There is an interesting article in today’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I have eluded to some reasons why things were so bad under Therrien and so good under Bylsma. This article sheds some light on the whole thing.
It is facinating how the attitude of a coach can so greatly change the mindset and performance of a team.
Here is to the Pens kickin’ some more butt tonight.
After reading that P/G article by Molinari it makes you think a little bit of your own work experiences. No matter what it is you do and being a hockey player isn’t any different if you really dread seeing your boss (coach) or co-workers (teammates), it’s going to be miserable. But if you’re all pumped to see them, every day can be decent and you you feel ‘up’ because you look forward to it. That’s the way the Pens appear around Disco Dan Bylsma. Like Badger Bob Johnson compared to Scotty Bowman. These guys are “fired-up” whereas with Therrien they were getting beat down playing the trap and worrying about making mistakes. Disco Dan touches them on their back and they go boom – boom – boom!
Garon is a stopgap and a better one than Sabourin. That’s about all you can say about that. Shero and none many of us Pens fans knew how well Conklin was going to fit on the team and that is why Sabourin had his contract extended. Fleury and Sabourin with the extension to his contract that left Conklin odd man out. When it became clear to everyone that Sabu was not going to cut it Shero made a good move by getting garon. Even if Garon never plays a game. Kiprusoff doesn’t have a problem with the workload so I would suspect Fleury won’t either.
I believe that they will indeed ride the flower all of the way. He has the hot hand right now. I would like to see Garon get a start before the playoffs. I think that will only happen if and when they have secured the playoff spot they are comfortable with. He needs some game action before he might be called upon to win a game in the playoffs. Though he is not chopped liver, he has looked like chopped liver in his only appearences in a Pens sweater, so I think they may be hesitant to put him in, unless necessary.
Question for you Reg: When do you think they start Mathieu Garon? It’s not like he is chopped liver. Carolina? Florida? Or do you think they’ll ride Fleury all the way?