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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.

The Devil is in the Details: Pens 2–Caps 3

In Saturday afternoon’s opening salvo between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the thing that seemed to worry the NBC commentators most in the first period was the fact that the sponsors wouldn’t get to plug their products. Meanwhile, the rest of Hockey Nation was transfixed by the rattling pace that ebbed and flowed end to end on the ice. It was a battle that might not have matched the sports prognosticators’ prophecies the way they had foreseen.

Literally, it was a game that hung in the balance from beginning to end, and it was so tight that there was absolutely no room for error. Interesting notables:

Shots

• 15 of 18 Penguins registered shots on net versus 11 of 18 for Capitals.
• Of the total 36 shots on net by the Penguins, 5 players registered 3 or more shots: Sidney Crosby (6), Sergei Gonchar (5), Jordan Staal (4), Tyler Kennedy (3), and Kris Letang (3). Production, then, came from the 1st line center, the 3rd line center and wing, and two defensemen, a nice smattering.
• Of the 26 shots registered by the Capitals, only three players registered 3 or more shots: wing Alex Ovechkin (9), wing Matt Bradley (3), and center David Steckel (3). Only defenseman Milan Jurcina registered more than one shot on goal among Caps defensemen with 2. For the Caps, they relied heavily on Ovi’s profusion of volleys at the net with production falling off dramatically to two other forwards and not much offense from the defense.
• Penguins defensemen registered 11 of 36 shots (31%) more than doubling Capitals defensemen who registered 4 of 26 (15%).

Spreading out the shots through the offensive lines and getting production from the defense as well plays in Pittsburgh’s favor. It’s easier to plan for and key in on a few guys known to be the primary shot takers. While Evgeni Malkin was harrassed and kept to two shots, there were others that were getting good opportunities, making it harder to defend. The Caps had to be cognizant not just of Penguins forwards but the blueliners as well. Eventually, the Caps will have to consider just about every player in a Penguins jersey an offensive threat, and not just from the location of the blue line on the ice. Gonchar, Hal Gill, Mark Eaton, Letang, and Brooks Orpik were all seen strong and deep in the offensive zone. Greenhorn goalie Simeon Varlamov can be shaken and looked shaken in a couple of instances; however, he recovered and stayed solid. To keep him rattled, the Penguins must continue to increase shot-production and get in Varlamov’s face in front of the net. He needs to feel the constant claustrophobia of rush-hour traffic.

Hits

• 13 of 20 hits for the Penguins came from the usual suspects: Kris Letang (5), Brooks Orpik (3), Maxime Talbot (2), Chris Kunitz (2), and Matt Cooke (1).
• 8 of 24 hits for the Caps came from defenseman John Erskine alone, then D-man Mike Green (3), followed by four forwards and one defensemen each with 2 hits, including Ovechkin.

While the Penguins are also spreading out the hitting, Orpik as the main man needs to keep the heat on. He does not necessarily need to bring 14 hits a night, but 14 would be a nice number in game 2 just to give the Caps something to think about on their ice. Matt Cooke also needs to step it up and do so smartly, particularly if Bylsma continues to match the Staal line against the Ovechkin line, which means that Cooke and Ovi will be seeing a lot of each other. If Ovi can’t have Sid to torment, he’s shown he’ll settle for Cooke. Now that he knows this, Cooke needs to be the brighter lightbulb.

Important Miscellany

• Interesting Match-up–Putting Jordan Staal’s line against Alex Ovechkin is an interesting and compelling match-up. First, it keeps Ovi out of Sid’s hair, and if Cooke can manage to stay disciplined, both he and linemate Tyler Kennedy can work him over to tire and frustrate him.
• Penalties–The Penguins managed to stay out of the box EXCEPT twice, and the fact that the two penalties happened in overlapping fashion set up the first error that cost in a tight game. Both penalties were mental mistakes. Gonchar’s delay of game penalty is avoidable if he takes the extra step across his blue line. Cooke’s hooking retaliation for Ovechkin’s hit on him moments earlier is avoidable if he refrains from using the can-opener, waiting for a more opportune time to separate Ovi from the puck. Cooke has to know that Ovechkin draws the ire of opposing players, and his own reputation as well adds to the magnetic pull of a ref’s vision when these two come together. As a result of heightened scrutiny, sneaky, dirty infractions will not exist for Matt Cooke in this series, so he needs to cut that tactic out of his repertoire.
• Power Play–While analysis of the Penguins power play has been done ad nauseum, it bears mentioning a couple of promising things. The second power play centered by Staal is getting out there for between :57 and 1:00 left in a 2:00 opportunity. This is up from the usual :35 to :42 range. Interim Coach Dan Bylsma also tried this unit with Malkin and Bill Guerin flanking him, which makes for a big, strong line, and they seemed to move the puck better than the first unit. There is still too much playing with the puck, in general, and too many attempts from above the circles resulting in 0-6, ouch. More shots need to be fired across Varlamov’s crease from the goal line. On occasion when reinstated Petr Sykora found himself on the power play with Staal, they were trying to work it that way. The off wing needs to troll down toward the net when he sees these two trying to set it up. Either that or bring defenseman Letang who has shown he can score by creeping in that way.
• Face-offs–Among all players who entered into a draw situation, Pittsburgh came away with 53% to Washington’s 47%, a 6% advantage. However, when looking at the center position, which is the one that takes the majority of the face-offs by design, the analysis reveals a different picture. Penguins centers took 58 of the 60 face-offs in the game (97%); Caps centers took 56 of the 60 (93%). Of Pittsburgh’s four centers: Crosby (50%), Malkin (63%), Staal (59%), and Talbot (56%), they won 32 of the 58 (55%) face-offs they took versus Washington’s five listed centers: Boyd Gordon, Niklas Backstrom, Brooks Laich, David Steckel, and Sergei Federov who won 25 of the 56 (45%) face-offs they took. The advantage widens to 10% in the Penguins’ favor.
• Goaltending–In any game, but especially in the playoffs, the goal tender has to the best defender, the best penalty-killer. Both Marc-Andre Fleury for the Penguins and Simeon Varlamov for the Capitals kept their respective teams in the game, preventing a score-fest that would have looked like the Fourth of July. Of particular note is young Varlamov’s incredible robbery of Sidney Crosby in which the heel of his paddle somehow managed to keep the puck from crossing the goal-line, preventing a goal that would have brought the Pens even at 3, likely forcing overtime.

All in all, it was an electrifying game. Players, fans, and pundits alike have come away from it with a lot to think about. If this first game is any indicator, then every game in this series will be a chess match of cosmic proportions. Neglecting one small detail could blow a game wide open. The powder keg has been lit. The only remaining question is: How long is the fuse?

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