Back to the Pittsburgh Penguins Newsfeed

Penguins Update: Is Our Defense Good Enough?

Back in their Broad Street Bullies heyday, the Flyers selected a defenseman in the 1973 Amateur Draft named Larry Goodenough. IMHO, his nickname was one of the all-time best. “Izzy,” as in, “is he” Goodenough?

Har har.

I have similar questions about the Penguins’ defensive corps. Is it good enough to support a playoff push?

The raw numbers seem to say yes. Entering the All-Star break, we’re remarkably tied with the goaltending poor Oilers with the second-fewest, non-shootout goals allowed (124). It’s a little bit smoke and mirrors. Due to the fact that we’ve played fewer games than most of our competition we’re actually sixth in average goals allowed per game (2.