During the Penguins’ victory over the Flyers on Tuesday night, I was encouraged to discover that ten different black-and-gold skaters registered at least a point. These days, that sort of production from up and down the lineup has been rarer than a Liberty Head Nickel in mint condition.
Since the start of the New Year, our big guns have been blazing hot, and I mean blazing. Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust are all scoring at a point per game clip or better. During that span they’ve combined for 45 of the team’s 77 non-shootout goals, or 58 percent of the team’s production. In February, 61 percent.
However, the flip side is also true. Our secondary scorers have gone stone cold.
How cold you ask?
Following a 16-game stretch in which he tallied 19 points (including nine goals), Evan Rodrigues has no goals and a paltry three assists in his past 18 games. Since he last scored an excuse-me goal off his skate against Winnipeg on January 23, Kasperi Kapanen has zero points in nine games. Stretching back to mid-December, he’s potted just two goals in 22 games.
Brock McGinn has just one goal and three assists in his past 16 games…while spending a significant amount of time skating alongside Malkin on the second line. Jeff Carter, two goals in his last 15. The poster child for non-producers, Zach Aston-Reese, a lone goal in 42 games!
Heck, with two goals and five points in his past 13, Danton Heinen’s been positively on fire by comparison.
You get the picture. It isn’t pretty. If it weren’t for the surprisingly strong play of 37-year-old Brian Boyle and the fourth line of late, the Pens would be almost bereft of secondary scoring from among the forwards.
Ironically, this wasn’t the case early in the season. With Crosby, Malkin and Rust all spending significant time on IR, the Pens leaned heavily on a score-by-committee approach.
The following table highlights the dramatic dip in secondary scoring over the past couple of months.
|
|
Core* |
Secondary Forwards |
Defense minus Letang |
|||
|
Month |
Goals |
% of Total |
Goals |
% of Total |
Goals |
% of Total |
|
October |
2 |
7.7 |
21 |
80.8 |
3 |
11.5 |
|
November |
12 |
33.3 |
24 |
66.7 |
0 |
0.0 |
|
December |
8 |
28.6 |
17 |
60.7 |
3 |
10.7 |
|
January |
34 |
57.6 |
20 |
33.9 |
5 |
8.5 |
|
February |
11 |
61.1 |
5 |
27.8 |
2 |
11.1 |
|
Total |
67 |
40.1 |
87 |
52.1 |
13 |
7.8 |
|
* Core includes Crosby, Guentzel, Letang, Malkin and Rust |
||||||
One-line teams don’t go very far in the playoffs. Obviously, the Pens would benefit greatly from a more balanced attack.
To that end, coach Mike Sullivan appears to be giving the middle-six a much needed shake up. At practice yesterday he shifted Carter to right wing alongside Malkin and McGinn. Rodrigues was inserted at center…perhaps his best position…between Heinen and Kapanen.
In particular, E-Rod and Kappy displayed great chemistry earlier this season. In the five games they skated together, the former tallied three goals and three assists and the latter four goals and an assist…including a hat trick. They seemed well on their way to developing into one of the “duos” Sullivan likes so well when he somewhat surprisingly broke them apart.
Hopefully, they’ll help jump-start each other’s game. With the tough part of their schedule looming, the Pens could sure use the production.
Rick
Great article. For me personally especially with E-Rod I saw this coming and I really don’t get any satisfaction
in saying so but it was just a matter of time. In most Pro Sports when a player is elevated from a part-time to
full-time contributor teams begin to focus a little more on that player in terms of scouting and in most cases
his stats will take a hit. Also, I’m not questioning your call for reuniting E-Rod and Kappy but I feel like early on
in the season E-Rod was going to play well no matter who his line mates were at the time. Like you I believe it’s
worth a shot.
I know I’m going to poke the bear here but why does it seem like our wingers have zero chemistry with Malkin??
11 of Malkin’s 14pts since returning have come by way of the Power Play. He’s already sitting at -5 which as of
today is the worst on the team.
Rick as for Crosby the thing I love about him is the way his game is structured its compatible to any style or
system and breeds success. When your skill level, and work ethic are both off the chain it equals greatness.
GO PENS
Hey Mike,
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head concerning Rodrigues. I really thought we’d found something there. Then…pfft.
I do think he’s a better player than he’s shown recently. In Sullivan’s defense, I realize it’s a little like trying to figure out a human jigsaw puzzle in terms of seeing who works best with who. But he’s consistently placed E-Rod at right wing, and it’s pretty well documented it’s his least effective position. Anyway…I hope being reunited with Kapanen will help jump-start both.
Couldn’t agree more with your sentiments about Crosby and (ulp) Malkin. WARNING: The Bear has a rare afternoon off and will have plenty of time to author a stinging rebuke in defense of Geno…lol.
In fairness to Malkin, when he played with Guentzel and Rust a couple of seasons ago they didn’t miss a beat. So I do think there’s something to be said about the quality of linemates he plays with. When it became painfully apparent Geno and Zucker had zippo chemistry, Sullivan left them together anyway, which certainly didn’t help either player.
I personally have always felt Zucker’s game would blend better with Crosby, but for some reason (perhaps Sid’s preference?) Sullivan seems totally reluctant to try that.
Anyway…GO PENS! Rake the Leafs … 🙂
Rick