“Them guys is done like dinner.”
The immortal Dave “Tiger” Williams offered that blunt and colorful assessment of an earlier black-and-gold (then blue-and-white) squad during the 1977 playoffs.
A wholly apt description of our present bunch as well.
In the wake of the Penguins’ disheartening 2-1 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg last night, I’m going to dispense with a traditional game summary and offer a few thoughts and observations.
IMHO, the Pens lost more than a hockey game last night. Our playoff hopes bit the dust as well. We trail the stubborn Flyers by a whopping nine points in the race for third place in the Metro. Yes, we have four games in hand on Philly. However, even if we win ‘em all (which would require a miracle at this stage) we still wouldn’t catch our in-state rivals.
The wild-card situation is just as bleak. We’re seven points behind Detroit with two games in hand. The process folks will tell you the Red Wings are outperforming their metrics and are due for a fall. They said the same thing about the Canucks earlier this season, who happen to be the best team in the league with 74 points. All the while the Pens are one of the top process teams in the league.
Yet those clubs do something we don’t on a consistent basis.
Win.
Last night’s loss was a microcosm of the team we’ve become and our season as a whole. We fell behind early due to a sloppy and sluggish start, which doomed us to chasing the game. Then we battled hard and made a game of it. And we fell short due to an abject lack of finishing and miserable execution on the power play.
The fact that the latter issue has gone unchecked and uncorrected all season long? The price we pay for having Mike Sullivan as coach. He’s loathe to make hard choices, especially when it comes to his stars.
Not so with kids and support players. The power play sprang to life with Valtteri Puustinen on it. He helped with everything…energy, puck retrieval and playmaking, not to mention a willingness to shoot the biscuit.
Puusti’s back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
As incredible as it seems given our high-scoring reputation, the Pens are having grave difficulty putting pucks in the net. We haven’t scored as many as four goals in a game since January 8. During the past 10 games we’ve managed only 23 goals. Small wonder we’re 3-4-3 during that span and 2-4-1 in our last seven.
It seems nobody who isn’t playing on Sidney Crosby’s line can score. Rickard Rakell’s a prime example. The slump-ridden winger sprang to life when placed on Sid’s line after coming off IR, notching five goals and 10 points in a dozen games. Then Sully pulled him off the top line in favor of Bryan Rust (who scored our lone goal last night) and RikRak immediately went into the tank. He hasn’t scored in the last 10 games.
Meanwhile, the one player in the organization who might help, Sam Poulin, remains locked in place at Wilkes-Barre. Sam’s got 11 goals in 26 games with the Baby Pens, yet we seem loathe to promote the former first-round pick.
It truly makes no sense. I mean, what do have we got to lose?
Nor can it be doing Sam’s confidence any favors to be overlooked by the big club when we’re so obviously in need of help. What kind of message does that send?
I’ll harbor a guess and say the reason he hasn’t been promoted is skating. Sam’s not the fastest guy on the planet. And we all know how much our coach covets speed…
…I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks.
Where Do We Go From Here?
If the door has, indeed, closed on our playoff chances, what should we do? Distasteful though it may be, unless we can wrap up Jake Guentzel on a team-friendly deal and soon, we simply must trade him. Kyle Dubas can’t let Jake walk this summer and get nothing in return.
Perhaps you think about trading Tristan Jarry, who was both spectacular and valiant during last night’s loss. Goaltending is at a premium and Jarry’s value may never be higher. It’s also the one position where the Pens are fairly well stocked.
If making such deals means throwing in the towel on this season, so be it. This team as constructed isn’t going anywhere. It simply can’t produce the type of consistent winning hockey required to make the playoffs, let alone make any noise should it get there.
I’ll close by reciting a line from one of my favorite movies, The Cinderella Man. In detailing the fall of boxer James J. Braddock, writer Sporty Lewis described the former contender’s lopsided loss in a title fight as, “A sad and somber funeral with the body still breathing.”
Reminds me of our Pens.
Braddock would eventually recover and become heavyweight champion.
Sadly, I envision no such turnaround for us.
Interesting Rick, you acknowledge the number of points this team has left on the boards yet think that all is lost.
Last season our Penguins simply gave the Panthers a playoff berth. All the team needed to do was pick up 1 point out of the last 4, against the 2nd and 3rd worst teams in the league, yet their Coaches couldn’t find the right buttons to press to get the team to play hard enough to at least pluck 1 point from 2 teams looking to win the right to draft Conner Bedard. Things like that happen. It just did. If all you want is a playoff appearance, then you really may be jumping the gun.
More importantly, I am not as angry or frustrated as many fans because this is exactly what I anticipated as soon as the team decided to throw more assets at another aging veteran in the off season, when the team refused to bring in a new Coaching staff after failing to gain 1 point over the last 2 games against the 2nd and 3rd worst teams in the league to make the playoffs last season. When you don’t change the team, don’t expect different results.
I said at the beginning of the season that this team was not in control of its destiny and would only make the playoffs if another team would give them that playoff berth like they gave the Panthers and it is looking like once again I was right.
However, I am not going to posture and preen just yet. There are still too many variable, including wisdom coming to Dubas and firing at least Sullivan and Reirden, then doing some creative manipulations to rid yourself of under performing over paid veterans and giving legitimate ice time to to players like Puustenin.
Wheeling is 4th in their division and 8th in the ECHL right now because they are loaded with players that should be in WBS because some kids in WBS should be in the NHL and many under performing veterans are collecting paychecks above their skill set.
There is hope. However, the smartest play would be to fold this season and set the table for next season, Carter’s contract clears and there is at least 1 UFA that I would start to look at chasing by trading off UFAs that we can’t sign, under performing veterans and at least one over paid loser who only guesses at his position, rather than learning it, but who I could get a good return because of the lack of most people’s understanding about the position.
Hey Rick,
I am going to disagree with you slightly here. I do agree this weekend was disheartening for those still drinking the Kool-Aid, but it still ain’t over. This team could still back into a playoff spot.
No, I am not changing my tune here. I think our Head Coach and PP Coach are at best over-rated (trying real hard not to soil this with my full opinion of them). I also think that one of the Goalies on this team is over-paid (euphemism for clueless and just guessing when he is on the ice). And I think that GM after GM after GM (including our current GM) have over loaded the team with fossils from the Devonian Age.
However, injuries are always part of the game, as are off-ice distractions.
Some times teams win games, other times the W is unearned, their opponents lose games. Sometimes playoff appearances are the same way. So all I am saying my friend and all Pens fans, if settling for getting into the big dance only to get ignored and dumped in the first round is all you want to see, then wait a little longer before taking the bridge.
I am not counting on wisdom prevailing with this season. I can still see a couple of scenarios where this team deludes itself into thinking that they still are the belle of the ball and buys rather than sells at the deadline.
Hey Other Rick,
You are I pretty much disagree right down the line on this one.
I just don’t see the Penguins climbing back into the playoff chase. They’d have to play consistent winning hockey with an occasional four or five game winning streak mixed in, and it’s just not going to happen. Especially with the most difficult part of the schedule looming on the horizon.
The price they pay for leaving points on the table and being completely unable to fix the power play.
You and I also disagree on Jarry. He isn’t perfect. But all things considered, I think he’s performed really well. We haven’t allowed the second fewest goals in the league because our defense is airtight. The goalies (Jarry included) have had a great deal to do with it.
Rick