“Stop messing around and take the (rhymes with ma’am) puck to the net!” I hollered at the big screen TV from my favorite perch at the Pennsbury Pub & Grille. “Goooooooooo!”
The object of my rant? The usually redoubtable Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.
One of the ladies watching the game shot me a look of wide-eyed wonder. “I’ve never heard you swear before!”
My irritation with the proceedings had caused me to morph from my normally mild-mannered self into somewhat of a raving lunatic. The Penguins have a way of doing that to a guy.
To say Sunday night’s come-from-in-front overtime loss to the Flyers was frustrating would be akin to describing the Grand Canyon as a pretty big ditch. Enormously frustrating is more like it. With the game virtually in their collective hip pockets, our guys conspired to fritter this one away. An all-too-familiar script these days.
With 18.8 seconds left in regulation play and Flyers’ goalie Carter Hart pulled in favor of an extra attacker, our three forwards—Jared McCann, Bryan Rust and Crosby—got trapped floating in the neutral zone in search of easy plunder, which led to a 4-on-2 break the other way. Travis Konecny promptly set up James van Riemsdyk in the slot for the game-tying goal.
Yeah, I know it was the second of back-to-back games and our guys were probably a little gassed. Crosby, for one, logged a robust 45:02 of ice time over the weekend. Still, with less than 20 seconds standing between you and two points, you find a way to get back and help out. Neither Sid nor McCann nor Rust did.
What’s that old boxing adage? Protect yourself at all times? In hockey, it’s play to the whistle. Or in this case…the horn. The Pens didn’t play to the final horn and it cost ‘em.
Inexcusable.
“They don’t know how to play situational hockey,” moaned Paulie, one of my hockey buds.
Truer words were never spoken.
The thought of overtime made me cringe. After all, it hasn’t exactly been the Pens’ domain this season (5-7 heading into last night). Truly, I hoped we’d play a little more conservatively and get to the shootout, where I thought our chances might be better.
With the final seconds ticking off the clock and the puck in the Flyers’ end, I still felt uneasy. “They’ve got time for one more rush,” I mumbled to no one in particular. Sure enough, Sean Courturier works a give-and-go with Shayne Gostisbehere, bursts around Crosby in the neutral zone and zooms into the Pens’ zone on a 2-on-1.
The results? All-too-predictable. He shoots and scores.
Game, set and match to Philly.
Although practically a carbon copy of our Stadium Series loss to the Flyers three weeks ago, I don’t necessarily lay this one at goalie Matt Murray’s feet. Yeah, he’s gotta make a big save with the game on the line. But echoing Paulie’s sentiments, the Pens have got to do a better job of insulating their goalies in crucial situations.
Last night, they failed miserably.
Nor is this an isolated incident but a trend…and a disturbing one at that. Off the top of my head, this is the fourth time the Pens have blown a late lead and succumbed in overtime…twice to Buffalo and twice to Philly. As it stands now, a couple of non-playoff teams.
With Montreal sputtering at 81 points…seven behind our Pens…and the Flyers a full 10 points in our rear-view mirror, our largesse isn’t liable to prevent us from making the playoffs. However, it most certainly can cost us in other ways, especially since we still have a legit shot at winning the Metro Division crown and thus drawing a favorable first-round match-up.
I’ll close by repeating my opening sentiments. Once and for all, the Pens need to stop messing around.
Hey all,
I’m a little pressed for time. But I wanted to reply to some of the comments concerning Crosby.
I wasn’t trying to assign blame for the loss to Sid. But I needed to point out that he was involved…heavily…on the sequences leading to both Flyers goals.
Especially on the overtime goal, I felt he needed to find a way to get in the way so Couturier didn’t go blowing past him.
Frankly, he looked gassed.
Truly, Sid’s been amazing. He’s the best all-around hockey player I’ve ever seen and, at age 31, he keeps getting better. His character, leadership, commitment and intensity are beyond reproach. This was an anomaly…an unfortunate blip on what otherwise has been extraordinary season for No. 87.
Jorenz and Dee, I agree with your sense that Sullivan was trying to slip this one through and perhaps was asleep at the switch. A timeout may have greatly helped the Penguins’ cause.
Rick
Hello Tor and Rick,
I freaking love the blame on Crosby. Guess what? He isn’t to blame here.
Maybe it’s just me . I will always give Crosby a pass on many things..
Crosby is a human. He tried several times to get the puck and defensively back check to to get puck out with no help from Rust and McCann.. Bad changing from coaching and defensive thst should not be on the ice together..
Crosby was completely gassed and overused to help to send the time to a win with no help at all. All the time . (Guentzel is not included)
Also He get completely elbow/forearm in the head area with no penalty with refs looking at the whole sequence. He was one of the Penguins best player last night..
Completely shut down and defend with Jack Johnson. There’s no surprise he’s on ice for – 5 with Johnson..
Mike Sullivan should have taking a timeout. Have Guentzel, McCann, Crosby with reliable defenseman.. Dumoulin-Gudbrunson or Dumoulin-Schultz. He has done it several times where it help them win with a empty net to seal the win..
There’s several key factors that make Penguins lose and unable to get the job done against teams. I stated it several times on here. Penguins biggest detriment is Mike Sullivan and Mark Reechi. Rick Tocchet is sorely missed. Ship has sailed with Sullivan a lot for the past few years.. Coaching decisions, plans, strategies, tactics and way of players usage is poor. Very poor.. Bad adjustments and not giving players more minutes to play after they scored a goal or at least play very two way hockey ..
Several reasons Penguins lose that game and really deserves to lose it
• Bad Piss Poor Coaching
•Special Teams ( Reechi and not sending out second unit to slot top unit in )
•utilizes Players in wrong and always depending on one line to get them to finish line dating back to last season
• bad clock management and no timeout to rest your star that is overused all the time. ( it has happened many times)
• Jack Johnson And Brian Dumoulin on the ice for tying goal . They should not be on the ice together. Jack Johnson cannot be in crucial moments and playing top minutes
•Schultz and Johnson should not be paired together let alone with top lines
• Schultz is completely shut down with him and top lines are constantly defending and have offensively pressure with him.
• Dumoulin and Trotman should not be paired together at all.
•they ran into goalies again that always outplayed Murray and they seems to be more unflappable in the net. They make saves with saves in crucial moments.
• Goaltending cannot stop shooter tendencies and make crucial saves at crucial moments when needed..
I can go on and on..I will stop myself.. I go to every game .. hockey is completely different on ice and a lot things are not seen on the tv..
Biggest defense problem to me that Johnson and Schultz are not great pairing together.. I know people will disagree with me.. I don’t care at all.. Schultz, top lines and a lot of are consistent hurting with him on the ice.. They do not get nowhere with him unless they defend and defend with leading to get a goal on their side.. where they are not one and done skating to bench in frustration ..
Jack Johnson cannot play top 4 minutes and help this team succeed on the ice with way they are with there system that keep them effective.
Jack Johnson looks because goaltending and players are constantly overextended themselves to bail him to stop goals or just to defend enough to get to offensive zone to make something happen.
Sullivan has really mismanaged fowards and defenseman a lot. Very much way to much in match lines in games that bad fired on him. He overused Crosby to much and don’t adjust well to others teams counterattacks..
Mike Sullivan and Recchi gotta be better..
Some good goaltending and Crosby’s line has kept him his job.
Jack Johnson helping this team bleed on the ice and chasing hits with no awareness to keep something going on the ice.
He makes something into nothing. I can give to mike Sullivan he finally gave Dumoulin-Schultz the top pairing where that should’ve been the option with Dumoulin’s return .. it’s was amazing to see Crosby and second line got more offensive pressure within Jack Johnson hurting them..
Penguins cannot win with many players in the line up. That’s particularly Johnson, Wilson, Siom for me. Letang as well..
That’s why Malkin and others are struggling.. I have seen several times every player with him is struggling with to get anything done.. His head is not swivel to make gray passes, breakouts, offensive pressure to keep the puck in the zone, bad shots, very slow, chase hit , leaves/passing puck in vulnerable spots that teams easy to get the puck to create momentum in pens zone…
Like I said… Johnson needs to go and he hasn’t been playing good and hurt this team more than help this team to finish line to win games.. Goaltending and one lined team make him looks like he’s doing good..
He’s a very sloppy, bad, brutal hockey that hinders this team. I still believe Penguins are a better team without Letang, Trotman, Johnson and at times without Pettersson a lot .
Penguins style is to have Defensemen defend hard, great effective skater, make great passing that connects to fowards in unison , winning puck battles, puck management and transition game that don’t have fowards consistently defending in the defensive zone.
Penguins fowards are constantly getting back late and defending all the time. Because defenseman are bad with the puck, they skating out the zone to transition the puck, they are getting outmuscled , aggressively pinching and bad breakouts passing on the boards where they exposed all time. That’s on coach and mishandling them on where they should be paired with..
I don’t care for Letang, Johnson and Trotman.. i would rather see two new RHD to Shultz or Määttä..
Penguins want to win the cup..then…
Dumoulin-Letang ( limited ice time and second pp)
Määttä-Schultz ( at time Dumoulin-Schultz need to be paired together)
Pettersson-Gudbranson
I hope nonsenses of Letang getting catered too .. will hurt them to being way more into a fuck that have worse odd man break and complete dysfunction..
Retool Defensemen with removing Johnson and Letang. Pettersson needs to find a cheeseburger or play in AhL
Gudbrunson is really doing what pens need when they try signing Cole back and dumb enough to sign Jack Johnson to take the role. Johnson don’t fit this team mold and a player that will decline soon or later. He won’t get better.
Gudbrunson skates well, transition well, skates out with puck, make simple plays with a awareness, smart with puck, help with the offensive pressure, defensively minded and still will improve with much need work. He wins battles, protect the crease right and calm force. Although, I think mike Sullivan should have had him on ice after Malkin’s dirty Cross check, elbow to Crosby and dirty slewfoot to Dumoulin.
I always thought Gudbrunson had it in him with a better team.
Määttä might be faster at times. He damn effective and get the job done with Schultz or constantly consistent partner that play two way hockey with him.
I’m keeping Määttä, Schultz, Dumoulin, Gudbrunson on defense. Get cheap effective Two RHD’s with 11 million through Letang and Johnson.
I see Johnson being bench with Letang and Määttä’s return.. 15 minutes is a sign is understanding he’s bad..
Penguins are not a great team with Letang, Trotman, Johnson, Simon, Wilson, Zar are in the line up.
Penguins still weak at LW . Adam Johnson should be playing up here. Pretty beautiful IT goal from him.
I hope all is well. I’m happy to see Blueger play in his 2C .. I know Sully will hurt that important improvement for him to succeed. He has shown he capable and help Jessel almost break more free. 11 mins isn’t gonna cut it. I thought after he scored the line goal he should have played 4-5 minutes more than Simon..
I miss TOR articles..
Back to my hibernation.. Speed recovery for Malkin..
Yes. Pettersson has great moments at tineS At times he turn the puck over and very bad lapses on the ice. He should not be on powerplay.. Sometimes he skates very slow and very unawares.. very stressed on the ice. I wouldn’t mind Pettersson-Gudbrunson as bottom pairing.. I still think Pettersson should be playing in the AHL..
Penguins needs better Defensemen.. New TWo RHD..
Hey Dee,
I’m working on time constraints so I can’t give an in-depth reply. But great comments, as always.
I agree 100 percent about Gudbranson. I’ve been really impressed with his overall game thus far. He makes intelligent reads, defends well, makes decent passes and has a good sense of when to be physical and when to hold up. He’s a better skater than I thought, too.
I just hope he keeps his spot in the lineup when Letang and Maatta get healthy.
Rick
Hi Rick!
For the first time, I won’t agree at 100% with some points in your articles.
Yes, Sidney made two mistakes and the most obvious one was in OT. He rarely does mistakes. So, that’s why people are a wee bit reluctant to blame him. But we cannot only blame him for the loss against Philly.
When end-of-period situations are occurring, it is very important to play according to the clock, which means, not to make risky plays that can give the opponent A-1 grade scoring chances. Obviously, some Pens players forgot about that principle.
Coach Sullivan also forgot to apply that principle. Again, last night, he constanly juggled with the lines, double-shifted Sid several times. The question I am asking now is: why Sully didn’t use his time out in the 3rd period? The Pens were playing on their heels, they were flat-out exhausted, especially Sid. Calling the time out would have been beneficial for the team and would have given time to regroup as well as breaking Philly’s momentum.
But Sully didn’t use his time out. Why? Maybe he thought the game was in the bag? I don’t know. Yes, the captain is responsible for the loss but the coaching staff didn’t play the clock well.
Letang and Geno are out but the team needs to step up. The first line (Sid and Jake in particular) often came to the rescue this year. But the bottom 6 didn’t respond well for most part of the year. As for the D and the goalies, this year has been tough as well.
If I look at the schedule, the Pens will play twice against the Canes and the Preds, once against the Stars and the Rangers. Four of them are away games. The Canes are not to be taken lightly. It won’t be easy and the Pens must fight until the very end to clinch a playoff berth.
To conclude, I am not very optimistic for the playoffs. If they don’t play consistently as a unit, I am afraid that they will start their golf season a wee bit early…
Deeply disturbing Rick. 9 games left and nothing is for certain. Take the Blues game. 3 Goals scored in the first 10 shots ?? Everyone talks about how well the Blues rookie goalie played. I prefer to talk about how ours did not. Defense. Doing okay giving the personnel, but at this time of year Okay is not going to cut it. 5-1 was indicative of the game. Was not close..Then last night. Should have, could have, but we didn’t. 3 points lost. I am predicting these 3 points will be critical come the last game of the regular season.
Everyone thinks we are going to be tops in the division. Not by a long shot. As 55 points out, no Geno, 58 returns and we lose one more to injury and we could be on the outside looking in. Hope I am wrong buddy.
PS: Sid and his new line have been scoring goals recently for sure,however they have been scored upon several times as well. Not a good sign in play off hockey. Hope the Coach notices.. Should be a real nail biter these last 9 games.
BTW, our local boys, the University of New Brunswick Reds Hockey team are 2019 Canadian Champions. Third time in the past 4 years. Won 6 times in the past 10 years. Not to shabby for a small school of just 8200 kids.( Alberta and U of Toronto have much, much bigger schools.)
Jim
Hi Jim,
I am a fellow Canadian and I would like to congratulate the UNB Reds for their wonderful run! I may be wrong but sometimes, in smaller institutions, the sense of belonging is stronger. Teams may be also more close-knitted.
Again, congrats to the Reds!
Hey Jim,
Always good to hear from you, my friend. I agree with your concerns…and those of others…that we might start playing fast and loose again when Letang returns. Still, he’s an obvious upgrade over Trotman, who’s certainly done a serviceable job filling in.
I still think we’re playoff bound, although we are making it interesting … 🙁
Congrats on your UNB Reds winning it all. Wow, talk about your dynasties…and for a comparatively small school, too.
Rick
Thanks Rick,
So good to hear from you too my friend. I think we got a birthday coming up soon. Ha ha.
BTW, I didn’t realize that UNB was so dominant these past 10 years, and you know if someone that had a son that wanted to go to university and play in a very very good hockey program from America, UNB wouldn’t be a bad place. Great program. Great coaching.Lots of scouts around.
Playing with elite college level Hockey talent ,many out of the Junior ranks. Tution is a lot less as well. 😀
Have a great day Rick
cheers.
Hi Rick,
Thanks for putting words to what I’m feeling. To quote Chester Riley, from The Life of Riley, of TV yore, “What a revolting development this is.”
They were goalied to death this weekend, completely outplayed by the Blues, then collapsed with 18 seconds left against Philly – a game in which they, and the Flyers, both played in order to not lose instead of to win. And, I guess Philly finally got themselves a goalie, eh?
I wish I shared your confidence at even making the playoffs. I admit they’d have to fall on their butts, completely, but with no Malkin and the expected return of Letang… Those are two big changes to have to work around with just nine games remaining and every point critical. The remaining schedule isn’t a Sunday stroll in the park.
Blueger did a yeoman’s job last night in Malkin’s stead, but he ain’t Malkin. Do they move up Bjugstad to center the second line, or maybe slot McCann in there? Or will Blueger be left hold the fort? I’d like to see them give McCann a shot. He may work with Kessel.
And Letang? Let’s face it, they’re a different team with him on the ice, and not always in a good way. Does his return change the defense-first scheme that seems to have been working lately? D-first ain’t exactly 58’s strong suit. A few of the D have been eating up minutes and doing a great job. You know those minutes are going to be cut to accommodate Letang’s typical allotment. I think that couldn’t come at a worse time.
It’s going to be a wild and woolly two weeks with little room for a replay of this weekend. St. Louis drew the blueprint. Let’s hope it’s not in wide circulation.
– 55
Hey 55oP,
I agree that Blueger isn’t bad, but have McCann center Malkin’s line. Put Rust back on the first line. Sullivan didn’t really have time to set up new lines, but with how much he changes lines, you would think it would be an easy switch for the players.
Thanks 55.
Frankly, I was aghast, as was everyone else at the Pub. I couldn’t believe they let this one slip away…and in the manner they did. Thank goodness the Canadiens are slippin’ and slidin’ and Philly’s a good ways back or I’d be a lot more worried than I am.
I like Blueger, too, and hope and pray when everyone is healthy he holds a spot in the lineup. His work ethic, on and off the ice, is reported to be second to none, and he’s provided a spark. Effective, too.
Alas, I think Sullivan will play Simon ahead of Blueger. Hope I’m wrong.
Rick
Rick,
I also hope Blueger gets to stick, but I think he will only be safe while Malkin is out. He’ll go down when Malkin comes back, or at least be watching from the press box, because he has no “playoff experience,” which is simply one of those dumb reasons for not playing someone in the post season. Blueger is a better all around player than Simon, but Simon is one of the chosen.
What will be more interesting to see, and I think more important, when Maatta gets healthy is who sits, and what face the D puts on when Letang comes back. In spite of the two losses this weekend, since Gudbranson came on board, and Letang went down, we’ve had pretty solid and responsible defense. I don’t relish the possibility of that being tampered with.
— 55
Hey 55,
A good friend of mine who thinks a lot like you and me expressed the same concerns about the defense.
We both came to the same conclusion…when Maatta gets healthy we hope they don’t force him into the mix…at least not in place of Gudbranson, who’s been every (good) thing advertised and more.
This isn’t a knock on Maatta, who sees the ice well and is generally pretty solid. Like you, I just don’t want to see the chemistry messed up…it’s the best it’s been all season.
I guess I could live with Maatta replacing Pettersson. He isn’t as error-prone, although Olli doesn’t cover as much ice. I’m not sure I’d want Maatta replacing Johnson, either, although I’m probably one of the few people in Pens Nation who feels that way.
Guess we’ll see how this plays out.
Rick
letting that player get around him was inexscusable crosy needs to man up and check him.
Couldn’t agree more, Dale.
At that stage of OT (10 seconds to go) trip the guy. Do something. Don’t let him just walk around you.
Frankly, Crosby looked like a turnstile, and a tired one at that. Very un-Sid like.
He’s been amazing all year. But last night was arguably his worst effort of the season.
Rick