Toughness Matters (Even if the Penguins Don’t Think So)

As you’ve probably guessed by the title, it’s time for my annual “Penguins lack toughness” rant.

What brought this latest installment on, you ask?

For starters, I happened to read a recent comment by POHO/GM Kyle Dubas equating competitiveness to toughness. All well and good, except it seemed to be expressed in a way that downplayed or minimized the importance of the latter.

Hold that thought.

Did anyone catch the mayhem-filled, Canadiens-Capitals game last night? As a refresher, the Caps won the first two games of the series while dominating physically to the tune of a 79-61 edge in hits.

Electing to fight fire with fire, the Habs dressed heavyweight defenseman Arber Xhekaj (pronounced Jack-eye) for last night’s Game 3 at the Bell Centre. For the unaware, the Hamilton, Ontario, native is on a short list of the very toughest hombres in the NHL.

Xhekaj delivered four hits in a shade over 10 minutes of ice time. Just as important, he single-handedly neutralized the Caps’ punishing forecheckers, Brandon Duhaime in particular. After delivering nine hits in Games 1 and 2, the aggressive Caps winger was limited to a single hit, largely because he was fronted by Xhekaj virtually every time he entered the Habs’ zone.

The Albanian hammer was also front-and-center during a wild, second-period ending donnybrook, grappling with ex-Pen Lars Eller among others.

The fear of dressing a player of limited skills such as Xhekaj is that he’ll make a mistake at a critical juncture. And, yes, the rugged 240-pounder had a giveaway under pressure that led to the Caps’ third goal. But he was also on the ice for two 5v5 goals for. Along with Mack Truck forwards, Josh Anderson and Juraj Slafkovsky, Arber tipped the physical scales in favor of the Canadiens, who outhit their foe by a bristling 45-26 margin.

As an aside, Anderson, who seems to have been on the trading block virtually since the day he signed a seven-year deal with the Habs back in 2020, has re-emerged as a force, delivering 16 hits and standing up to Caps marauder Tom Wilson in last night’s main event.

I’ll put a point on this ramble by stating, if you don’t think physical play matters, especially come the playoffs, you’re nuts, blind or both.

Which segues me back to that thought I was holding.

I had hopes that Dubas, who employed the likes of Wayne Simmonds, Luke Schenn and Nick Foligno (who I’ve long coveted) in Toronto, would see the need to add a physical presence to our Pens. When he promoted heavyweight Boko Imama and acquired towering defenseman Vincent Desharnais (and Schenn, however briefly) that seemed to be the case.

However, in light of his recent comments, he appears to be walking the dog back.

I can’t help but sense coach Mike Sullivan’s influence. He won back-to-back Cups with competitive, hockey-tough teams (Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz), albeit ones that eschewed the rough stuff. I think he still wants to (and thinks he can) win that way.

I say different. Every team that has won the Cup since, the Caps, Blues, Lightning, Avalanche (yes, even the Avs), Golden Knights and Panthers have been infused with a physical, fighting presence.

Dubas and Sullivan can plant their heads in the ground and play ostrich all they want. It isn’t going to change what is.

Hockey’s a physical sport, and only the strong (and tough) survive.

Baby Pens Bounced

The Baby Pens lost to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 3-2, last night, in the process ending their postseason almost before it started.

Forward Tristan Broz and defenseman Harrison Brunicke, two players to keep an eye on, scored for the Baby Pens. Broz finished with two points (1+1), Ville Koivunen a pair of assists.

Sergei Murashov got the start in goal and made 28 saves, but was outdueled by Phantoms journeyman Parker Gahagen (31 saves). I’ll stop short of saying the young Russian struggled in the postseason, but his effectiveness certainly seemed to wane.

As an aside and in keeping with the toughness theme, the appropriately named Phantoms forward Alex Bump called out our defense after Game 1.

“Their D didn’t want to play the hard game…Like I said, they don’t like to defend. Soft defenders, in my opinion.”

In the “if the shoe fits” department, veteran Sebastian Aho (all 180 pounds of him) was a combined minus-six in the two losses. While it’s tempting to heap blame on the former Islander, in viewing the highlights Aho had plenty of “help” from partner Dan Renouf.

I was also struck by how utterly disorganized the Baby Pens looked on the Phantoms’ goals. Evincing the same Keystone Kops scramble as the big boys.

To borrow from baseball immortal Casey Stengel, “Can’t anybody here play this game (or defense)?

Just so this isn’t all negative, on the flip side Jack St. Ivany drew raves from coach Kirk MacDonald for his play of late.

Let’s see…how does that formula work?

Big defenseman with some physicality+Pens flawed organizational philosophy=mangled development.

Hope they prove me wrong.