For all the things we do or don't know about that people complain about our coaching, why certain players sit over others...the PP is the one aspect I hope we can agree on that coaching is at fault. Horachek has improved the team for sure and gotten more out of certain players, but the PP has just become god-awful.
There's no denying that under Dineen and his staff, if nothing else, our PP was something to be reckoned with. And yes some players are different than before but the vast majority are the same and in some cases (i.e. Barkov) are an improvement. So what is the deal? Because if the PP was even mediocre, this team would be way more in the playoff hunt. Special teams have killed them for a long time.
However, most of last night was about terrible defensive coverage and I saw too many times where players were just standing around as the play happened around them. Unacceptable. The team knows they are good when they give their all and effort yet too many times they come out lazy or unprepared. In this instance, they started well and took their foot off the gas. How hard is a 60 minute effort to understand?