There are few things in nature more dangerous than an animal that feels trapped or confined. Back one into a corner…it’s liable to attack.
An apt description of what occurred during the first dozen minutes of yesterday afternoon’s pivotal Game 3 between the Penguins and Islanders at PPG Paints Arena. Backed into a corner following two losses on Long Island, the Pens lashed out in a tidal wave of pent-up frustration and aggression.
They out-hit the Isles, 6-1, in the opening two minutes, and 16-11 in the first dozen. Aided by a hooking call to New York defenseman Adam Pelech, they held a 14-13 edge in shot attempts as well.
When Garrett Wilson deflected Markus Pettersson’s long-range drive past Robin Lehner at 12:54, the overflow crowd erupted in a frenzied sea of black-and-gold rally towels.
Unfortunately, that was all she wrote.
A scant 26 seconds later, Ryan Pulock found Jordan Eberle below the left circle with a crisp diagonal pass. Eberle whipped the puck past Matt Murray—who’d cheated off the post—from an impossibly sharp angle to knot the score. Sixty-two seconds later, Brock Nelson beat Murray on a two-on-one.
The air drained from the building and never returned. Neither did our Penguins, transformed in an instant into a collection of black-and-gold clad zombies. Slowwww ones at that.
Indeed, the Islanders forechecked, backchecked and otherwise skated us to a standstill for the rest of the game. The zombies…er Pens…would manage a paltry 18 shots on goal over the final two periods. None of which eluded Lehner, who’s giving a rather impressive imitation of a 6-foot-4-inch, 240-pound brick wall in net.
In all my years of watching hockey, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a more disquieting effort by a team whose season was essentially on the line. To say our guys looked discouraged at the final horn would be an understatement of the highest magnitude. I can only imagine the tomb-like state of the locker room following the dismal 4-1 defeat.
Give full credit to the Islanders and their coach, Barry Trotz. While the Penguins appear confused, disorganized and even demoralized under Mike Sullivan, the wily Isles bench boss has his team playing inspired, disciplined hockey…the kind that wins Stanley Cups. They’re disposing of our Pens with threshing-machine precision.
So where do we go from here? The simplest answer is up. Although it’s hard to imagine our guys playing worse than they did in Game 3, the way the Islanders are dominating us right now? I don’t know if there’s anything we can do to counteract them, short of locking our foes in their respective hotel rooms prior to Game 4 and forcing them to forfeit.
I’ll start with a Captain Obvious statement. We desperately need some production from Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel (zero points for the series). As much as I hate to suggest one more lineup adjustment for a team that’s been tweaked into oblivion, I’m going to recommend a couple more.
Put Patric Hornqvist on Sid’s right flank. I know No. 87 doesn’t like playing with “Horny,” but too bad. The battlin’ Swede forces Crosby to play down low, where he’s incredibly effective. Try it for half a game. If it doesn’t work, move Jared McCann up. Or vice versa.
While we’re locking guys in hotel rooms, let’s put a padlock on Dominik Simon’s. Again, I don’t hate the kid. Truth be told, I feel kind of sorry for him. It isn’t his fault he’s come to symbolize Sullivan’s puzzling obstinance. But Teddy Blueger’s a better player and a better option.
I’ll close by sharing a brief story. Last night I was having a beer at the Pennsbury Pub when a friend of mine asked if I thought winter was over.
“Yes,” I replied with confidence.
It snowed this morning.
Last week I predicted our Pens would take the Islanders in six games. Unless we experience a miraculous turnabout, I’ll need to get a new crystal ball this summer.
By the looks of it, the Pens’ll need some new players, too.
Also I want like to add my heart cries for Malkin and Crosby with looks in their eyes with defeat and being exhausted at PPG arena..
Very sad for them around here.. #sadness
They deserve better and I hope to see the Penguins organization do better this team with the best years they still do have…
Hi Rick …
Thank You Pens !!! Thank You…..
For another year of excitement and great entertainment !!!
Many disappointments for 2019 for sure. No one could have predicted a 4 game sweep of our beloved Pens. Which now bids the question…
What about next year?? The real question is what have we learned from this embarrassment of a 4 game sweep by a team that is most definitely not a powerhouse in the league. There are many teams better than the Islanders, and that is not to take anything away from their well earned victory.
Just stating a fact.
Time has come to finally take extreme action to trade away veteran pieces to acquire new, younger talents thru the draft and free agency. If I owned the team,everybody except Sid and Jake would be in play including the Coaches!!
It is time to really shake things up !!! Not just a few minor adjustments.We tried that and it failed last year and this year as well. We need real change.
Your thoughts ?? Others as well….
Jim
Hello Rick,
Penguins collapse started with Tocchet, Kuni, Fluery, Cole, Bones, Hagelin and Reaves leaving the team..
Character, Resilient, Add Leadership, Grinders, Hard skaters that pressure D , Guys that help hold accountability behind captain to keep players engaged/ ready to play,Game Changers that help Crosby and Malkin has never been replaced nor executed strengthening the d Corp around them..
With that being said.. Rutherford hasn’t been that overly great .. But he tried to do some good things while Mike Sullivan has completely lost the room long time ago..
Mark Reechi are is not a coach to be behind the bench and fowards deploying on the ice. I know that Malkin and Crosby never really like Reechi and it just don’t mesh well.
Mike Sullivan wants to coach what he want.. instead.. the team that in front him with A, B,C plans that motivates, get ice results,help the be hard to play against..
It pretty sad that players will get blame and coaches will get protected when they have been bad with short shelf life..
People can say this and that . Biggest Reality is that Penguins D is weak with everything centered around him..(Letang) That cannot win game on his head to outplay the other goalie down across from him.. Mike Sullivan never let players build their lines, no tactics and strategies to let them hit their peak for playoffs with a good season..
Over the last two seasons he disappoints in big crucial moments and Penguins d do not have no defensive structure that play defense with be a great poised puck mover to help fowards..
Mike Sullivan has failed this team with not coaching objectively the players to play where they belong and sustainable chemistry with urgency..
Penguins do not have urgency and chemistry because their coach panic to much, line shuffling every game consistently, no adjustments, no creativity way to load up star to catch teams off guard to give them a lead with confidence..
Penguins need a new voice behind the bench that can adapt, listen, work hard to evolving with players being set on line for amount of time, Defense structure, put stars first, leave personal preference aside, calm and well poised to know when to yell with calmness that get the message through that give players confidence to succeed..
Mike Sullivan will never will Jack Adam awards for many reason. And he won’t see players wanting to play for him at all..
It showed when Rutherford to to get Cole and Reaves back. Kuni wanting to come back and retire .. etc..
Penguins might have hit a wall. They still can contend for 3-5 years with better D, reliable better goalie, new coach,and young grinding support cast done the right way
I do not care about it. Players thrive on having consistency of know who they are playing with and that their coach is confident in them to stay together whether they produce or not.. Sullivan did not do that at all. Two seasons..
Game 1 :
Penguins has their issue and lost that game.. They had some positive momentum in that game that should carried over.. Schultz looked different and relieved from Jack Johnson.. to Sullivan only remove Rust to another line , double up top lines , keep Johnson out of the line.. no mike Sullivan panic..
Penguins lost themselves / became broken with coach inability to adapt, handle adversity, to hold a defensive structure that stop defenseman aggressively pinching, to hold players accountable that included himself first, to take his personal preferences off the table, get players motivated, gain confidence, consistency and chemistry among others things that drop last year…
Rutherford isn’t shield from criticism .. But I see coach not listening nor on the same page Rutherford that it’s causing confusion against the mold of their
Sullivan, Letang, Johnson, Crosby with no help .. Weak D and no goalie playing on his head enough put them herezz
I would like Penguins find a way to over a 0-3 deficit and battle hard to next level to probably a game 7
I would start DeSmith in the net.. Scratch Wilson and Zar.. Give Johnson and Blueger a Chance to play.. Play Määttä over Jack Johnson.. Mix it
Hornqvist/ McCann-Crosby-Guentzel
Rust/Blueger/Adam Johnson -Malkin-Kessel
Cullen/ Simon-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
Cullen-Blueger-Rust or Adam Johnson-Cullen-Rust
Dumoulin-Schultz
Määttä-Letang ( limited minutes)
Pettersson-Gudbranson ( shelter minutes)
I hope they do.. They don’t..
Penguins To do off-season List:
Fired Mike Sullivan and Mark Reechi
Trade Letang,Määttä, Johnson, Simon, Rust, Wilson
I hate trading Määttä.. But he gotta help unload a contract..
Probably a veteran goalie and weigh options of trading Murray ..
Maybe Martin is the new with new forward coach with Gochar as full time defensive coach..
Untouchable 87,71,81,59,72, 8,4,44 with young players 53, 47,19,27..
Excellent comments, as always, Dee. Pretty spot-on, too.
It isn’t just one thing, but myriad issues as you so duly noted. None of which can be fixed in a heartbeat.
Although this team has literally been shuffled to death due to Sullivan’s incessant line-juggling, I’d probably be tempted to make a few personnel changes as you suggest.
At this stage, give Maatta another crack over Jack Johnson, who’s been victimized on several goals. I definitely want Blueger in the lineup, albeit in place of Simon and not Wilson. And I’d sit Aston-Reese…who frankly looks lost…in favor of Adam Johnson.
Of course, that would put an onus on Sullivan to play these guys. For some reason, he’s really reluctant to show any trust in the kids.
Anyway, I feel your pain and your passion.
Rick
Hello, ToR,
No. Thank you . Great Articles and really nice back and forth engaging in solid online comments.
Great site and wonderful books.
To TOR and Rick with others
Moral of the Story:
No one should be surprised at all, they should be disappointed with some defeat that two great generational, HOF centers have been wasted for the two past season, no significant identity with solid reliable supporting cast,we heavily medicore hockey about the ups and downs that really that was never correct that showed something weird with this season…
Everything was wrong with season since day one playing the Caps..
Everything is onus Mike Sullivan and Mark Reechi.
People got to see the gimmick of him during b2B cups with questionable decisions and with two seasons without Tocchet you see the true Mike Sullivan that can get players beyond adversity among others things..
I hate it. I knew Penguins wasn’t gonna go far. I was hoping. I accept it with the bad defense, poor coaching, passengers and dependency on stars with no supporting cast
It was one line team with mediocre defense and no support cast where Malkin have completely lost himself that confirms my sources/ what I know with Duper speaking on the behave of him… With mediocre goalie that can not stand on his head to win a game or give this team confidence on the ice.
This is a blessing in disguise that can really showed Lemieux with others in the organization that they need do better around their stars and get them young hungry help that can get them the puck to do whatever they want on ice.
Its starts with firing Sullivan and Reechi . Plus major overhaul on defense that can play two way hockey defenseman that allows Malkin and Crosby have the puck out zone into offensive zone ..
The new players like Blueger, McCann, Adam Johnson that want to learn and be a contributing factor on ice with the confidence of a coach behind the bench. They help lay everything on the line on ice. They step up and not wait for Malkin and Crosby do every thing.
Pens needs defense that can skate with puck, great decisions with puck, leader with defense like someone like IanCole who block shots ..
Cale Makar and Micro Henikisen is a prime example..
Maybe, Tampa fire Cooper and Penguins take him.
I stated it before Martin would be the coach with new fowards coach with Gochar on the D ..
It sucks. Coach Q with Florida..
Penguins have a opportunity to get it right and move on from Letang and use the draft correctly..
I DO NOT THINK IT END OF ERA.. I do believe it WILL GET PEOPLE TO SEE TOPS STARS DESERVES BETTER THAn THIS..
Penguins needs to drop 58,17,73,30,3 ,12 contracts.. Do not resign Zach Ahton Resse..
Malkin, Kessel, Crosby still have a lot left in the tank.. I don’t see a RW that can do what Kessel can do.. IDk
Malkin and Crosby still have a lot left to offer one to two cups .. it up to the pens organization to do it right without overusing them.. this a teaching moment for them.. to take advantage..
Mike Sullivan overused Crosby , Kessel,Guentzel,and Malkin to much .. it completely exhausted them without a support cast..
Penguins D thst should be safe is 4 and 8 .. New D needs to come with Blueger, Adam Johnson, Angello getting their opportunity to play in the nhl. Those two players could’ve significantly help the speed game and scoring with forecheck..
I know we talk about it more.. I know it suck it.. Sometimes things needs to get little bad before good to see the good results ..
I still think a cup can happen again with new better players around them..
Malkin andCrosby can relax ,rest and rejuvenate again with their family with enjoy any new big moments on their lives..
Enjoy rest of unbelievable playoffs ..
Hey Rick,
Great stuff as always. I just needed you guys to hold the fort down for a week. What’s going on? I’ve been able to watxh all of the games thanks to a small pub that has nbcsn. Anyway, quick two things I’ve noticed…. Murray has given up a softie right after every Pens goal. Whether hes cheating the post or lets a weak wrister in from the point. That is deflating the team. The other is that right now the Pens only have Shultz and Letang that can throw trap breaking passes up the ice. By the time dumoulin or Johnson make the cross ice pass to either of th the isles have their trap in place. Since you guys hate Maatta and he is the only other guy that can make that qick pass up, maybe the Pens should hurry and bring up Trotman. The pens also need speed, bring Johnson back up. Bench Wilson.
I know you like the big guys, but they are as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop against the trap and speed of the islanders.
sorry about misspellings, i only had a couple of minutes to type this at a place that has WiFi.
-Krundle
Hey Phil,
I know…you can’t trust us with a simple first-round series… 🙁
At this stage, it’d be easier to point to the non-culprits than the guys who are letting us down. Hockey’s a team game, and right now our guys look terrible as a group. Really disjointed and unorganized, with very little flow or chemistry.
It doesn’t appear to be Mike Sullivan’s finest hour, either.
As poorly as we’re playing, the Islanders are playing that well. Not the best confluence of events for our Pens or a potential comeback, I’m afraid…
Rick
Hey Rick, and tOR,
I’m being pragmatic about it even though it’s been difficult to watch. I’m attributing what I’m seeing to the (d)evolution of a hockey team.
It was going to happen. It always does. All things that comprise a hockey team have a shelf life. No team is great every year and no body wins all the time, even Sidney Crosby.
I don’t think this is necessarily the end of the line for this “core.” There’s a lot to like about some of the changes made this season – some of the acquisitions. While I’m sure there will be some further personnel changes made come summer, the biggest change has to be their approach to the game, to redefine “play the game the right way.” It’s time to stop pretending size and snarl have no place in the game. If they’d done that already, this series might not be 3-0, the other guys.
The makings are here, they just need a coach who embraces change and is willing to work with it – one who can coach the team he has rather than the one he wants – and maybe a few more sets of bigger, younger, faster legs.
I’d like them to have just one great game in this series come tomorrow night where they just come out and take charge and maybe bloody a few noses. Leave a mark! Then they can give up the ghost on Long Island and spare the Penguin faithful another debacle on home ice like Sunday.
Hey 55,
Like you, I don’t think that this has to be the end of the line for the Penguins core.
(The funny thing the core has shrunk over the years).
Crosby, Malkin, and Letang will be another year older (As many of good things that can be said of Letang, I would still trade him though) however as you noted, some changes JR made as the deadline approached have given some level of hope.
When I suffer through one of these last 3 games, I can’t help but think that the team is (as I wrote below) dissolving into the sum of its parts. There still are some really great parts and some good ones, it appears to me that they are no longer working harmoniously/synergisticaly together. It looks like they are getting frustrated at the adjustments Trotz has made and looking to their coach for guidance and coaching and all he can do is shuffle the deck (juggle lines) – hoping the players figure it out themselves.
It looks to me like the team has lost faith.
Hopefully the birds of winter can remember how fun hockey can be and go out tomorrow for one last breath before the inevitable deep plunge
Hey 55,
Very astute comments as always. And you’re absolutely right…we are watching the devolution of a champion. I touched on it in my series preview but I think it bears repeating. We’re following in the footsteps of our back-to-back Cup champions from the early ’90s…eerily so.
After winning back-to-back Cups, we bowed in the second round (to the darn Islanders) in ’93 and lost in the first round to the Caps the following year in inglorious fashion.
I remember watching that series and thinking how tired and slow and lifeless our guys looked. Again, eerily similar. Oh…for the record…the ’93-94 team finished 44-27-13. This year we were 44-26-12…almost identical.
Good point about Sullivan, too. Actually, as an organization I think we need to decide what kind of team we want to be. If we want to be fast…which would better fit Sullivan’s philosophy…then we need to be fast. If we want to be heavier, then we need to be heavier. Right now we’re kind of playing both sides to the middle and it doesn’t appear to be working.
Like you, I don’t want to turn a blind eye toward physicality…a needed element. However, I’d personally like to see us inject more speed. There must be guys who play a gritty game who can skate, too. Other teams find them. We need to, too.
Rick
PS–Great to meet you the other night. Thanks for coming out to support me … 🙂
Rick
Not sure if any change Sullivan makes will enhance the Pen’s chances of winning. His biggest coaching obstacle is to figure out a way to motivate
his troops.
Not to pick on Murray because the entire team sucks right now but a couple
of those goals shouldn’t end up in the back of the net. On Komaroz’s goal it was a cross ice pass and Murray never made it across his crease and to make matters worse he was already down and sitting back in the net “wt?”
This is extremely frustrating – Pen’s have no energy – I love Gudbranson but with the way the game 2 ended in NY he should of immediately challenged and Isle to fight to start game 3. We have no “Fire”
A great coach once told me this and I’ve never forgot it. ” WILL BEATS SKILL – UNLESS SKILL HAS WILL”
Hey Mike,
Great observations and quote. Right now, it appears our skill has no will.
We just seem lost…like guys genuinely have no idea of what they’re supposed to do or where they’re supposed to be. I think Sullivan’s system…if you can call it that…leaves a lot of room for creativity and interpretation. But it fosters its share of confusion, too.
Maybe too much freedom isn’t a good thing. Especially when we get trapped in our zone.
The minute the other team gets set up, we start running around…often with nary a clue of where we’re supposed to be. It seems there’s almost a total lack of defensive structure or awareness at times.
Jacques Martin is accomplished defensive coach, but it sure doesn’t show on the ice. He must have precious little input or influence. A shame, really.
Regarding Gudbranson dropping the mitts…I hear ya. But I get a sense…and this is just my take…that Sullivan keeps a tight rein on his tough guys. I don’t think he wants them to take a lot of penalties or do a lot of fighting.
I agree that there’s not a whole lot that can be done at this stage to salvage the series. We look like a beaten team.
However we go out, I hope we do it with some honor.
Rick
Great stuff as always Rick!
1) Agree 100%, past time to give up on the Dominik Simon experiment. It is not patience anymore – it is obstinacy! Not sure Hornqvist is the answer though. He may force Sid to play down low but he has been rather quiet for far too long too. However, that doesn’t leave too many other options. Maybe Blueger on SId’s other flank? WBS’s season is over, maybe Haggerty (Not sure if Angello is hurt, he has played in a long time)
2) Again agree, Pens look beaten. Their game plan has not adjusted to Trotz and the players are frustrated; this is coaching, Trotz is once again out-coaching Sullivan. Switching up line combinations is baby sitting not coaching. When Dee complains about passengers, Sullivan leads that list. Teams always beat an amalgamation of players and the Penguins have dissolved from the sum into their parts.
3) Watch the replay, Murray didn’t cheat off of the post. It was just another example of opponents having their way with the Pens. The Isles looked like they were on the PP. They were moving the puck all around the “D”; it went from low on Murray’s glove to Center Point so that Murray came towards the middle of his net and up to the top of his crease. It then was whipped to Murray’s stick side. Since he was in the middle but high, Murray had to slide back to the post and barely got there but gave up room over his shoulder, which was where Eberle shot it.
When a team has only scored 5 goals on 103 shots facing journeyman goalies, it is not to hard to figure out who is to blame.
16 give away s in a game when down 2 games to 0? 60 in the first 3 games, 10 more than the closest other bungler. It looks like watching the Keystone Kops not an NHL Hockey team.
There is very little joy here in the ‘burgh today.