Back when the score was 1-0 in favor of our Penguins (seems like 100 years ago) a couple of Wright’s Gym members stopped at the front desk and asked what I thought of our chances to beat the Oilers.
“Not good,” I replied. “They’ve got (Connor) McDavid and (Leon) Draisaitl.”
I’m not often prophetic. I was last night.
Indeed, the Oilers proceeded to pound our disintegrating Pens, 7-2, in a contest that was no contest.
I wasn’t able to watch much of the game because the gym was uber-busy. But from the little I did see, it looked like an NHL team taking an AHL team to the woodshed. Make that an ECHL team. The disparity was canyon-esque.
My apologies to those who were hoping to read a traditional game summary. There simply wasn’t much of a game to summarize. Nor am I going to delve into a litany of our shortcomings. They’ve been well documented, here and on other sites.
I’m not going to beat our players up, either. Hockey players are notoriously good guys…the nature of the sport fairly demands that they be. I’m sure no one feels worse about our present plight than they do.
I will state the obvious. The Pens are in trouble. Deep trouble. Among our myriad issues, a complete and devastating lack of confidence, both on an individual and team level. To the extent that all the king’s men, or in this case coach Mike Sullivan and his staff, can’t put our Humpty Dumpty Pens back together again.
Indeed, during last night’s post mortem Sullivan was at a complete loss to explain his team’s malaise. He’s searching for answers and not finding any. No doubt causing a lot of sleepless nights. Especially for one as ultra-competitive as Sully.
I feel for him and the players. Everybody’s trying. No one wants to lose.
One thing is certain. Changes need to be made. We can’t keep running the same combinations out there night after night and expect different results. The mix is morgue-like if not downright toxic.
To that end, Sullivan put his lines in a blender last night. But more needs to be done. Drastic times call for drastic measures.
For starters, if cap constraints will allow, call up a couple of guys from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and send a couple of guys down. Heck, maybe bring up the entire Alex Nylander–Drake Caggiula–Valtteri Puustinen line and plug ‘em in for a few games.
Perhaps like tossing a bucketful of sand on a dumpster fire, I know. But Nylander and Puustinen have breached the 20-goal mark for a poor Baby Pens team. Maybe they’re not future all-stars in waiting. But at least give them a chance to show they can’t do the job. They sure couldn’t do any worse than the current crop. And they just might surprise and score a goal or two, which would be a revelation.
It may already be too late to salvage the season. Indeed, the team seems to have crumbled beneath GM Ron Hextall’s feet, outstripping his ability to react and perhaps mitigating any chance of making meaningful moves. But do something. Anything at this stage to change the mix.
The Goals
Kris Letang tallied both black-and-gold goals, bookending a seven-goal onslaught by the visitors. McDavid (2), Draisaitl, Kailer Yamamoto, Devin Shore, Warren Foegele and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers.
Puckpourri
The Oilers dominated across the board, holding an edge in shot attempts (65-48), shots on goal (44-24), scoring chances (36-22) and high-danger chances (16-10).
Tristan Jarry was mercifully pulled following a four-goal, second-period onslaught. He allowed six goals on 29 shots, for a .793 save percentage. Casey DeSmith stopped 14 of 15 shots in relief, yielding only a penalty-shot goal to the supernatural McDavid.
My word, what a hockey player. Kind of a cross between Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr. His sidekick Draisaitl, too.
The Pens had two would-be goals waved off in the third period, one by Evgeni Malkin (offsides) and the other by Jeff Carter (stick above the crossbar).
In an unrelated matter, the skidding Capitals have become sellers, sending Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to Boston in a three-team trade. A hard checking bottom-sixer, Hathaway would’ve looked good in a Pens uni, but I digress.
It begs the question. Should we become sellers, too?
On Tap
The Pens (27-21-9, 63 points) travel to St. Louis to take on the equally disappointing Blues (26-28-4, 56 points) for a Saturday matinee matchup before returning home to face the Lightning on Sunday. Another game that’s liable to be ugly.
We’re presently in fifth place in the Metro, one point out of the second Eastern Conference wild card slot.
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Hi Guys,
I said a few posts back that the Fans are angry.....Last night they showed it. They booed the team,( every member of the team.) and they chanted Fire Hextal..This has never happened before..Indeed fans everywhere are mad !! There is NO turning back now. Last nights out burst will only become more and more frequent....
I am going to make this short.....Signing the core has not proven successful as planned and ls now in doubt if it ever will achieve success. There needs to be an ownership meeting immediately and a NEW plan needs to be put in place to rebuild this team from the bottom up. We need to be sellers.
FYI, from a conversation today with my friends in Nova Scotia, They are also upset because the Pen's have failed Crosby in not giving him enough talented players to compete for another cup.They reminded me that Crosby in his last 12 year NHL contract he signed with MARIO and the Pens he gave over 30 million dollars in salary reductions to the fans of Pittsburgh over the life of the contract.. 30 plus million !!! Let that sink in.
With his previous 5 year contract the number exceeds 40 million....To the fans in Pittsburgh. People forget these facts.
So he is the greatest Captain the Pens have ever had, and he represents your City with class. grace and vitality, I was also reminded today that he works in Pittsburgh but he lives in Nova Scotia.,,,He is our National treasure they said..
The fans up here are also very upset !!!
Maritimer's are a very clannish bunch. .
Jim
The Other Rick & Rick
I know everyone is desperate for an influx of young players but I have zero interest in them promoting
Puustenin (5-9) or Caggiula (5-10) - two more players that makes us smaller than we already are.
We need to accumalate some players with size / strength & toughness and begin to develop them for
the NHL level. Also, is it me or maybe I'm just not in touch with the time table to sign College players but
IMO we should be all over that "International" included. Hopefully Hextall and staff are persuing every
opportunity to sign young players I did read where we are among several teams looking at a big
Defenseman out of Finland.
Hope everyone is well.
Mike, I agree. There is no need to bring up small guys. Bring up or get guys that will throw checks and wear down the other teams. The guys don't need to be big scorers, but must have a good defensive acumen. If they keep the score even, the Pens first two lines will dictate whether the team wins or loses.
Hey Mike,
I am not happy with Puustenin's size. but he does play very well and hard, better and harder than some taller but softer veterans. However, I am not all that tied to him. What I would have loved to see was Puustenin getting a call up and playing top 6 when Rust went ice cold, build up his stock and then sell him off. He could have been dressed up to be a trade chip on a team with no trade bait.
Valterri Pulli is the name of that Finn D man. He is big mobile and mean. However, I doubt Sully would ever use him. He is currently serving a 5 game suspension for a high hard hit at the o-zone blue line play
Hey Rick,
Again, I am, not angry Rick. I expected this. I have expected this all season. It is what it is. And all the vitriol now tossed at Hextall, though earned is as short-sighted as the dreams that this team somehow was a true contender. Sully is just as culpable as Hextall, if not more. Our Coach has been eroding the team since 17-18, this GM hasn't even been here 2 seasons. Granted, Hextall has made mistakes, the worst being Sullivan's extension.
You know I love the idea of bringing up Puustenin and others, but playing them all on the same line would only serve to justify Sully's prejudice - only 1 prospect per line, let them actually skate with NHL players to see what they can do. However, if you keep the same Coach, you end up with the same product. Sullivan is not a teacher.
Even if VP or some other kid starts lighting things up as a Fwd, the defense STINKS and our Goalies are turnstiles. At least in Goal I say give Gauthier and Lindberg legit shots at the NHL level and when Liiga ends give Blombqvist his shot to set up next season, see where they are.
On Defense, there is no hope in WBS right now. Oullett is the best they have and he is no spring chicken. Swoyer still interests me a bit but he is still a project. The best hope for next season, that I have seen may be Belliveau.
Kenny Rogers once sang "You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, know when to run". I am no Capitals fan at all, but they may have missed the time to fold them, but it looks like they are at least walking away at the right time. I fear, unless the ax falls on everyone on the hockey side above the players, Coaches, Scouts, GM, whatever Burke is then we won't even know when to run.
The team should have already been shopping Zucker, Blueger, Dumo, and Jarry (UFAs) - not sure Heinen or Archibald can bring anything at all in return.
Also, no offense to Zucker, (or Archibald), he (they) earned there keep this season. Just don't want to lose them for free.
However, Blueger's, Dumo's and Jarrys' stock keeps dropping every game.
Rick
Also I agree with you on Hathaway. Maybe we'll have the opportunity to sign him
this summer as an unrestricted FA.
The 1st problem is Sullivan and his unwillingness To modify his coaching style or play any player who shows a modicum of sandpaper or goonery. This team is not composed of what currently make a team competitive against playoff bound teams ie...size,speed,snarl, and a coach that encourages the physicality needed to compete... pens need a complete purge at trade deadline... replace sullivan(hes hindering the developement of baby pens and our team cant play his style anylonger) trade away zucker, doumalin and possibly Rust....they are they only things we might get something for....bring up the baby pens...at end of season release carter....its total rebuild time
I believe Rust has a full no movement clause the first three years of his contract.
I believe the Sullivan not playing players who show grit is a bit overblown, especially here on PPoop. Rutherford for years made the team smaller and smaller and the not playing Reaves thing was 100% overblown. Reaves was unhappy he wasn't being played on the top two lines. He even said it in an interview. Sullivan was using him perfect for his abilities. Not much you can do in that situation.
Right now the Penguins have two players brought in by Hextal that are in the top 20 in the NHL in hits per game. The Penguins led the league in hits before both guys were injured. That was the most amazing stat of the season to me.
I'm not sticking up for Hextal, he's made some horrible signings. Maybe he can make up for it here before the deadline. I don't have a lot of hope, but the Pens aren't dead yet,
Phil
Not going to dispute all of your claims but it's much different going into the corners and
getting hit by Reaves or anyone 6-3 and 240 than Archibald, Zucker, Guentzel, etc....etc..
I think it's great if everyone on your team regardless of size finishes their checks, but I'm
pretty confident theirs not a "D" man in the league looking over his shoulder and thinking
I'm going to get blasted by a 5-10 176lb winger. Now if Tom Wilson or Ryan Reaves has you
in there sites it's time to panic "just saying". I do agree its nice to have your complimetary
players taking there man out of the play and I think a player like Archibald would be much
more effective with a couple of bigger physical linemates. The problem I have with Sully is
any player that can't crack our top 2 lines automatically becomes a 3rd or 4th line player
and 9 times out of 10 they don't meet the requirements to fill those rolls.
Just one more thing on Hextall and I'm not a fan but I think a lot of his decisions he's made
personel wise have be strongly influenced by Sullivan - who after the blowout to Edmonton
made the statement that the Pen's are still capable of playing the speed game. "That's crazy"
Go Pens
Hey Mike,
I agree with everything you are saying. Penguins need a scrapper. A guy that will mix it up when needed. A guy that will throw the check that has players looking over their shoulder. I don't believe that other than then problem child Reaves who thought he was Wayne Gretzky yet never has put up over 20 points in a season, a GM has brought the player in for Sullivan to not play. I get the Freidman concept, but he's a waiver wire small defensive liability. A player like him as a winger would be awesome, or someone like him with size playing D. Hextal needs to find the guy even if the Pens need to lose something to get him. If Sully scraps him, then adios Sully.