As I watched our Penguins evaporate in the face of a hungry, young Devils squad last night at the Prudential Center, my first reaction was outrage. Not that I expected us to win, mind you. But I at least hoped we’d make a game of it. Maybe even steal a point.
How we could turn in such a languid effort (I use that word loosely) at such a critical time of the season is beyond me. To borrow a phrase from Mike Lange coined during better times, I didn’t know whether to cry or wind my watch.
I was all set to write a scathing summary when I remembered the observations of our friend and long-time contributor, Jim.
Months ago he stated, matter-of-factly (and as it turns out, quite accurately), that we simply aren’t that good. Jim noted that we’ve been passed by…or more accurately left in the dust…by a host of rising young teams such as the Devils.
Indeed, with the exception of our gifted but aging core, we’re a mediocre team heading south in a hurry. Last night’s debacle fairly screamed our also-ran status from the rooftops.
Sadly, nearly every move GM Ron Hextall has made over the past couple of seasons aside from signing our core and acquiring Rickard Rakell has backfired. In the process making us older, slower and more brittle.
Horrible luck has played a part, too. Who could’ve envisioned trade deadline acquisitions Nick Bonino and Dmitry Kulikov going down practically the moment they set foot on the PPG Paints Arena ice? Or half our defense for that matter.
Contrary to how it seemed last night, it isn’t that the guys don’t care or aren’t trying. If anything, they try too hard to make things happen at times. Case in point, when Chad Ruhwedel abandoned his defensive position and jumped into the slot to fire a shot on Vitek Vanacek with about two minutes to play in the second period. Leading directly to a breakaway by Miles Wood. Or Jeff Petry’s well-intentioned but terribly ill-conceived pinch in the first period, resulting in a clean 2-on-1 and the Devils’ first goal.
As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
How many times have we watched this bunch slog out of the starting blocks only to turn it on with a frenzied (and usually) fruitless finish? One of Mike Sullivan’s pet sayings is “Playing the Right Way.” We seem to do anything but. At least some of that falls squarely on the shoulders of Sully and his staff.
The maddening thing is, every once in a while we do put it all together and play a really strong game. Crisp, sure, detailed. The most recent example, our thoroughly impressive 5-2 triumph over the defending Cup champion Avalanche on March 22. You wonder why we can’t do that more often.
Alas, for every gem we serve up a stinker like last night.
Every team has ups and downs over the course of an 82-game grind. But ours are extreme.
Again, maybe it’s a reflection of who we truly are. A fading and aging former champion hurtling toward the twilight of a long and glorious run.
Although our chances aren’t looking too good right now, we may yet rally to eke out a wild-card spot. Stranger things have happened. But anyone who thinks this bunch is going to magically pull itself together and win a playoff series, especially against an elite team like Boston or Carolina, is delusional. They’d be lucky to squeeze out one 60-minute playoff-style effort, let alone seven.
They simply don’t have it.
The Goals
Dougie Hamilton (8:58) and Dawson Mercer (14:23) scored in the first period to give the Devils a 2-0 lead. Timo Meier struck on a 5-on-3 power play at 2:54 of the second period, followed by Mercer’s second of the night 34 seconds before the intermission.
Mercer completed his hat trick at 2:52 of the third period on a 4-on-1.
Bryan Rust notched the Pens’ lone goal four minutes later on a deflection to make it 5-1, bad guys.
Puckpourri
The Devils dominated, stats-wise, piling up significant advantages in shot attempts (66-53), shots on goal (37-23), scoring chances (44-22) and high-danger chances (23-10).
With four goals against us this season, Hamilton has officially joined the Penguin Killers Club. If I’m not mistaken, at least three of those goals came from the right circle.
Rust’s goal was his 20th, not too shabby considering he’s had what many consider to be an off season. For what it’s worth, we now have six 20-goal scorers, most in the league.
Tristan Jarry allowed five goals on 37 shots, an .865 save percentage.
Brian Dumoulin, who’s played so well of late (a goal and 11 points in his previous 19 games) finished a minus-three, as did his partner Kris Letang. Dumo shook off a hard and dirty hit into the end boards by Michael McLeod midway through the first period.
The Pens have lost 30 regulation games for the first time since 2005-06, Sidney Crosby’s rookie season. Speaking of Sid, he’s been held without a point in four of our last six games. Perhaps he’s gassed from overuse and trying to drag us into the playoffs.
Our present plight and hopeless state remind me very much of the 2014-15 season under Mike Johnston, when we played with five defensemen down the stretch and went 4-8-2 in our last 14 games to back into the playoffs. You knew that team wasn’t going anywhere.
Same with this one.
On Tap
The Pens (38-30-10, 86 points) return home to face the Wild (44-23-10, 98 points) and old friends Calen Addison, Marc-Andre Fleury, Filip Gustavsson, Freddy Gaudreau, Alex Goligoski, Ryan Reaves and Oskar Sundqvist on Thursday night.
By the way, Reavo has five goals and 15 points in 56 games with the Wild to go with a plus-four and 144 hits.
We’ve fallen a point behind the Panthers and remain one behind the Islanders in the race for a wild-card spot. Each team has four games left.
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View Comments
Jim
I'll make this short and sweet. Sullivan is a bright guy and I'm sure he's capable of
learning quickly and he absolutely got the memo. "BUT", his huge ego will not
allow him to embrace change.
Jim, hope your well. It's always great reading your post.
Mike
Thanks Mike. I enjoy your comments as well..
Cheers
Jim
Not going to say much,
1) The fat lady hasn't sung yet. Our Pens could still get in. However, they don't control their own destiny anymore. They need help with 4 games to play. They need to scoreboard watch - how sad.
2) Kingerski wrote that the team has shown no heart. To the blind that may appear to be true. To those willing to actually look at the cause of this implosion, it isn't a lack of players caring. It is a question of morale. This team is beaten. Its Coach is clueless, so he can't help. Sullivan's hype and ego far exceeds his skill set. At best our Penguins Coach was a one trick Pony (speed game) however, the more than likely root to his inability to come up with answers is that he was never that good in the first place and the Stanley Cup team's that he was a part of, he was just a passenger on the a bus that featured 2 Generational talents in their prime (Crosby and Malkin), a sure HoFer (MAF), another potential Hof (Letang) several superstars (Kessel and Guentzel), and several gritty character guys that refused to lose (Hornqvist, Cole, Bonino, and Kunitz). Without that Cecil B DeMille all star cast, Sullivan has reverted back to the also ran Coach that got fired from Boston.
Some may want to argue, but I am tired of arguing with them. I won't respond. It is pointless.
3) I am wondering if the team does lose the next 2 games and Florida wins, effectively eliminating our Penguins, will the team playout the last 2 games with their geriatric supporting cast and bum Goalies or will someone have the wherewithal to finally play as many of the kids as they can squeeze under the cap to evaluate them against NHL level talent skating with NHL level talent, like they should have been doing all season.
Actually just saw that the Penguins signed Blomqvist to an ELC.
Now I am wondering if Either Jarry or DeSmith is gone next season.
Oh and Pickering, he is a -4 at the moment in his 2 and 1/2 AHL games. I am not surprised.
So painful to watch last night.
The PP is sooooo frustrating, no need for 5 or six passes between 3 players...more shots. The first unit just passes it around, than losses it..might as well just take a shot.
Why isn't O'Connor getting a shot on the top line, he plays hard, shoots, physical play?? Move Rust to 3rd or 4th
line...he is useless. I don't care if he is hurt.
My other favorite play ..Dumo gets hammered from behind, NO ONE comes to stand up except for Sid...oh well Rust kinda floated in the area.
Absolutely no urgency for getting pucks to the net....seems each play has to pretty....garbage goals count to.
Sorry Poopers for the rant..
So maddening I am frustrated with this team.
Hey Pens4ever,
Absolutely no need to apologize...your "rant" was spot on. It was really hard to watch. In fact, after about 30 minutes or so I stopped watching.
No spirit or life whatsoever.
I like O'Connor, too, and would like to see him get more of an opportunity. As for no one coming to stick up for Dumo other than Sid? You're preaching to the choir. Last season we at least had Boyle, who was a mild deterrent. He actually hurt his knee running Trouba into the end boards trying to avenge the hits on Sid and Guentzel.
But this season? There's nobody. One of the main reasons I'd like to see Sully go is to open the door to guys who play a genuinely physical game.
Rick
Hey all,
Just crossed paths with a friend who commented we look "old and soft."
And that just about sums it up. It's really not an indictment...heck we all grow older and softer eventually...as much as it is a statement of fact.
Rick
Watching last nights game and watching the Penguins defense in complete disarray I wonder why no one is pointing a finger at Todd Reirden? i get that the Pens defense has had it's share of injuries this season, but that is no excuse for why the guys are completely out of position ALL the time, even the healthy defensive pairings.
A last thought.
I think Sullivan more than most other coaches needs a team that's tailored to his system. I think we were fortunate to have that during the Cup seasons and were close to that mix the past couple of seasons, only to be undone by goaltending and injuries.
Perhaps in an effort make us more able to withstand the rigors of the postseason, Hextall's taken us in a different direction, especially on defense. We lost mobile types like Matheson and Marino and replaced them with comparative plow horses like Petry and Rutta. It clearly hasn't worked as well.
Hindsight's always 20/20, but we probably would've been better off adding our physicality up front, especially given Sullivan's preference for mobile puck movers on 'd.'
Rick
Rick
I couldn't agree more with your assessment and the type of team Sullivan needs
to have success. The biggest problem I saw last night was a lack of urgency - this
was a huge game and we play like someone just died - this has to fall squarely on
Sullivans shoulders, his job as the Head Coach is to make sure their ready to play.
Also, News flash you can't play the same way against every team in the NHL. We
get zero movement on our PP - "SO PREDICTABLE" it makes me nauseated.
Rick - about Reaves - I have a buddy that works for Minny and he told me Reaves has
been battling an injury for most of the season. He's been on a tear lately - I believe at
one point in early March he had 3 goals and 2assist in 3 or 4 games. Plus the player
everyone loves to call a goon has 24 penalty minutes on the year - Malkin has 82 "LOL"
Think about this, Josh Archabald has 11 points, 41 penalty minutes in 59 games, Revo has
15 points, 24 penalty minutes in 56 games. There minutes per game are similiar - Revo 9:12
and Archabald 9:56. - I guess Archabald at 5-10 and 175 is supposed to be our Hammer "Not"
Here's a direct quote from the Old 29er - I'm tired of watching while our star players have to
defend themselves - we need a Hammer. Well said Phil, well said.
Hi Rick, Hi Phil...
It seems to me that every year for the past 5 seasons come play off time we as a team succumb to the physical play off style hockey and the obvious fact that the NHL as a league wants Rough,violent, in your face hockey and the Refs throw away the whistles. I have my suspicions that it has to do with TV ratings come play off time. We do not have a team built to handle that physical style of play,
Phil you raise a good point in that the defense Coach is a bit out of sync with Sullivan's play the right way mantra. I am reminded of the comment " Great Coaches learn from their mistakes, quickly"... It appears to me our illustrious head Coach never got that memo...
With regards to GM Hextal as we all know he was a Goalie, like Jimmy Rutherford before him and as such they are a strange breed. But I have to think he knows that our Goalie situation is not acceptable moving forward.So that is why i believe he went out and secured the type of D men he did. To help his goalie situation.
My last point is in my opinion" the Penguins do not have a problem scoring...... our problem is we can NOT stop the opposition from scoring on us.".... That starts with our Goalies and lack of a solid D corps.... We still have a chance to make the play offs. Lets Go Pens !!!
cheers
JIM
Hey Jim,
Bylsma seemed to be able to take the team from all out scoring one game to complete D mode the next game. I think practicing the defensive type games actually made the players better defensively. I'm not sure this group of guys ever practiced a defensive type game.
Hey Phil,
I just have a moment, but I agree 100 percent.
One of Sullivan's failings in my eyes is that he's a one-trick pony who won't adapt his system to the talent on hand. Ironically, Bylsma...nicknamed "One Plan Dan"...was accused of the same thing.
But I agree. His teams were better defensively, although it probably didn't hurt to have guys like Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik and a prime Rob Scuderi playing for him.
Speaking of Bylsma, I hope one day he gets another shot at an NHL job. He did not do all that bad a job with a Buffalo team that was in transition, and he's done a heckua job with the Kraken's top farm club this season (46-15-6).
Rick
PS--One of our former readers and commenters, 55 on Point, said he attended Penguins practices under Sullivan. And all the defensemen practiced was moving the puck to the forwards.
Hey Phil,
I think Reirden has a hand in it for sure. But I point a finger at Sullivan's system and the way he insists on trying to drive offense through a defense that isn't up to the task, especially with all the injuries.
Another case of him trying to force players who maybe aren't capable to fit his system, instead of adjusting his system to fit the talent on hand.
With so many injuries, we should be trying to play a more buttoned-down style. Instead, our defense plays like a bunch of automatons...PINCH, PINCH, PINCH.
Rick