Pittsburgh Penguins' Defense: A Playoff Race Nail-Biter

0:00It's March 29th, welcome to NHL News Today, AI-powered coverage of your squad. I'm Cory with the story. A few weeks back, the Pittsburgh Penguins seemed locked for the playoffs, but now, with just nine games left, their spots hanging by a thread. Thanks. To brutal defensive breakdowns, they're third in the metropolitan division, one point behind the New York Islanders, and just one ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, making this. Eastern Conference race a straight nail-biter. March has been a grind for them, going six wins, six losses, and three overtime losses, which ain't terrible given the chaos. But that five-to-one smackdown by the Carolina Hurricanes on March 22nd lit up their flaws. Dave surrendered 31 goals over the seven games since March 10th, averaging 4.43 goals against per game. The top pair of air Carlson and Parker Wilde's Spoon's been fire all year, with Carlson dropping four goals and four assists in his last five. Chris Lattang and Sam Gerard on the second pair?

1:03Not so much. Sitting at a 48.5% expected goal share and Lattang all minus seven, showing his age, loud and clear. Ryan Shay's back after a March 21st injury against Winnipeg, but the leaks keep coming. Coach's might shake things up with Ilya Saloviyov, the 25-year-old they grabbed from Colorado in January. He's got five assists in 11 games, and strong underlying numbers, or call up Alexander Alexia from the minors that six-foot-four beast with a weather spoon my game, three goals and five assists in 32 AHL, outings, bottom line, Pittsburgh's coughing up too many chances and in this tightening playoff scrum, they got to patch that defense fast or watch the postseason fade into the distance.