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Keys to Losing

At a time when the Pittsburgh Penguins were off to a red hot start, hovering at the top of the league with only three losses in their first 14 games, some might wonder critically why the focus here would be on losing. The answer is no more evident than in the back-to-back losses over the weekend on the West Coast, that upped the loss column to 5, and the very recent loss to Boston, bringing the tally to 6.

Lessons are best learned from failure moreso than from success, and it is never too late to look at why, in the midst of so many wins, the now six losses should be examined closely.

Foresight is 20/20. In those few losses, some disturbing patterns have emerged, and while they are disturbing, they are correctible. No doubt, teams around the league are looking just as closely at those keys to the Penguins’ losses as they are analyzing and breaking down what makes the 2008-2009 Stanley Cup team a formidable winner. It could be argued that, particularly from the San Jose game, the Sharks made a special study of it. Of all the teams that handed Pittsburgh a loss thus far, the Sharks lived up to their name, and with cold, methodical, unrelenting precision–and an otherworldly goaltender in Evgeni Nabokov–they were the first team to make Pittsburgh look truly vulnerable.

In the first two losses, Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, and Kris Letang were all present. In the last three losses, those players were out, and the Boston game claimed yet another blueliner in Brooks Orpik who left the game in the 1st period and did not return. The Penguins have dealt with this kind of adversity before with Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury sidelined during one season. They have managed to bear down and forge ahead. They are still that deep and have a stable of hungry young guys who are being given golden opportunities to shine. Injuries aside, here are the keys to losing that occur no matter who is on the ice and who is injured because it comes down to basics:

• Allowing the opponent to have the boards. In each of the losses, the Penguins came out flat, and instead of dominating the boards from end to end separating their opponents from the puck, they allowed their opponents to drive them off the puck, winning the puck-possession battles. Likewise, they moved away from using the boards effectively as an “extra man” to advance the puck quickly and accurately either out of the danger of their defensive zone or into the offensive zone. While the stretch pass is a nice addition to their toolbox, the Hal Gill-style of a forceful ricochet is lacking.
• Too many and too poorly-executed passes. Lateral passes instead of the North-South kind, including being too cute up the middle (and in front of one’s own net!), forced unnecessary giveaways. The purpose of the pass is the advantage of speed and the forcing of the opponent to have to awkwardly change direction in the hopes of exposing a weakness that can be just enough to result in a goal. Poor execution also falls to the goalie. When Marc-Andre Fleury is on, he’s a beast. When he’s off, he’s cooked, and it starts with his handling of the puck around his own real estate. Puck-handling has always been something he has had to work at, and in the past season and the beginning of this one, he has looked more confident–not of late. Add to that in the Sharks game the fact that the Sharks would only wait so long for the likes of Alex Goligoski and company to hold the puck behind their net to set up for a break-out before they boldly stormed in and disrupted. On more than one occasion, the Sharks broke up the break-out to the point where the first pass to the second defenseman could not be cleanly executed from behind the net. That leaves Fleury stuck with one D-man still behind the net, and the other on the half-wall harried by a Shark as he tries to collect the pass and get it up ice.
• Lack of communication. The Pens have already been marked as the team that communicates the most on the ice by the hockey pundits. When they don’t, it shows, and never more starkly than in the losses to the L.A. Kings and the San Jose Sharks. In the Kings game, the forwards time and again pulled a criss-cross as they approached the Pens’ defensive end, and the Pens’ blueliners fell all over themselves trying to figure out whether to follow their man or stay at home. It resulted in getting the puck behind the Pens defense, leaving Fleury to fend for himself.
• Befuddled by neutral zone traps. The Pens are fast, but trying to single-handedly carry the puck through a clogged neutral zone is ill-advised whether you are a first-line phenom or a fourth-line role-player. In one of the losses, the opposing team lined four players across their defensive blue line with one defenseman back, breaking up the Pens’ attempts to bust through, sending odd-man breaks the other way. In the New Jersey Devils game, the neutral zone was staked out up the middle and on the boards–hockey’s version of the tar pit is their calling card–boring but very effective. In the San Jose game, the Sharks just came at the Pens before they could get out of their own defensive end–period. Time and time again, it has been discussed that the way to break a trap is to Murphy dump the puck to force the opposing team’s defense to turn around and make a play. Then, the forecheckers come in and battle to win the puck and set-up their cycle. Sometimes a hard shot to the corners will break it, but in the San Jose game, that method was ineffective because the Sharks beat the Penguin forecheckers easily to the puck.
• NOT hitting with their best shot. While the hits from the Pens remain in the mid-20s to mid-30s on the stats sheets, it’s hard to believe they are so “not memorable.” In each of the Pens’ wins, they came out hitting AND winning the puck from the hit as a result of true, forceful, legal separation. In the losses, they did not appear to have their hearts in it, and as a result they were not able to gain the puck as successfully after a hit.
• Running the goaltender. Particularly in the West Coast games, teams were having their lawless way with Marc-Andre Fleury, and quite honestly, he should be spitting nails at his defense for it. Too many runs on Fleury were happening, throwing him horribly out of position. How does one stop that? Make the other team pay on the Pens’ power play, speaking of which…
• The power(less) play. The powerplay continues to be poor under Mike Yeo. One could argue that the loss of Gonchar (and now Letang) is having a deep impact, but Goligoski is a deft set-up man IF he does not waste too much time bringing the puck up. The Sharks, once again, got in the face of the Pens’ set-up guy, not at their blue line, BEYOND the blue line into the Pens’ face-off circles. That shows they have no fear. In the five losses, the Pens have registered 22 shots on 19 power plays! In the Boston game, they had one powerplay and 0 shots. When a power play is as ineffective as the Penguins’ man-advantage, teams will run all day on the goalie and gladly take the penalty because chances are excellent that it won’t cost them the game. That only changes when the Pens get serious about putting pucks on the net. Sid on the half-wall (or occasionally on the point) is a complete waste of time. It gives him entirely too much to think about and second-guess where he wants to place the puck. This often results in him throwing another pass that gets broken up for a short-handed situation, rather than taking a shot. This wastes the efforts of Guerin, Kunitz, and even Jordan Staal who are set up in front of the net creating a ton of traffic. Where should Sid be? Down low, just out of the goalie’s line of peripheral vision. When placed there last year, Sid was able to set up the guys in close on the net, make the opposing goalie twitchy, and even sneak in for his own score. Word on the street (a November 10 discussion between sports talk radio host Mark Madden and hockey writer Rob Rossi) is that everyone wants Sid to play there, but Sid doesn’t want to play there. This seems selfish and out of character for Sid, but hey, if that is the case, then Dan Bylsma could take a page out of Steeler Coach Mike Tomlin’s playbook and pull a Mendenhall…

This may sound harsh, but as Madden pondered, maybe Sid is not built for the power play, that methodical set-up kind of situation. He’s a run and gun, quick direction change in tight spaces kind of player.

Interesting notable: in a delayed penalty situation that brought Fleury out of the net and an extra attacker on, the Pens actually set up and moved the puck incredibly, resulting in a goal. There’s hope. Additionally, the Pens should look at the tape on the Sharks’ power play. They moved the puck with deft authority anywhere they wanted it and peppered the net.

Here’s a repeat of a plea made last year: What’s wrong with approaching a man-advantage situation like a 5-on-5 cycle? Why does cycling the puck stop when the power play is on? Jordan Staal’s line could manage it even without Kennedy by using Pascal Depuis, Chris Kunitz (who meshed immediately with Staal upon his arrival last year) or even Craig Adams who can play center or wing and has the energy and quickness to carry it off. If they become the lead power play unit and grind down the PK unit (maybe even getting the odd goal), Bylsma can bring on a second unit of a Crosby, Kunitz, and Guerin (or Mike Rupp) and wreak havoc on some tired bodies.

There are a lot of games left and as injuries heal, the team will re-form. However, every player needs to keep it simple: communication, puck separation from hard hits, quick and clean passes with effective use of the boards, more shots on net with traffic in front, quick dumps and fast forechecks to set up the cycle. All of these things can be achieved by every player on the team regardless of star status or skill.

The Pens are a resilient, tight, proud bunch. Teams are gunning for them, and knowing that, they need to settle down, take a breath, and get back to the keys to winning.

Opening Salvos

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened their 2009-10 season with their first back-to-back set of games, and their double-dose of New York opponents were chomping at the bit to get at the Kings of the Hill.

A home-opener of cosmic proportions ensued with the raising of the Stanley Cup banner for the last time in the Igloo. It was electrifying. It was nostalgic. And there were many “snapshots” one could call memorable:

• the roar of the crowd when Max Talbot came on the ice, the Game 7 hero;
• the look of sheer pride on Mario’s face;
• the ovations for Crosby, Malkin, Staal, and Fleury;
• the table holding up under the weight of the many coveted trophies earned through blood, sweat, perhaps some tears, and a whole lot of heart, bruises, and teamwork, or
• maybe it was watching that banner make its slow ascent to the rafters.

It was all good. Then the games began…

Quick Recap…
It was time for the teams to start lining up, a la the 2009-10 schedule, to see who could be the first to hand a loss to the Penguins. In their 3-2 win over the New York Rangers, despite some early jitters, the team settled down and got to work, and it promised to be a physical game with the Pens recording 41 hits, 10 more than the Rangers, but the most memorable “hits” came from a beauty of a fight between heavy-weights Donald Brashear and Eric Godard. The standard had been set.

In the second game, closing the first of 16 scheduled back-to-back games in the Pens’ schedule, the New York Islanders came out like they meant business, and it was a slug-fest to the bitter shoot-out end with the Pens prevailing. Everything was rocking and rolling.

Maybe it was the distraction of the Phoenix Coyotes’ administrative problems. Maybe it was the Coyotes’ well-executed neutral zone trap that took away the boards off of which the Pens love to race. Maybe, it was just a hiccup. The bright spot in the Pens’ first unceremonious 3-0 home loss was Jordan Staal’s face-off prowess, winning an impressive 12 of 13 draws (92%). That was about all that Coach Dan Bylsma had to smile about, except he wasn’t smiling. On the bench, as Evgeni Malkin slammed his stick and Jordan Staal looked to the heavens for answers from the hockey gods, Bylsma stood behind the duo surveying the ice with a look of ultimate disapproval.

Whatever was said in the space of time between the end of that game and the start of the next, the team regrouped to take on the hated Philadelphia Flyers. The game did not disappoint…ok…well…maybe it disappointed the Flyers’ fans as the Pens emerged victorious, but the Pens were back on track,…except for this nasty new habit of committing a ton of penalties.

The game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who looked like a stronger team in the pre-season, displayed some of the Penguins’ abilities including a red-hot power play that notched 3 goals in their 5-2 win.

The Ottawa Senators were up next, and they exhibited signs of being a serious contender as Milan Michalek and Bill Guerin exchanged goals at the end of the 1st period within less than a minute of each other. That is until, Tyler Kennedy blazed 2 more goals past netminder Pascal Leclaire, and linemate Jordan Staal stuck the dagger in for his 3rd goal in 3 games, giving Pittsburgh a 4-1 win.

The latest game against the Carolina Hurricanes promised to be a dogfight as these teams met for the first time since the playoffs when the Pens swept the ‘Canes. The stats looked about as even as they could be in just about every category through 2 periods of play. But Eric Staal did not seem himself on the ice. The ‘Canes tried the Coyotes’ trick of putting on the neutral zone trap and stacking bodies across their defensive blueline, but the Pens, better prepared than before, stuck to the plan and chipped away to force a shoot-out win. Ray Whitney was a force to be reckoned with, and Cam Ward put on just as much of goalie clinic at his end as Marc-Andre Fleury did at the other, denying Bill Guerin’s sure goal from what looked like inches.

What Needs to Change…
The biggest, most glaring anomaly emanating from the Penguins team that fans have come to know and love is the profusion of penalties. In the first 4 games alone, the Penguins committed 36 penalties for 92 minutes, which translates into over 4 periods of riding the sinner’s pine. Forty minutes consisted of 7 fighting majors (5 minutes) from Eric Godard, Craig Adams, Mike Rupp, and Jay McKee as well as 2 misconduct penalties of 10 minutes each for Jay McKee and Chris Kunitz. Those guys aside, Evgeni Malkin surprisingly led the way with the most penalties (6), followed by Sidney Crosby and Brooks Orpik, each with 4 apiece. This hardly showed the disciplined play for which the team had become known.

The Good News…
There’s a lot more on the positive side even at this early stage in the season. Continuing with the penalty situation, in the last 3 games, the Pens have whittled down their wreckless infractions by more than half with 17 penalties for a total of 43 minutes. Only 3 fighting majors (5 minutes each) committed by Godard, Adams, and Rupp. Malkin managed only one trip to the sin bin as did Crosby, and Orpik avoided it altogether. 

Face-offs–Clearly, the art of the draw has been discussed and worked on to the extent it can be in a non-real-game situation. Some set plays on the face-off have been incorporated, and with the vast improvement of the centers on the dot, puck wins have led to puck-possession and either some very good chances in the offensive zone or the ability to clear or transition out of the defensive zone. Of particular note among those taking the most draws:

• Sidney Crosby has won 88 out of 142 attempts (62.0%). He leads the league in the number of face-offs taken. His highest percentage so far came in the game against the Flyers where he won 21 of 24 (88%).
• Jordan Staal has won 53 out of 106 attempts (50.0%). His highest percentage came in the loss to Phoenix where he won 12 of 13 (92%).
• Craig Adams has won 37 of 70 for 52.8%.

Power Play–Really, the team is off to a decent start, picking up from where they left off in the playoffs. The Pens’ home power play conversion is 14.3% (2 home games), and their away conversion rate is 19.0% (5 games). Noticeably, they are moving the puck more swiftly, taking good shots, multiple shots, and getting one and sometimes two men in front of the net. Bill Guerin and Jordan Staal have both shared duties as the guy to set up on the netminder’s doorstep. Having Sergei Gonchar in the line-up from the get-go doesn’t hurt either, and he and Kris Letang continue to mesh from the blue line.

Penalty Kill–The Penguins have gotten off to a decent start with a respectable 84.6% kill percentage at home and 82.6% on someone else’s ice. As they reduce their time in the box, these stats should improve and break 90%. Bylsma continues to encourage the aggressive short-handed style with the likes of Staal and Cooke, Adams, Depuis, and even Crosby getting in on the fun.

Board Domination–In just seven games, the Penguins have notched 190 hits on opponents with a game high total so far of 41 hits at the expense of the New York Rangers. In the wrecking crew department, the team is averaging 27 hits a game from an average of 12 players per game. Chris Kunitz, Brooks Orpik, and Matt Cooke lead the way on a regular basis. And while hits are exciting to watch, the Pens are making a point of taking the body to separate man from puck and ultimately gain back possession. They are improving on that technique.

Protecting the Netminder–In blocked shots, the Pens are no less impressive. Through 7 games, they have blocked 127 shots, led by Jay McKee with 21 blocks and Brooks Orpik with 14. The team is averaging 18 blocked shots per game from an average of 9 players an outing. Speaking of netminding, Fleury looks like he only took a week off from the play-off form he was in this past spring. Already, he has made some spectacular point-blank robberies from opposing snipers. Most notably, he has improved on his puck movement. In the ‘Canes game, he looked extremely comfortable coming out of the safety of the crease to redirect play up ice, shortening the distance for his teammates, which saves legs. Particularly in this game, his play was reminiscent of Tom Barrasso during the Mario years, and that’s a very good thing.

Final Musings–The new acquisitions of McKee and Rupp have been good ones as they have clearly meshed quickly and easily into the Penguins’ system. They’ve chipped in with contributions in most areas of the game, making this team very deep and versatile through four lines of offense and three lines of defense. The scary thing about the Penguins is that they continue to get goal production from a wide range of players, not just from Malkin and Crosby. When this happens, it makes it very difficult for teams to strategize against them because literally every player on this team has to be considered a potential goal-scorer. So far, it’s been very exciting, especially with the team’s new record of 5 consecutive road wins. That kind of momentum is a confidence-booster, especially given the fact that they have a West Coast road trip coming up.

A Date with Destiny

Hearken back…

Stanley Cup Finals (2008)…

The Pittsburgh Penguins found themselves like Cinderella at the ball, in the Stanley Cup Finals facing the storied and formidable Detroit Red Wings. For me, it might as well have been USA versus USSR in the 1980 Olympics, it was that gut-wrenching.

We all felt the overwhelming crush of the first game and then the second when our boys found themselves slapped around the ice much like they were in the first round against the Senators the previous season. We stood behind them, willing them to fight to stay alive, and out of sheer will they scratched and clawed to make it a brave game.

We stayed up through the multiple overtime sets when Petr Sykora joked during an intermission that he’d score the sudden-death game-winner–and did.

Maybe, like me, you were one of the ones who got an interesting e-mail the next day from a friend with a doctored photo of Babe Ruth calling his shot superimposed by Petr Sykora at the plate, signaling with  his hockey stick. It was inspiring.

Our boys had a chance.

Back in the ‘burgh, home ice, for Game 6 and a chance to even the series at 3 apiece. I never felt sicker than when that final horn blared the death knell of one hell of a season. It was hard to watch them, stunned, drained, shredded, slumped on the ice, backs against the boards. An epic denouement. Lord Stanley’s Cup was in our house but not in our hands. The photo of Evgeni Malkin standing alone near the Stanley Cup Finals ice stamp was a haunting and compelling image. The scene as all those whited-out Penguins faithful, with class, stayed and stood for the victor as the Red Wings relished in holding the Cup. We felt the sting as if we had been in those skates and sweaters, too.

And we vowed we’d be back.

Stanley Cup Finals (2009)

The path this year began in a high-powered, promising way with one of the best starts in franchise history, and then like that, the bottom fell out. Through 82 games of soul-searching, fumbling, struggling, but never saying die, they pulled themselves up by their skate laces. If nothing else can be said about this team (from the first to last guy), it is one seriously cohesive unit.

In the face of critics and nay-sayers and hand-wringers, they have managed to let it all roll off of broad, matured shoulders. Old souls in young bodies.

They had to earn their way into a playoff spot–unlike last season where they shot to second seed in the conference and home ice.

They had to fight and rally through two physically demanding rounds–unlike last season where they sailed through the first three rounds.

They have progressed steadily but quickly under Dan Bylsma who has shown his ability to read his players individually and collectively, leaving them confident and well-prepared–unlike last season when they didn’t really know any better and really hadn’t an idea just what THAT level of hockey was all about. Detroit was only too happy to initiate them and maybe to their own present and future peril.

At last season’s end, fans and pundits worried out loud about the loss of Hossa, Roberts, and Malone, but as Mark Madden pointed out in his radio talk show on Friday, if Hossa stayed, we might be looking at key players with much shorter contracts and the possibility of Malkin going to another team.

Instead, the loss has paid dividends thanks to Ray Shero’s shrewd dealing:

• To join Sidney Crosby (who when his contract was due took less to make room to keep others in the future), contracts of 4 or more years for Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury completed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, giving the Pens a solid corps, and defensive insurance in Brooks Orpik.
• Add to that the late season acquisitions of Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, and Craig Adams.
• What you find is depth from 1st line to last, especially as the prodigal son Miroslav Satan arose from AHL purgatory to show some of his best work all season in the playoffs.

Let’s not forget that every guy who played this year contributed mightily whether for every game or for a short stint.

• When Gonchar was down, Goligosky answered the bell. Philippe Boucher continues to sniper with a Howitzer.
• Cooke and Kennedy meshed with Jordan Staal to become one of the best shut-down third lines that could generate a spark with their grinding cycle work.
• Max Talbot and Pascal Depuis played anywhere they could be of service, getting time on every one of the four lines and contributing mightily in penalty-kill situations. An unfortunate injury sidelined Mike Zogomanis, but when healthy, he is one of the deadliest in the face-off circle.
• Eric Goddard and Paul Bissonnette enforced when it was needed, but they made skilled contributions as well.
• Ruslan Fedotenko has come on to be a force to be reckoned with in the playoffs and worked throughout the season to try to keep the team sparked and competitive.
• Kris Letang has grown in confidence and skill. He is fearless, and not to be outdone is Mark Eaton whose defensive skill has also morphed into an offensive threat.
• Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill have developed into a strong defensive pairing, facing the likes of Ovechkin and Eric Staal with little difficulty.

It’s scary just how calm and loose this year’s Pittsburgh Penguins team really is. And maybe it’s a little maddening for the reporters who try to get some juicy tidbit out of them in interviews. In the hopes of a spark, they ask about the re-match, feelings about Hossa, the adversity, back-to-back games or too much time between games, and always, they are left a little diappointed. 

These players are even keeled, unflappable, and take it all in stride. It’s good to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals. They don’t think too much about the rivalry or how Hossa left. The adversity has made them stronger, and they know what they can do and the kind of character that’s in the locker room. Each knows he has a specific role to play and plays it with 110% intensity, stressing time and again the need to “play the right way.” Back-to-backs are the nature of the beast. They faced many during the regular season, faced them in the playoffs already. Not a big deal. And too much time? They’re glad it’s not a 10-day lay-off because, well, they’d rather be playing hockey.

They are a better, healthier, and more psychologically ready team than the Penguins of 2008, but they needed the early play-off spanking in 2007 to prepare them for the 2008 run, and they needed the 2008 finals defeat to prepare them for this run.

Yeah, that’s still hard to say (as a fan), but if we are going to be honest with ourselves as the Penguins have been with themselves, then we have to agree. This is going to be one hell of a series.

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.

Band of Brothers: Pens 3-Caps 2 OT

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;/For he to-day that sheds his blood with me,/Shall be my brother…”–King Henry before the battle of Agincourt, Henry V by William Shakespeare.

While many hockey fans might not be familiar with this quote from one of William Shakespeare’s plays, it marks a great speech made by a young English king to an army that had all the odds going against it, in a word–adversity.

They were tested.

Landing in France with 12,000 men, by the time they reached the day at Agincourt, a field barely the size of a modern-day football field, they had dwindled to 5,900 mostly due to disease. On the day of battle, the English were outnumbered nearly 4:1 by the French army that stood between 20,000 and 30,000 strong.  At the end of the day, the English were victorious, having lost only 112 men to France’s losses of between 7,000 and 10,000.

How did they do it? They played to their strengths and they kept it simple. To learn more, one need only go read the play or Google the battle, but fast-forward about 600 or so years to Wednesday night’s game against the Washington Capitals at Mellon Arena.

The opening minutes of the game did not look good for the Penguins as one of the most bizarre chain of events led to a stinging goal past the de-weaponed Marc-Andre Fleury by the dreaded Alex Ovechkin. The faces of the white-clad fans drained of enough blood to match their shirts and towels. It could have been the beginning of the end. The Penguins had been there before, last season, two weeks ago, all year…name the time.

But these were the Penguins, the Cardiac Kids who last year didn’t seem to know that they weren’t supposed to make it to the Stanley Cup finals, two games shy of the coveted cup of Lord Stanley, their grail. They sailed through the rounds until they hit adversity in the form of the Detroit Red Wings.

This year, they struggled through a lack-lustre season, but refused to give up, somehow found a way to keep themselves within reach though the odds were stacked against them (maybe 4:1). They entered the playoff standings better than bottom of the barrel and met adversity early in the form of the Philadelphia Flyers.

And they banded together under their newly-crowned Henry V. They kept it simple. They played to their strengths and tried to minimize and improve upon their weaknesses. The Caps came out swinging, and they hung with them in games that could have gone either way.

They were a little wounded with players like Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko, Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Depuis, and Chris Kunitz struggling to score, but they still fought to have an impact, to make a contribution, any contribution to help the team win. It paid off for Malkin spurred on by an inspired Maxime Talbot. The rest, encouraged,  continue to persevere.

Their time will come.

If any team represents the spirit of sport, of the concept of team, of the sheer will to never quit no matter how bad it is or how dire it seems, it is the Pittsburgh Penguins. Time and again, unsung heroes have stepped up and made the difference. In this game, it was Ruslan Fedotenko and Kris Letang. Leaders have led and coaches have marshalled their troops to keep morale high and desire strong. They have carried themselves in a way that would make any parent of a young athlete proud to point to these players as role models, ambassadors of the game.

In listening to the interviews of the various Penguins players over the past several days, one thing is glaringly evident: there is a calm (not cocky) confidence. There is a belief in the words they are saying, something that is not usually the hallmark of the general interview where all the right catch-phrases are used in all the right places in a well-rehearsed tone.

But look on the bench. Their heads are up. They are alert, attentive, engaged, focused. Even when a player’s performance seems underwhelming to the average fan, it pays to look at the entire picture. From stars to 4th liners, they encourage each other and bolster each other. They back each other up, and they stand up for each other. They don’t shout at each other on the bench for not getting the puck enough. They don’t pull faces of taunting buffoonery, full of disrespect.

The entire picture shows what’s beyond the stats and what makes the stats possible–the players who struggle to score racing for pucks, trying again and again, getting physical, playing defense, working hard, fighting to win draws and clear pucks. The reward is that eventual goal or the helper that got them the win. Game 3 was as much a team win from a band of brothers who have grown together, struggled together and emerged all the stronger for it.

That’s what the Pittsburgh Penguins have.

That’s what gets Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Turning Up the Heat in a Hot Kitchen

by Chaiwoman
Pittsburgh Penguins’ radio color analyst Mike Lange is fond of saying “…to take the heat out of a hot kitchen” during harrowing defensive stands, but he may have to amend that slightly as the Pens and their opponents are fighting fire with fire.

Penguins 6–Devils 1: The Pens cranked up the heat on the New Jersey Devils, and while one would think they could take it, it was no April Fool’s joke. The Devils clearly did not look like themselves that night, and the Pens, by contrast, looked possessed. Six guys figured in the goal scoring: Matt Cooke (11), Bill Guerin (20), Evgeni Malkin (34), Sidney Crosby (30), Jordan Staal (21), and Chris Kunitz (23). On top of that, 12 players assisted in those tallies with defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Hal Gill leading the way by contributing two assists each. Not to be outdone, even netminder Marc-Andre Fleury had an assist, his first of the year, on the Guerin goal.

The confidence of the defensive corps of the Penguins is evidenced in their plus/minus rating. The tandem of Gill and Rob Scuderi posted a +4. This is an outstanding improvement for the pair considering that in days of yore (pre-Bylsma), at the best of times they looked mediocre and at the worst of times shell-shocked. Many were the games when plays in front of Fleury by those two created incredible anxiety for the fans and heart failure for their netminder whose own confidence was shaky. The insecurity was palpable and hard to watch. Fast-forward to present day, and Gill and Scuderi have been reborn. They are as in sync as Siamese twins, playing the way many believed they could play, and Fleury has felt the effects translate to his own crisp game.

Penguins 2–Hurricanes 3 (OT): “Kickin’ it up a notch,” the Pens went into Carolina Saturday night. From the first puck-drop to the goal horn in the OT frame, it was such a firestorm of speed, shots, hits, and break-aways that FSN’s Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey never had a chance to talk about anything anecdotal except during commercial breaks and intermissions. They were nearly out of breath as they tried to match their play-by-play calling with the speed of the game.

Crosby and Malkin were picking pockets like Fagin’s street urchins, generating chances. Tyler Kennedy had yet another solid game, which at least merits an honorable mention to the 3 stars of the game–all Hurricanes. Malkin’s failing to score on the penalty shot he was awarded was a bad break. However, Guerin’s disallowed goal was a result of a bad Kunitz penalty, which hearkens back to what Bylsma said days ago. It’s not so much about how many penalties they take, but the kind they are and when they occur. This was not a good penalty as without it, Guerin’s goal would have counted, and Jordan Staal’s goal, then, would have been the game winner.

A Hurricanes-Pens playoff round match-up would make for an exciting, heart-stopping, nail-biting, teeth-gnashing series. These two teams are about as evenly matched as any two could be, including their season-long ups and downs and the fact that each possesses an outstanding young goalie in Fleury and Cam Ward, energizing stars, and, oh yes, a Staal brother. Pens fans seem to travel well as the crowd appeared to cheer just as loudly for the Penguin goals as the home team crowd did for the ‘canes, showing some Pittsburgh faithful in attendance.

Penguins 2–Panthers 4: After a strong first period, notching a hefty 19 shots on netminder Tomas Vokoun, the second period saw the Pens experiencing fatigue. No doubt this was a result of the supercharged, all-out slug fest in Carolina just 20 hours earlier. It did not help that a flukey goal came off a misplayed puck by Hal Gill that popped up strangely and could not be cleared out. Add to this the fact that neither Crosby nor Malkin registered a point in this game or in the Carolina game, and both were a -2 at Carolina and -1 at Florida.

However, Coach Dan Bylsma has recognized the power of the Staal-Kennedy duo, putting just about every winger he could think of on the line to try to generate something. It worked for Pascal Depuis, and Staal was also part of the unit that netted Eaton’s power play goal.

While rest can renew tired legs and focus weary minds, it is still unacceptable that the power play produces so few chances on net.  The Pens had 4 power play chances and registered only 3 shots with Mark Eaton scoring the sole power play goal. If they are not putting at least 5 shots on net per power play, then it is powerless. If not correctly quickly, such a situation will not bode well for a deep playoff run, let alone a Stanley Cup final. It cannot be stressed enough that Crosby is best working the end boards behind the goalie, forcing the goalie to split his attention to account for him. As soon as he is slides up on the half wall, he has much too much ice to play around with, and 99% of the time, he elects to pass.

The Therrien-era power play reared its ugly head in this game: the passing was excrutiatingly slow, and the player in possession of the puck held it entirely too long. The Panthers’ PK unit loved this because they hardly had to move. They could have killed a 10 minute penalty without a line change at that rate. So few shots on net leaves guys like Kunitz and Guerin with nothing to do, negating one of the biggest reasons they were acquired. Bottom line: Sid, more than any of them, must shoot.

All is not lost though. This team has proven time and again over the past three seasons that it has the collective intestinal fortitude to grind it out and push through a new growing pain. They are in position to have a date with destiny, to get back to where they were last season–maybe to avenge some unfinished business. The road is long and hard, and it will be a test for them and for their new coach, but as Bylsma said, going into the Hurricanes game, he put to them this question: “What mindset do we want to have going into the game?” How they respond 60 minutes at a time will determine their outcome.

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