Sorry for the delay in posting, but the past week has been hell, especially last night on a pesonal note, so I am late with this and will not be detail oriented, at least relative to the game. First things first. The Penguins have won several series over the years in which they fell behind 0-2 in a playoff series, and did it twice enroute to their 2009 Stanley Cup victory, beating the Capitals in Round Two, and the Red Wings in the Finals. There are many players, including the core of the team on this team who were part of that run, so it is not at all IMPOSSIBLE. However, given the way this team is playing in key areas such as special teams, and defensively, I would say that duplicating that type of turnaround is UNLIKELY. A general statistic is that 87% of the teams who take a 2-0 series lead wind up winning their respective series. I can tell you that I have not been as angry and disappointed with a Penguins team since they shit the bed in Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens in the 2010 playoffs. That was the fourth game against the Flyers in a row (that mattered), where the Penguins gave up a 2 goal or better lead to lose a game, and they did in the exact same manner each time, making it all the more frustrating. It shows me that this team is unable or unwilling to adapt their game to situations, and the coaching staff is doing nothing tangible to counter the Flyers, so there is very little to make me think that this series is going to be won by the Penguins. That would be a real shame, given the relative health of this team at a key point in the season. Again, it is not impossible. The Penguins have been streaky this year, and at points this season where you think the Penguins have been horrid, they have managed to reel off impressive streaks of brilliance, at times looking the best team in the league, right after playing 4 to 5 games where they looked like bottom feeders. You can also hope that the Flyers get a little overconfident after bitch slapping the Penguins so often in the past month or so, and let up. They could also get a little amped up at home tomorrow, make some Penguins like mistakes and allow the Pens to steal a game. NOw would be the time for somebody to step up and lead from within. We could use a Kevin Stevens guarantee like the one he made when the Penguins fell down 2-0 to the Bruins. Or a philosophy adjustment like the 1-4 delay deployed when the Pens fell down 2-0 in a series against the Capitals during their second Cup run. We shall see. At this point, I just want to make some points, and throw some ideas and numbers out there that to me show how it is that we got to this place in a season where there was reasonable hope to win the Stanley Cup. There are many reasons we are here, and many of my FAVORITE people have to take a big piece of the blame. As far as last nights game, all you need to know is that the Penguins gave up TWO shorthanded goals last night AND TWO hat tricks! Prior to last night, the Penguins had only given up 4 playoff hat tricks in their entire HISTORY. They also gave up another power play goal to the Flyers, who make our penalty kill look like a joke. So, the Penguins are getting destroyed on special teams, an element that is key to winning at any time in the NHL, but paramount to victory in the playoffs. The penalty kill unit was an area that was supposed to give the Penguins the special teams edge in the series, but to date it has not. Giving up short handed goals in the post season is a death sentence, and the Penguins gave up two last night. The next areas is defense. Many pundits gave the Penguins the nod in defensive depth, given the fact that we had Kris Letang, and the fact that the Flyers were already without Chris Pronger and Andre Mesjaros. In practice that has been laughable, as Pittsburgh has Paul Martin and Zybnek Michalek, also known as 9 million dollars in dead weight. Add to that, the fact that it looks like a mentally challenged twin of Brooks Orpik has stolen his jersey, and Kris Letang, though adding some offense, has not been a shutdown player since his most recent return from a concussion. He is looking like the same guy whose play was inconsistent late last season as a result of trying to do too much. He was a turnover machine last night, and was guilty of too much individual play and several bad reads. Ben Lovejoy gift wrapped the fifth goal for the Flyers by handing Courtierer the puck right in front of Fleury just 8 seconds after Kennedy gave the Penguisn a 5-4 lead. Jagr made him his bitch shortly thereafter in the third right in front for the go ahead goal. The Penguins defense has been nothing short of a JOKE. Related to that supposed defensive advantage according to the pundits was an edge in net due to Fleury's trip to the Finals in 2008, and Stanley Cup Championship in 2009, compared to a very bad playoff record for Ilya Bryzgalov. And in fact, the Penguins have been able to exploit Bryzgalov, who has a horrible .857 save percentage, and a 3.93 GAA. Some of that is related to his defense hanging him out to dry at times. The interesting factor missing from that evaluation is the fact that in Fleury's past 20 post season games he has a GAA over 4 and a save percentage under .900. And in this post season, Fleury is ranked 16th out of 16 in GAA at 5.45 and 16th out of 16 in save percentage at .804. These numbers are surely not all the fault of Fleury, as I did note above how putrid the Penguins defense has been. He made several ten bell saves in a losing cause in Game One including the two on one from Hartnell that kept the game tied at three, but he was outplayed last night in giving up 7 goals. I will not lay this game at his feet, but he could have made a couple of key saves to keep the Penguins in the game in the third and he did not. The Penguins got 90 goals out of Evgeni Malkin and James Neal in the regular season, and thus far in the post season, they have not gotten a single goal from either of them. The Malkin line has not gotten a single even strength goal and is minus 14! Kunitz pumped home two power play goals last night, but other than that, the line has been quiet. To win, your best players have to play the BEST, and the relative quiet nature of Malkin and Neal's games thus far WILL be fatal if it does not change, and change now. Crosby has added some offensive firepower, with his line getting 10 even strength points and a plus one in the first two games, but Crosby's mistake on his first power play led to a breakaway, and his focus on the puck carrier at the net allowed Talbot to come in late to beat Fleury for Philadelphia's first goal. Dan Bylsma, one of my favorite people, and a guy I openly root for at all costs, is not without blame either. This lack of any sort of discipline is not a new issue at all. It has plagued the Penguins for 3-4 weeks, and neither he or his coaching staff have made any adjustments, or at least effective adjustments to that situation, allowing the Penguins to play a dangerous brand of run and gun hockey in the pursuit of personal statistical highs for his players. This undisciplined brand of hockey led to a lost opportunity to get the to seed in the conference, and has now put the Penguins playoff hopes on life support. Disco has also mentioned how the Flyers put 3 guys on the blue line once they got a lead in third period and made it tough for the Penguins to generate any quality chances. Hmmmmmmmm, hardly a novel idea, yet the Penguins NEVER do that, according to Disco we only win with offensive zone time. Or, as is the case now, we just don't win. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting DIFFERENT results. Well, we have done the same thing to Philadlphia 4times in the past month, and yet we have lost all 4 meaningful games. I will say that Bylsma did take Malkin and Crosby off of the same PP unit, and it did generate two PP goals. The two SHG more than negated that advantage though. Another favorite of mine, Ray Shero, is not without blame either. I love this guy, as friendly and classy as they come. And I cannot even say I disagreed with any of the moves I am about to criticize at the time they were made either. However, I am just a passonate hockey FAN, not the GM! In the 2010 offseason, Shero made two a big spash when he acquired Paul Martin on a 5 year 25M contract and Zybnek Michalek on a 5 year 20M contract to give the Penguins their second shut down pairing, and arguably one of the best top fours in the league. As it has turned out, those two have been a liability for this team. Their annual cost is 9M and the annual cost of two shutdown players they did not resign (Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi) is only 5.6M per year. How much better would the Penguins be with Gill and Scuderi? What could they have done with the extra 3.4M per year? We also made the decision at the deadline, that despite that issues above, we did not have to do anything to tweak our lineup. I am pretty sure Mark Eaton would look pretty good right now as a defensive option, and both Grossman and Kubina look pretty good relative our current group. Finally, though I totally agreed at the time to let Max Talbot go, it sure looks like the organization gave up a little too soon on the idea of Talbot being a big part of the long term for Pittsburgh. At any rate, hindsight is 20/20, and I still do think that the Penguins have a roster that SHOULD be able to compete for the Cup, but currently, the Penguins are being outworked, outplayed, outcoached by the Flyers. It was very disturbing for me to feel as if the Flyers, want it more. Even local celebrity and Pens fanatic Cy Clark wrote on Facebook today about how angry and disappointed he is with the effort from this team, and asked for playoff ticket money back. I am not to that point, but I am very disappointed with a team that I am almost always so proud of. Proud enough to have my whole right arm decorted in their colors and an addition to my home filled with their memorabilia. All in all, I would not trade the leadership of this franchise for anybody, and we live with the bad just like we celebrate the good. I will support this team either way to the bitter end, but I sure would appreciate a 60 minute effort tomorrow in Philadelphia! Broken, Beat and Scarred, the Penguins die hard!! LETS GO PENS!
No comments:
Post a Comment