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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.

Penguins Lackluster in Loss to Coyotes

The Pittsburgh Penguins looked like a team that failed to prepare for what the Phoenix Coyotes threw at them on Wednesday night. The Coyotes put on a clinic and bogged down the Penguins in the offensive and neutral zones, preventing Pittsburgh from gaining any momentum. In fact, the only momentum that the Penguins could generate was tilting the ice towards backup netminder Brent Johnson who, despite giving up 2 goals (the 3rd tally was an empty netter), performed exceptionally with a couple of highlight reel saves. In the end, the Penguins were dealt a 3-0 shutout and their first loss of the season at the hands of the Coyotes. It was a lackluster performance, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the waning days under Michel Therrien.

In watching the game, I couldn’t help but think that the Penguins underestimated just how well the Coyotes would play. Perhaps they were too focused on tonight’s game against the division rival Philadelphia Flyers, and were looking beyond the Coyotes. Whatever the case, their play suffered from a lack of focus and inability to establish any presence in the offensive zone and was further hampered by a rash of penalties, nine of them to be exact. To their credit, the Coyotes capitalized on 2 of the 9 power-play attempts, including a beauty of a goal from Petr Prucha while he was on his back in the crease. Evgeni Malkin took a double minor in the first period for an inadvertent high stick that drew blood. The ensuing Coyote power play also drew blood, as veteran Ed Jovanoski found the back of the net to put them up 1-0. In the 2nd period, the Penguins’ frustration and penalty troubles mounted as Sidney Crosby took 2 separate penalties for slashing, Matt Cooke took two seperate penalties for interference and roughing, and Brooks Orpik took a hooking call. Cooke’s interference call negated the only goal that the Penguins might have gotten as the call was made before the puck went into the net. Orpik’s penalty resulted in the Prucha powerplay goal. The Penguins went on to take 2 more penalties in the 3rd period, and despite getting a total of 5 powerplay opportunities themselves in the game they were unable to convert. Despite only being outshot 25-24, the Penguins were clearly out-hustled and out-played through most of the game.

Sidney Crosby had a night that he would probably just as soon forget. In addition to taking 2 frustration-fueled slashing penalties in the 2nd, he was a dismal 5 for 17 (29%) in the faceoff circle. He also had 4 giveaways. When your star center and team Captain plays like that, you can’t expect much else to go your way. Let’s hope whatever was affecting his play last night is out of his system, and that he returns to form against the Flyers this evening.

If there were a few bright spots to take away from the game, it would have to be the play of Brent Johnson and Jordan Staal. Brent Johnson turned aside 22 of 24 shots, including a spectacular glove save on Shane Doan. One of the two goals he gave up came through a screen and he never had a chance to see it. The other goal came at the end of a scramble in the crease where the defense failed to clear the puck and Johnson lost track of it. Jordan Staal had a monstrous night in the faceoff circle winning 12 of 13 for a 92% faceoff percentage. Whatever he has done to improve his faceoff performance, he now needs to apply to his shooting accuracy. Jordan Staal has already proven his immense defensive prowess and now needs to tap into his enormous offensive potential.

It will be interesting to see how Coach Bylsma responds to just his 2nd regulation loss in the regular season since taking over as head coach in Feb 2009. There will be little time for him to make a teachable moment out of last night’s performance. He needs to quickly get his team re-focused for tonight’s battle against the Philadelphia Flyers, who have been shot out of a cannon this season. The Flyers are 3-0 so far this season with a qhopping 13 goals for and just 7 goals against. The Penguins will need to mount a big turnaround from last night’s game if they want to come out of Philadelphia with a win.

Penguins Ready for Hungry Coyotes

The Pittsburgh Penguins (2-0-0)  return to Mellon Arena tonight as they face off against the Western Conference’s Phoenix Coyotes (1-0-0) at 7:30 PM.  This is the only matchup between these two teams this season.  Last season, they met only once (in Phoenix) with the Coyotes winning 4-1.  The Penguins are looking for their 3rd consecutive win after beating the Rangers 3-2 at home and the Islanders 4-3 in a shootout on the road.  The Coyotes will be playing their 2nd game of the season after beating the Los Angeles Kings 6-3. 

The financially bankrupt Coyotes come into Mellon Arena under new head coach (and former Penguin) Dave Tippett, who replaced Wayne Gretzky during training camp.  The Coyotes, who haven’t made it into the playoffs in 6 years, are a team whose future is unknown; ownership of the franchise is being contested through bankruptcy court and it remains to be seen if the team will stay in Phoenix beyond the end of this season.  While the off-ice distractions and fan apathy in Phoenix could be an excuse for continued mediocrity, the Coyotes found a way to use it as a motivator in their season opening win over the Kings.  “It was the first time they could say, ‘We’re on the ice. Just go,’ ” said Coyotes’ Coach Tippett.  “We can only control what happens on the ice and the other stuff will take care of itself.  I think the players were really focused on getting playing.  The players did a good job of blocking that stuff out probably the last couple of weeks and getting themselves ready to play.”  Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan added, “We have that ‘us against everybody’ thing going….and we’re trying to use it as much as we can.”  Doan, who led the Coyotes scoring in 2008-09 with 73-points (31G, 42A), will benefit from quality additions on his line with Radim Vrbata and (former Penguin) Robert Lang joining the team this season.  Vrbata had 2-goals and Lang added 1 in the team’s 6-3 drubbing of Los Angeles on Saturday.  In fact, 11 different Coyotes found their way onto the scoresheet in that game.  With quality netminding from Ilya Byzgalov, upgraded offense, a new coach and adversity that the team can rally around, the Coyotes might just bear watching this season. 

The Penguins will be looking to continue to perfect Coach Bylsma’s up-tempo style and system of aggressive puck pursuit.  Through two games, the Penguins have done a great job of putting traffic in front of the net and pressuring the defense, something that was missing from their game at this time last season under Coach Michel Therrien.  The Penguins also seen to be putting more shots on net, which will help them keep the pressure on opposing team’s defense and goaltending and help create the type of havoc that often times leads to goals.  The Penguins have also fared well in the face-off circle so far this season (54.6%), but they will need to keep the pressure on as Phoenix won 60.6% of their faceoffs against the Kings.  Marc-Andre Fleury’s timing and positioning appear to be better at this point of the season than it has at early on in season’s past.  His play was one of the keys to the Penguins’ win against the Islanders on Saturday night.  Look for another up-tempo game that may lack some of the aggressive physicality that you will see in Thursday’s game against the Flyers.  The Pens line-up for tonight’s game is expected to be as follows:

Penguins' Forward Lines

	Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
1st Line	#14 Chris Kunitz	#87 Sidney Crosby	#13 Bill Guerin
2nd Line	#9 Pascal Dupuis	#71 Evgeni Malkin	#26 Ruslan Fedotenko
3rd Line	#24 Matt Cooke	#11 Jordan Staal	#48 Tyler Kennedy
4th Line	#17 Mike Rupp	#27 Craig Adams	#28 Eric Godard

Penguins' Defensive Pairings

	Defense	Defense
1st Pairing	#55 Sergei Gonchar	#44 Brooks Orpik
2nd Pairing	#7 Mark Eaton	#58 Kris Letang
3rd Pairing	#3 Alex Goligoski	#74 Jay McKee

Goaltending

#1 Goaltender	#29 Marc-Andre Fleury
Backup Netminder	#1 Brent Johnson