SOP, Penguins drop opener to the Sabres

As I watched the Penguins‘ home opener last night, all I could hear were strains of Steven Tyler’s voice, “It’s the same old story, same old song and dance, my friend”.

If it was all the same faces on the ice, I would have thought I was Bill Murray trapped in the endless loop of “Ground Hog Day”, but gone is Coach Mike Sullivan’s favorite whipping boy, Phil Kessel. In fact, 1 quarter of the forwards from last year were gone, yet the result was the same.

Sullivan spewed one platitude after another all off season. He said his new team would be on the right side of the puck. Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang were on the wrong side of the puck as Conor Sheary slipped in behind them for a wide-open shot and the opening goal, during a failed breakout attempt. The 2 Defensemen raced up ice before the puck cleared the zone and the diminutive Sabre had an open lane to the net.
About 4 minutes later, a stretch pass put Zegmus Girgensons in behind Erik Gudbranson. Fortunately, Matt Murray was up to the task.

About 1 minute after that, Jeff Skinner skated in behind Marcus Pettersson, back door, while Pettersson and Justin Schultz both skated toward the puck on Murray’s glove side for a phenomenal look but once again, Murray was there with an answer to bail out pathetic defense. Patric Hornqvist, a winger was the closest Penguin skater to the play.

With only 3:40 left in the first and 20 seconds left on a Penguin Power Play (PP) Girgensons raced between Schultz and Pettersson down the center of the ice from his own blue line for a Short Handed (SH) break-away (How many SH goals did our Penguins give up last year?). Again, Murray was there.

With 4:36 second left in the 2nd period, Victor Olofsson got in behind Domoulin and Letang for a break-Away from the red-line on in. The team would have been better off with turnstiles out there. Turnstiles would have at least slowed down the Sabres a little more and given Murray a little more protection. To his credit, the Penguins’ Goalie stood tall.

Need I go on?

The Penguins’ Defensemen were most certainly not on the right side of the puck. The Penguins gave up the most odd-man breaks last season and have picked up right where they left off.

Harder to play against Mr. Sullivan? Your team did dish out 42 hits. Those are some big numbers, but does that really mean they were hard to play against? With 17 Give-aways (Gv) and 41 shots against, those 42 hits sound more like our favorite flightless fowl were the ones who were finding it hard to play against their opponent, not the other way around. Those numbers sound to me like the Penguins lost the battle of possession and thus the battle of the scoreboard.

Penguins’ announcer, Bob Errey, spewing party line, made sure he mentioned that Evgeni Malkin made 1 bad play and that Sullivan sat him down for a “teaching moment” so most casual fans could once again blame Malkin, Yes, he finally did give the “Malkin line” credit (not Malkin). However, he didn’t say anything about the 4 Gv or -2  Letang earned. Maybe Errey should have talked about the 1 Gv Kessel had in the Arizona – Anaheim game so GM Jim Rutherford could deflect the blame from his Coach to the players like he did after last season playoff disaster.

Go ahead, tell me it was only one game. You are right. It is only one game. One home game. The home opener. The first game after getting swept from the playoffs. One game, not against the Capitals, Lightning, Knights, or Blues but the Sabres. A team that was listed as 80/1 to win the Stanley Cup this year, a far cry from Tampa Bay’s 6/1 odds.

Maybe the Sabres have turned it around. They certainly looked good last night. They looked like world beaters against our little sisters of the poor, defensively inept, Penguins. If it wasn’t for Murray, the score could have easily been 5 or 6 to 1. If those fans that were calling for Murray to be dumped because of his rough start, while playing injured at the start of last season had their way, then last night could easily have been a blow out. If that had happened maybe, just maybe people would be willing to look at the coaching staff as the problem.

In the preseason, with Juuso Riikola and John Marino in the lineup the team held opponents under 30 shots regularly. Once the regular season started, exit Riikola and Marino enter Jack Johnson and Letang and once again the Penguins goalies faced break away after break away. Who made that decision? The Coach!

Yes, those games Riikola and Marino were part of were preseason games, and both are very young, but what is the discussion about doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Maybe those 2 kids would not have been the answer, but history has proven again and again, all season long last year, that the Defense Sullivan deployed and Rutherford keeps trying to defend, doesn’t work.

There are still 81 games left, there is still time tons of time to right the ship. Furthermore, I do feel there are players in the organization that can get the job done, if given the chance. However, for that to happen, someone is going to have to take a hard look at the team, someone who will critically and honestly look at the whole team from GM down. If not, last night will not be the last night we fans are subjected to the same old song and dance that swept our Penguins from post-season contention last April.

Saturday night, another home game, and another team with long odds to win the Cup (100/1), Columbus Blue Jackets, 7 pm at PPG Paints arena

Please, please, please, Go Pens!!