Morning Skate: The Penguins would probably like the month of October to be over

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Lace ’em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

You would think the Pittsburgh Penguins’ goaltending problems would be solved after they put backup Antti Niemi on waivers. Instead, starter Matt Murray laid his first real clunker of a game in a 7-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets Sunday evening.

Of the Penguins’ five regulation losses this season, three of them have been complete blowouts. As of Monday morning, the Penguins have played only 13 games this season.

While we wrote awhile ago that it was too early for the Penguins to be concerned about their goaltending, three blowouts in the first month of the season is slightly worrying. Niemi may be gone, but the real heart of the problem may still remain.

Solid goaltending from Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury masked the Penguins’ problems on defense last postseason. However, without a better backup this season Pittsburgh has been scrambling to cover its biggest weakness on the blue line. Even a team led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on offense will have trouble sometimes trying to outscore what its defense gives up.

The good news for Penguins fans at least is that the team has played relatively well through most of October to end the month in the top half of the Metropolitan Division. Playoff teams aren’t made in the opening few weeks, but spots can be lost. And so far, the Penguins’ problems haven’t caused them to lose too much ground.