Islanders Stymie Pop-Gun Penguins, 2-0

The Penguins are beginning to remind me of a light switch. On again…off again. Win one…lose one.

Great for saving on the electric bill. But not so great if you’re scratching and clawing for a playoff spot in the tightly packed MassMutual East Division and every point counts.

Aside from Casey DeSmith’s gutsy 28-save effort in a losing cause, there was little to like about the Pens’ putrid performance on Long Island yesterday afternoon. Even DeSmith’s outing was tainted a tad by a softie he allowed through the five-hole, but I’ll give Casey a pass since he was making his first start since February 11.

Goaltending was the least of our worries.

Once again, the special teams were atrocious. We were oh-for-two on the power play yesterday…it could have easily gone oh-for-200. It was typical back-and-gold stuff…a complete inability to work the puck into the prime scoring areas. Heck, we couldn’t even win puck battles on the perimeter.

I have no idea how to fix this. Practically everyone Mike Sullivan puts out there is ineffective. Maybe it’s time to break up the old gang and go with five guys who give you the best chance to score. Stick the third line out there and see what they can do. Or give Mike Matheson a shot at quarterback. They could hardly do worse.

The PK is no better. Once we get pinned in our zone, we’re like so many sardines sealed in a tin. Again, an inability to win puck battles is a concern. Not that it takes a Sherlock Holmes to deduce, but the Islanders have figured out that if you plant someone in front of our net, no one will cover him. At least not forcefully.

Easy pickins’.

Again, no clue how to fix this. As with the power play, the problem seems to be embedded as much with our personnel as in our scheme. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, some functional size and aggression at both ends of the ice might help.

There’s another, more worrisome trend. An abject lack of scoring punch.

Over our previous five games, our forwards have tallied a grand total of seven goals. Two combined from our erstwhile “Two-Headed Monster” Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

We’ve scored four goals or more in regulation only four times in 20 games.

That’s not enough. This team isn’t built to win with air-tight defense. It’s built to win with offense. And save for some solid production from the third line of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev, we’re not getting it.

Just like yesterday.

Puckpourri

The Isles outshot the Pens, 30-20, and won 56 percent of the draws. Two of our shots came during a somnambulant first period, eight more in the second for a grand total of 10 shots through 40 minutes. Which pretty much matched our sweat equity.

We handed the New Yorkers five power plays…they scored on two.

We’re presently ranked 26th in power play percentage (a dismal 15 percent) and 29th in penalty killing (72.1 percent). Few teams make the playoffs with such crappy special teams.

The Pens are outside of the MassMutual East playoff picture in fifth place with a record of 11-8-1 and 23 points. Two points behind the Flyers, who have two games in hand. Speaking of, we have three games with Philly this week at PPG Paints Arena that could well decide our postseason fate.

Let’s hope we give a better account of ourselves than yesterday.