PITTSBURGH -- Do you still think of the as one of the top offensive teams in the league?A team that opposing defenses and goaltenders fear?If you do, you shouldn't. At least not with the current roster that is on the ice in the first round of their series against the , a series in which they now face elimination in after their latest one-goal lo s, a 2-1 overtime decision on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.The series goes back to New York on Friday for Game 5 with the Rangers holding a commanding 3-1 lead. For the Penguins, Wednesday's game was the same story as the rest of the series and the final weeks of the regular season. They simply Matt Davidson Jersey cannot score. At all. If you are looking to play the blame game, the obviously place to begin is to pin it on the forwards. And it's not entirely unfair, especially since several of the same problems that have existed over the past couple of years are still there. They are a top-heavy group centered around two superstars ( and ), one really good winger ( ) and a bunch of question marks around them. If teams can neutralize the two stars, which just becomes that much easier when there is no other real threat around them, nobody is providing offense.For that, they have only themselves to blame. But that is not the only problem. Perhaps the biggest one is the one Leury Garcia Jersey that has been out of their control.The thing that is really hurting the Penguins offense right now isn't just the play their forwards. It is the state of their defense, a group that has been haphazardly pieced together due to injuries to three of their top-four from the start of the season ( , and Olli Maatta) and their most promising prospect ( ). In their place are AHL callups (their third pairing is literally made up of American Hockey League defensemen) and veterans that are being asked to take on roles that they simply are not equiped to play while playing in a system that is designed for players that are the exact opposite of them.This is where the Penguins offense -- and the entire team, for that matter -- is taking its biggest hit.When they were at their best this season their defense was made up smooth skating, skilled defenders that excelled at retrieving the puck in the defensive zone and could quickly turn it back around up the ice, limiting the amount of time they had to spend in their own zone. Their best defense was putting themselves in position where they didn't have to play defense. They could skate the puck out of danger. They could quickly get it to Nellie Fox Jersey their forwards. They could jump into the play. All of this, of course, then led to offense where those same defensemen were counted on to agre sively jump into the play, join the rush, and create a second wave of offense in the offensive zone that opposing defenses had to worry about. No player was better at this than Kris Letang, who was injured late in the season when he was hit into the boards by forward . But without the likes of Letang, Ehrhoff, Maatta and Pouliot, coach Mike Johnston's system simply does not work, and there are only so many adjustments a coach can make when the team is digging that far down its depth chart for players.Making matters worse is that they ended up playing their way into the worst po sible first-round matchup with the Rangers. Not only a team that finished the regular season with the best record in the NHL, but a team that is built to expose every flaw the Penguins currently have.While the Penguins offense is completely dependent on two or three players, the Rangers go four lines deep and can get offense from any group. They are also one of the fastest teams in the NHL -- arguably the fastest -- at forward where guys like and are laughable mismatches against any pairing the Penguins put on the ice. They can't win the same races, they have to play back on their heels more, and they aren't capable of taking chances to jump into the play and help create offense. When the defensemen can not move the puck out of the zone or get it to the forwards, the forwards skill is neutralized by their own players. Two plays stand out as the difference between these two teams in this series and why one is on the verge of moving on to the second round, and Yoan Moncada Jersey why the other is on the verge of elimination.Early in Game 3 Rangers defenseman made a breakout pa s deep in his own zone and connected with Hagelin on a perfect pa s as he took advantage of a sloppy Pittsburgh line change. Hagelin blew past everybody on the ice and beat for the game's first goal in a game the Rangers went on to win by a single goal.The Penguins simply do not have a defenseman in their lineup capable Carlton Fisk Jersey of making that play right now. That play is also why the Rangers gave up so many a sets at the deadline to get Yandle an extremely talented player that just makes an otherwise great team just that much better. Fast forward to overtime of Game 4.The Penguins are once again pinned deep in their own zone for an extended period of time and unable to move the puck up the ice. The only play they are capable of making is to ice the puck two times in le s than a minute, not only bringing the faceoff back into their zone (always dangerous for the defending team) but also forcin them to keep tired bodies on the ice.The second icing play led to game-winning goal just seconds after the faceoff win.It's not like the Penguins have played poorly in this series. The players in the lineup are doing what they can, every game has been decided by a single goal, and both teams have stretches where they have carried the play. The series, which many expected to be an easy win for the Rangers at the start, has been there for the taking for the Penguins. They just don't have the players to make it happen. The Rangers do.