It was a beautiful play. The kind Penguins fans dream of.
With time ticking down in the first period and the Pens trailing 1-0, Justin Schultz approached the right faceoff circle with speed. Anticipating a shot, a Kings defenseman dropped to the ice.
Head up, Schultz coolly skated around the prone defender and carried the puck behind the net. Spotting Jason Zucker to the left of the cage, Schultz fed him a picture-perfect pass. Zucker quickly moved it to Sidney Crosby in the slot, who roofed it over Kings netminder Calvin Peterson as only Sid can do.
Another game-changing goal by No. 87, right?
Wrong.
To borrow from the old Johnny Cash tune I Walk the Line, Sid’s shot hit the crossbar and tightroped the goal line but never crossed it. Instead of entering the dressing room on an upswing, our guys still trailed by a goal.
So it goes for our Penguins these days. The faces may have changed but the results are the same. Another regulation loss, our season-high fourth in a row.
Not to overstate the obvious, but this is a lousy time for a slump. The Flyers, Islanders and Hurricanes…not to mention the stubborn Blue Jackets…are climbing up our collective tailpipe. As unfathomable as it may seem given how well we’ve played for most of the season, we’re only five points away from missing the playoffs.
Five points.
That’s not much of a cushion. Especially with the way we’ve been playing lately.
I only watched the front half of the game so I can’t comment on the third period. Judging by the shot totals, the Pens came on after a sluggish start. But I can comment on the portion I watched. And what I saw was disturbing.
Our guys looked slow, lifeless and uninterested. Per our recent pattern, we spent most of the first period chasing the puck and the puck carrier and precious little time actually possessing it. I didn’t see anything resembling an effective cycle down low, nor were we winning many puck battles. Puck support, especially in the offensive zone, was virtually non-existent.
Had Patric Hornqvist not taken it upon himself to bull through the entire Kings team at 6:42 of the third period to set the stage for Bryan Rust’s redirect, we likely wouldn’t have scored.
Too bad we can’t clone “Horny.” Or at least his enormous drive and heart. About 19 other guys could’ve used a transplant.
Speed, energy, puck support, grit. These are supposed to be hallmarks of our game. Instead, they’re producing a series of red flags.
It’s as if the hockey gods suddenly swapped out last year’s team for this one. All that’s missing is Phil Kessel leisurely gliding to the bench for a line change while the opposition streaks into our zone on an odd-man break.
Speaking of, that’s about what happened on the Kings’ second goal and eventual game winner. Trevor Lewis weaved past our guys like so many pylons in an agility drill before beating Tristan Jarry on a second-chance opportunity. The Pens…and I’m talking Sid’s line and the ‘top’ defensive pairing…basically stood around and watched.
While I’m dishing out blame, the collective play of Kris Letang and Jack Johnson continues to sink faster than the anchor on the Titanic after the ill-fated liner struck an iceberg. We desperately need to get Brian Dumoulin and John Marino back…the sooner the better.
In the meantime, coach Mike Sullivan and his staff need to explore other options. While they’re at it, they need to figure out what’s broke with this team and fix it…in a hurry.
Precious points are slipping away.
Puckpourri
Newcomers Patrick Marleau, Evan Rodrigues and Conor Sheary joined the lineup last night.
Skating on the first line with Crosby and Zucker, Sheary registered one shot on goal and was a minus-1 in 18:14 of ice time.
Marleau recorded two hits and a shot on goal while skating with Teddy Blueger and Brandon Tanev. Rodrigues filled in on the fourth line with Dominik Simon (four shots on goal) and Sam Lafferty and won four of five face-offs.
Lafferty (a team-low 5:59 TOI) replaced Jared McCann, who sat out for an unspecified reason.
Hey all,
Another really (really) interesting observation, this one from Tim Benz of the Tribune Review. He wrote:
“…I feel the Penguins have been a little too quick when it comes to giving up on new players. Or, at the very least, they see the negatives in those guys awfully fast and tend to avoid giving them the optimum chance to succeed. It’s almost as if the coaching staff and/or management focus on what new players can’t do, as opposed to how they hoped those new skaters would aid the team when they were acquired in the first place.”
My feelings exactly. Although Benz was referring to newly acquired players, I think it applies to kids like Sam Lafferty and Juuso Riikola, too. Not to mention Adam Johnson (long since banished to the Baby Pens). It seems the minute these guys make a mistake or display a flaw or, God forbid, take a penalty, Sullivan and the coaching staff etch a permanent black mark next to the kid’s name and curtail their playing time.
That’s not how you develop players. Sometimes you’ve got to live with their mistakes and let them grow through them. Not stunt their growth by penalizing them and cutting them off at the knees.
When Sullivan first came on board, he allowed kids like Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl to grow into their roles. They rewarded him with some solid contributions. In particular, look what a little time and patience has done for Rust, who was originally projected to be a bottom-six energy guy.
But it seems since our last Cup a switch got flipped and Sullivan sours on guys all too quickly. At least in my humble opinion.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I don’t believe in that analogy, which by the way is the same on tOR has been presenting non stop. I guess the whole problem with the analogy is the fact that the roster has a certain amount of spots and no matter what, if you get rid of one spot it gets filled in by someone else who is NEW.
For every Riikola there is a Marino.
For every Johnson there is a Aston-Reese and so on and so on. Look at the roster spot changes over the last two years.
Right now McCann is coming back. Do you play McCann or Lafferty? tOR would say “hey why not sit Simon”, I wasn’t a fan of Rodrigues over all play so far and would like to see more before they bench him.
Who would you sit?
If it came down to Lafferty, Simon or Rodrigues I would take Lafferty & Simon’s hustle any day of the week.
When you look at the roster, who do you sit to play Adam Johnson? I would venture to say nobody. Not only is it nobody in my opinion, but there are two ahead of him. If a player has flaws like Johnson has, you send him down to work on them if you have a full roster of better players. Just my opinion.
Hey Phil,
Your analysis of my opinion is pretty close. However, it is a little deeper than that. It goes to the old saying that if you keep trying to the same thing and expect different answers – that’s the definition of crazy. Okay, so a psychologist would argue referring us to the APA – and I am not arguing with them. I don’t think it is crazy, just stupid.
Lemieux helped Warren Young, Doug Sheddan, and Rob Brown earn fat contracts bounce pucks off of them. Crosby is no Lemieux. No one is, however, he is the sole reason for Simon having stats that the Friends of Simon Society point to for keeping him around. He rarely goes to the dirty areas and when he does, he panics and shoots the puck high or wide – too afraid of getting hit. This is no matter of conjecture or subjective eye-test, it is a fact. After every game the web site Natural Stat Trick shows an event’s map for every player and the vast of majority of events Simon is involved in is on the perimiter.
When you subtract out the stats earned with Crosby, Simon’s numbers are below Sprong’s. Like Sprong, Simon is an AHL player.
Sheary? while we are in the regular season, it may be okay to play him. He doesn’t do that bad, but he is a 0 in the playoffs. teams bully him and otherwise treat him like a suit-case in the old commercials about savage baggage handlers.
Rodrigues? I guess they should give him a shot since they did trade for him, but as I keep writing, you don’t trade for 4th line players – and that is what they were since their TOI was in way down the list, worse than 20th for the team lead in avg TOI per game. You have to be an idiot to trade for a 3 or 4th line player on a team 24th in the league in the standings and 22 out of 31 in the league in scoring.
Jim A makes an extremely valid point when he reminds us of the woeful state of our minors. After what is now approaching 20 years of playoff runs with the poor draft positions that it earns you, and GMs, trading away what few prospects the tram has for just “1 more Cup run” there the cupboard may be bare. But quite frankly I take Lafferty, Angello, and Lafferty over Rodriguez at the end of the season. More importantly, look at what Poulin and Legare are doing in the Jrs. and what Legare did here in the preseason.
Poulin is a +45 with 70 or 80 odd points and won player of the moth a couple of times. Legare just notched back-to-back hat tricks for Dakkar. Now with a team of kids starting to mature, his +/- is on the rise too.
The tram also should have started the season with Lafferty and Bjorkvist on the main roster. They were the best line in the preseason, teamed with Legare. I understand sending Legare down but Borkqvist and Lafferty were lost in the shuffle when Sullivan chose to go with 9 defensemen on the opening night roster.
And at last look Hallander is starting to show the form that made huim a No 2 draft pick. After coming back from his injury he is playing well too.
Sorry, I smell fear on the part of JR and Sully. The are afraid of losing, so they keep ipting for the safe play when it comes to personnel decisions but that is not what won them their back-to-back Cups. Another old saying is victory goes to the bold. Cut your losses already Sully and JR
Hey tOR,
I realize the Penguins may not have much going for them in the minors. I’m not putting super prospect stock in Poulin yet considering he has two line-mates that are out performing him, or at least they were last time I checked. Though it does show he can play and be effective with great players.
It’s crazy when you look at the Penguins having made the playoffs 13 years in a row and the next closest team out of 31 teams has only been to five in a row. I tend to understand why the minor team probably isn’t loaded with great prospects.
Even crazier is the fact that only 6 other teams have been to the playoffs more than 2 years in a row. When looking at that I am amazed the Penguins could possible have anyone coming out of the minors at all.
The biggest head scratcher and the craziest is, why is everyone so upset that Sullivan isn’t playing these minor league guys if our minor leagues is truly dried up????
Hey Phil,
I’m going to push back a bit and use Lafferty as an example.
I really like this kid. He’s got some size (for the Pens anyway), can skate and plays with some energy and moxie (92 hits in 47 games). Versatile, can play center (50 percent face-off percentage) or right wing.
No, he’s not top-line material. But he’s certainly capable of filling a consistent bottom-six role. And I think he could slot up to the right side on one of the top lines in a pinch and not embarrass himself.
I thought he did a nice job early in the season when he was consistently seeing double-digit minutes of ice time. Then at the end of November, Sullivan started to reduce his minutes…dramatically.
I know his Corsi (47.8) and shot attempts differential (-54) aren’t great, but he’s been skating for a good portion of the season with the dregs of the Pens’ lineup (Galchenyuk) and given almost no chance at an elevated role.
Too, his o-zone starts percentage (34.8) is among the lowest on the team. Yet he’s matched Aston-Reese’s production in 10 less games and almost 50 percent less ice time.
With all of the elements in his tool kit, I think there’s an untapped upside to Lafferty’s game, yet he’s not getting a chance to prove it. To the contrary, even though we’ve been spread thin up front, Sullivan pretty much kept him tethered to the bench for the last month or so.
If anyone sees any glaring holes in this kid’s game, please tell me what they are because I sure don’t see them.
Rick
Hey all,
There’s a really interesting article on Pittsburgh Hockey Now about the Letang-Johnson pairing.
It’s no secret it isn’t a match made in hockey heaven, as the stats so readily point out. But I thought Dan Kingerski had an interesting (and accurate) take, saying their difficulties had as much to do with Letang’s unpredictability as anything else, while sparing Johnson undo blame.
He also mentioned another really interesting stat. Jarry and Murray have a combined save percentage of .944 when Johnson is on the ice.
Wow…that’s incredible. Especially when you considerable the team’s overall save percentage is .914!
Fancy stats be damned, it does mean that Johnson brings value to the team. Mike, I thought that would especially interest you.
Anyway, Kingerski suggests a Pettersson-Letang tandem might work better based on advanced stats, with Johnson sliding to the second pairing with Schultz.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Johnson’s problems do not revolve around the save percentage while he is on the ice. Johnson’s problem is that every defenseman on the team injured or playing has had the team score more goals while they are playing 5 on 5 than have been scored against them except Jack johnson.
Jack Johnson in every single defensive pairing he has been involved in has brought down the scores for vs scores against.
He is a great penalty killer and have limited minutes otherwise as part of the third defensive pairing.
It takes a little time guys.
We will be fine come April as long as we can stay healthy !
Cheers
Jim
Marleau looked great. They need some time for the new guys to gel. They’ve got this!
Gotta fix the defense it’s been horrible
All the trades are really paying off.
Gary Benik it’s been one game!!
Hey Rick,
Sorry, but I expected no more than that performance.
To beat a dead horse, JR traded a guy who played top line minutes with Malkin and that line missed Guentzel but still produced at a fevered pitch. Unfortunately, JR felt a need to trade that player for a player that was not good enough to get more than 13 minutes a game 12:54, on a team that is 24th in the league. Or friend Jim A, pointed out that we Penguins fans over-value our prospects, well, not as bad as JR over values refuse from cellar dwellers.
Evan Rodrigues got even less ice time for Buffalo, a team 24th in the league standings and 22nd in the league in GF/G.
What did anyone expect? When you trade away players who can get goals (3.4 team goals/60) for scrubs on a team that can’t score goals and worse the players responsible for that teams offensive ineptitude (Sheary 2.6 Team Goals For/60 and Rodregues 2.0 Team Goals For/60), you get an inability to score.
Only JR would trade for such pathetic players.
Again, in the heat of my anger, I will get redundant with my rants, Buffalo would only give us a 4th round pick for that playoff pylon but JR traded away a good player with potential for a player that has shown he has shown none – in the playoffs, after saying that he was all in.
All in, before the Window closes? JR you accelerated that closure while reducing the teams chances of winning this year!!!!!
I pray that he doesn’t sign any of these empty sweaters in the off season.
Jim A. the Pens may not have much talent in WBS but they are better than the cast-offs from a 24th ranked team.
Hey Rick,
Interesting. Same result, yes. I had a different take on the game. I thought the Pens were flying. It looked to me like a complete non stop hustle. I even texted that to a bunch of night owl friends that stayed up and watched the game. Still same result.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pens are back to their normal selves here in a game or two. The trade deadline has a weird effect on players. Right now players are also fighting for roster spots. They need to loosen up and stop gripping the stick so tight.
I was thinking as I watched LA trap all game that it seems like any team that can not get enough guys to run a speed game have resolved to run a trap.
One last note, on the 2nd Kings goal both Johnson and Zucker had chances to easily play the man and both opted not to. That was lazy defensive hockey.
Johnson is a -5 since Marino has been out. Time to stop pairing him with Letang. He is a 5-6 defenseman at best who has been carried by Marino all year. I doubt it will happen, but I would like Sulli to try Riikola up on Letangs line if not just for one game and limit Johnson’s ice time. I think the result will speak for itself.
Traps work way easier if you only have to watch one defenseman.
Hey Phil,
Like I said, I didn’t see the second half of the game. Hopefully our speed and intensity did pick up as you say…it’s what we’re banking on. But they sure didn’t look too fast early on.
On the game winner Lewis flew past Letang, who looked like he was asleep, and around Johnson before making a bee-line to the front of the net. Only Zucker gave him a bump…not enough to prevent the goal.
I’m really hoping the return of Dumoulin and Marino will help settle the defense and re-ignite the transition game.
Rick
Rick
Like I mentioned to Phil – great move by Lewis to avoid Johnson and
get to the front of the net but it all could of been avoided if Letang
doesn’t get burned at the blue line. Johnson had to race across from
his off position and Lewis made a move against the grain to score.
Everyone is crushing the defense but we dominated the entire game
and out shot the Kings 36 to 22. And if I’m not mistaken LA is 3rd in
the NHL in Shots for and 27th in shots against. I realize they made
a few trades that could affect that stat.
Pen’s are just going thru a rough patch when it seems like nothing
will go right – they’ll be fine.
Phil
Johnson and Zucker looked bad on the play but it all started with Letang
getting lost at the blue line. Johnson came over from his offside to try
and break up the play – Have to give Lewis credit it was nice move to avoid
Johnson. This is another case of Letang’s poor decision making which brings
back nightmares of last years playoff matchup with the Islanders.
About the new guys – Its one game! Everyone is attacking the defense – it was
a 2-1 game and we dominated the entire game – we just need a break or two
in the offensive end.
Everyone needs to relax – I get a kick out of fan’s when they think you should
never endure a stretch of bad games. Not one team will avoid a slump during
the course of an 82 game schedule.
Relax, Relax, Relax
Phil
I agree but who do you pair with Letang?? it has to someone that can counter
Letang’s mistakes – Johnson doesn’t have the speed but i will say he’s
usually the only guy back in odd man breaks.
To me the biggest problem is their other defenseman. We don’t have another
physical blue liner besides Johnson – Maybe Riikola but so raw and inexperienced he just not ready for that type of work load. Both Pettersson and Schultz have struggled especially when the game gets physical. Ruhwedel is just okay in the
pinch / emergency situation.
We do need Dumoulin back – probably the only player we have defensively that
can save us from Letang’s lack of discipline – Even for him it’s a challenge.
Go Pen’s
Hey Mike,
The problem isn’t Johnson’s defense, though I still think him and Zucker both had a clean chance to hit the guy who had the puck. If they played the guy not the puck.
This is just a quote from a comment I made to Rick above.
“Johnson’s problem is that every defenseman on the team injured or playing has had the team score more goals while they are playing 5 on 5 than have been scored against them except Jack johnson. ”
His problem is he drags down the offense. His inability to get the puck out fast completely stifles the teams ability against the trap. Third line defense and penalty kill is where he should be playing.
Pettersson or Riikola up on Letangs line. The Pens will have more goals scored against, but will be scoring more goals than the other team and that’s what is important.
Phil
Totally agree with him being the 5th or 6th Defenseman but I
respectfully disagree on two points. One I think his break
out passes are more than adequate and two the Pen’s are
getting plenty of chance to score – their just not burying the
puck – that has nothing to do with Johnson. We out shot
LA 36 to 22 – when a team with the Pen’s skill has that many
opportunities you should put more than one goal on the
board.
The question is who do you play in his place other than
Dumoulin. Schultz? Pettersson? To me both have regressed
and IMO would fall under Johnson in the pecking order.
I’m not a big numbers guy but if you go on stats – the giveaway/
turnover stat would seem to be one to prioritize.
Letang has 68 giveaways – obviously he’s playing more minutes
than the rest of our “D” – what’s interesting he only has 26
takeaways – even though he should in reality have more giveaways base on minutes played his ratio to takeaways is really poor.
Here’s the rest of our “D” – Games, minutes, Tk & Gv.
Dumoulin 23gp 21:04 toi/60 12(tk) 11(gv) = to 30 in 62gp
Marino 51gp 20:19 toi/60 34(tk) 38(gv)
Pettersson 62gp 19:38 toi/60 15(tk) 36(gv)
Schultz 39gp 19:54 toi/60 4(tk) 16(gv)
Johnson 60gp 19:54 toi/60 14(tk) 20(gv)
Ruhwedel 39gp 14:51 toi/60 6(tk) 16(gv)
Riikola 35gp 13:48 toi/60 8(tk) 16(gv)
Letang 54gp 25:49 toi/60 26(tk) 68(gv)
I guess the point I’m making here is the guys on the team that
“supposedly” move the puck have the highest ratio of turnovers.
When you look at Marino – he has given the puck up but he also
has a decent ratio of giveaways vs takeaways. That acceptable
but Schultz, Pettersson, Ruhwedel & Rikkola’s ratio is extremely
poor.
LOL – Rich will vouch for me when I say i’m not a numbers guy
at all. I just think it’s really unfair to attack Johnson when the
team struggles “one player does not have that type of impact
on his team” I’m also not a big fan of JJ but he gets a raw deal
from the media because they didn’t like the signing and want
him to fail and will go to extremes to sabotage him for the sake
of being right.
Go Pens
Hey Mike,
Don’t know if you saw this or not. But Pittsburgh Hockey Now reported that our team save percentage is .944 when Johnson’s on the ice (it’s .914 overall).
Rather remarkable.
My argument isn’t that he’s not a reasonably effective stay-at-home defenseman. He’s just not a good fit with Letang (no easy thing to be).
Metrics suggest that Pettersson may be a better fit, although I agree with your assessment that Marcus isn’t having a great season, either.
The overall problem is guys are being asked to fill roles on an extended basis that they’re really not cut out for.
Alas, until we get Dumoulin and Marino back, a black-and-gold fact of life I’m afraid …
Rick
no worries! still another month of hockey for these guys! they’re professionals, they’ve been through it, and they know how to handle it.
Agree
Pens offensive where is it?
Totally agree – I get tired of people who put a priority on possession numbers. Put
the puck in the net.
We had the puck in LA’s end the entire game but we don’t seem to ever have a
guy moving into a scoring area when cycling the puck. Frustrating.
Go Pen’s
Hey Mike,
Great comments all, and I’ll eventually respond to some of your others. But this one really caught my eye. And I agree.
We’re not getting the puck into the prime scoring areas inside the face-off circles with any regularity. And we’re not getting as many second-chance opportunities. Which ties into my observation that we look like a tired hockey team. When you’re tired, you start to look for shortcuts or halfway measures (like shooting the puck from the perimeter). And, at least to my eye, that’s what we’re doing.
The only guy consistently paying a price right now is Hornqvist.
I’m not sure how you remedy this. Getting a full compliment of players back will certainly help. And Sullivan can’t keep chaining the fourth line to the bench, whether he likes these guys or not. (Whatever happened to developing players?)
But, bottom line, the players are going to have to find a way to dig deep and work through this as a team if we’re going to have any success in the playoffs.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Great point!!! The team took 36 shots, but the average shot distance was 43.10 feet.
You often stats lie, I retort that stats don’t, people either lie or they just don’t understand the meaning of the stat. Thirty – Six shots makes someone just looking at the box score say, wow they dominated, but the reality is the kings gave them perimeter shots and boxed them out. I am sure every goalie would buy their D dinner if they kept their opponents out that far.
No stat exists in a vacuum. In the 1st period they held the team to 8 shots; that is 24/60min. after they grabbed the lead, they went into a defensive shell that funneled the hapless smurfs to the perimeter and gave up 28 shots, for the most part, from left field.
Quite often you bemoan the teams lack of size and grit; it showed in spades last night. As Rick notes above, Hornqvist is the only player that always goes to the dirty areas – actually so does Rust and it is paying off for him this year, and particularly Malkin has been getting his nose dirty all season.
Sheary – skating with Crosby may net a few more goals than Simon in the regular season, but as I wrote above, he was a 4th liner with an avg TOI 23rd on the team on a team that was 24th in the standings and 22 in the league in scoring.
I do find it hard to believe that the team could tank so bad that it will miss the playoffs, but if Sheary and/or Simon play top 6 minutes they will be one and done.
Yes they are missing Guentzel, but they were winning for a while without him, when smurfs were relegated to bottom 6 roles. But the Zukcker – Crosby – Simon/Sheary line is tanking right now and Crosby may be too injured still to carry it.
Sorry Rick, I was answer Mike too, and he is the one that often says stats lie., I meant to put his name in there but I guess in my current delirium I missed.
Calvin Petersen (LA Kings Goalie) came in with a 1-3 record and was rarely stressed in that game. As Rick (the other) said, they had plenty of weak shots.
The Kings play a 1-3-1 style that the Pens have struggled with in past years. Teams may go to it in the playoffs against us, so we better figure it out.
When I lived in Detroit (many years ago) Steve Yzerman was captain and absolutely rode guys who weren’t maximum effort and smart with the puck, every shift.
I don’t think Sid has to go that far, but maybe expressing some dissatisfaction with LeTang may get his attention back to hockey. He’s a force when he’s on but a liability when his head is elsewhere.
Maybe giving Hornquist LeTang’s “A” might be called for.
Horrible