The Penguins came up a cropper last night in their third game of the young season, dropping a come-from-in-front 3-2 decision to visiting Winnipeg. While we weren’t bullied in a literal, fighting sense, we were pretty much manhandled in the high traffic areas. More on that in a bit.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE LOWLIGHTS
SMURF CITY USA
It’s as inevitable as death and taxes. I’m talking about the Pens’ penchant for divesting themselves of all functional size.
Last night our 12 forwards averaged a Smurfish 190.8 pounds according to individual weights listed on Hockey Reference. Meanwhile, comparative heavyweights Elmer Söderblom (254 lbs.) and Filip Hållander (207 lbs.) bulked up on press-box nachos.
No surprise that our forwards combined for eight hits. While hits aren’t always a fair indication of a team’s compete level and physicality, last night it was very accurate. We were weak, weak, weak along the boards and won precious few puck battles against the much larger Jets.
While bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, there’s no denying the positive effect having some large humans in the lineup can have. Remember last season’s “Big Line” of Evgeni Malkin, Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha and how difficult they were as a unit for foes to handle? To say nothing of the literal impact Söderblom had while filling in on the third and fourth lines.
How quickly our brain-trust forgets.
It’s an organizational dysfunction that’s repeated itself over and over (and over) again throughout the course of the team’s 60-year history. The Cup winners of the early ‘90s were dead in the water until Craig Patrick acquired the likes of Rick Tocchet and the Samuelssons, Ulf and Kjell.
Ray Shero’s first priority upon assuming control in the early 2000s was to make us more difficult to play against, something we decidedly weren’t prior to his arrival.
We taste success with a more diverse and all-inclusive lineup, then inevitably (and purposefully it seems) bleed off size and muscle to add that one last morsel of skill.
To draw a football analogy, you wouldn’t build a team with all wide receivers. You need guys who can block and tackle. Same with hockey. You need guys who can muck and grind, lean on foes a bit, and win puck battles.
Apparently, a lesson forever lost on those who guide the Pens’ fortunes.
UP NEXT
The Pens (2-1) visit the Caps (1-1) Wednesday night. Talk about a David vs. Goliath matchup. Then we visit the CBJ (1-1) Friday night before hosting the Stars (1-2) on Saturday.
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- Speaking of Smurfs, how about Lowrey's Go Head Goal when De Melo just destroyed Robertson, so that Iafalo could just take the candy from that baby and feed Lowrey - But Noooo let's not have big Wingers that can absorb the hit and still get the puck out of their own zone.
Not only does Hallnder add Wgt to the lineup, he and Koivunen are a +4 each, yet both have already been given Press Box time, while the usual suspects still get TOI without cause.
- Not going to drink the Kool-Aid but I have to give credit where credit is due, that was one sweet deflection by Kindel and a really good bumper pass to Carlile on that Goal too. He is still a -2 in his first two games but those plays deserve kudos.
- Murashov almost made as many saves in one game as Silovs has made in his two starts, but Silovs is the starter?