Slumping Pens get a lengthy practice

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux watched most of the team’s lengthy 90-minute practice, which made it a different day than usual for the Stanley Cup champions.

The boss was in the house, and he clearly wasn’t there to socialize following the end of an 0-4 road trip.

The coach wasn’t very happy, either. Dan Bylsma originally scheduled a day off Monday following two games in Florida in as many days and before a home game against Atlanta tonight. Instead he put his players through one of their longest practices of the season.

Maybe captain Sidney Crosby said it best: When a team is slumping like Pittsburgh is, with five consecutive losses and the NHL’s reigning scoring champion not producing, a day off is a luxury.

“When we were winning five, six games in a row, we got away with two or three games where we didn’t play well and still won,” Crosby said. “We’ve played two or three good of the five we lost. There’s no magic thing, we’ve got to find a way to win a hockey game and just get back to the things that made us successful.”

In other NHL cities, six losses in seven games by a championship-level team might result in a player move or two. But with the Penguins up against the salary cap, and not a lot of help waiting around in the minors, change probably must come from within.

“No one’s happy, but there’s no finger pointing or anything like that,” defenseman Brooks Orpik said. “We’re a team that’s used to winning, so it’s a little bit different for us. But there’s no trades coming or anything like that. Nothing else outside of this room’s going to change anything. The coaches can give us all they got, it comes to a point where it all falls on us.”

It’s obvious something needs to be done, even if the Penguins’ 26-16-1 record hardly seems to be reason for panic.

What’s worrisome to them is that leads are being lost, winnable games are being frittered away and opponents are playing with far more confidence than usual against the defending champions.

“We’re making mistakes,” Crosby said. “And we’re paying for it.”