Never Say Die
It was do or die for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings, and the Penguins, rebounding from a 5-0 blasting in Detroit on Saturday, live to fight one more day.
After Game 5 and in the two days leading up to Game 6, the Penguins absorbed Detroit’s onslaught, as well as criticism and faltering faith by the media and fair-weather fans. They still believed. They took responsibility for their poor performance and moved on, preparing for the game that would determine their fate.
Detroit brought their “A” game in spurts and at times for nerve-wracking duration in the Pens’ defensive zone, only to be stymied by the stellar play of Marc-Andre Fleury, including toe saves, repelling point-blank shots on break-aways, and incredible grace under the pressure of a post bounce and a sliding puck that ended up neatly on the front side of Fleury, trapped between his padded legs.
Taking Fleury’s early Game 5 exit personally, every player in front of him in Game 6 gave him the kind of help he needed and then some. Forwards back-checked hard. Defensemen fought in front of the net to keep Fleury’s vision clear. Strong penalty-killing and puck clearing, including the ever-effective Murphy Dump and strong forechecking added to Fleury’s confidence. The ultimate gesture of all-for-one-and-one-for-all came in the final minute of play. A crazy scramble in front of the Penguins’ net found Fleury down and helpless to the left of his post. An ever-vigilant Rob Scuderi as legal tender sprawled in front of the net to make at least three monumental saves in blinding and furious traffic.
From the start, this game was expected to be a close one, easily one goal to separate the victor from the vanquished. The second period has proven to be a rough one for the Penguins, particularly in Game 5, but they came out determined to make it a strong period. Sure enough, with :51 left in the period, Jordan Staal found his second momentum-changing goal of the series as he wisely chose to shoot instead of pass on a 2-on-1 breakaway with a distracting Matt Cooke flanking to his left. Wings goalie Chris Osgood made the initial stop, but the deflection found the quick stick of Staal who hit his own rebound behind Osgood glove-side as Staal’s own momentum was carrying him quickly past the net.
A two-goal cushion is always preferable, and Staal’s regular linemate, Tyler Kennedy, came through at 5:35 in the third period. It would prove to be gold as the Wings answered almost two and a half minutes later off a Kris Draper shot. The scoring ended there and was enough to bring the series to a 3-3 tie and force a Game 7 on Friday in Detroit. The Keeper of the Cup had to put away his polishing rag and pack it in because the Cup was not making the rounds just yet.
Additional Notables
- Pens back to breaking through 30 shots on net (31). Bill Guerin and Tyler Kennedy led the team with 6 shots each; followed by Jordan Staal and Ruslan Fedotenko with 3 shots each.
- 35 hits by 13 Penguins versus Detroit’s 26, and they were bone-jarring. Chris Kunitz and Matt Cooke as the Bash Brothers led the team with 5 hits each followed closely behind by Fedotenko, Brooks Orpik, and Sergei Gonchar with 4 each.
- 11 takeaways versus Detroit’s 5.
- Early dictation of the pace of play as well as puck-possession.
- Disciplined play–keeping to only 2 penalties, both questionable calls.
- Dead even with Detroit, winning 50% of their face-offs.
- Strong play by the Staal line.
- Inspired steals by Evgeni Malkin.
- Even strength goals–something that had been of concern for the talking heads.
- Zetterberg, Franzen, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, and Hossa were not only kept scoreless, they were kept pointless.
There’s a lot of debate among coaches, players, and pundits about momentum shifts at this stage in the season, but if the momentum has not shifted even slightly in the Penguins’ favor heading into Detroit, at the very least this win has given the Red Wings pause. The Penguins show time and again that they can take the hardest of hard knocks and come back more resilient than ever. They have now gone past last year’s benchmark. This is uncharted territory “fer sure” but they’re not trepidatious. They are boldly going where they haven’t gone before, and they’re loving it.
![[Bloglines]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[MySpace]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Twitter]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Email]](http://nhlpens.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
The Hockey Gods Must Be Crazy
In my short blogging career, I’ve refrained from writing in 1st person, but on Game 7 Eve, I find myself feeling the pull of the fan side of me just as much as the analyst side. Driving in my car after work today, I knew hell had frozen over and pigs were flying because, for once, I was in complete agreement with both local sports commentators, Mark Madden and Rob Rossi, as they talked over the impending Game 7 on Madden’s radio show.
Here’s what made sense:
- Rossi–The key to the game is TRUST. The Penguins have to trust in themselves, trust in the system, and trust in the coaches. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will be a monster in this game. While he has been criticized for the occasional soft goal, when going over his body of work, especially in big do-or-die situations, he rises to the occasion and gets it done just about every time. This will be such an occasion. He also has the ability to bounce back big after less-than-stellar performances.
- Madden–Chris Kunitz is not making the impact that he needs to and that he was brought onto the team for as one of Sidney Crosby’s wingers. While the hits have been spectacular, he often puts himself out of position–such a situation led to a Caps goal in Game 6. Jordan Staal is a big body that could more than adequately fill a Ryan Malone role; he needs to believe that and start utilizing his size and strength in front of Caps goalie Varlamov–a lot.
- Madden’s Line-up
Fedotenko–Crosby–Malkin
Kunitz–Staal–Guerin
Kennedy–Talbot–Cooke
Adams–Satan
The Malkin-Crosby pairing makes sense in that Ovechkin would eventually be overwhelmed trying to go head-to-head in a line against them. Malkin and Fedotenko can both handle Sid’s passes, which can be key in front of the net on tip-ins and weird bounces. Vice-versa, Sid’s no slouch in front of the net either as he’s proven in this series. Fedotenko has the hot hand right now, and this threesome could make for a pretty formidable line.
Staal centering Guerin and Kunitz is also a good choice. When Kunitz first arrived, Sid was out hurt, so he was put on a second line centered by Staal while Malkin centered the first line. Instantly, the chemistry was there and both Kunitz and Staal were very productive. That reunion could be the spark that gets Kunitz on the board–he’s due. Bill Guerin is another guy who knows how to play in front of the net and has shown some success doing that in the playoffs.
Talk about an energy line–Talbot centering, flanked by Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke is literally high-octane as all three are very similar in tenacity and style of play. Talbot has had a great series, and his efforts helped to spark Malkin. He has given 110% to the best of his ability. While Kennedy and Cooke have struggled, it is not out of the realm of possibility that one or both of these guys could figure in scoring in this game.
One change I would make, however, is to come back to four full lines of forwards rather than double-shifting one of the three centers with Adams and Satan. This would require reactivating Pascal Depuis, another hardworking energy guy, and having to go back to six defensemen. Craig Adams has had a solid series, playing a physical role and working hard on the boards. Miroslav Satan had his best two games of the entire season in 5 & 6, adding a rarely seen physical element to his repertoire.
It involves making a choice between the veteran Philippe Boucher with his explosive slapshot and the young Alex Goligoski’s offensively-minded defensive playing style. In agreement with Madden, running seven defensemen throws off the forwards’ rotation cycles and was the cause of a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, something the Penguins rarely did all year. That’s a penalty that can be ill-afforded in a series like this where one mistake can literally cost a team the game, and in this game’s case–the series.
Coach Dan Bylsma’s decision to use seven defensemen was a necessity. The team was in a back-to-back game situation, and the fact that Sergei Gonchar was lost so early in the previous night’s contest, caused Bylsma to have to roll his remaining five defensemen for a ton of minutes. They needed the burden of the next night to be shared in order to regain their own legs, particularly in the event of a Game 7 situation. It would not hurt to resume the make-up of 12 forwards and 6 defense.
Rob Rossi believes this team will win Game 7, that they have another level in them, and it is true. They need to stick to their plan and play for 60 minutes. The 2nd period has been make-or-break for them, and they are well aware of it. If they keep their shifts to 40-45 seconds instead of 1:05 or more, they will be able to sustain their energy and their tempo because when they play at that level, they dominate.
No time like the present.
The “Shhhh” of Death
For all those Christopher Walken fans who remember him as the angel of death in Prophecy, watching Penguin Mad Max Talbot put an index finger to his lips, with a little knowing smile to the Philly fans as he said “shhhhhhh” was the the kiss of death for the Flyers.
Max Talbot and the "Shhhh" of Death
On the heels of a fight with Flyers’ tough guy, Dan Carcillo, Talbot’s atonement for a goal-costing mistake earlier in the game proved to be the wake-up call for a team that had played hard, but found themselves down 3-0 barely five minutes into the 2nd period. Coach Dan Bylsma said of the fight, “I think Max Talbot really changed the momentum with that,” referring to the fact that the Philly fans were really into the game and extemely loud. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar concurred, “Yeah, it’s one of those things. Fight starts and things start going your way.”
Entering the first intermission, the Penguins were down 2-0 and having to start the 2nd period on the penalty kill. Danny Briere found the back of the Penguin net as Evgeni Malkin looked on from the sin bin to make it 3-0. Enough was enough. If Penguins fans were scanning their team’s bench looking for a hero, Mad Max might not have been their first choice, but here’s a guy who has a lot of heart, a lot of drive, and he lays it out, all out, on the ice every game in any way he can. Carcillo was due anyway. He was the one who received the 1-game suspension earlier in the series on a shot to Talbot’s head in the final seconds of that game.
When asked about the timing of the fight, Talbot replied, “I think it was the right time. The crowd was into it. Sometimes it’s gonna work. Sometimes you lose momentum. This time it gave it a little bit of momentum.” The momentum started with Ruslan Fedotenko breaking out of his 5-year playoff goal-scoring slump with his net presence on some hard work by linemate Malkin.
Not to be outdone, just a shade under two minutes later, Mark Eaton scored on a screamer of a shot through a collectively strong shift, joining the rush with linemates of the moment Tyler Kennedy and Fedotenko during a 4-on-4 situation that happened as a result of the earlier goal and a melee in front of Biron’s net. The crowd was no longer into it. All the energy was coming from the Penguins bench, and they were cyphoning it off the Flyers bench.
Captain Sidney Crosby evened it up, and it was clear that the Penguins were steam-rolling. Coach Bylsma’s mantra to his team throughout the game was an admonishment of patience, “Keep playing the right way. Stay focused for 60 minutes.” For Sergei Gonchar, he got the monkey off his back, scoring what would end up being the game-winner, his first goal in 29 playoff games. The collective sigh of relief could be felt on the Penguins bench comingled with the rejuvenation of the team.
Crosby’s empty-netter after Philly pulled Biron to add the extra attacker was a thing of beauty. His first attempt did not go as he was in hot pursuit by a back-checking Flyer, but the puck bounced his way as he buzzed around the net and laid it in on the second chance, leaving 28 seconds on the clock.
The biggest element–character. That’s according to Max Talbot, “a lot of character.” It’s no surprise to Penguins fans, particularly in the last two seasons. Last year, they battled through an unbelievable number of injuries, including lengthy ones to Crosby and Fleury around mid-season. The talking heads said the team would be lucky if they could manage to stay around.500. In Malkin’s mind, that was unacceptable because he literally took the team on his shoulders, and his drive was infectious. The team pulled together and put themselves high in the playoff rankings. And then they battled the Giant Detroit Red Wings. No one expected them to be there.
The character of that group of guys, their never-say-die attitude even when things look bad is a testament to their heart. There’s no quit in them. Certainly not in Philadelphia on Saturday as they came roaring back with 5 unanswered goals. Coach Bylsma said of this series and of his team, “Huge test. Huge character for our team. Down 3-0 in this building. I think that says a lot about our group…When the team plays the right way, it gives different guys an opportunity to score.”
What worked:
- The right fight at the right time. Something like that in a high-stakes game is always a gamble, but for those supporters of taking fighting out of the game, if they are honest in their assessment of how the game subsequently unfolded, they would be hard-pressed to disagree with it.
- The Staal line. While their offensive numbers are not earth-shattering in this series (2G, 4A collectively), they have become a forechecking nightmare. Consistently throughout this series, with the exception of Game 3, they have kept the Flyers in their end for seemingly interminable chunks of time, wearing players down. These three have accounted for 58 shots (29% of the team’s shots) and 33 hits (20% of the team’s hits). Jordan Staal remains strong on the face-off averaging 57% in this series, ranging from 50%-79% for five of the six games. More consistently than the other lines, they have been able to start and sustain cycles. On special teams, Cooke and Staal have been solid on the primary penalty kill, and Staal is overdue for a few short-handed goals.
- Other intangibles that boost a team. Gonchar and Fedotenko breaking out of their slump. Rob Scuderi’s gutsy continued play on a PK with what at first looked like a useless left arm, later determined to be a shot taken to the body with the left arm protecting. Goals from two defensemen. A power play that had a pulse and some chances on the net.
- Defensive Corps. Really, with a few exceptions in this series, the Penguins defensive corps of Brooks Orpik, Sergei Gonchar, Hal Gill, Rob Scuderi, Mark Eaton, and Kris Letang has been about as solid, unit for unit, as they have been all year. They have improved greatly from early to mid-season play when they looked slow, out of sync, and at times, uninterested. Orpik has always been a solid hitter, but he’s found another gear and the “pounding” per square inch is well nigh incalculable. Scuderi thinks nothing of giving up the body to block a shot, and the others have followed suit, particularly Letang and Eaton. Scuderi also shines as the lone defenseman in 5-on-3 situations. Gill has shown more speed and is gaining offensive confidence.
What Still Needs to Happen–Lessons for Round 2:
- Consistency. 60 minutes of focused play that “sticks to the plan.”
- Score First and Score Often. The Penguins do themselves no favors by getting behind in a game even if they are one of the top teams in the number of come-from-behind wins. Those kinds of games are psychologically as well as physically draining. The Flyers proved to be tough to beat when they get a lead, and other teams in the playoffs will be just as tough if not tougher. With a lead, teams will lock down in their zone with very agressive “outriders” in the neutral zone as the Flyers showed in this series. The Penguins need to keep the pedal to the metal no matter how many goals they score. They themselves proved that no lead is safe.
- Keep the Hits Coming. The Penguins are as physical a team as any when they decide to be, and when they knock bodies off the puck, they do so effectively, winning the majority of the battles on the boards. Another thing they started to do in the playoffs but got away from again are good, clean, crunching open-ice hits. They are not known for it, but they are good at it. If the opportunity presents itself, they should take it. Hits are just as exhausting to receive as they are to give, and the receiver usually finds himself hesitating a little too long, expecting a hit to come. Hits get in a guy’s head. This provides the perfect opportunity to win the puck and further punish the opponent through extended cycles.
- Drop-pass Sparingly. The Penguins became too predictable with the drop-pass. It wouldn’t hurt to fake a drop and then deke around a defender, and the Penguins have enough stick-skill to do this. Not only should the drop-pass be used sparingly, but it can’t happen high, dead-center inside the offensive blue line because it’s off to the races for the other team. If it has to happen there, the forward dropping the pass needs to linger on angle just long enough to screen without interfering, thus deterring a pick-off.
- More Net Presence. Of course, this requires someone to shoot on net in order to be effective. Net presence should come in any combination of standing up and screening the goalie, to buzzing around the net, to criss-crossing in front of it, all of this with shots, shots, shots.
- Power Play, Please. If the power-play does not improve, the Penguins will not get far. Given their strong cycling at even strength, it would be interesting to see what Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy could do with Geno, or even Guerin or Kunitz coming out as the first unit. This would give a different look and throw teams off. Keep the defensive pairing of Gonchar and Letang. Bring Crosby out with Kunitz and either Talbot, who can manage a winger spot, or Satan, who looked better in Game 6.
Finally, a word needs to be said about the Philadelphia Flyers. While Pittsburgh and Philadelphia fans love to hate each other and their respective teams, it cannot be disputed that any time these teams match up, people will get their money’s worth. Biron is a tough customer between the pipes. The likes of Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, the up-and-coming Claude Giroux, and tough guys Scott Hartnell and Dan Carcillo provide a gritty, hard-hitting force to be reckoned with. They should be commended for giving the Penguins early adversity, something they did not have to face in last year’s playoffs until the finals, showing that they truly are one of the top teams in the East.
Game 6: “Coach” Chaiwoman’s Pre-game Talk
April 25, 2009 by Chaiwoman
Filed under Features, Highlights, News, Opinion
Gentlemen, it’s a race to 4, and reaching that magic number today means extra time to rest up, heal up, and get our minds right for the next level. If you want the next level, if you still remember what it was like, that taste in your mouth when Detroit came into OUR house and held that cup up, then you take that feeling and you turn it into something you can use on the ice today because that road is long, and we still have to get off this one.
Those guys in the other locker room, in their house, think they have us, think they can take this series from us. We’re here today to prove them wrong, to steal another win from under their noses in their house because we have the talent and we have the experience and we have the memory.
It’s gut-check time, boys. What do we need to do to win this?
- FOCUS–60 minutes of pure, unadulterated focus. Focus on the puck, focus on your man.
- Protect the net–backcheck hard and clear the puck smartly, with authority up the boards. North-South, North-South. Do not let them play with the puck in our zone. If you can’t get it out in under 10 seconds, it’s in there too long. Get it. Clear it. Clear it hard.
- Face-offs–win them, especially in our defensive end. Draw them back and the off wing go hard to the puck, and you’d better clear it up the boards with force to your guys waiting there for the outlet.
- Score first–it will make it easier on us because they will be forced to have to match us and keep the game moving. If they score first, they will go into protect mode, clogging the neutral zone and backing en masse into their defensive zone to make it harder for us to get at Biron, which is what they did in the 2nd and 3rd periods of Game 5. To break that, we have to Murphy dump and forecheck hard, and I don’t mean once or twice, I mean every time until they back off. Then, and only then, can you venture to carry the puck in. Beat your man to the puck and win the scrums on the boards and in the corners.
- Shoot–I don’t care if it’s 5-on-5 or 5-on-4. Move the puck, move your feet, force them to have to work you. If you have the shot, I don’t want you to chance another pretty pass to get a perfect goal. I want the shots at the net from all angles. If they can zip it across Marc-Andre’s shoulders from the goal line, we can do the same. Off guys crash the net and take a man. Ugly is gorgeous if it puts points on the board, and we have the talent of a whole benchload of guys to make that happen.
- Physical play–take a body every chance you get, but don’t be stupid. Watch the stick work. I want you to separate them from the puck and make a play. Make them tired. Make them sore, but don’t get sucked into retaliation. Skate away after the whistle no matter what they say or do. Give ‘em a grin and file it away for later when you hit them legally. That’s your payback.
- Penalty-kill–keep moving, keep forcing them to the outside. If you get the break, take it, and continue to be smart in knowing where your help is. Get a shot off if you can. Beat them on the boards in their end and grind out the clock so that they do not have a chance to set up and get going in ours.
- Power-play–no more than 3 passes. I want the puck on the net from all angles, and I’m not talking slap shots, either. We take too much time on the wind up for a slapper that they just slide into position to block it. The puck ricochets off their shins and past our defensemen. And then we’re forced to have to go back and reset because they are sending one and sometimes two guys to challenge us agressively in the neutral zone as time ticks away. Make them have to fight for and secure the puck in the corners. Make them have to work to clear it. Shoot, shoot, shoot, crash the net, and pick up the garbage. Make Biron have to break a sweat, have to second-guess what we are going to do. We want him edgy. We want him nervous.
- Have fun–feed off the hatred in those stands. Feed off the desperation against you on the ice. The Flyers have to prove to their fans today that they can stay alive. The burden is on them. Nothing would be sweeter than telling them no, in their house, on this day. Kill a crowd, kill a team–the way you know how. Do it with a smile. Do it with relish. Do it for 60 solid minutes. Taste it, smell it. That’s their fear. That’s their desperation. That’s our victory.
