During our ill-fated 1975 playoff series against the Islanders, a potent Penguins team mysteriously stopped scoring. In an effort to shake his snipers out of the doldrums, coach Marc Boileau devoted an entire practice to shooting pucks into an empty net.
Sadly, the tactic didn’t work. The Pens lost Game 7, 1-0, in the process becoming the second team in NHL history to blow a 3-0 series lead. Greasing the skid into receivership and threatening the very survival of the franchise. But I digress.
While the consequences for our current bunch aren’t that dire, our ability to qualify for the playoffs depends a great deal on somebody…anybody…not named Sidney Crosby or Bryan Rust finding the back of the net once in a while. Last night it’s was Sid’s turn to play one-man band, notching both black-and-gold goals during a 4-2 loss at Carolina.
Even the heretofore red-hot combination of Evgeni Malkin and Reilly Smith has cooled. With a goal and three helpers in his last six games, Geno’s been merely mortal following a blazing start to the season. Smith is goalless in six games with a lone assist since his four-point explosion against the Sharks. He missed at least two glorious opportunities to score last night, would-be goals that might have altered the outcome.
Sixteen games, or roughly a fifth of the way through the campaign, four of our regular defensemen have yet to tally a goal. Ditto fourth-liner Noel Acciari, who misfired on a shorthanded breakaway, and erstwhile top-sixer Rickard Rakell, who was bumped down to the third line in favor of Radim Zohorna, to no avail. Three other forwards have netted only a single goal.
Perhaps the Pens could steer around those deficiencies if the power(less) play was producing, which it most assuredly is not. With a paltry seven goals in 16 games, it’s been historically awful.
How bad is it? Even the woebegone Sharks have more man-advantage goals. Last season we scored 63 power-play goals. This season we’re on pace for 36.
To put that in perspective, Mario Lemieux missed 24 games in 1992-93 due to treatments for Hodgkins lymphoma and still scored 31 power-play goals single-handed.
Obviously, something’s gotta give. The sooner the better.
Personally, I vote for starting the power play with whichever of the top two lines is the freshest and go from there. They can’t possibly do any worse.
Another boon or bust change? Move Rakell to Sid’s right flank, where he thrived last season, and drop Rust to Geno’s line, at least for a period or two. If it doesn’t work, you can always switch it back. But we’ve got to at least try to get RikRak going.
As for the game itself? Save for a second-period lull, there was nothing wrong with our collective effort. However, we all-too-willingly allowed ourselves to be drawn into a track meet with the ‘Canes, with typically dire consequence. As usual, when we turned the puck over as we’re wont to do, they pounced.
After staking us to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period, Crosby had a cross-ice outlet pass picked off just over the blue line. In the blink of an eye Sebastien Aho slipped behind our defense and beat Tristan Jarry from point-blank range.
On the sequence leading to the game-winner by Seth Jarvis, Erik Karlsson blatantly gave the puck away not once but twice before wandering off like a lost child. EK65 at his worst.
You live by the sword (or in this case, high-risk hockey) eventually you die by it.
Puckpourri
According to Natural Stat Trick, the shoot-from-anywhere ‘Canes dominated the shot activity (a 65-55 advantage in attempts, 34-28 in actual shots). Scoring chances were dead-even at 34 apiece. The Pens actually held the edge in high-danger chances by a 15-10 margin.
Despite the loss, Jarry made a number of stellar saves and kept us in the game.
With two goals, Sid extended his points streak to 11 games. Karlsson ran his points streak to eight games. Kris Letang registered his 700th career point. Congrats Tanger!
Acciari played his 400th career game.
Vinnie Hinostroza exited midway through the contest after crashing into the boards. He appeared to suffer a lower-body injury.
On the plus side, Alex Nedeljkovic is eligible to return from LTIR. “Ned” scored a goal for the Baby Pens the other night, the second of his career if I’m not mistaken.
Let’s Make a Deal?
IMHO, we could desperately use a net-front presence at both ends of the ice. Noted Penguins killer Anders Lee (6’3” 235), a collegiate teammate of Rust’s, is struggling to score for the Isles a la Rakell. Could a deal be struck?
Blue line hammer Nikita Zadorov wants out of Calgary. Might the Flames bite on Pierre-Olivier Joseph, presently lodged in Pens purgatory?
Just thinkin’ out loud…
On Deck
The Pens (8-8) have little time to lick their wounds. We face the Golden Knights (13-3-2), who are liable to have a burr under their collective saddles on the heels of an overtime loss to Philly last night.
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Hey Rick,
Regarding the Pens 2nd Line, You will never hear, or read me complaining about a team or line that is doing well; I don't believe in fixing things that aren't broke. Way too many Penguins' fans whined about Rakell not scoring Goals for far too long, while the 2nd line as a whole was humming along. Unfortunately, soon after a read a post where Rakell acknowledged reading those certain fans complaining about the big Winger's lack of Goal scoring, a chill came over that line.
I wish Rakell would either not have read those fans complaints or if he did read their unfounded complaints, he didn't let it affect him and his line. I can't help but wonder if part of the problem with the 2nd line became either Rakell or the whole line started pressing to get Rakell a Goal and stopped simply taking what was given them, like they were doing at the start of the season.
I am not a happy camper because of those fans cooling off the 2nd line with their whining.
Regarding Jarry, you know I do not like his signing. He is nowhere near the $5+ million/year for 5 years. He is not the best Goalie in the org (that would be Blomqvist), nor is he 2nd or 3rd best (that would be either Gauthier or Nedeljkovic). He may not even be 4th best, I haven't seen Murashov play but his stats are stellar.
Now with Ned scoring a ENG in his conditioning start in WBS the other night, I didn't expect a whole lot out of Jarry. He wastes so much time and effort in trying to score a Goal, instead of stopping Goals, he is way too inconsistent. He may be the biggest headcase of a Goalie in the team's history; if not the biggest in the top 3.
Regarding Zadorov, I would love to see Dubas nab the big Russian, as I have said many times, but as I said and wrote on those occasions, the ridiculous trade ideas of POJ straight up or less that I have heard or read are extremely unlikely. Very rarely will a team allow itself to get fleeced like that. I GM generally has to give to get. There aren't too many morons out there looking to give up a Trevor Daley for a Rod Scuderi, or give away a Cole, Reaves, Gustavsson, and 1st round pick for a Brassard and a career minor leaguer who retires soon after the trade, or sends a Marcus Naslund to Van for a bag of used pucks named Stojanov.
At 27, POJ's luster is fading fast. POJ for Zadorov would go down as another Scuderi or Daley deal and the probably of that happening again has to be approaching slim to none. To get Zadorov, particularly since teams like Phi are also in the running, Dubas would have to give up something on the order of Pettersson and Pickering (Although I don't like Pickering as a former no. 1 who is still in the Jrs, he still has value), perhaps even more if a bidding war starts. That is reality.
A net front presence in the Offensive zone, Amen! There was no exit strategy when the team dumped Hornqvist, but to fix the PP they need a right handed sniper. If you harken back to earlier this season I showed the data of how the team's PP was crippled after Kessel was thrown away for nothing more than Galchenyuk and POJ. Even though Horny was still here the PP became inconsistent.
There certainly are some very talented players on this team but our Pens are more than 3 bricks shy of a load,
1) Physical Defensive Presence to control their own crease
2) Right handed Sniper
3) Physical Offensive net front presence
4) A Defenseman with a cannon of a shot
5) A far better Coach
6) A real NHL level starting Goalie.
Hey Other Rick,
With all due respect, my friend, the fans aren’t to blame for Rakell’s scoring issues and/or the second line cooling off.
I mentioned this before, but early on I think Rakell was somewhat of a forgotten man due to the extraordinary chemistry Geno and Smith displayed. They were looking for each other at virtually every turn. However, over the past handful of games it seems Rakell’s slump has gotten into his head.
Regarding the line in general, perhaps it was folly to think Geno could keep up his sizzling early season pace at age 37. Too, I wonder if he’s playing hurt. He sat out practice a couple days ago.
While I certainly understand why Mike Sullivan’s reluctant to make the switch, I think at this stage you have to at least try Rakell with Sid and Rusty with Geno.
Switching gears, I’m not suggesting the Flames would agree to Zadorov for POJ (who’s 24 by the way) straight up. We’d need to part with more $$$ (and likely other assets) to keep the ledger balanced. But the fact that NZ wants out of Calgary may force GM Craig Conroy to accept less than he might otherwise.
I read an interesting evaluation of Jarry over on Pensburgh that seems to ring true. The commenter, who apparently was a goaltender, seems to think Jarry has difficulty facing down multiple threats and that he overthinks and overreacts in those situations, which causes his positioning and fundamentals to break down. Which makes it doubly important that we play with some structure in front of him.
Switching subjects again…an under-the-radar guy I’d have some interest in is Islanders right wing Oliver Wahlstrom. He’s a big kid (6’2″ 204) and a former 11th overall pick who’s been slow to develop. But he’s scored as many as 13 goals in a season, has some sand and a touch of nasty in his game. In fact, his progress was derailed last season following a booming check on Chad Ruhwedel that led to an injury.
At this stage, I’m about ready to throw in the towel on Drew O’Connor. I just don’t think he has enough jam in his game to be effective. He and Wahlstrom have virtually the same cap hit. I’d dial up Lou L. and see if I could swing a deal straight up.
Rick
Hey Rick
As for the fans, sorry, I have seen way too many times, players that allowed the hometown fans opinions ruin their mojo. Players are like everyone else when it comes to feeling the wrath of others. People can make excuses to justify their negative words but they do affect most players. Very few people and/or players can ignore the heckling. That is why I cautioned here and in other places to stop whining about Rakell while the 2nd line was clicking. Everyone, every line will go into slumps but the negative opinions of Rakell did coincide with the cooling off of the 2nd line. Anyone saying that to just me will not have an affect but putting it down in print for Rakell to see it most certainly did (Psy Ops)
At this point, it may be best to consider trading Rakell instead. Many of those same fans have already have started their trade Rakell comments and may be making it untenable for the guy here in the 'burg, like they have done to many others (Sprong, Kessel, Kappanen, and many others)
As for NZ, sorry, I was thinking about Pettersson being 27 when I wrote that. My bad, POJ is still fairly young. However, Conroy will not have to settle for anything. He is holding the whip hand. He has several suitors putting him the drivers seat. We may wish it were different; we may wish Calgary was over the barrel with NZ, but our cross-State rivals are one of the suitors for NZ. Not only will the Pens need to balance out some of the $$$ of a trade but they will need to pony up more assets than an injured POJ who still hasn't delivered on any of his promise.
As for Jarry, first you know I was a Goalie too and I have alluded to that very same thing your other Goalie said on another site. He also gambles way too much, as I wrote above, trying to score Goals and get Assists giving the Puck Away (leading to a Playoff Loss and more) and placing his on Defense under heavy pressure, icing the puck and forcing Defensive Zone Faceoffs.. Most importantly neither of these weaknesses are easily fixed if ever. Yet our Pens are stuck with this $5+ million millstone for 5 years. Regardless of the salary, when Ned comes back, the Coach needs to at least platoon his Goalies riding the hot one or just hand the reins over to Ned.
Wahlstrom? He may be worth a gamble. he is only now entering his prime and may need a change of scenery. If I recall his scouting reports, I believe he is said to be a good skater with a quick first step and does have a good release and wrist shot. However, he may not be that heavy that you are looking for. I seemed to recall that the scouts also said the kid didn't really initiate contact. For me though, one of the things I am pretty sure I read about him was that he is willing to take a hit to make a play.
At 23 he probably is under $1 million in salary. Not sure but I think the Isles are in a similar Cap Po as we are. And I am in Agreement about DOC. So, Maybe try and deal DOC for Wahlstrom? Their salaries are probably pretty much equal.