If you’re like me, you’re positively giddy about the way our Penguins are playing these days. I mean, ten wins in a row! Skating with a new-found structure and discipline thanks in no small part to coach Mike Sullivan and his staff, they’re just carving up the opposition with surgical efficiency. Even a solid team like St. Louis had trouble standing up to this juggernaut.
No one’s more surprised than I at our success. After yet another first-round exit with a team I felt had the chops to go (a lot) further, I was down on our chances. Really down. I thought we’d taken a not-so-small step backward last summer while bleeding off several key players. I wasn’t at all sure this team as constructed would qualify for the playoffs.
Needless to say, those doubts have been erased. This, most assuredly, is a playoff team. Maybe even…dare I say…a Cup contender. But I digress.
Friday morning when I entered Wright’s Gym for my workout, Other Rick and I had a brief verbal sparring session over the state of our Pens. Flush with our recent success, I’m riding the feel-good wave (or drinking the Kool-Aid, whichever you prefer). TOR’s a bit more pessimistic.
I don’t remember our exact exchange, but I said something to the effect of, “Ten in a row. How can you not be excited about this team?” And TOR responded somewhat along the lines of, “They’re getting all kinds of room. Nobody’s hitting them.”
Followed by a parting, “Let’s see them do it in the playoffs.”
His comments tweaked a nerve. I immediately recalled two of our goals from the victory over the Flyers…E-Rod’s and Guentzel’s. The guys, indeed, had all kinds of room to make a play. On Jake’s goal from the side of the net I remember thinking, if this was the 1980s they wouldn’t let him stand there. A Jeff Chychrun or a Terry Carkner would’ve knocked him on his arse.
Actually, you don’t even have to go back to the ‘80s to find examples of physical play having a telling effect. Last spring the Islanders hit Guentzel and linemates Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust hard and often. After a decent start to the series, the trio was softened up to the tune of a collective minus-14 over the final three games. All black-and-gold losses.
As Other Rick asserted, the playoffs are, indeed, a different animal. It got me to thinking. Is this team built to succeed in the postseason?
Boy, that’s a tough one to answer. There are so many things I like about this bunch. Really like. Our speed, our grit, our hustle, our new-found attention to detail, our skill, our depth…especially up front. That ferocious forecheck. Not to mention a terrific esprit de corps and resilience. Even swagger.
In the past I’ve bemoaned the fact that we’re not physical enough on occasions too numerous to count. In fact, it’s been my drumbeat…my mantra. But this group is far from timid. We’re sixth in the league in hits. And the anticipated league-wide swing to heavy hockey really hasn’t happened.
Yes, the Rangers have Ryan Reaves, and yes he’s a brutish physical force. But I don’t see him as a difference maker come the playoffs. Washington’s Tom Wilson is still out there, but he’s evolved into a multi-dimensional player and less of a loose cannon thug (only two fights this season). Although it would be nice to have one, I don’t fret over our lack of a deterrent nearly as much as I used to.
Perhaps the real question is, do we have enough functional size to succeed in the playoffs, when physical intensity gets ratcheted up and space becomes a premium?
Jeff Carter combines speed, skill and brawn…a classic power forward. Brian Boyle, all 6’6” and 245 pounds of him, certainly brings size and physicality, although I’m not sure if he’s in the lineup when we’re healthy. And people tend to forget Evgeni Malkin. Geno’s a big man who doesn’t mind the rough going.
However, will smallish players like Evan Rodrigues, enjoying a sensational season, and Dominik Simon be as effective? As much as I’ve grown to appreciate Simon’s ability to drive possession (a sterling Corsi of 61), I do get the sense he’ll disappear in the postseason, as TOR asserts. It would be nice if we could develop a player with size and/or jam in that spot. Radim Zohorna and Anthony Angello come to mind. Too bad it’s not in Sullivan’s Irish DNA to cultivate that type of player. Wish I knew why.
I’ll close this ramble by returning to my original question. Are we built to succeed in the playoffs? I’ll put it another way. If we play an Islanders-style team again, would we beat ’em?
As much as I’d like to say yes, I honestly don’t know. I am confident we’ll get the opportunity to find out.
Rick & The Other Rick
I think it’s easy to overlook a teams weaknesses when you’re winning. Bottom line here is we still need a
couple of physical players to keep the opponents in check. It always disturbs me when I have to watch
Crosby or Making defending themselves – Could you imagine if someone went after any of the top
players in the league what would happen? I’m watching Crosby exchanging blows with the Blue’s 6’4
Defenseman and no one holds him accountable – It’s embarrassing!! Two things have to happen if
your on the ice 1) You pull Mikkola out of the scrum and fight him or you fight the player that restrains
you from getting at him “period”. The only thing I could think about was Crosby re-injuring his wrist
getting into a mini-scrum with a 25 year old Defenseman who currently has 2g and 2a. For the life of
me I don’t have a clue what the Pen’s management is thinking about. It’s not a coincidence that
Maroon (Tampa) has played for the last three Stanley Cup Champions. IMO we need at least two,
tough physical players – One forward and one Defenseman to have any chance of advancing in the
playoffs.
Not going to get an argument here from me Mike. As I have stated, I think both Sid and Geno would still have at least 5 or 6 more seasons maybe more and the window would not now be closed, had the management protected these assets. Unfortunately, they still don’t seem to understand the worth of these 2 generational talents. Even though Burke and Hextall gave lip service to toughening up this team, they haven’t. It is a travesty.
To answer your question, even if Mikkola got to the Penalty Box for his assault on Crosby, protected by linesman all the way. His very next shift he would be in for the fight of his life. Every other team in the league stand up for one another. Only the Penguins roll over and play dead.
Also
Did you see Nylander had 2 assists last night in his debut as a WBS Penguin but WBS lost in a shoot out and really was Puustenin driving the Offense with 2 G and 1 A. Bellerive had a G too, as did Drozg and Fedun. Angello paced the team in shots, 7. Hallander had 5 SOG. But with no Goalies, WBS couldn’t stop shots either. Napier gave up 5G on 32 SOG and 2 G on 3 Shoot Out Shots.
I did see that.
He’s reputed to be a very talented guy. Here’s the report on him from Elite Prospects:
“Nylander’s game is all about skill. Blessed with exceptional hockey sense, technical skills and overall offensive awareness. Very creative and shifty player with speed and soft hands. Furthermore, he has a great release, a good scoring touch and the ability to do the unexpected with the puck. On the downside, there’s some consistency issues and intensity could be better. Some room for improvement when it comes to his defensive game as well.”
While it’s probably wishful thinking to believe we can reclaim this guy, he didn’t get picked No. 8 overall for nothing. And all we have to do is look at Rodrigues to see an example of a player who maybe wasn’t used the right way or given a proper opportunity in the past. Yes, guys like E-Rod are the exception rather than the rule, but you never know how a player will respond to a change of scenery.
Rick
Hey Rick
You never know with a player like Nylander. I hated to see Lafferty go but Nylander still has a
chance to develop into an NHL regular. He’s only 23yrs old. For the Pens it’s probably worth the
gamble.
Rick
Thanks for crediting me for being the negative Nancy that started you thinking.
I don’t want to be a pessimist, but I have seen this happen all before, for the last 4 seasons.
It seems to me, to quote Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, “The Song Remains the Same.”
Nothing has changed from the last 4 seasons, except we have drifted farther down the line of One – Dimensionality.
All our over-rated Coach, Pierre Culliford, wants to employ is a Bunch of “skilled” Smurfs.
Any honest lunch-pail worker, capable of playing playoff Hockey, gets summarily discharged.
Need I remind everyone here that when Sullivan did win the Cup, grit players like Nick Bonino, Ian Cole, Tom Kuhnhackl, Ben Lovejoy, Eric Fehr, and even Oskar Sundqvist had minor to major rolls in winning that Cup. There isn’t a en Lovejoy, let alone Ian Cole, no Tom Oskar Sundqvist let alone Nick Bonino getting any ice time from Sullivan anymore, barring divine intervention.
I will throw this monkey wrench into your playoff aspirations, “what if Jarry has a protracted injury”. DO you still see DeSmith backstopping this team to the playoffs?
Furthermore, as I have written several times recently, there are at least 7 kids coming out in this years draft that I covet. There are at least 7 kids coming out in this seasons draft that will be major players in the very near to near future. There are even 2 kids in the 2023 that may develop into that level of star, the kind of star that fills arenas and wins Cups, ensuring our flightless fowl stay in the ‘burg for a long time to come. The time is now to deal away some of these guys to ensure a bright future. Many of players on this roster will never again be what they are worth now on the open market. Many of them will lose their luster before the season ends.
I am sorry Rick, this is not a Cup team. There are no Ian Cole’s capable of single handedly killing a penalty on this team. There are no forwards like Nick Bonino or Tom Kuhnhackl willing to sacrifice their bodies to block shots on this team. Most importantly, those Cup teams had 2 great Goalies MAF and Matt Murray (Matt Murray before his problems and with a good goalie coach). When one went down the other stepped up.
I confess that I did think that teams like Philadelphia, New Jersey, and the Islanders would have made a better showing this season then they are, but seeing the body of work of the teams our Penguins beat during this 10 game win streak and the quality of Goaltending those teams offered I am unimpressed with this streak.
I may have played on teams that could have eked out a couple of wins against some of these opponents. Well okay, maybe not, I just wrote that to show my disdain for the quality of opposition. Even when we beat the Capitals, not only were they undermanned but they had a turnstile in the net. With a 0.903 Sv%, Samsonov is not Zachary Sawchencko let alone Terry Sawchuck. And we could barely score against Sawchenko particularly as San Jose’s hits started to mount and we started to wilt. I doubt we win that game if Sawchenko starts that game. At least 4 of the 6 goals Reimer let in before being spelled by Sawchenko were as soft as butter. Rodrigues’ first goal floated in like a feather in the wind and still got in the net.
As Mike said, I am enjoying the Ws, even if you want to call me pessimistic, I am just not going to delude myself into believing this is a Cup team.
I didn’t call you Nancy…I called you Other Rick… 🙂
Sillyness aside, your observation that we’re getting a ton of room to make plays did strike a (discordant) chord. It brought to mind the 2012-13 team that just blew through opponents on the way to a 15-game winning streak. Yet when we squared off against the Bruins in the conference finals, we couldn’t buy a goal…or any space.
Your point about DeSmith is duly noted. Heaven forbid should something happen to Jarry. It would be a true game (or season) changer, and not for the better. But Hextall is impressing me with a sort of quiet shrewdness. I’m sure behind the scenes, or in the back rooms as our friend Jim likes to say, acquiring a more accomplished backup goalie is on his radar. At this stage, I’d at least give Domingue a look. He can’t do any worse than Casey.
Back to the notion that the Pens aren’t a legit contender. I beg to differ. Most teams have holes somewhere…I’m hard-pressed to think of a truly complete team. Maybe Tampa Bay and Florida, but that’s about it. If healthy, I think we could stack up against just about anyone.
I would like to see us add a physical forward and physical right d-man (a backup goalie, too). But those types of players are at a premium, and we simply don’t have much (if any) wiggle-room, cap-wise, unless we part with…say…a Kapanen.
Still, I like the way this team is playing…as a five-man unit. Much the way the Red Wings did circa 2008-09. Barring injuries to key personnel, I think we’ve got a fighting chance.
Rick