Shootout failures have Penguins coach puzzled

Pittsburgh is 2-11 since the NHL went to shootout finishes.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins are wondering why a team with such great skill can have so much trouble winning a shootout.
The Penguins lost in another shootout Thursday night in Boston to fall to 1-5 on the season. Combined with a 1-6 mark in 2005-06, Pittsburgh is 2-11 all-time in shootouts, leaving the team searching for answers.
"What can we do?" coach Michel Therrien said after practice Friday. "I'm having a hard time with that question. What can we say? We send guys out there, and it's pure one-on-one."
When the shootout was born out of the 2004-05 lockout to eliminate ties and increase fan excitement, a team like the Penguins seemed tailor-made to take advantage of it.
Its abundance of skilled players -- league scoring leader Sidney Crosby and rookie scoring leader Evgeni Malkin chief among them -- would appear to make them adept on converting shootouts. It hasn't happened that way. And for a team in such a heated playoff race, each point lost could mean the difference at the end of the season.
"I don't know why we have struggled," forward Colby Armstrong said. "It's kind of a tricky thing, those shootouts. One big save or one lucky bounce can swing the whole thing. With only three shooters, if you get that first goal ... hopefully we can start winning more games in regulation."
Breakaway practice
The Penguins practice breakaways twice a week and Therrien has been known to reward players who do well in that setting in the games. That explains why defenseman Sergei Gonchar has been such a regular shooter after Malkin and Crosby.
"It's just a feel," Therrien said. "You've got about eight or nine guys that we feel have got the skills to do be successful in shootouts.
"But ... being successful during practice when there's no one in the stands is one thing. When there's 18,000 people, that's another thing."
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.