I was perusing other media sites in the wake of the Penguins’ loss to Utah Sunday afternoon when I stumbled upon a comment on Pensburgh so simple, yet so profound, as a way of explaining our recent rash of blown leads.
The commenter (Steelhead58) didn’t point to glaring defensive breakdowns or porous goaltending or poor coaching inputs as the culprits.
His simple explanation?
Age.
Or more to the point, the fact that the players we rely on so heavily at crunch time are all in their 30s. In most cases, well into their 30s.
The more I thought about it, the more it makes perfect sense. As superbly conditioned as they are, it stands to reason that Sidney Crosby (38), Kris Letang (38), Erik Karlsson (35), Bryan Rust (33) and Rickard Rakell (32) aren’t going to have as much juice late in games as say, a Macklin Celebrini or a Beckett Sennecke or a Dylan Guenther, young guns who’ve victimized us of late.
I didn’t even mention our elder statesmen, 39-year-old Evgeni Malkin, who’s been on IR during this ghastly, lead-blowing stretch.
It also meets my eye test. There have been times of late, especially during 3-on-3 overtime, when Crosby, Letang and Rust in particular seem to be skating at less than full speed.
Sid was on the ice for both overtime goals against this weekend. I called him out in my recap of the Sharks game for getting outfoxed by John Klingberg, then not appearing to exert the slightest effort to disrupt the play.
On Sunday, Guenther blew past No. 87 in the neutral zone as if he were the grandma Mike Lange implored to get out of the fast lane. It occurred to me that it isn’t so much a case of Sid not caring (perish the thought) as not having the oomph to go full tilt at all times, especially late. As if he and the others are attempting to husband their energy stores for a burst when it really matters.
It would go a long way to explaining our sorry 1-4 record in games decided in overtime.
I’ve heard the same rationale used for our shoddy performance in shootouts (0-5). Namely, that older players don’t have the speed, agility and fast-twitch muscle response required to force goalies to commit first. Which would explain why our venerated vets seem to make the same move every time, ad nauseam, with diminishing results.
As for an answer to this dilemma? I’m not sure there is one. At least not one that’s satisfactory. The Pens obviously need younger players such as Ben Kindel, Rutger McGroarty and Harrison Brunicke to earn more prominent roles.
The key word is earn. Try to rush a player’s development? It could end up backfiring in stunted growth. Much like a youngster who’s introduced to heavy resistance training at too young an age, causing his growth plates to close.
Trying to manage ice time is another option for limiting the wear and tear on our golden oldies. Again, you need other players to step into the void. Players who may not be part of the roster as currently constructed.
Any way you slice it, there don’t appear to be any quick and dirty solutions.
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I dunno about the age thing.
I do think not having Geno is a problem, because he is fire. Sid is too quiet.
Also, Letang is awful and contributing to the problems.
Giving credit where credit is due, Kindel did finally have a good 5-on-5 game, doubling his total for the season with a G and 2 A and maybe more importantly being a +2; Possibly thanks to Brazeau and a weak Goaltender. It was a good game on the stat sheet for him, none-the-less.
I am not so sure about the porous Goaltending yesterday.
On the 1st Goal against Schmaltz drills Murashov after coming out from behind the net. Murashov spins off the hit and makes the save on the shot from the boards but since he didn’t have time to set himself for the shot, thanks to Schmaltz, the rebound kicked to Schmidt for an easy tap in.
The 2nd GA was a real fluke. Carcone blew past Clifton to get an angle for a shot. Murashov made the save, angling his pads to send the rebound out of harm’s way behind the net. Carcone corralled it and blindly threw back in front of the net where it pinballed eventually off the butt end of Murashov’s stick. It took serious puck luck to hit that narrow band.
On the 3rd GA, Murashov was screened by not 1 but 2 Mammoth Forwards. Neither Graves nor Clifton could handle them. You could see Murashov straining to see around the Forward Graves couldn’t handle. Also, Acciari’s line just couldn’t clear the puck. Utah looked like they were on a PP, easily controlling the puck.
On GA 4, you can either give Utah’s PP credit for a great back door set up or lambast the Pens’ PK, but Murashov was pulled to his Right post with the puck in that corner. When. I believe it was Hayton walked out of the corner; Carcone was wide open on the back door. Utah got the Pens’ Goalie moving side to side, exactly what you want to do. And Carcone shot back across the grain to the far side, the area Murashov just vacated tracking the pass.
The only GA that really looked weak was the OT GA. It was a longer range shot that Murashov should have had time to set. However, he had loads of help from the Captain, as you noted. First Sid sent a very lazy pass up ice that went straight to Utah, then when the Mammoth circled for the attack, Sid got turned around again.
Perhaps the most important point about yesterday’s loss was the Pens were on the back end of a back-to-back series, and the first game was also an OT game; a lot of hockey in a short span. Perhaps the age of the veterans asked to skate that much, took its toll. Asking the kid Goalie to back stop a game where his team was buried in SA 78 to 30, Shots 37 to 16, and HDC 12 to 2 and judging him on his performance when the team in front of him o showed isn’t fair.
Murashov isn’t the best Goalie in the system, that would be Blomqvist, but the kid is ridiculously talented. Yesterday was not his fault, it was the skaters in front of him and management who just can’t seem to get good defensemen, passing on them when they get the opportunity.