As I took my seat at the Pennsbury Pub and Grille last night to view the Penguins-Capitals game on the big screen, I felt an odd blend of excitement tinged with trepidation.
Scarcely 24 hours earlier, I watched our Pens clobber a very good Flyers squad. Heading into the weekend, I confided to a hockey buddy that I’d be happy if we got two points. Thrilled if we got three.
Maybe I was setting my sights too low. But we were facing the first-place Caps. Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie. Old friends Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik, too.
Washington came out hard. Marc-Andre Fleury looked shaky. I was surprisingly okay with it. After all, we’d won five games in a row. Without Evgeni Malkin (and Scott Wilson) to boot. Heck, there’s only so much you can expect from a hockey team.
Then Bryan Rust and Trevor Daley turned Washington goalie Braden Holtby into a reasonable facsimile of a cigar-store Indian. I sat a little straighter on my bar stool. I seethed when Oshie slew-footed Chris Kunitz. Cheap shot. Cursed him when he pummeled our captain, Sidney Crosby.
The Caps found their legs. Jason Chimera blew past Daley like a runaway freight train and bonked one in off his helmet, thanks in part to a failed Fleury poke check.
Darn. I wish Flower’d quit doing that. Andre Burakovsky beats Fleury clean on a breakaway and it’s 2-2. Shoulda’ started Matt Murray.
I shook my head in disgust. Here we go again. Just like last time. Up 2-0…lost 3-2.
Next rush, Tom Kuhnhackl one-times a feed from Matt Cullen. Is the puck behind Holtby? YES! Kuhnhackl’s on his back, fists pumping in celebration. I clapped and hollered and sprang from my chair, generally acting like a nut.
I didn’t expect this.
I don’t think the Caps did, either. “Ovy,” in particular, seemed lost. Maybe he missed his favorite target, Malkin. He soon found a ready-made replacement. “The Great Eight” ran Brian Dumoulin. The Pens’ defenseman crumbled. He had to be helped off the ice.
“[Expletive],” I muttered. “Dumo’s” playing so well.
Cullen and Kunitz scored to make it 5-2. Pleased as I was, I knew the Caps would try to extract a pound of flesh. Which they did. Mike Weber, forgetting his Pittsburgh roots, face planted Rust into the sideboards.
Weber got tossed. So did Kuhnhackl. Presumably for refusing to stand idly by while his teammate got mugged. I leaned closer to my good friend, Tom Blanciak.
“Wish we had a couple of guys to handle that crap,” I said. Tom agreed.
Silently, I prayed no one would get hurt. Cheered some more when Justin Schultz struck on the power play. Good, make ’em pay. Bleep Tom Wilson, too.
I beamed with pride at the final horn. Sweet victory!
Hey Rick,
Over the last several years, I have lamented the lack of toughness of the Pens. Every time I voiced this concern, many people simply didn’t understand what I was complaining about. Some people would agree with me and join in saying or writing that they wished the Pens would get some players that would Stand up and fight while others accused me of advocating goon tactics.
The toughness that I wanted to see the Pens display wasn’t fighting or even totalling up the hit column on the stat sheet. The toughness I lamented was the willingness to take the puck into the high percentage scoring areas in the slot, where all the traffic was, the toughness I wished the Pens would show was the willingess to take hits to make plays. The toughness they lacked, that kept them from being contenders, was the discipline to absorb questionable or down right dirty hits without taking retaliatory penalties or to whine at referees. The toughness that they have lacked for many years, may not be lacking anymore. They displayed that type of toughness these last several games.
Ever since Sullivan has come to this team he has been imprinting a passion to win. Last year at this time Letang was taking game misconduct penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct when he would just keep whining at the officials. Even earlier this year, under MJ, they still were a disjointed amalgamation of cry-babies who whimpered and folded under heavy hitting. But now, under Sullivan, they have developed a tough personality that ignores the circus antics and focuses on playing the game.
Yes, the addition of Daley, Hagelin, and Schultz are very welcome indeed, so give RJ his due, but the biggest and best move he may have made this year was tapping Sullivan to succeed MJ.
At least at this moment, for the first time in I don’t know how long, Sullivan has this team playing like a team, a team in the mold that built this city. And a team can do far more than a group of individuals, no matter how talented those individuals are.
Yes they are fast, but the hare was fast and still lost. Their speed is helping to win games, but it may really be their laser focus and serious toughness that is the true key. They are winning against big teams, divisional rivals (something they couldn’t do at all last year), who are pounding them every chance they get with hits that are legal and illegal, with referees who often times seem to forget that they have whistles stuffed deep in their pockets, as if it were the Stanley Cup Finals already. This streak may just be foreshadowing April and May.
If this team maintains the momentum they are building, they still may not win the Cup, but they are having a much better year than I had envisioned at the start of the season and one that may be remembered.
Hope springs eternal, it is said. I hope that this is the new breed of Penguin and that the way they are playing is no fluke, that they are going to fight this hard the rest of the year. Even when they blow an occaisional assignment, I will not complain.
Outstanding stuff, Other Rick. Simply outstanding … 🙂
Keith Jones alluded to what you so eloquently expressed in your post between periods Sunday night. He said the Penguins “can take a punch.”
They sure can. Hornqvist, Kunitz, Rust, Kuhnhackl, Letang … and Crosby … to name a few. They muck and bang and grind and dig. To borrow from the old Timex commercials, they “take a licking and keep on ticking.” Hockey tough.
Heck, the cameras panned the Pens’ bench shortly after Weber tried to put Rust through the boards. Hornqvist and Rust were laughing and grinning … as if they were enjoying all the rough treatment.
What did Ulfie (Samuelsson) used to say? “I like the action.”
I’m going to walk this back in the other direction, but only slightly. My friend, Tom, opined that Scott Wilson would not have been injured had Tom Sestito dressed against the Blue Jackets.
I agree. I think Sestito’s presence would’ve altered the dynamic of that game. Perhaps made Dalton Prout pull up a little, instead of feeling emboldened to take whatever liberties he wished.
Of course, it’s just my perception. We’ll never really know.
I’d also be tempted to dress Sestito against the Capitals. Again, I’m not an advocate of carrying a heavyweight. I’d much prefer guys like Boone Jenner or Nick Foligno. But I think the Caps, like Columbus, get carried away with the rough stuff. Especially if they fall behind. I think you’ve got to try and protect your players as best you can.
Great article Other Rick…I echo your sentiments in spades.I think you put in words what a lot of enlightened Pen’s fans really feel.
Well said.
I probably will get some heat over this comment,but: I really do not care if we get Geno back or not this year. If the team keeps playing with the desperation and will to win at any costs as we have seen in the last 5 games,in my opinion ,we really do not need him.
Just keep playing the way you are guys and we will do just fine.
But what I really would like to see on our team would be a ” Wayne Cashman,Clarke Gillies,Cam Neely,or Kyle Okopos”…pick your favorite hockey era, type of player who can score 30- 40 goals but still rip your head off if you look at him the wrong way. Next time Ovi wanted to run one of my d men when he was not looking,they would be carrying him off the ice !! Old time hockey!
thanks,
Hey Jim,
I am a big Geno fan, but I get what you mean. I never want to see anyone injured, particularly Malkin however out of adversity silver linings may be found and if the team gels into a team over the loss of Malkin, then, well that may be the case of losing a battle but winning a war.
Cashman, Gillies, Neely, or Okopos are all solid power forwards, but my first pick, if I could grab someone and insert him into the Pens lineup would be a pre-Islander series Kevin Stevens. To me Artie was the best power forward. It didn’t hurt that he skated with Lemieux, but what seperates him from the rest for me was the Bruin series during the first Cup. The Pens went down 2 games to none quickly and then Artie picked the team up, put them on his back and drove to the net. If I remember correctly he led the team in goals during that play-off year.
Hey Rick,
You know me. You know that just like you I prefer a bigger hockey club. No offense to Crosby-Hornqvist-Kunitz, but I would prefer Lemieux-Jagr-Stevens to be my no. 1 line, if for no other reason than they were about 4 inches taller and about 40lbs heavier with even more skill.
I also think that the presence of Sestito can be a good thing. In the couple of games that he played he played under control and did not get caught up in any stupidity. Most importantly though, the other teams took less liberties.
However, even though this team isn’t the biggest dog in the fight, they have a lot of fight in them and leave it all on the ice.
Yes they still make the occaisonal stupid east-west pass or worse blind drop pass that makes you want to pull your hair out but they don’t quit. They keep coming and coming and coming, wave after wave, regardless of how hard you hit them and unless the other team can match that fire, the Pens wear down the other teams defenses and burn them.
I believe every single team in the NHL can match that intensity in any given day. Some teams can do that in back-to-back games. And fewer still can keep it going over three games. But these kids have been bringing it for many games now and it is that never say die attitude that is starting to make me believe in this team.
Well said Other Rick. Totally agree that Jagr, Mario, and Stevens would massacre Sid’s line nine out of 10 times. I never thought of Kevin Stevens….your right…He had size,speed,skill,grit,and most of all heart. Could play anyway you wanted to.A real team guy.
cheers
PS: I am still eating my words over Crosby.My friend from Halifax who Coaches minor hockey called last night to ask me if I thought Crosby was still “washed up” and to remind me he was now third in scoring in the league. If Coca-Cola can screw up on their “NEW COKE” formula disaster of a few years ago,I guess I can too. Glad to be wrong.