The date was February 8, 2016. On that chilly Monday evening, the Penguins—still transforming under new coach Mike Sullivan—gave a delicious preview of what was in store. Displaying an astonishing blend of supreme skill and withering speed, they torched a very good Anaheim team, 6-2, at Consol Energy Center.
To gain a little perspective, the Ducks had won eight of nine prior to that fateful meeting. They won 12 of 13 after. Here’s an excerpt from my game summary, posted the following day on PenguinPoop.
The Penguins have made a believer out of me. My word are they fast. Aggressive. Crisp. Relentless. Watching them eviscerate Anaheim at the CONSOL last night brought to mind the Red Wings team that skated us into the ice during the 2008 Cup Finals. The poor Ducks simply couldn’t cope. Heck, even our kids skated circles around them.
Compare that with last night’s thoroughly dismal 4-0 loss at the hand of the Ducks. A team that, I might add, was playing without injured stars Ryan Kesler and Corey Perry.
It’s hard to believe we were watching the same Penguins squad. Our guys more closely resembled a bunch of black-and-gold clad zombies than Stanley Cup champs. Indeed, if the glorious triumph of 22 months ago represented a coming-out party of sorts, then last night’s lifeless defeat was arguably the death knell.
It isn’t that our guys aren’t trying. And it’s not that they don’t care. I’m sure it pains them deeply to take it on the chin like they did last night. But something’s clearly amiss. There simply are too many nights where the Pens appear to be going through the motions, just like the aforementioned zombies. There’s no purpose or focus to their play…and very little fire. Just a bunch of guys out there chasing the puck.
The fact that this eyesore of an effort came on the heels of arguably our most passionate and forceful performance of the season has me scratching my head all the more. Are the Pens unable to get up for more than one game every couple of weeks, which seems to be the case? Is it a conference thing (we’re 6-8-3 against the West, a more palatable 12-8 against the East)?
Wish I knew.
The only thing I’m sure of? We’re going no place fast. Especially if we continue on our present course.
I really feel badly for Sullivan right now. No one wants to win more than ‘Sully’. Picture Tom Brady in a suit. You can see how it tears him up inside, especially when we mail in the two points like we did yesterday. I imagine he’s enduring a lot of sleepless nights.
Jim Rutherford can’t be too pleased, either. At one point, the cameras showed him watching the proceedings from his perch in the executive box. ‘JR’ looked perplexed. He’s probably puzzling over his team’s inexplicable lack of compete, just like we are, wondering if there’s any way to fix it.
I’m not sure there is. As the immortal Steve Durbano once said, “Jesus and his twelve disciples couldn’t help this team.”
He was referring to a laughable Colorado Rockies squad, of which ‘Durby’ was a card-carrying member. Our Pens aren’t that far gone, to be sure. Yet somehow, the quote seemed applicable. JR can shuffle the deck and wheel and deal to his heart’s content. I’m not sure it’ll help. Not this season, anyway.
The Penguins, you see, are victims of their own phenomenal success. There’s a price to pay for winning back-to-back Cups, especially in the salary-cap era. We’re seeing that toll being exacted right now. By all accounts, our guys appear to be drained…emotionally, physically and mentally. How can they not be? Including exhibition games, they’ve played 271 games and counting since September of 2015. That’s roughly three-and-a-half seasons of hockey crammed into a grueling 27-month span.
It’s the only thing that can reasonably explain how this proud, gritty and accomplished group of champions is struggling so.
The remedy? You’ll think I’m nuts. But maybe missing the playoffs—which seems to be a distinct possibility—wouldn’t be the absolute worst thing that could happen to these guys. Yeah, I know. Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle would be none too happy. Neither would Penguins Nation. But it would give our boys the extended break they so desperately need. Time to rest, rejuvenate and reflect. Unplug from the game for a little while.
A chance to rekindle the fire, too.
Hey, guys sorry I haven’t been around. I get incredibly busy right up until christmas.
Anyhoo…
Letang is out tonight with a “Lower Body Injury” any chance he’s been moved and they are waiting for the moratorium to be lifted Friday to announce it? You definitely don’t want him getting hurt in the meantime. Just spreading rumors. (and hoping)
Hey Phil,
Happy Holidays, I must have been posting this about the same time you were. I had the exact same thought when I saw Letang was being held out.
Merry Christmas to all of our faithful readers, commenters and contributors!
Rick
Same to you my Friend… Merry Christmas to All.
Hey Rick,
I see today, 24th the NHL talking heads are saying that rumors have it that Letang could be in play. The return is 2 forwards the report says. Plus they mention the usual players as well. Cole, Hagelin,Sheary,…I think almost anyone is available except 87, 71, 30 and Thrill the Phil…
This is exciting times to be a Pens fan. Shake her up JR… Do not be shy….
Hope you have a very Happy Holiday my friend.
JIm
Wow Jim,
If Letang is on the block I would be surprised but happy. No disrespect intended, but…….
Hey Jim,
That’s interesting news on Letang.
I feel the same as Other Rick. There have been times…most notably in 2015-16…when Letang did a terrific job for us. But this season? I just don’t know where his head’s been. I’ve never seen an all-star caliber defenseman turn the puck over as consistently or make as many errant passes as he has. His defensive play’s been lackluster, too. I truly feel sorry for his defense partner, Brian Dumoulin, who’s having a tough year trying to cover for him.
Maybe ‘Tanger’ needs a change of scenery. I wouldn’t mind shedding his $7.2 mil cap hit, either.
Rick
Hey Jim,
Interestingly enough, Letang is being held out of tonight’s game with a lower body injury. I readily admit that the probability is very low, but if I view your report of JR shopping Letang and him being held out of the game, I can see a relationship. If Letang is on the block, the last thing you want to do is risk further injury, if he is injured at all. You can’t in good conscious trade damaged goods.
However, if Letang isn’t on the block and unless is serious, I would think he would play, given the state of the teams season.
Hey Rick,
Interesting juxtaposition, this incarnation and the 2015-2016 team under Sullie.
These two teams are diametrically opposite one another. In fact, this years Pens more resembles the early half of that 2015-2016 team under MJ.. This team does a whole lot of standing around and watching rather than skating. This team looks tentative and appears to not know what is expected of them. These team has favorites veteran that play regardless of how many mistakes they make while burying others for comparatively minor mistakes.
Back in those early days of Sullivan’s tenure things were simple. Back when Hagelin was actually scoring, his role was clearly defined, he was a puck hound. He had one job get the loose puck. Last night way too often this year, I have rarely witnessed Penguins win the race to a puck. Last night, on Anaheim’s first goal, the D just stood there and watched the play develop as if they were sitting in their living room rather than participating.
I have also watched the team return to the no look blind pass to nowhere. With the way the lines are getting juggled no one knows where anyone is going to be, slowing down their reactions to plays and causing errant passes.
That 2015-2016 team inserted rookies with relish, this team looks like a throw back to the Archaeologist MJs fear of anything less than the playing of a fossil.
This is not the same team as 2015-2016, not in players and certainly not in personality. This team is an attempt at a hybrid rather than the true race horses that torched the league. The problems are many but not insurmountable.
I do agree with you, missing the play-offs, particularly dropping low enough to have a shot at the kid Dahlin certainly would certainly cure some of the ills, particularly the exhaustion and hunger side of things.
Hey Other Rick,
Recalling that game, a thought occurred to me. Maybe it’s just my perception, but we seemed to score a lot more off the rush back then than we do now.
Hagelin’s a prime example. I can recall him flying up the ice with Kessel and Malkin (later Bonino), using his speed and actually making plays, instead of scrumming in the corner. Now, it seems other teams are already set up when we enter the offensive zone. To make a basketball analogy, our guys are a heck of a lot less effective in a half-court game than they are running the full court.
It would appear that the rest of the league has emulated our speed game. And it’s nullified what once was our greatest advantage. Couple that with the fact that we’re a tired hockey club? I think we’re seeing the results.
I agree with your assertion that we seem to be returning to old bad habits from the MJ era. When we get frustrated…and there’s been plenty of that this season…I think we try to ‘over-skill’ things, instead of making the simple, direct play.
I also agree that I’d like to see Sullivan stick with line combinations longer than he does. I remember Michel Therrien shuffling lines at a maddening pace, too, and it never seemed to help. And there were some combinations that have come and gone–Hagelin-Sheahan-Rust for one–that I thought had some promise.
As much as I love Sully, I think this season might be a growing and learning experience for him. Specifically, how to handle a hockey team (and manage his own emotions) when things aren’t going well. It may make him an even better coach in the end.
Rick
I had a similar thought watching the game last night. Rather than trying to play a heavy game against the Pens with fore-checkers crashing hard, teams seem to bluff the fore-check causing Pens defensemen to make bad passes. One of the things that seem to help the 2015-16 team score off of the rush was that a lot of those rushed were odd man rushes from opposing fore-checkers getting caught out of the play.
Once in the attacking zone, it doesn’t seem anyone on this team knows how to find the soft spot in the half-court D. When he first came up Guentzel was able to do it, when he was skating with Malkin. I remember commenting how he reminded me a bit of James Neal in how Neal always found that spot for Malkin to set him up. But now with the clown car offense with line combinations flying out fast and furious everyone is busy trying to figure each other out, so it may not even be their faults.
And of course my greatest frustration watching the east-west offense with the long rink-wide passes and players standing there waiting for the puck to reach them.
Hey Other Rick,
Really interesting point about the bluff forecheck.
Part of the reason we enjoyed so much success back in ’15-16–and played with so much speed–is that we were able to exit our zone so quickly and efficiently.
Beginning in the second half of last season–right around the time Kris Letang went on IR–we started have more difficulty with our breakouts. Especially, it seemed, when we tried to go up the boards.
Our puck possession numbers steadily declined, and kept falling throughout the playoffs. When you consider the amount of time we spent trapped in our zone–especially against Columbus and Washington–it’s remarkable that we won the Cup.
I attributed the problem directly to the loss of Letang, and figured it would right itself when he returned. But while our possession numbers have improved, we still seem to struggle with our transitions. Perhaps for the very reasons you suggest.
Rick