According to the Holy Bible, Sunday is a day of rest.
It appears our Pittsburgh Penguins heeded that time-honored spiritual truth yesterday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena. While the Detroit Red Wings came ready to play—the black and gold appeared to take the day off en route to a dismal 5-2 defeat.
“They outcompeted us,” said Pens forward Tom Kuhnhackl. “If you look at them, they played not even 20 hours ago. They had an afternoon game yesterday (Saturday). You would think we would have more juice than them, but they just outbattled us.”
To a man, the Penguins didn’t have their legs. Most likely a delayed reaction to playing a pair of physically grueling and emotionally charged contests against Winnipeg and Columbus on Thursday and Friday night. Indeed, while playing three games within a 70-hour window didn’t seem to bother the schedule-makers, it hardly was what the doctor ordered.
Mike Sullivan refused to make excuses for his bone-weary troops.
“Every team goes through it,” the Pens’ coach told Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We’re no different than any other team. Our challenge is we have to find ways to be successful.”
Still, it was painfully obvious from the opening draw the Pens were flat as a proverbial pancake. They spent most of an unfruitful afternoon trying in vain to find the on-switch to their game.
Near the nine-minute mark of the first period, Evgeni Malkin slipped a pass to Cameron Gaunce high in the Red Wings’ zone. Gaunce promptly fell down, enabling Detroit’s Nick Jensen to beat Matt Murray cleanly on the ensuing 2-on-1 break.
Kuhnhackl briefly restored the Pens’ hopes—not to mention a little life to the building—with a nifty shorthanded tally at 14:09. His third goal of the season and first since December 8. However, the Pens afforded Steve Ott about a day and a half to tee up a backhander from the slot at 16:29, and the Detroit disturber cashed in.
“I thought we gave them a couple tonight where they didn’t have to work very hard for their opportunities,” noted Sullivan.
The Pens held their ground during the second period while outshooting the visitors, 11-6. But Wings goalie Petr Mrazek was up to the task, robbing Nick Bonino with an outstanding glove save midway through the frame to preserve his team’s 2-1 lead.
Then Tomas Tatar ripped the puck past Murray 27 seconds into the third period off a pretty give-and-go—courtesy of a dreadful turnover by rookie Jake Guentzel—and that was all she wrote. Sidney Crosby struck seven seconds after an unassisted tally by Thomas Vanek to make the score 4-2, but the Pens rarely threatened after that, producing only six shots on goal during the final 20 minutes.
Obviously a tired, if not exhausted, hockey team.
The loss to Detroit—the second in the past five weeks—reinforced a trend of playing poorly on Sunday afternoons and in matinee games in general.
What are the lyrics to that old Petula Clark song? Never, never on a Sunday?
Seems like an appropriate theme for our Penguins.
Ice Chips
Chris Kunitz had an especially tough day. The 37-year-old winger registered six hits, but was a minus-4 in 14:42 of ice time. Kris Letang was minus-three; Crosby, Malkin and Trevor Daley each were minus-two.
On the flip side, Kuhnhackl, Ian Cole and Chad Ruhwedel were the only Penguins to finish the game a plus. Patric Hornqvist paced the team with five shots on goal and seven hits, both game highs.
The Pens out-hit Detroit, 32-28, but had another poor showing in the faceoff circle (45 percent). The locals held a slight edge in shots on goal (26-24).
Gaunce dressed in place of Steve Oleksy, a healthy scratch along with Carter Rowney.
Hey all,
Some loose-leaf rambling … 🙂
Last season, the Pens were only beginning to discover how good they could be when March rolled around. Then, suddenly, the pieces fell into place and they started beating everyone in sight.
Because we coalesced so late in the season, I don’t think teams like the Caps and the Rangers really had a chance to adjust. Heck, they’d pretty much had their way with us all year. There was no reason to think that–with a tweak here and there–they couldn’t handle us in the postseason as well.
Much to their collective chagrin, they found out the hard way they couldn’t. Especially in the skating department.
Fast forward to this season. The Pens aren’t going to sneak up on anybody. Foes are well aware of our strengths (and weaknesses) and will be much better prepared. We’re going to need to find an edge somewhere. Maybe in a place we haven’t had one before.
Again, I point to the physical play department. If we can upgrade just a bit in that area, I think we’d be in much better shape come postseason.
I keep harkening back to the ’91-92 season when we got Rick Tocchet and Kjell Samuelsson. Did it make us the toughest team in the league? No. Man for man, the Rangers and Blackhawks still were a lot tougher. But we could at least hang with them physically after the trade.
Given our enormous edge in skill, it was enough to tip the balance.
I really think we need the same type of muscle infusion this year. Who we’d get (or how we get ’em) I haven’t clue.
Perhaps more critically, do Jim Rutherford and–to a lesser extent–Mike Sullivan, see a need to upgrade our physicality?
I hope I’m wrong. But I fear the answer is “no.”
Rick
Hey Rick,
Last year was a perfect storm for the Pens. As you mentioned the Pens didn’t find their identity until late in the season, making it difficult for teams to prepare for them. As I mentioned, Sullivan got the team to play for the fun of the game again and when Crosby and Malkin in particularly are playing for the fun of the game there isn’t any better. But let’s not forget that the referees made an effort to keep most games clean. A lot of players were given penalties as well as suspensions for dangerous play, taking the teeth out of the heavy teams, at least in the early rounds.
This year, again as you mentioned their is no hiding the Pens identity. Everyone knows who they are and have been planning for them. JR and the organization as a whole is really pressing and it may just be taking the fun out of the game for everyone including the Malkin and Crosby. So the only hope left for the Pens is that the Refs don’t let goons try and hurt players.
However, before the Pens go out and try and change their focus some other factors have to looked at. First, they really do not have any assets they appear ready to trade to get a quality heavy. The only really big asset they can move is MAF and the organization is labouring under the delusion that they will need 2-no 1 goalies to make their Cup run. If they don’t get a tier 1 heavy weight then they will stuck in no mans land, neither fast no strong.
Remember Tocchet was a tier 1 heavy weight, he could score goals in droves not just fight. The Pens had to give up a quality players to get him. No matter what I would like to see, I don’t see the Pens willing to give up any player of consequence to get real grit. I don’t see the Pens giving up any player to get anyone better than Sestito, so why not just use Sestito instead of wasting him in WBS.
That means the only real hope in my opinion for the Pens this year is to re-focus the team on having fun and letting their talent flow rather than posturing about their commitment to winning back-to-back Cups at all costs, at the expense of the next several years.
Hey Rick.
Third time is a charm they say. Twice I had a detailed response to your post using my cell, and both times someone called and my post was erased before I got finished. Showing my age and stupidity. One more time.
Ladies and Gentlemen, We are all singing off the same song sheet. None of us have a warm and fuzzy feeling about playing hockey in June with the Team as currently configured and the injury situation today.
So given the recent comments by ownership to go all in to win in 2017, I would like to suggest a couple of crazy ideas.
1. Coach is right. We do not need two # 1 Goal tenders to win the 2017 Cup.
So why not trade Murray !! Trade him for a 2 or 3 rd year d man with skill and size who is still on an entry level 950 K contract. There are several that come to mind in the league who would be a star for us. #1 Goalie for a # 2 D man.
2. Bonino goes. We need a center man who can win 80 % of the face offs and kill penalties.The bigger the better. He is your 4th center,and move Cullen to the 3rd line.Plus he handles all the face offs for Geno and skates off the ice.
We know that Bonino will command a large raise in the off season and we simply do not have the Cap space to keep him. So trade him now .
3.( D.Sprong and Oskar S. and Cash.) Trade them. With Maatta on LTIR, you have 4.1 million of cap space to use to secure another quality d man with size. Yes he is a rental,and there are several available players out there, so that should, with Sestito help our d corps problems.Then hope Maatta returns from his hand injury and we can place him on our expanded 25 man
play off roster and not be included in the salary cap. Now you 8 d men to use.
4. Derrick P. our forgotten, neglected and miss used child. In one of the western Canadian markets he still will have value because of his junior career. Trade him and a forward for a larger left winger hopefully for Geno. Again a rental player for the Cup run.
So if the goal is indeed to win it all now…. Why not?
Your thoughts everyone ?
Hey Jim,
I am not a fan of the JRs statement of going all out to be the first team since Detroit to win back to back Cups at the expense of the future. However, given JRs statement, your ideas would make sense to a panic stricken GM and Organization.
If everything about Jarry is true then both MAF and Murray are expendable. In your scenario of trading Murray, the Pens should be able to get a Shattenkirk and Bortuzzo
You are quite right, I do not have the same feel this year as I did last year. I get the feel that this team is not a team calmly heading for the Cup but a desparate team trying to live on past glories to get them through. In my opinion things started to unravel when the organization decided to enter the season with pretty much the same line up as last year. And then as the season progressed ignored the signs that the league was catching up as well as ignoring the strategy of what got them to the Cup last year.
One of the things I liked about what Sullie did last year was that he was far from conservative, he went for it. He moved out old worn out veterans that MJ and Bylsma leaned on and inserted kids. This year, he basically benched one of the more important kids, retarding his growth. Kuhnhackl was a big key in PK situations last year and scored a couple big SHG. This year he has spent a great deal of the season in the press box and even when he does play, last I look (a couple of weeks ago) his TOI/G was way down. and the veterans that have been playing ahead of him have been failing to do much better.
The Pens also screwed up when they failed to resign Bonino, before the season started. I can’t help wonder if Bones is not playing up to expectation because of his contract.
My son is bugging me so I will have to get back to this later.
Sorry I couldn’t finish my thoughts last night. As I said I do not have the same feel for this team that I did last year. Last year there was a buzz an air of something special ready to explode onto the scene. An air that a dynasty a la the Canadiens of the 70s was ready to be born.
Not this year. I don’t get that feel.
Last year at this time of the year, if you remember I wasn’t saying much, in my typical superstitious fashion, not wanting to jinx the team. This year you can’t seem to shut me up.
I do think this team has as good of a chance as any to win the Cup right now, but they are trending downward and that downward trend started in the off-season when last years hero JR started setting himself up to be this years goat by violating several isms; I am not sure but I don’t think any team ever repeated a Cup run with as much of a the previous years team intact, nor do I think any team has won a repeat Cup by playing it so conservative that they opted to pay a starting goalie to be a back-up.
Granted the off-season was very short for this team, but not so short for them to not move forward in the off-season, instead of standing pat and letting the rest of the league catch up with the.
After JRs horrible off-season, Sullivan has made some, not neccessarily bad personnel decisions, but at least decisions that went against the grain of his winning formula last year. Last year he gave every opportunity to the young guys to thrive and they did; Sheary and Rust have emerged into top 6 forwards on the team, Kuhnhackl showed that he could at least be a shut down guy. Playing that miniature stick of dtynamite over veterans set a tone. This year Kuhnhackl has sat in the press box and watched veterans have under-achieve. Last year Sullie would have had no qualms about sitting a veteran like Bonino who isn’t scoring nor even winning FOs. Yes he has had some good games but he has been very inconsistent.
He also has had opportunities to rest aging war horses to save them for the stretch run and play-offs and in the process give kids a chance to learn and gain experience if they are needed down the line but past them up. Was he feeling JRs pressure of don’t lose rather than bouyed up with the support to build to win?
I just don’t feel it at the moment, but to reiterate my answer to your question Jim, yes, if JR wants to pull off one of the biggest bone head moves and go all in to win this year, throwing away a gem of a goalie like Murray, a kid who is position to set some W records then yes trading him makes tons of sense from that point of view. So does trading kids like Sundqvist and Sprong. (Sundqvist in particular since he does look ready to play but is wasting away because we have a fear of playing kids this year and wish to live or die by aging under-achieving veterans).
I also share your thought that Pouliot may still prove some trade value to some teams. I agree he is misused and more importantly having him on the roster is like trying to give a drowning man a glass of water. We have way too many midget puck moving D. Don’t get me wrong, I like puck moving D, but how about the Pens get a couple that are over 72″ and 200lbs. They do exist. They had at least one in Despres that they let slip through their grasp to placate MJ. If they did have a couple of bigger D maybe they wouldn’t have half of their starters hurt right now; Schultz, Maatta, and now Daley(?).
Thanks to Murray holding the fort last night against a Canes team that launched over 70 shot attempts the Pens managed to squeeze out another 2 points. Definitely not last year when they were not eking out games but dominating them with a passion for the game.
Great stuff… 100 % Coach.
I can not add anything else.
I just thru that lame idea out there to make people think that is what happens when $$$ instead of brains takes over in an organization.
The real question is WHY ?
Why did JR and Mario say this ? When I think about it seriously, I really do not like the answers I am getting!
Cheers
Hi Rick,
Waiting to see what others were going to post first….So ?
You are right again my friend in that the team looked tired and the Wings out played the Pen’s on Sunday.There heavy hitters came to play. Ott, Abdelkader, Larkin,Mantha,Zetteberg and others really stepped up their game. Once again, you can never right off a team as the so called lowly Wings beat both the Caps and the Pen’s over the weekend. As we mentioned before Rick, there are really very few easy teams for us to play. Anybody can beat anybody in today’s NHL. The days of parity have arrived.
One good thing though is various media reports have commented that JR is going to be active on the trade fronts in the coming few weeks. A couple of different sources have quoted JR as saying he will go after 2 d-men as the outlook for Maatta and Justin S. is in question. Brian D. has not fully recovered as well in that he must wear a face shield to prevent further injury.
So the existing depleted d corps is a serious issue moving forward.
Another source from TSN has said that Mario made reference, and JR confirmed that the Pen’s organization is going ” ALL IN ” to win in 2017 and worry about the financial and personnel repercussions next year. Bearing that in mind, you never know what trade scenarios can be made if you have a mandate to win at all costs this year from the ownership group.
It should be quite interesting to see what actually occurs between now and the Trade deadline.
Cheers..
Hey Jim,
I heard the same quote about going all in to win the Cup this year and then let the pieces fall were they may come off season and that scares me. The Pens pathetic play-off performances in the past were, in my opinion, deeply rooted in their over pressuring themselves to win the Cup at all costs. That much pressure causes players to forget to have fun. Forgive me for quoting Taoist philosophy but;
“The Need to Win
When an archer is shooting for fun
He has all his skill.
If he shoots for a brass buckle
He is already nervous.
If he shoots for a prize of gold
He goes blind
Or sees two targets –
He is out of his mind.
His skill has not changed,
But the prize divides him.
He cares
He thinks more of winning
Than of shooting –
And the need to win
Drains him of power.”
by Chuang Tzu
With Malkin, Crosby, Kessel, Hornqvist, Letang and Murray all playing to have fun, I really don’t think too many teams can match up, even the heavy teams. The problems come when they stop having fun and worry too much about winning.
Last year Sullivan’s best strategy was to re-focus the team on how fun the game was. After playing into June and the World Cup, this team may not just be physically tired but mentally tired too. If Sullie doesn’t get them focused back on having fun, no matter how all in they are to win, they won’t. The pressure will just cause them to be too tight to win.
But I do agree that some trades need to occur, just without the undue pressure of chanting the mantra of win at all costs this year!
Love the Chinese philosophy, other Rick – and couldn’t agree more!
Thanks Jayelene, my Shoa’Lin background is showing. I had a really great, ethical instructor who made sure his students understood more than just the roaring like a lion that are most styles stock and trade.
Hey Coach,
Great stuff. I really like the Taoist saying. I think that is true in almost everything we do. Some people actually thrive in that high pressure environment while most of us do not.
To me,these comments of winning at any cost is a self- defeating prophecy. That approach from 2010 to 2015 failed miserably. As I posted once before, my father who loved the game and played at a semi pro level sixty years ago, said ” when watching a NHL game you must remember that two games are being played at once…the one on the ice and the one in the back rooms…where the real game is being won or lost “. Simply put, it takes a lot of money to make a NHL franchise successful. From 2010 to 2015 the need to win was simply a financial one. The owners wanted to sell the Team. Cash out.
Win at any cost makes more money for them in the short run… but not
long term. You can not blame the owners for thinking that way.
It is just business. $$$
So Coach when I heard those media reports from 3 different sources,( USA and Canada ), I thought to myself, here we go again !!
If anything, it will indeed be interesting to watch the next few weeks to see what happens.
Cheers
Hey Jim,
Sad but true, it all comes down to $$$$. Precious few Owners or Players really remember the Fan who becomes emotionally vested in the team. They buy, sell, jump, trade, and hold out/lock out all the while they forget who is paying their bills, the fans who bleed their teams colors, who rabidly follow their team through the highs and lows.
The best part is, if they remember to simply play for the love of the game, everybody becomes a winner; they play their best, they put their team in the best position to win a Cup, and the fans get the entertainment that they ultimatetly are footing the bill for.
Hey guys (and gal) … 🙂
Interesting thoughts, as always.
It’s always a challenge to write about such a flat performance, but I wanted to post something so folks could comment if they wished.
I’m hoping the Pens’ struggles against Detroit were due more to the grueling back-to-back games with the Jets and Jackets—not to mention the “never on Sunday syndrome”—than a more deeply rooted fatigue brought on by playing so much hockey over the past 16 months.
If it’s the latter, then it puts the Pens in a tough spot. Ideally, as I believe you’ve both alluded to in recent comments, you’d like to start giving guys a little rest. Realistically, it would take a monumental collapse for us to miss the playoffs at this stage. Still, we can hardly afford to give away points, especially with the Rangers and Columbus breathing down our neck.
Again, the injuries to guys like Rust and Sheary may actually be a blessing in disguise in that they’ll give two of our high-energy guys a nice, long rest heading into the stretch run and playoffs.
I’ll be really curious to see what Rutherford does at the deadline. I think it’s a given that he’ll try to land a defenseman (or two), although JR always seems to have a trick up his sleeve. A friend of mine who predicted the Kunitz-Whitney deal back in ’09 mentioned Detroit’s Brendan Smith as a possible target (the PensBurgh blog did as well).
Intriguing thought. Big kid (6’2” 211), good skater with an aggressive bent. Not a holy terror when it comes to fighting, but capable and willing. He’s taken on the likes of Chris Neil and Evander Kane, which says a lot about his character. Love to see us get someone along those lines, although I fear JR doesn’t agree.
In the meantime, I’ll be curious to see how we fare against Carolina tonight. They always play us tough.
Rick
PS—The same friend who mentioned Smith as a potential trade target also shared that he’d heard (through Phil Bourque) that the Pens LOVE when Tom Sestito’s in the lineup. Apparently, he’s very popular with his teammates—had “Phil Kessel for President” t-shirts printed up at his own expense.
Hey Rick,
I am hoping for some type of D deals, the problem is with so many skaters hurt, the only asset that JR has to really vend, to get any player of consequence is MAF. That leaves draft picks and depleting an already strained pipeline that is trying to cover for those injuries. Therefore, I am resigned to JR pulling of nothing more than under the radar deals that really won’t matter in the grand scheme of things. If he trades any of the skaters, the team will be doing nothing more than treading water until Rust, Sheary, Maatta, and Schultz comes back so that the trade will accomplish very little.
Unless JR can pull off a Scuderi-Daley trade, Pouliot won’t bring much more than he, himself brings.
I actually like Sestito too, as I mentioned before, I just wish they would use him for more than a big dog on the porch mentality. Let him play a regular 4th line shift, don’t double shift another player on every other 4th line shift. Let him play, he just may surprise some people. He may actually be a hockey player if given the chance (bottom 6 or bottom 3, but still a hockey player).
Carolina can play pretty fast. They are very young. If the Pens jump on them early it could be a long night of the Canes. If the Pens don’t put them away early, the Pens may have another fight on their hands. I hope that Sullie gets them focused on playing rather than pressuring them to win at all costs.
Okay, I am thinking about this now. Trading D for D isn’t likely to get the Pens much. Despite the logic of trading MAF for D, too many people don’t have what it takes to pull the trigger on that deal, even if there are any takers out there.
So, What other assets do the Pens have;
Sprong? I sure hope the heck not. Yes the Pens are deep at RW but Sprong is so young, he could help the Pens for a long time.
Kuhnhackl? Another kid with a strong 2-way upside but who hasn’t been given much of a chance this year to show it, not like last year when he really showed his defensive talents. If I am another GM I may be willing to deal here for a bottom pair D man. I think Kuhnhackl can be at least a 3rd liner possibly higher. He has shown flashes of Ofeensive talent when allowed to skate with Malkin, but I would play hardball sine the Pens have buried him on the 4th line or the press box. I wouldn’t offer much for him.
Sundqvist? Another possibility. He showed great positioning on the ice as well as a knack for shielding the puck with his body during his whistle stop tour last year. He is another young player that I would covet if I am an opposing GM. But as a Pens fan I hope the heck not.
Now I will put out the player I would most like to shop for a a solid maybe 2nd pairing D man, Bonino. He has not really fullfilled the promise of the HBK of last years play-offs and he is an UFA. The Pens could deal him and move Cullen up to 3rd line or bring Sundqvist up to play 3rd line for younger legs. Bones hasn’t been winning tons of FOs either this year so even if Sundqvist has a slow start in the FO circle it won’t hust the cause much. And if they move Cullen up and give Rowney the 4th Line it may actually help the FO situation.
Some people may get mad at me for this suggestion, but given the Pens current situation, it seems to me to be the best move. I am only now thinking about Bonino as trade bait, so I haven’t really looked to see what players I would/could flip for him under our cap constraints, which are a little bit better if Maatta goes on LTIR (not sure if he has yet or not).
Hey Coach
We never get mad at you…I agree with you on Bonino since we will not be able to afford next year.
FYI , Calgary just received from Arizona 26 year old 6’3″ 215# d man Mike Stone for a 3rd round pick in 2017 and a conditional 5 th round pick in 2018.
He is In a final year at 4 million. ( Not a bad deal.)
The moves have started my friend.
Hey Jim,
With all this talk about win now, if the Pens don’t win the Cup or even possibly bounce out early in the 1st or 2nd round I would say the exit could trace itself back to the Pens failure to deal MAF this past off-season. This just may be the start of the conservative thought of trying not to lose rather than win. It just may be here where they started over-pressuring themselves to chase back-to-back Cups.
At some point I am going to look back over the first 100 years of hockey to find out how many teams won a Cup while opting to pay a starting goalie to be a back-up all in the name of an insurance policy.
Hockey is not like Baseball where a team needs 4 or 5 starters.
Sorry for bringing this back up.
Speaking of Bonino, he is out tonight
Hey Rick,
I think after this past week,panic has set in the Management suite of the Pen’s. If Justin Schultz is out for any period of time, and Letang gets injured again,the Pen’s have a real problem. They need to do something fast, but it will cost them dearly again. Can you imagine JR’s negotiating strategy with other teams now,especially after the Owner says we must win in 2017 ?? Not the best place to be in.
There is no secret that Mario wants to win again now. I can only speculate this is for future financial reasons.
Good talking points as always Rick. 🙂