I was reflecting on the Penguins’ impressive 5-2 thrashing of Nashville last night and trying to think of a clever title for my blog post. I chose my “Simon-ize” idea in honor of Dominik Simon’s game-opening five-hole goal. But I could easily have titled it, Penguins Ride Riikola or Penguins Jarry-Rig Preds.
Any or all would have been appropriate (and, yes, corny).
Which brings me to the real point of my article. This bunch is knitting together like no collection of athletes I’ve ever seen, with the possible exception of the 1979 “We Are Family” Buccos.
Everyone has a role. Everyone contributes. The embodiment of what a team is all about.
Last night, only four black-and-gold skaters were held off the score sheet. Everyone else notched a point, save No. 1 star Juuso Riikola, who tallied a goal and an assist.
Nor is this an anomaly. On December 20, 11 guys recorded a point during a victory over Edmonton. On November 27, ten players hit the score sheet during a wild win over Vancouver.
It reminds me of a line from the movie Miracle, about the 1980 USA gold-medal hockey team. During the player evaluation process, coach Herb Brooks handed assistant coach and future Pens GM Craig Patrick a sheet of paper listing the final roster.
Patrick scanned the list of names and frowned. “But you’re missing some of the best players,” he protested.
“I’m not looking for the best players,” Brooks replied. “I’m looking for the right ones.”
So it is with our present-day Pens. Echoing Brook’s sentiments, they’re the sum of many transposable parts rather than a collection of front-line superstars. To borrow from Star Trek, a veritable “Borg on Ice.”
Indeed, 16 Pens have logged at least ten points this season, tied for second most in the league with Colorado. By contrast, the top-heavy Oilers have only nine players in double figures.
I’m especially amazed by our defense, which has been decimated by injuries. Going into the season, if someone had told you we’d be winning with a group consisting of Kris Letang, John Marino, Marcus Pettersson, Jack Johnson, Chad Ruhwedel and Riikola would you have believed them?
Probably not.
Yet somehow they’ve banded together to form an effective unit. The Pens are 8-2 since Brian Dumoulin went down. They’re 6-3-1 without second-pairing anchor Justin Schultz.
Looking at the broader picture, we’re 11-4-2 without goal-front presence Patric Hornqvist, 17-8-2 without Nick Bjugstad and an astonishing 12-5-3 sans “Captain Everything” Sidney Crosby.
Remarkable.
Those injuries would stop a charging bull elephant in its tracks. Instead, the team’s barely missed a beat.
I’m repeating myself from a recent article, but a ton of credit goes to coach Mike Sullivan for instilling a “next man up” attitude and to GM Jim Rutherford for assembling this bunch. Players like frequent flyer Joseph Blandisi, Sam Lafferty, Zach Trotman, Ruhwedel and Riikola have filled in seamlessly to plug gaps.
Key off-season additions Dominik Kahun, Brandon Tanev and in-house promotion Teddy Blueger have added to the team’s utility, to say nothing of Jared McCann.
I feel like you could put the names of the Pens’ 16 forwards into a hat and pick four lines that would work, no matter what combinations you pulled out. That’s how interchangeable this group is.
Rutherford accomplished this transformation in roughly six months. By contrast, facing a similar set of issues and challenges (cap constraints, dearth of high draft picks and high-end young talent) Stan Bowman and the once-mighty Chicago Blackhawks have faded into oblivion.
I can’t say enough about the job JR’s done. The same goes for his team.
Puckpourri
Tristan Jarry made 30 saves to earn the game’s No. 2 star. He’s won five starts in a row and 11 of his last 13 games.
In addition to Riikola and Simon, Blueger, Bryan Rust and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for the Pens. Blueger’s goal, his fifth of the season and second in five games, was the game-winner.
The Pens are presently in third place in the Metro with a record of 22-11-4 and 48 points, sixth most in the league and one point behind the second-place Islanders.
Hey Rick,
Nice piece! Particularly the stroll down Brooks/Patrick memory lane.
(Must confess as I typed Brooks/Patrick I was hearing Butch Patrick in my head
You know my thoughts Rick, we’ve talked about it more than a little.
I am not all that convinced that the Penguins are winning despite their injuries.
I can’t help wondering if it has been more of a case of the Penguins winning because of their injuries.
You note that the Penguins are 12 – 5 – 3 w/out Crosby. Do you realize that since Crosby has been out, Simon hasn’t been on the top line.
With all of the wounded Penguins’ forwards skating will Sully put Simon back on the top line and really mess up team chemistry by playing favorites?
Let’s be serious, while the Galchenyuk’s goal although ugly and dirty was a result of hard work, Simon’s goal was a very, very soft goal. If that kind of goal was scored on a Penguins Goalie, everyone would be up in arms.
Will Lafferty get banished to keep Simon and Bjugstad on an NHL roster and in a Penguins’ uniform?
Also, let’s remember that Tristan Jarry is biggest reason why the Penguins are winning, follwed by Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin, 3 players that Jim Rutherford want to trade in the off season/pre season.
Some of the biggest reasons why the Penguins aren’t an after-thought by now isn’t from what GM JR did accomplish this off-season but due to the above trades he wasn’t able to accomplish.
I can’t help but wonder what/where there team would be by now if JR and Sully got everything they wanted.
Hey Other Rick,
Great to hear your “voice” on the blog again. And excellent comments and observations.
I, too, have a touch of anxiety over what happens to our Pens once everyone gets healthy, especially up front. I’ve written this on numerous occasions, but I think speed and fresh faces are the underlying keys to our success.
Tinker with our current mix too much, and you run the real risk of disrupting the team’s rhythm and chemistry, which are exemplary.
Not that I hate him, but I especially don’t want to see Bjugstad dislodge a Lafferty or worse yet…Blueger. I’d be okay with sitting Simon although you know that won’t happen.
Agree wholeheartedly with your comment that Jarry, Malkin and Rust have been a cut above and the driving forces behind our present 9-2 run…especially Jarry.
As an aside, Murray was better last night, making 44 saves. Yet he still yielded goals in clusters at crucial times to let the Preds back in the game. If he’d been playing all along, I don’t think the Pens would be anywhere near where they are now.
My only push back is your assertion that Rutherford was actively looking to move the aforementioned trio. I’m not sure he ever seriously considered trading Malkin…from what I’ve read “Geno” was unhappy playing on a line with Kessel and gave JR a “he goes or I go” ultimatum.
I won’t argue that JR considered trading Rust and Jarry, although you have to keep that in context. The former was coming off a streaky regular season and a very poor playoff (no points, minus-4) and Jarry was an unproven quantity practically right up till his recent hot streak.
Sometimes it’s the trades you don’t make that work out the best. Credit JR for not dealing them.
Rick
Yes Rick,
Agreed, Speed is the key (Although I would love for the Pens to get an answer for Tom Wilson). And Like you I don’t hate Bjugstad, but Lafferty and Blueger seem to be far better fits to this team than Bjugstad or Simon.
However, from what I read it appeared to me that Malkin wasn’t looking to leave, but media writers post-hoc tried to dress up Malkin’s frustration of always being put in the middle of the Sullivan – Kessel war to justify JRs rants. JR started with his posturing immediately after the season ended. That was long before the Rossi interview in the athletic that other media types interpreted as Malkin wanting out.
More importantly, although I haven’t read the full transcripts from the Rossi interview (at some point I would love to do just that) they never matched up with the media’s interpretation.
As for Murray, I still am a fan of Murray, but I am disappointed in how he is playing. Furthermore, as a former goalie I do tend to try and defend goalies from people who haven’t a clue of what it is like to play the position. Over the last couple of season’s I defended Jarry over those fans still smarting over the MAF trade who now bandwagon jumped all over Jarry to take it out on the Goalie that supplanted their favorite.
I do understand your frustration over last night, but when you wrote it, did you consider the fact the Preds rocked 17 shots on goal in that 2nd period and 21 in the 3rd to precipitate the 4 goals. What do you think the result of being outshot 38 – 19 in the last 40 minutes is going to be? During a season when the Defense has been stellar to say the least, they certainly came acropper last night.
You also noted ” If he’d [Murray] been playing all along, I don’t think the Pens would be anywhere near where they are now”. Does that mean you think that the team would be foundering right now? Do you think that JR and Sullivan would have been fired if not for the super increadible play of Jarry who is leading the league in Sv%?
PS I don’t how they win, as long as they win.
Go Pens!
Hey guys,
I’m not worried about when the team gets healthy again. Especially after watching the last two games, a pretty much a direct comparison of Murray and Jarry.
The Penguins problem has been Murray.
Murray let the other team back in the game again yesterday. If Guentzel or Hornqvist doesn’t get that goal in the last minute, the Pens lose in overtime. Has Murray won in overtime yet this year? I’ve seen him lose a ton.
You can claim Murray had more shots against him and I will tell you that Jarry cleared the zone the night before more than any other player. On top of that he did it a few times with perfect 60 foot passes breaking players out.
The biggest thing I see right now is that Sullivan, whether spoken or not, has given the starting goalie spot to Jarry. It is Jarry’s to lose. Last year at this time Sullivan gave Murray all soft games to get his confidence back and screwed DeSmith after DeSmith saved the Penguins December. I don’t see Sullivan doing that right now so that is a huge step in the right direction.
Because the Penguins are the 4th best team in the NHL the Other Rick has no valid argument about Hall of Fame GM Rutherford and Back to Back Stanley Cup winning (coach of the year candidate) Sullivan so he has resorted in quoting media reports about moving Malkin, Rust and Jarry.
LOL, if the best you can come up with about how bad the Penguins management is by talking about what someone else talked about what they thought Rutherford might try to do but never did, then you might want to give up and just admit that they have and are doing a great job.
I’m pretty sure JR has never said he was trying to move those guys. Malkin can’t be moved, so that’s funny in itself. He has threatened Rust before to get him motivated, and it has worked.
On Simon, I do agree with tOR that Simon’s goal was a very soft goal like the ones that Murray gives up all the time. He did shoot with confidence later in the game trying to pick corners, which is way better that him shooting directly into goalie’s bellies like most of his shots.
Hey Phil,
Yes it is funny and stupid as I wrote at the time that JR was considering moving Malkin from Apr until Jun, since Malkin has a NMC, however, many of the articles at the time contained quotes and were not just summaries of what the writer thought JR said, meaning JR was at least passive aggresively looking to deal Malkin.
The opposite was true of the following articles that later appeared in September trying to defend JRs rants post-hoc, rarely posting Malkin’s quotes and even when they did, the quotes never backed up the Writers drefense of JR, they usually read that Malkin was sick of being stuck in the middle of the 2-children Sully and Kessel.
Let’s also remember that JR is also the GM who prematurely announced his selection of a new head coach for the Penguins when he took over the reins as GM only to have that coach snub him since he was never inked and Mike Johnston was second choice.
However, if you need to bury your head in the sand, ignore all evidence that challenges your belief system, that’s fine I couldn’t care less, so long as the Penguins win, I don’t care if the team is winning despite injuries or because of injuries force the Coach to change or due to trades made or due to fate blocking the stupid trades ideas of the GM.
Murray – Jarry? I was one of those who never complained about Fleury being horrible when he struggle at the beginning of his final season in Pgh, in fact I defended him. I simply acknowledge that Murray was outplaying Fleury. When the I hate all Pittsburgh Goalies came out of the woodwork complaining about all Penguin goalies I defended all of them; Murray, DeSmith, and Jarry, whether it was the result of poor defense the last 2-years or even when they played bad. Your attempt to start a Murray – Jarry debate falls on deaf ears with me.
I do like Jarry’s ability to pass the puck, just as I liked Barrasso’s. I also like Murray winning 2 Stanley Cups before he was out of his Rookie status, stoning some of the best forwards in the league.
I have always said play the hot goalie until he grows cold. Despite being a Murray fan, if you go back and read old articles, you will see that I felt Fleury should have been given a little more rope in that 3rd Cup run when Sully replaced him with Murray – who went on the put an exclamation point on the playoff run with back to back shutouts and eventually setting the Penguins Playoff shutout record of 225:49.
So, right now the Penguins boast the player with longest regular season Shutout streak 177:15 (Jarry) and the longest playoff shutout record, 225:49 (Murray). I think that is win-win not a time for petty whining.
As for Simon, that is even funnier, you acknowledge the weakness of Simon’s opening goal against one of the best goalies of the current era (Rienne), who is having a tough stretch and in the next breath acknowledging that when he actually is trying his best he failed to score the rest of the game and into the next (a blind squirrel does find a nut once every 24 games or so).
Rick
Chemistry is crucial. It’s so important IMO to put together the best team vs
the best players – obviously you need your special players but the supporting
cast wins Cups.
i saw a great interview with Kobe Bryant and Charles Barkley saying you don’t
win Championships without a great bench. They said the Super Stars do
there thing but it’s the role players that make it happen.
I think the biggest improvement is our Forwards. They appear to take pride in
both fore-checking and back-checking. You don’t see near the number of odd
man breaks that existed with last years team.
We only have (4) players with a negative plus/minus
Schultz ( -5 )
Simon ( -4 )
Gally ( -1 )
Crosby ( -1 )
Go Pens
Hey Mike,
Always good to read your insights. Especially since you’ve worked for a professional sports team and have seen the inner-workings up close and personal.
Agree with your thoughts about the forwards. The difference between this season and last is like night and day.
My enduring memory of our forwards last year? They were always a step behind and won nary a puck battle. This year, it’s the complete opposite. On most nights, we’re out-hustling, out-skating, out-working and out-desiring the other team.
A winning formula if there ever was one.
Rick