Pens Points: Lucky Loser

A back-and-forth affair between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night saw the Penguins escape the Canadian capital with a point despite allowing four power play goals. Tied after every period, the Penguins and Senators battled for 60 minutes with the hosts getting the better of the play more often than not, but a third period Rickard Rakell power play salvaged a point. [Pensburgh]

Pens Points...

It’s been another frustrating season for Brian Dumoulin to this point and fans have been calling for his removal from the lineup. Due to injuries that move is unlikely to be made and his current role alongside Ty Smith is generating positive results. [Pensburgh]

Power play goals remains hard to come by for the Penguins this season and they will need their man advantage units to step up for the playoff chase. Mike Sullivan still believes in his units, but he needs to get them humming soon. [Trib Live]

There is no one fix for a struggling power play like the Penguins, but one area that could greatly benefit the overall success unit is reworking the zone entries and get away from the drop pass approach that is stuck in the mud. [The Athletic $$]

When Danton Heinen resigned with the Penguins this offseason, it was well received by the fan base after the season he has in 2021-22. Now midway through 2022-23, Heinen has been a no show and could see his time in Pittsburgh coming to an end. [Fan Nation]

P. O. Joseph and his brother Mathieu looked set to play against each other for the first time at the NHL level last night but that opportunity was denied when the Senators decided to list Mathieu as a healthy scratch prior to the game. [Fan Nation]

News and notes from around the NHL...

There’s a mess in Philadelphia at the moment and it has nothing to do with the Flyers on-ice performance. Ivan Provorov refused to take warmups wearing special Pride Night jerseys and now he and the team are left to deal with the fallout. [Broad Street Hockey]

Not much change at all in the Metro division standings this week. Carolina still leads the way with the Devils and Rangers in pursuit. It’s also a three-way Metro race for the wild card spots with the Capitals and Penguins currently in playoff position. [Canes Country]

For a Senators take on last night’s contest, head over to fellow SB Nation blog Silver Seven of their recap and thoughts. [Silver Seven]