, emanated from their locker room.

That might be because even when the Penguins were winning, they seemed to be doing so on the back of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, with little offence and turnover-ridden defensive zone play. Only two of those wins were against quality competition: in overtime against Nashville and in Washington on a night in which they were badly outplayed for 50 minutes.

“It’s not only goals. It’s bad penalties, turnovers. It’s not play right in systems,” Malkin said Saturday. “It’s not just on the goalie. Yeah, it’s always better if you score. But we can score and play right and not make bad mistakes.”

The wins piling up only seemed to mask the underlying issues, which have reared their head in the last four games.

Pittsburgh’s offence is 27th in the NHL. Their power play is ranked 29th, with coach Mike Johnston breaking up Sidney Crosby and Malkin onto separate units last game, only to say they “didn’t generate a lot.”

The Penguins are 24th in high-danger scoring chances allowed per-game, according to war-on-ice.com. Fleury’s sterling .931 save percentage has bailed the out.

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