The Penguins get 2 more Points on their Canadian Tour with a scruffy win over Edmonton

Yes, Sidney Crosby’s game-winning (WG), over time (OT) goal was a thing of beauty. It is just a shame that the full game it self wasn’t.

Winning is not just a good thing, but a great thing, so I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Yesterday, before the game, during a conversation with a friend, I was heard to quote Han Solo, “I have a bad feeling about this”, referring to this season. After the game, despite the win, my “bad feeling” just got worse.

Watching Leon Draisaitl, get a clean shot from between the top of the circles to tie up the game at 1 – 1 at the 1:06 minute mark of the 2nd, then seeing Alex Chaison wide open just a little over 2 minutes later (3:10 min) between the middle of the circles (although falling down) put the Oilers up 2 – 1 and then Chaison and Tobias Reider get in behind the Penguins’ Defense on an odd man break to tie the game back up after Jamie Oleksiak and Patric Hornqvist fought to get our home town boys back on top, does not fill me with any confidence. Although Connor McDavid’s power play goal (PPG) may appear somewhat excusable, since the Penguins’ were short handed, seeing Milan Lucic standing all alone, with no defenders aware of his presence was extremely problematic. Finishing the scoring out for Edmonton, but hardly the last of the bad omens in this game, Drasaitl converted another odd man break on the power play from a McDavid feed.

The game could have easily been a loss. Once again, the Black and Gold was outshot 46 – 31. Our boys of winter did manage more shot attempts (71 – 68) but they missed the net 17 times and had another 23 attempts blocked; less than 50% of the shots attempted made it on net.

Unfortunately for Penguins, Edmonton was far more efficient with their shots. The 5 shots that found the back of the Penguins’ goal were not the only quality shots; at 15:15 of the 2nd period, Murray had to stuff 6′-4″, 201 lb Jesse Puljujarvi on a rebound attempt following a Kris Russell point shot, because Kris Letang could not move Puljujarvi out from in front of Murray or otherwise negate the Oiler’s Forward.

And let’s not forget the mini break-away by McDavid, blazing past Brian Dumoulin and Bryan Rust at the 6:07 mark of the 3rd period. Fortunately for the Penguin faithful, Murray was equal to the task and stoned him to preserve the tie and give Crosby the opportunity for OT heroics and to work his magic. Without Murray’s save, Crosby never has the chance to wow the Edmonton fans with his stick handling skills.

Perhaps, the poor team Defense and disparate shot totals is not the disease but the symptom. Perhaps the real problem here is Mike Sullivan obstinately over-using his top 3 lines and ignoring the 4th line. Granted, the Penguins’ 4th line, as constructed, is a poor excuse for a 4th line. Sullivan may be setting kids up for failure by asking thoroughbreds to pull a plough on the 4th line. Daniel Sprong only played 3:37 last night and Dominik Simon just a little more at 4:19. With players as old as Matt Cullen logging 14:16 and all their star players in their 30s now, not only is Sullivan’s insubordination out of character with his strategy that won the back-to-back Cups, but it is now a recipe for disaster.

Why do I call this in subordination? Simple, JR said in the off-season that Sprong would be on the team this year. So, it would appear that Sullivan is going to do his level best to show JR who is the boss. He has stripped Sprong of any confidence, so much so that as I noted in my last post, Sprong was having trouble stick-handling with no one around him. And he is putting him in a position to fail rather than succeed by playing him on the 4th line.

After watching the suffering Sprong in person at the Penguins’ last home game, I agree with the Sprong haters, at this point, because of circumstances that could be described as calculated, the kid is struggling and hasn’t really earned much more ice time than Sullivan has begrudged him. However, in hypocritical fashion, Sullivan is punishing Sprong while giving veterans a free pass. At this point in the season (and it is early) only Evegni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Justin Schultz have better points per 60 minutes (P60) than Sprong. Defensively, this year, his numbers aren’t that good, but then again no one is playing all that well. He is better than most offensively and certainly not much worse than others defensively. Sitting Sprong and Simon sends no message for poor defensive play.

In the end, whether or not Sprong and Simon get the ice time, or they get traded for players the temperamental (insubordinate?) Sullivan will play, the Penguins need to roll 4 lines. If the Penguins do not, elder statesman like Cullen and even stars like Crosby and Malkin will not be able to sustain their level of play over the course of the full season and the war that is play-offs. It is early, but things still need to be changed.

A win is a win is a win. You take them all and say thank you. And the Penguins are 4 – 1 – 2. However, anyone sharing my trepidation can be forgiven for their unease. There is plenty of evidence for us to see the glass as half empty right now.