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It’s Pens vs Caps in Round 2 Under Newly-Inked Coach Bylsma

Both the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes won Game 7 of their respective series’ showdown on Tuesday night to advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-Final round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs along with the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins.  As a result, the #4 Pittsburgh Penguins will meet up with the #2 Washington Capitals who will have the home ice advantage and the #1 Boston Bruins will host the #6 Carolina Hurricanes.  The schedules have been released by the NHL, and it looks like this:

Saturday, May 2	at Washington, 1:00 p.m.	NBC, CBC, RDS
Monday, May 4	at Washington, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Wednesday, May 6	at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Friday, May 8	at Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Saturday, May 9	at Washington, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Monday, May 11	at Pittsburgh, TBD	VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Wednesday, May 13	at Washington, 7:00 p.m.	VERSUS, CBC, RDS

 

In other news, Pittsburgh Penguins’ General Manager took the short respite to ink a long term deal with Dan Bylsma to remove the “interim” from the Head Coach title that he now carries.  The details of the deal have not been disclosed, other than to identify that a multi-year contract had been awarded.  In announcing the deal Ray Shero said, “It just became more and more evident to me that Dan was the guy that I wanted to move forward with.  So why wait?  Timing-wise it was the right thing to do for Dan and his family.  With a few days off in-between rounds, it was the right time for our team.  It’s very well deserved.  Three values that are very important to me for this organization are:  work ethic, accountability and passion,” Shero went on to say.  “Dan and his staff have certainly brought that.  For me, personally, it’s made it a real fun place to come to work for the last couple of months with the play of the team, the locker room, the players, our training staff and our coaching staff.  I think it’s been a very good fit so far.  When I made a coaching change, one of the things I was looking for was someone that could grow with this team,” Shero continued.  “He is certainly the guy to do that.  I believe with this team, our best days are ahead of us.  Dan, as a head coach in the National Hockey League, his best days are ahead of him.  I think it’s been a good fit.”

Congratulations Coach Bylsma, now let’s go beat the Caps!

Penguins Adjust and Shake Things Up

After posting just 7-shots in the final 42-minutes of Game 1, the Penguins are wasting no time in making adjustments.  At practice on Sunday, Coach Therrien juggled the lines in an apparent effort to shake things up a bit and to give the Penguins a different look.  The practice session on Sunday is a likely a preview to what we will see in Game 2 on Monday night.  The Coach’s theme for Sunday’s practice was effort and desire, two things that seemed to wane after the first period of Game 1.  In the first period the Penguins looked competitive and hungry, but as the game progressed they stopped skating and started watching too much. 

If the lines used in practice hold for Game 2, you can expect to see some interesting changes for Monday night.  First, expect to see Sidney Crosby centering Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone.  I like this combination as it adds a new dimension to the Penguins top line that may pay dividends.  In addition to the speed and playmaking abilities of Crosby and Hossa, you now have Ryan Malone who can post his big body in front of the netminder and give the Detroit defense another element to worry about. 

Pascal Dupuis will be moved to a new Penguins second line, centered by Jordan Staal with Tyler Kennedy on the opposite wing.  Again, this is another interesting matchup as the long reach and excellent defensive abilities of Jordan Staal will be teamed with the speed and energy of Dupuis and Kennedy. 

This means that Evgeni Malkin will now center the 3rd line as he has been struggling of late.  He will be flanked by energy man Max Talbot and sniper Petr Sykora.  It will be interesting to see what moving him to the 3rd line will do as far as Detroit’s line matchups.  Whether Malkin is ailing or just in a funk, the move will either serve to release a little bit of pressure or motivate him to to step his game back up.  Again, it will be interesting to see how Detroit reacts to Malkin’s new location in the lineup.

Finally, the Penguins will put 42-year-old Gary Roberts back into the lineup and sit Georges Laraque.  Roberts, an experienced and gritty forward, has had a difficult year as he dealt with a broken leg and a high ankle sprain that kept him out of the lineup for the 2nd half of the season.  During the Eastern Conference Finals, he again sat out with a bout of pneumonia.  Although healthy enough to play on Saturday, Roberts was a healthy scratch.  That won’t be the case for Game 2, when Roberts will join fiesty Jarkko Ruutu and Adam Hall on the 4th line.  “I’m excited.  For me, bringing some emotion, some intensity.  I’m obviously not going to change my game at this point.  I know what I need to do to be successful.  This team we’re playing against is really smart.”

The Penguins will be looking to turn things around in Game 2 and find a way to steal one in Detroit before heading back to Pittsburgh.  If Coach Therrien can motivate his team to put in a full 60-minutes of effort like they produced in the first period of Game 1, they could generate a very different outcome.  With the line changes and some motivating forces, it will be interesting to see if the adjustments being made by the Penguins coaching staff will yield dividends for the young team.  The only way to the Stanley Cup for the Penguins is to win at least 1-game in Detroit.  They need to believe that the 1-win must come on Monday night. 

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