Demoralized, but not done. Pens drop Game 2.

Quick Notes:

- The recap style I tried for Game 1 doesn’t work when there are 13 goals scored and no form of defense or opposition. (I’m a defenseman by nature and I am offended and irritated by that 8-5 ridiculousness)

- If you read my last recap (and I hope you did: http://crosbyftw.blogspot.com/2012/04/start-strong-relax-blow-lead-repeat.html), you saw that I called out the line matchups as not making sense in Game 1.  Well, they still didn’t make sense, and it worries me that I can call it out but Bylsma didn’t bother changing it.  He knows far more about hockey than me and is far more qualified than I am to do anything, so how does he miss it or why does he ignore what he sees?  More on this below…

Stop handicapping yourself, Disco. 

- Lastly, I hope you listen to the podcasts I’m trying to come out with!  Give them a shot, and feedback is encouraged!  The first 2 are in the previous post.  Thanks as always for reading and listening!

Result:

Flyers 8  Pens  5

Goals:  Crosby (2) from Sullivan, Dupuis

            Kunitz (1) (PP) from Neal, Malkin

            Martin (1) from Crosby, Dupuis

            Kunitz (2) (PP) from Neal, Malkin

            Kennedy (2) from Cooke, Staal

Interesting Stats:

- Craig Adams had 5 hits and a takeaway in 10 shifts over 8 minutes

- Kunitz was a -5, Malkin -4, Neal -4, Sullivan -3

- Letang and Neal lead attempted shots with 6.  Letang only got 2 on net, Neal had 5.

The Good:

- The Pens did a great job sending a message physically with some huge hits by Neal, Letang, Adams and others.  Their playoff intensity was there at least.

If only physicality meant wins.

- Well, an offensive output of 5 goals is solid, and 2 of them on the powerplay erased the offensive PP questions that everyone had from Game 1.  Bylsma took Sid off the 1^st PP line and Neal-Kunitz-Malkin combined for 2 PP goals.  They looked much more comfortable at times…

- The 1^st period was yet again, a great period top to bottom.  The Pens were up 3-1 by the end of it and had yet again survived a Laviolette timeout. 

- Best 3: Dupuis, Kennedy, Adams.  Great game by all 3, Duper was somehow a +2 in this debacle with 2 assists.  Kennedy scored a weak goal admittedly, but he was solid all over the ice.  Adams was crushing people all game despite limited time.

"Woah buddy, pull it back a little"

The Bad:

- Of course, another 2 goal lead was blown as the Penguins continue to get destroyed defensively.  This team does not know how to drop into a strong/aggressive defense stance when they are in the lead.  They only know how to either attack at full speed or how to be completely passive.  Their inability to transition between the two stances is giving Philly a lot of leeway to adjust to the Pens’ style and then attack in different ways.

Malkin/Neal/Kunitz – The +/-‘s say a lot on their own about how this line played.  They are doing a great job hitting, but the puck possession for this line has been dismal.  Their 2 goals together were on the powerplay; at even strength they are being fully dominated by the Flyers’ checking line.  The reason this line was so successful in the regular season was 1) natural talent, and 2) their ability to work with the puck in the offensive zone, wearing down the D with their size, and sneak into open areas.  They are generally losing even puck battles and the guys away from the puck don’t seem to be working towards open ice to provide passing outlets.  It’s not like we’ve seen these 3 missing on great chances, they are simply just trying to do too much on their own looking for a spark.

Lovejoy/Engelland – Lovejoy will obviously get called out right off the bat for his turnover to Couturier in the slot that led to an easy goal against Fleury.  That isn’t all though, this pairing was also on for a breakaway that began at the Flyers blue line but luckily Fleury saved.  Engelland had a very poor game in my opinion as I counted at least 5 missed hits where he slammed into the boards but did not touch the guy he was aiming for, pulling him out of position.  This pairing has low expectations to begin with, all we ask is they not make mistakes…they failed.

Rest of the Defense – The defense simply looks like they do not communicate with each other at all.  On the Couturier goal with 3 seconds left in the 2^nd period, THREE guys were covering Eric Wellwood in front and no one paid attention to Couturier on the back door.  Not only is that clearly a vast misuse of resources and failure in coverages, but how is Fleury expected to see a puck clearly through 3 of his own guys.  This isn’t rocket science, if the team is looking around then they will realize that at least 2 guys are uncovered in that situation.  Just like I harped on in my last recap, heads on a swivel!  Every defenseman hears that phrase a billion times growing up, I’d like to see the Pens act like they know what it means.

Ike Taylor would have had this covered.

The Ugly:

- The powerplay, defensively.  Two short-handed goals…are you kidding me?  The first one was a mess, Crosby turned it over at the point on the powerplay and Giroux went in on a semi-breakaway with Sullivan chasing him.  Fleury stopped the breakaway but the rebound went to Talbot who buried it into a basically empty net.  Two issues:  1) Sullivan was the guy following Giroux, Crosby had no business still chasing Giroux and should have been watching Talbot, horrible defensive awareness by Sid.  2) Where were the other 3 guys on the ice?  Martin was the only defenseman on that line, but he and the other 2 forwards were doing anything but hustling back to the play.  No one bothered to chase Talbot at all.  Lack of effort there is inexcusable in a vital playoff game, everyone should have put their heads down and skated as hard as possible.  For the second short-handed goal, Letang, Malkin, and Sullivan were back to cover 3 Flyers.  No one knew who to cover and it turned into 3 Penguins back covering no one.  Lack of communication, lack of awareness, I’m not sure what to call it.  But the coaching staff should be concerned when 3 players who are defensively capable don’t know what to do in that situation.

- The penalty kill had another dismal performance, allowing 1 powerplay goal on 2 chances.  They were acting very passively and again seemed unaware of their surroundings at times.  The Flyers had Voracek circling to the left of the faceoff circle by himself just like where he was at for the OT winner in Game 1.  The Pens simply ignored him for most of the powerplay (the whole team did this all night for some reason actually) and when the Flyers finally gave him the puck, no one knew how to react.  He had time and space to move towards the crease, draw everyone in, and flick the puck back to Giroux for an easy PP goal.  The Pens made the Flyers PP good on that chance by giving them all the time and space to work with in the world.

Fleury shouldn't have to act as a defenseman and a goalie.

- Normally I would say hindsight is 20/20 for line matchups, but seeing how I was questioning it in Game 1, it’s really inexcusable that line matchups were a problem in Game 2 when the Pens get last change.  Couturier’s line owned Malkin’s all night, but Bylsma kept putting Malkin out there against him.  My seats are behind the Flyers bench, so I tend to pay more attention to this than most, but Laviolette had his way with matchups.  He predicted what Bylsma wanted to do and placed the line he wanted out first.  Bylsma then did not adjust to it. By the 3^rd period, I was hitting at over 80% for picking the lines that were coming out.  Even before the game, I was a fan of how Couturier played.  Talbot said he looked like Staal in his rookie year, and I tend to agree, actually I think that’s undercutting him.  Couturier has Staal’s ability plus he is far more physical than Staal was his rookie year.  Bylsma did a massive disservice to his season long MVP in game 2 (don’t worry, I don’t absolve Malkin, that’s below).

Thoughts:

- The goaltenders have been solid.  It sounds ridiculous, but it is very true, these results should be much worse for both teams but Fleury and Bryzgalov have made some huge saves at times.  With that being said, Bryz is outplaying Fleury.  He has made bigger saves and has improved as the game goes on.  None of this is necessarily Fleury’s fault, but the Pens are going to need him to make some absolute steals if they want to stay in this series.  Bryzgalov did it twice, once to Letang on the backside, once to Sullivan alone in front.  Fleury does stop some breakaways, but the Pens need more sadly.

Bryz has had to bail the D out just like Fleury.

- Bylsma, Granato, and Reirden are being outcoached, very badly.  I mentioned the line matchups earlier, but the powerplay and penalty kills clearly don’t know what they are doing either right now.  Laviolette and his crew just appears to be one step ahead in all facets.  Not to mention, Laviolette seems to be okay allowing his team to play the Pens style until Pittsburgh makes enough mistakes that the Flyers take advantage and take the lead. The game last night was run and gun, the Pens style dictated as the Flyers kept playing catch up.  Once the Flyers took over, they went into lockdown mode and played strong playoff hockey.  The Flyers are letting the Pens screw up their own game before forcing what they want and it is working masterfully.  That being said, I am not calling for Bylsma’s head or anything crazy like that.  I am just saying Laviolette is doing a better job.

- How much of a difference do you think Talbot is making by the way?  There is literally no better scouting report in existence than what he knows about the Pens, their style and their coaching staff.  Years ago, people said the Flyers signed Chris Pronger so they could beat the Penguins and neutralize Crosby.  It didn't work.  GM Paul Holmgren may have done it right with a second chance by signing Talbot over to neutralize everything.

I don't hate you and I won't boo you, so please stop.

- I’m prefacing this with I’m not throwing Malkin under the bus, but if he’s the best player in the NHL, he needs to adjust.  He will definitely see a lot of Couturier’s line in Game 3 and clearly the 1^st 2 games haven’t gone well.  I would like to see him pushing the puck and finessing less.  Malkin needs to start crossing the blue line, pulling up, and firing the puck.  It will give him space and make the Flyers question how much they should press on him.  He starts doing that, and everything will fall into place better as they start giving him room to work with.  He’s capable of changing this series; he just needs to adjust quickly to do it.  His coaching staff should be helping him with this too, by the way.

- Another note on Malkin, and this is one that if I was Laviolette, I would have flipped out on (probably moreso after a loss).  I counted (by the way, every time I say I counted, it’s because I literally keep a tally on things on the notepad app on my phone while I’m at games), 4 penalties that Geno got away with.  Two slashes, a trip, and a hook, so not necessarily judgmental penalties either.  This isn’t a slight against Malkin, I just want to point out how the refs are calling the game.  So don’t go complaining if they don’t call something against the Flyers, they are giving the Pens plenty of leeway as well.

- Despite how ugly everything looks right now, this series is far from over.  All it takes is one game to change a series around (go back to 2000 when the Pens went up 2-0 against the Flyers on the road and came home to lose Game 3 in OT, and then Game 4 in 5OT and then Games 5 and 6).  If anyone can predict the future of this series, you would have predicted the 2-0 deficit for the Pens right now.  Absolutely no one did that.  So just keep faith and watch Game 3, see what happens.  It’s a best of 7, crazy things are possible.

- Finally, while I want to burn Consol to the ground right now, home ice disadvantage isn’t unique to the Pens, Consol, or us as fans.  So everyone stop harping on fans for it.  Aside from potentially the Pho-Chi and NJ-Fla series’, home ice has already been rendered a moot point in every other series.  It just simply isn’t what it used to be now that everyone has made cookie-cutter arenas.  I tend to hate the crowd at Consol as much as most, but it has nothing to do with them unless every other home crowd sucks too.

Let's build a new arena with white seats for these whiteouts. 

Keys to Game 3:

- I want to see a defensive start, not an offensive one.  Forget pushing the tempo and just play solid, opportunistic defense.  Let the Flyers make their mistakes and capitalize on it rather than pushing the offensive play to the point of mistakes.  Given the same amount of opportunities, I would pick a more talented Pens roster to score more goals than the Flyers, stop giving them more opportunities as the equalizer.  The Flyers are a very solid team, but we are making them look amazing on our own accord.

Flyers lead series 2-0.  Next Game: 4/15 @ Phi, 3pm, NBC

Pens End the Regular Season with a Win

Main Storylines:

- While this is a “meaningless game”, quite a few players are looking for milestones.  Most importantly, the Flyers have yet to lose in Consol in heading into the last game of the season.

- These teams are locked into the 4/5 matchup.  Don’t expect too much craziness because they both know next week is far more important than anything today.

- While this is a playoff preview, it also isn’t.  Flyers aren’t dressing Giroux, Briere, and Grossmann.  Pens aren’t dressing Neal, Sullivan, Niskanen.

Result:

Pens  4  Flyers  2

Goals:  Dupuis (25) from Asham, Staal

            Kunitz (26) from Malkin

            Crosby (8) (PP) from Kunitz, Staal

            Malkin (50) from Letang, Crosby

Stats/Milestones:

- Goals: Dupuis (25), Kunitz (26), Malkin (50)

Just an unreal season for Dupuis, what a stud.

- Point Streak: Dupuis (17 games)

- Points Malkin (109), Staal (50), Dupuis (59), Kunitz (61)

- Evgeni Malkin will officially win the Art Ross Trophy for finishing as the league’s leading scorer.

Not quite how I want him celebrating #50, but better than Neal's #40 celebration.

- The crowd set a new record at Consol Energy Center, packing in 18,616 to see the season finale.

The Good:

- The refs did a fantastic job in this game.  Everyone was worried about what shenanigans may occur, but after an early fight between Joe Vitale and Harry Zolnierczyk, nothing dirty or gritty occurred.  The refs called a pretty tight game and even gave Shelley a 10 minute misconduct before he could get in any real trouble or take a penalty.  I expect that type of reffing all series.

Oh yeah, and Vitale won, by a landslide.

- The defense was the best I have seen in weeks, though obviously not going against Giroux or Briere helped a bit.  Michalek and Letang played exceptionally well, both making some great diving breakups and stops.

The Bad:

- I will be quite happy to see the end of the Engelland/Strait pairing.  Mostly on Strait’s part.  I don’t believe he’s nearly as ready as the Pens seem to, as I would prefer Despres over him right now.  The Schenn goal was on account of a lack of communication between Engo and Strait as neither knew who should go into the high slot to cover him.  Strait is a little too untethered in his coverage for my liking right now.  Hopefully Niskanen will be healthy and ready as the playoffs start.

- The powerplay did score a goal, but looked awful on their 5 minute major chance.  I will let this slide because they were trying to feed Malkin constantly and were also without Sullivan and Neal, but it still goes under bad for this game.

- It was sad to see Fleury get pulled on the verge of franchise record breaking win #227 just to see Johnson allow a goal instantly to give Fleury a no decision.  Fleury looked visibly displeased on the jumbotron, but hey, a game plan is a game plan.  Just have to wait til next year flower!

Johnson went straight to Fleury and shook his head in apology after the game.

The Ugly:

- Zac Rinaldo took a 5 minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct when he crushed Michalek into the boards from behind.  I honestly believe half of this penalty was because of the refs wanting to keep control of the game and because his last name was Rinaldo.  He received a warning earlier in the shift from a ref after hitting Kennedy and was promptly thrown out after that hit.  The refs clearly wanted to take control and I approve of them acting in that way towards both teams.

Thoughts:

- Here are your East matchups: NYR – Ott, Bos – Was, Fla – NJ, Pit – Phi….guess who has the winning records in each series?  Not who you expect: Ott, Was, Fla, Phi.

- The 3^rd period was clearly both teams dropping into a stance of, let’s not get hurt, let’s not get into trouble, we’ll settle everything over the next 2 weeks.  Props to both teams for being smart with that.

- Though this was a meaningless game, I believe it was HUGE to beat the Flyers in Consol so they couldn’t go into the playoff series with that over our heads.  They will rationalize it based on the players they were missing, but the result does not change, it was a big psyche win whether anyone admits it or not.

- I’ll save the rest for future posts in the next few days, I PLAN on doing a Regular Season Review, Flyers Roster Preview, and Pens-Flyers Series Preview before the playoffs get underway…we’ll see how much I can accomplish.  Thanks for reading!

Pens Record: 51-25-6, 108 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  TBD, Playoffs announced Sunday, 4/8 at 1pm.  Likely 1^st 4 games: Wed, Fri, Sun, Wed

Torts Angry, Pens Win and Clinch 4th!

Main Storylines:

- The Pens get to face the Rangers without Lundqvist for the 2^nd straight game as this one is meaningless to NYR and Lundqvist wants to rest a sore arm

A day off to help him work that "rugged" look.

- A win here will clinch 4^th in the conference and home ice advantage in the 1^st round for the Pens

- The Pens are sitting some big guys tonight: Niskanen (upper body), Sullivan (lower body) and Neal (lower body).  Dustin Jeffrey still can’t crack the lineup though

Result:

Pens  5  Rangers  2

Goals:  Kunitz (25) from Letang, Malkin

            Kennedy (11) from Staal, Michalek

            Park (7) from Dupuis, Tangradi

            Malkin (49) from Kunitz, Crosby

            Letang (10) (SH) from Staal

Stats/Milestones:

- Pascal Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 16 games.  It is a shame the regular season has only one more game because it would be wonderful to see how far he could push this continuously.

- Chris Kunitz recorded his 200^th career NHL assist on Malkin’s goal                   .

- Marc-Andre Fleury tried Barrasso’s franchise record for wins at 226.

- Evgeni Malkin hit a career high in points and now has 107.

The Good:

- Hey, a win over the Rangers is a win over the Rangers, no matter the circumstances.  Also, how fun is it to piss of John Tortorella off based on that postgame rant?

Whine Whine Whine

- The defense looked much better in this game than they had in the previous 2 weeks, though there is still work to do.  It’s a big step forward with the playoffs looming ever so close.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin had gone quiet for a couple games and wasn’t playing bad, but also wasn’t being his enigmatic self.  Tonight he reverted back to the norm and appeared to have a jump in his step.  He scored goal #49 and based on his postgame interview, he will be gunning for 50 hard on Saturday.  As long as Geno stays healthy, life is good.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Fleury looked much better in this game than he had in the previous week, stopping 35 of 37 shots and making some very acrobatic saves like when he was on his hot streak.  He also finally got his franchise record-tying 226^th win on his 4^th try after that mark appeared to be getting into his head.  It’s great that Fleury got a game in like this before the playoffs started, and while I would expect him to start vs. Philly on Sat anyways, this puts less pressure on Bylsma to start him looking for a spark.

The Bad:

- For all the crap Tortorella said after the game, it’s funny that he didn’t mention his team had 6 powerplays and the Pens only had 1.  Mind you, they all came of different varieties.  The “hooking” penalty on Cooke was garbage as there was no hook and no one was held up either.  I have no clue how that was called.  Kunitz took 2 minors which is why I kept him off of the good list.  He’s gotta ease up on the stupid penalties he’s been taking in the 2^nd half.  Then you have the Orpik 5 min major…I’ll get to the in the next section. 

Deryk Engelland – Engelland was the only defenseman that slipped up more than a couple times as far as I could tell.  He missed Dubinsky on the Rangers first goal that tied the game and he had trouble with his slot coverage a few other times, but none of those resulted in a goal luckily.  I would like to see Engo use the body a little more in front since he is generally bigger than most guys he faces on the crease.  It will be a fine line for him to work through the playoffs with.

Engo knew that was on him..and knowing is half the battle.

The Ugly:

- Since I’m doing this so late, we all know Orpik didn’t get any extra penalties for his kneeing penalty (a 5 minute major and game misconduct).  The knee was definitely a dirty hit, he stuck it out though I highly doubt his intentions were to injure.  He was basically just trying to run interference for a guy about to get past him it looked like.  Personally, I would have been okay with the nominal $2,500 fine and lesson learned.  But I’ll certainly take less!

- Tortorella went CRAZY after the game and ranted about Crosby and Malkin being whiners, the organization being arrogant, and how Orpik’s hit was dirty and the Pens are a dirty team.  The NHL opted to fine him $20,000, most likely for the part where he implied that watching the league deal with Orpik would be comical.  Tortorella’s comments are generally ridiculous and overzealous, but they were smart.  No one has spoken about his team losing 5-2 or about his team at all.  He deflected all of the attention from his loss and probably got his team fired up as well.  I don’t believe he should have been fined for speaking his mind, but hey, whatever the NHL decides to do.

I assure you the Pens didn't want to see this either.

Thoughts:

- The playoffs are set for the Penguins, they clinched the 4^th seed and are locked into a 4-5 matchup with the Flyers.  Saturday’s game likely won’t be the chaos everyone is expecting.  Both teams know it’s the week after that matters and won’t want to risk injuries or suspensions.  Both also want to send a message with game play.  Expect a very tight game, but not as dirty as the media may suggest.

Pens Record: 50-25-6, 106 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  4/7 vs Phi, 4pm

Race for Home Ice Tightens, Pens Lose to Flyers

**I’m actually going to talk about hockey here more than the circus acts allowed by the Refs and NHL, so be forewarned.

And so it begins...

Main Storylines:

- It’s Philly, not much needs to be said, and I can imagine the Pens are still bitter about losing in OT with .9 seconds left in their last meeting.  A big key for the Pens will be not getting suckered in by the likes of Hartnell and company.

- If Philly wins this, they will be 1 point behind the Pens for 4^th place/home ice with 3 games left to go including another head-to-head.  The Flyers do have the tiebreaker (non-shootout wins).

- Kris Letang returns to the lineup after missing 3 games with a lower body injury.

Result:

Flyers  6  Pens  4

Goals:  Sullivan (16) from Crosby, Dupuis

            Neal (39) from Malkin, Kunitz

            Sullivan (17) from Dupuis, Michalek

            Kunitz (24) from Malkin, Crosby               

Stats/Milestones:

- Pascal Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 14 games with an assist on the 1^st goal.  He is now up to a career high 56 points this season as well.

The Good:

- The Pens came out storming in the first period to a quick 2-0 lead.  Consol was loud and in playoff mode (at least for the first 10 minutes) and the team responded with a terrific start.

- While not the classiest set of events, I love seeing Tony Granato going to the defense of his team and his head coach.  All of Pittsburgh will hate on Laviolette for it, but I was impressed with his fire as well (at least until he picked up Talbot’s stick and broke it in between the benches, that was pathetic and awful).

Maybe not the best execution, but it could be a team rallying maneuver.

Steve Sullivan – Though many will not remember a thing any player did before the last 2 minutes, I want to start off with yet another great game by the wily vet, Steve Sullivan.  He scored twice, once on an odd changeup and the second on a rocket from the slot that came out so fast that half the players on the ice didn’t realize it went in.  He certainly looked bad when he had to take a penalty on the powerplay to prevent a Flyers breakaway, but that will happen from time to time and it was a smart penalty to take.  (Yes, there are smart penalties to take).  He has looked very good when paired up with Dupuis no matter who the center is.  Their speed together has caused great problems for other teams.

Yes, the game had happy moments at one point.

Joe Vitale – Poor Joe Vitale, he’s like that guy on the road who made a proper left turn and everyone crashes behind him because they weren’t paying attention.  Before the game went nuts, Vitale had another strong start, throwing some big hits (including an accidental knee on Grossman that knocked him out of the game) and drawing an interference penalty on Briere.  But now he’ll be known best by a clean hit on Briere towards the end of the 3^rd that started chaos.  Vitale is a great spark plug, and while Laviolette lumped him in as a goon on the 4^th line, I’m not sure many Flyers fans or players would agree.

The Bad:

- The Pens have developed a penchant for getting very fancy once they are up 2 goals.  Honestly, I read the game as starting like this: Pens wanted to make a statement, Flyers weren’t ready.  2-0, Timeout.  Pens coasted as the more skilled team, Flyers knew they had to work harder and did so.  The amount of drop passes in this game was ridiculous.  The Flyers have always been a very opportunistic team and the Pens should know that better than anyone, getting fancy gives them far more opportunities.

- The Pens had TWELVE giveaways to the Flyers 3.  The Baby Pens would beat the big team with all those extra chances.

- Arron Asham was a -2 with 5 minutes of ice time...I'm not even sure how that happened so I can't write about it.

I can tell you he tried to fight 2 Flyers at once though.

Kris Letang – Everyone feel free to hate me for this, but deal with it, he didn’t play that well.  He was out of position just as much as anyone, which is normally perfectly fine because he tends to make big plays as he freewheels around the ice.  However, when Letang isn’t making game-changing plays, his style tends to hurt the team.  I’m not tearing his play down, 80% of the time he will make a positive game-changing play and no one will notice, today just wasn’t one of those times.  Talbot’s goal to the tie the game was completely on Letang.  There was no reason for him to move up away from the crease to take the shooter, his assignment was Talbot on the crease the whole time and he just abandoned him there.

Matt Niskanen – Niskanen looked amazingly flat-footed today.  He kept getting burned on the blue line, which caused him to start backing off when the Flyers entered the zone, which turned into the Flyers taking advantage of that room to make passes.  Basically, Philly adapted to him one step quicker than he was adapting to the game.  The Voracek semi-breakaway goal was basically because he looked like he was skating on concrete.

Zbynek Michalek – Also not a strong game for Michalek (notice how it’s one guy on each pairing, that’s why the Pens looked so dismal in the defensive zone on every shift), as he simply got drawn away from the net too much.  While he is usually the key to the PK, today he chased a Flyer all the way out to the faceoff circles, leaving Orpik to cover 2 guys on the crease.  That’s a pretty sure fire way to give up a powerplay goal. 

Do this BEFORE they score, Z.  Not after.

Chris Kunitz – While he is still racking up points here and there, his overall play has been pretty bad recently.  He has been taking bad penalties, missing hits, and turning the puck over far too much.  He had the same type of performance in the last game against Philly and I am slightly concerned about his mentality going into the likely playoff series with them.  He led the team in hits, but at what cost to his general play?

The Ugly:

- I have two topics here and they are in order of importance, regardless of how they are reported.  The Pens defense was simply awful today.  There were far too many odd man breaks and uncovered guys, especially around the crease.  This didn’t just start today, or against the Isles, or the Senators; this was happening during the great wins too.  Going back to the “statement” win against Nashville, the Pens still allowed 33 shots and some great crease chances. The difference in that game was Rinne had a very off game and Fleury was on top of his.  That result seems to have taught this team some horrible lessons in fundamentals.  They can’t expect Fleury to bail them constantly no matter how well he plays.  Teams are dominating the Pens crease and slot areas and that has to stop immediately if this team wants to go anywhere.  There is far too much puck watching by everyone and I simply don’t understand how the basics of covering guys disappeared.

Give a flower some help, geez.

- The brawl was seriously a disaster.  I don’t fault the teams or the coaches for what they did, as everything was in the heat of the moment.  However, the refs need to set a standard early with these teams, next week and in the playoffs.  They have to call a tight game and call everything, or things will get dirty.  Yeah, Schenn had a “gutless” crosscheck to Crosby’s back, but don’t forget Crosby got away with at least 2 slashes in the game.  Perhaps the Flyers were hitting too much after the whistle, but Malkin was also punching Giroux in the back of the head during the play.  I don't condone any of it.  The problem is, if the refs don’t call any of that, then why shouldn’t chaos just break out?  I give a lot of credit to the Pens 4^th line for responding as they did, to both benches for being fired up, to Wayne Simmonds for fighting despite taking a puck off of the face yesterday, and to Scott Hartnell for simply being playful and entertaining, and interacting with the fans.  I hate Hartnell just like all Pens fans do, but isn’t this what we pay for?  This type of entertainment?  Every hockey player is dirty to a degree, don’t pick and choose when you want to acknowledge it.  And honestly, I would love it if every player taunted the crowd, that’s what makes hockey a wonderful sport – it’s simply a passionate game.

If you don't have respect for Simmonds after that, you're officially a homer.

Thoughts:

- Deryk Engelland only received 9:50 of ice time in this game.  I am not sure why, he clearly was healthy as he was on for the last shift of the game.  This was a bad move on Bylsma’s part I feel.  Engelland was covering for Niskanen rather successfully for most of the afternoon, and he also had the size to deal with the Flyers heavy forecheck.  I expect him to be a bigger part of the game on Saturday.

- The 5 forward powerplay is awesome and awful.  It is awesome on the rush when there is a lot of movement and that talent simply can’t be contained.  It is awful once they are set up because no one is decisive and the points can be pressure very hard for bad results.  Letang should definitely be on the first PP, but not at the expensive of Sullivan, who QBs the PP better than many people realize.  Kunitz is the guy I take off and move to the 2^nd line.  Crosby is more than capable of hanging around the net and deflecting shots. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s the best at deflections.  If you don't want to take Kunitz off, then move Crosby to the second PP.  Yeah I said it.  Put Crosby on the 2nd PP with Staal and Dupuis/Cooke, think that line can't score?

- As the Rangers have lost tonight, the Pens are still mathematically in the race for 1st in the Conference, though that's asking for a lot.  More importantly, they are 1 point up on the Flyers for home ice in this inevitable 4/5 matchup with Philly and each team has 3 games to go.  Pittsburgh has Boston, NYR, and of course, Philly to end the season.  I won't even go through the Flyers schedule because that set of 3 games is enough for the Pens to worry about on its own.

- As a continuation on the brawl rant, the fans throwing stuff at the Flyers bench should be sent to Philly.  Seriously, everyone in this city gets on the fact that Philly is such a dirty city and then we do the exact same things that they do?  Twitter was simply comical today.  Everyone wants Asham to kill someone, but if Hartnell looks at a player, Hartnell is the scum of the Earth.  Just take an extra second and try to be a little less hypocritical.  If we’re a better city and a cleaner city, let’s act like it.

Props to Malkamania and to Hartnell.
This image defines a rivalry, and it's why we all love hockey.

Pens Record: 48-25-6, 102 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  4/3 @ Bos, 7:30pm

Maybe Panic a Little, Pens Lose to Isles AGAIN

Main Storylines:

- Well, the Pens are coming off an ugly loss – if you want the reminder, check out my recap of that: http://crosbyftw.blogspot.com/2012/03/dont-panic-yet-pens-lose.html

- Fleury gets the start tonight after getting pulled on Tuesday.  Fleury is pretty much unbeatable in games after he’s pulled, so this bodes very well for the Pens.  On the backup goalie side, Thiessen has been sent down and Brent Johnson returns to normal backup duties.

- Tangradi is in the lineup, Park is out.  Vitale, Niskanen, and Letang all remain out.  Bylsma appears to be reuniting last year’s lines, going with Dupuis-Crosby-Kunitz, Neal-Malkin-Sullivan, Cooke-Staal-Kennedy, and Tangradi-Adams-Asham.

- The PK has been downright awful lately, allowing 5 goals on their last 18 tries.  I don’t even have a clue what has changed to make that happen.

Result:

Isles 5  Pens  3

Goals:  Dupuis (24) (SH) from Adams, Martin

            Staal (24) from Michalek, Martin

            Malkin (47) from Kennedy, Cooke

Stats/Milestones:

- Pascal Dupuis extended his career high scoring streak to 12 games with his short-handed goal and added to his career high point total, making it 52

I think Dupuis would inspire an awesome muppet character.

- Malkin tied his career high in goals at 47 and reached the 100 pt mark for the 3^rd time.  He is only the 4^th Penguin to do so (Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, no surprises).  He’s the first this year to hit 100 pts and remains 9 points ahead of Stamkos in the Art Ross race.

The Good:

Eric Tangradi – As much as I’m glad to put Tangradi on this list, it also demonstrates how bad the rest of the team was that he starts it off.  Tangradi was one of the rare defensively responsible forwards on the ice against the Isles.  He introduced a physical presence and did a great job on keeping his stick in passing lanes.  He only had 8 shifts, and was still on for a goal against, but I daresay this was one of his better showings in the NHL.  I’m starting to wonder if his offensive game is disappearing bit by bit with his commitment to defense though.

Pascal Dupuis – Easily the hottest player on the team, if not the NHL right now, Dupuis is now on a 12 game point streak.  The only player in the NHL to have a longer streak in the past 2 seasons is that Crosby person everyone talks about.  Dupuis came out full of energy and had a big short-handed goal that brought the Pens back into the game.  My question is, with Dupuis playing lights out hockey, why has he not touched the powerplay?  Not even the first PP line necessarily (thoughts on that later), but the 2^nd PP is Cooke-Staal-Kennedy.  Are you telling me Dupuis can’t supplant Kennedy on there??  It’s asinine that Dupuis isn’t receiving time with the man advantage when the PP is cold and he’s red hot.

He can score down a man, why not up a man?

Tyler Kennedy – I felt Kennedy had one of his better games as well tonight.  He was strong with the puck and looked to pass more than we’ve usually seen him do.  The biggest thing that caught my attention was his speed and effort in the corners; he acted as both gritty TK and skilled TK.  Watching him miss a wide open net on the PP (though it was from like a 10 degree angle) was very frustrating though.  He at least had the right idea in his play even if the scoring results weren’t there.

The Bad:

- In a very disturbing trend, the Pens got dominated in puck possession again.  The Isles knew where to be, won the puck battles, intercepted passes, and made life miserable for the Pens in the neutral zone.  Once the Isles had the puck in the Pens D zone, they had very little trouble keeping it and passing it around.  The first goal was simply pathetic as Mark Streit skated behind the net unfollowed and untouched.  While no Pens followed him, everyone watched him so he could pass the puck to an uncovered Marty Reasoner.  That type of play was one that did not exist when the Pens dominated puck possession, but they seem completely lost when they don’t have the puck.

Chris Kunitz – Kunitz had the worst game I’ve seen him play in a while.  I have to admit, I was very excited to see him reunited with Crosby before the game, but he looked completely off.  He kept misplaying the puck, was missing his hits, and just seemed generally out of position.  Kuni may have been trying a little too hard with Sid.

Martin/Michalek – Just a short blurb.  I saw them paired up once.  A goal was scored seconds later as they both left the front of the net (though Staal was to blame too for leaving his guy in the slot).  Bylsma’s defense is setup to work where the dmen basically are connected by an invisible rubberband.  One defenseman stays in the slot, the other goes to the right.  If the slot guy moves to the left, the guy on the right move back to the slot.  The slot should always be covered.  These 2 have no communication when it comes to that and seem to always abandon the front of the net when paired together.

I guess covering the slot doesn't matter if you won't do anything there anyways.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin had a nice goal, and played hard in the offensive zone, but I’m going to get on his case for his defensive work here.  I was immensely disappointed with him on the short-handed goal.  I have no problem with him turning the puck over at the point, or that there was a short-handed goal.  The thing that pissed me off was that Malkin stood there after the turnover and just watched as he expected Neal to get the puck.  He didn’t even start to move until the Isles had the puck and a breakaway.  If he starts skating as soon as he sees where the puck is, that play might turn out completely differently. If Geno is going to end up on the point, he has to sprint back to the net immediately on turnovers, he knows that, he’ll tell you himself.

The Ugly:

- Seeing Sidney Crosby take a puck to the face was easily the scariest part of the game.  Luckily he just suffered a bloody nose which didn’t require stitches and he’s okay.  It’s somewhat reassuring that he could take a puck to the face and not be re-concussed.  It’d be nice to have a game where we don’t have to worry about Crosby, that’s for sure.  Maybe when he faces old nemesis Ryan Miller in Buffalo.

Pics I never want to see ever.

- Special Teams pretty much went awry in all facets in this game.  The PP was 0 for 4 and let up a goal.  The PK let up a goal on a fluke bounce off of Engelland’s skate, though at least they did score.  Both units have been struggling lately which is putting the Pens in tough situations no matter how good or bad they are playing.  This was the same formula for losing to Tampa in 7 last year, so brace yourselves if this doesn’t change.

Thoughts:

- A couple thoughts on the lines that Bylsma has used.  First off, the lines change so much in a game that I’m not sure the starting lineup matters anymore, pretty much every possible combination is used, so don’t get too worked up with what the starting lines are.  One thing I was disappointed in though is that Cooke-Crosby-Dupuis has not been used as a line.  Cooke and Crosby clearly have worked well together since Sid’s return.  Add Dupuis as the hottest player on the team and it could be a great spark plug line.  Just my 2 cents on a combination I’d like to see have a few shifts. 

- I’m over the powerplay experiment by now.  There apparently is such a thing as too much talent on one line because the top PP loves to set each other up and defers on far too many shots.  It is almost as if psychologically, the Pens know there is so much talent on the ice that they take less responsibility on themselves individually.  I would rather see 2 very strong lines each playing about a minute, so there is a time factor to press them harder and the talented players on the ice feel more responsible to create things.  My next issue on the PP is WHY IS DUPUIS NOT ON THERE.  Seriously, I’m not crazy enough to put him on the first line, but I can’t comprehend how he hasn’t earned some PP time lately.

Neal watches as the Isles score shorthanded.

- When all is said and done, the Pens don’t deserve to win games in which they play about 15 minutes of good hockey and that’s all they came up with in this game.  There isn’t a single game left this season where playing anything less than 60 minutes will suffice, so the Pens better pick it up immediately.  I was very disappointed with the complete lack of fire they showed to start the game.

- On a happier sidenote, Malkin and Fleury are up for the NHL 13 cover.  You have to vote for one or the other at www.nhl.com/covervote.  My 2 cents here:  Vote for Fleury!!  Malkin gets his trophies: Art Ross, Conn Smythe, soon a Hart probably.  Fleury gets nothing!  So give Fleury the cover!!

- Finally, I need to give credit to the Isles Matt Martin.  Last year, he was trying to beat the crap out of every Penguin on the ice.  This year, though he boarded Brian Strait, he made a very conscious effort to hold Strait up and try to protect him.  I was very impressed with the sportsmanship on the play and it's something that doesn't receive nearly enough attention.  Props to you Matt Martin.

Cooke isn't the only guy to change this year.

Pens Record: 47-24-6, 100 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/30 @ Buf, 7:30pm

Streak Ends at 11, Pens Lose in OT

Main Storylines:

- The Pens have won 11 in a row, the best streak in the NHL this season and the longest streak since their own 12 game streak last year.  If they win today, they will be the first franchise in the NHL to have 3 win streaks of at least 12 games.

- Fleury starts in back to back games, Asham is back in after missing yesterday’s game and Vitale sits for him.  Tangradi stays in the lineup. 

- Milestone-wise, Staal and Dupuis are looking to continue career high streaks (currently 10 and 5 game point streaks respectively).  Meanwhile, every goal Dupuis and Cooke score from here on out will be a new career high.

Result:

Flyers  3  Pens 2 (OT)

Goals:  Adams (5) from Letang, Dupuis

            Malkin (41) from Letang

               

The Good:

- Milestones:  Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 6 games. 

- Geno’s goal was a great demonstration of strength and patience, has he rolled off of Giroux in the corner and took the puck across the crease until Bryzgalov lifted his pad for Malkin to slide it through.  Vintage NHL 94 goal right there.

Craig Adams – Adams only played 10 minutes, with 4 of those being on the penalty kill, but his time was very efficient and useful.  He basically set himself up for the first goal by crushing Simmonds in the corner and keeping the puck in the zone.  He somehow led the team with 6 hits and was pretty much a force on every shift he played.

Playoff effort from Adams in this game.

Kris Letang – Letang played an outstanding game offensively and defensively.  He assisted on both Pens goals and was huge in the physical game.  The highlight of his day might have been crushing Jagr, and then knocking over Hartnell when he came after Letang (resulting in Hartnell high sticking his own teammate Rinaldo in the face).  Letang finished 2^nd on the team with 6 shots and also added 2 blocks.  His ability to break up passes was clutch today.

The Bad:

- Staal’s point streak ended at 10, along with the Pens win streak at 11.  The Flyers ended the Pens streak at 12 last year as well.

- Quite a few bad penalties in this one.  Kunitz with an unnecessary cross-checking penalty earlier in the game, and though I loved him attacking Hartnell, he’s lucky it didn’t lead to a Flyers powerplay.  Malkin also had a couple of bad ones as well.  If we remain stuck in a 4-5 matchup with the Flyers, the team that stays disciplined will have a great advantage in this rivalry.

Hartnell was a major catalyst in this game.  The Pens simply can't allow that.

- The Flyers scoring with .9 seconds left in OT.  Unfortunately, Hartnell was Crosby’s guy and the whole team got caught up puck watching at the end.  Crosby knew that was his mistake, and expect that to drive him even harder.

- The puck possession and shooting for the Pens was outstanding in the first 2 periods.  However, lack of finishing kept the Flyers in the game the whole time.  No matter how dominant this team can be, they can’t afford to leave teams in the game when they are dominating the play.  Give Bryzgalov a lot of credit for handling the onslaught to keep the Flyers in it.

Bryzgalov's play as of late has the Flyers catching up to the Pens.

The Ugly:

- The reffing left a lot to be desired at times, and not just for the Pens sake.  Both teams had penalties not called and the Kunitz/Hartnell wrestling debacle should never occur in a hockey game.  The refs didn’t have much control in this one.  If these teams meet in the playoffs, everyone better hope that the refs take control early and often, or there will be some injuries from ugly plays.

Thoughts:

- As the powerplay experiment continues with Crosby back in the lineup, I have to wonder if leaving them out as long as 1:30 to 2 minutes each time isn’t a problem. There is a lot of skill on that line, but powerplay goals need to be ugly sometimes, and putting in the 2^nd powerplay to wear down the other team’s PK might help every so often.  Also, when that line knows they can stay out for 2 minutes, I wonder if it kills some of the urgency to get shots on early and quickly in a powerplay. 

- Asham and Tangradi only played 4 and 5 minutes respectively.  I was rather surprised against a bigger/grittier team that those two did not get more ice time.  This was also a big factor in how slow the Penguins looked for much of the 3^rd period.  The role players certainly didn’t get out to rest the big guys much in the 3^rd game in 4 days. 

- My heart rate cannot handle a 7 game series with the Flyers in the first round.  It really is a shame that at least one Atlantic team is guaranteed to be knocked out in Round 1.  All of the teams are very strong and that 4-5 matchup is going to deny the NHL a very strong team in the 2^nd round.

- It sucks to see the win streak end, but if you told me a month ago that the Pens would take 5 out of 6 points on a 3 games in 4 days road trip that went through NY, NJ, and Philly, I would have bet heavily against it.  So, kudos to the Pens for putting their work in, it’s time to start a new streak with Crosby’s return to home ice on Tuesday.  After he was on for that last goal, my meaningless prediction is expect a goal out of him on Tuesday night.

When Crosby is at fault, he usually comes out on fire...look for it on Tues.

Pens Record: 44-21-6, 94 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/20 vs Win, 7pm

Winning Doesn't Take Sundays Off, Pens Extend Streak to 9!!

Main Storylines:

- 8 wins in a row so far, another would set a new season high!

- Evgeni Malkin’s next point will be his 500^th in the NHL…he’s been looking for it for 3 games now

- Two droughts to watch:  James Neal has gone 9 games without a goal, since the day before he signed his contract extension.  Also, the powerplay has not scored a goal since Letang went out a week and a half ago.

- Engelland returns to the lineup as Brian Strait sits.  Take note, Despres clearly just jumped Strait on the depth chart after one game.  Also, Tangradi is in for Park – I’m guessing for the inevitable physicality that will be on display with the Bruins.  Paul Martin remains out.

Result:

Pens  5  Bruins  2

Goals:  Asham (4) from Lovejoy, Adams

            Niskanen (4) from Malkin, Neal

            Neal (31) (PP) from Malkin

            Kunitz (20) from Neal, Malkin

            Dupuis (18) from staal, Engelland

               

The Good:

- 9 wins in a row!! A new season high for the Pens!

- Malkin earned his 500^th career point on the Niskanen goal and Neal earned his 200^th point.  Malkin is the 4^th fastest active player to reach that mark (behind Crosby, Ovechkin, Selanne)

- Neal and the PP both broke out of their slumps with the 3^rd goal of the game, a 5 on 3 PP goal.

So much relief, he's the real deal again!

- Staal’s assist extended his point streak to a career high 8 games.  Meanwhile, the PK has now killed 21 PPs in a row.

The First Line – Welcome back boys, after a few quiet nights the first line came out on fire with their physical game and they turned it into scoring.  Malkin and Neal put together 3 point nights, catapulting Malkin back ahead of Stamkos in the Art Ross race for the time being.  Malkin also went a stellar 15 for 20 on faceoffs today.  The Kunitz goal was simply unfair, as Malkin makes a perfect pass while falling to Neal, who threads the needle past 3 Bruins to Kunitz, who finishes it off with an easy one timer.  Speaking of Kunitz, his forechecking was simply unreal today.  They pretty much told me to go F myself for thinking about breaking them up (and yet, I still want to when Sid comes back).

Marc-Andre Fleury – I should just make a permanent paragraph for this.  He stopped 34 of 36 shots, and was vital in killing off a late 3^rd period powerplay when the Bruins were trying to make a comeback.  He made a glove save on his back that was absolutely the key save of the game.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t even notice how high the Bruins shot total was getting, and that’s largely because Fleury makes it look easy.

Joe Vitale – Vitale’s energy and effort is simply unbelievable.  No points on the day for him, but he did amass a blocked shot, 3 hits, and 2 takeaways, and was very noticeable on most of his shifts today.  Vitale is turning into the ultimate checking line player and I have a feeling he will come up big for the Pens at a key moment down the road.

Joe Vitale deserves a movie more than Rudy as far as I'm concerned.

The Bad:

- There were a couple of defensive lapses that led to both Krejci goals.  On the first one, Orpik and Lovejoy got a little ahead of themselves in moving up with the rush and both ended up out of position leading to Krejci’s breakaway.  The second one was a consequence of Kunitz not lifting Krejci’s stick even though he was in position to do it.

Tyler Kennedy – TK had a very quiet day, only getting one shot on net (with another off the post).  He simply was not noticeable on the ice at all.  I was rather surprised to see him not get involved physically with his old scrappy play.  Bylsma clearly noticed something to, as TK only had 10 minutes of ice time.

The Ugly:

- Malkin’s hit on Boychuk earned him a 2 min minor for boarding, and I’m guessing a phone call with Shanahan tomorrow.  There have certainly been worse hits, but my point of contention on this hit was Malkin had the chance to hit Boychuk in the shoulder, but placed his hand in the middle of Boychuk’s back and shoved him from behind instead.  I don’t think anyone can argue that it was a poor decision.

No injury to Boychuk as he returned later, I'm guessing $2500  fine for Malkin.

Thoughts:

- I loved the Tangradi for Park lineup change today.  That’s a rare move for Bylsma, who doesn’t like to change his lineups at all during win streaks, but it was a smart one.  Boston loves to play physical and Tangradi is much better equipped for that.  He had a solid game I felt, and has looked very good in the defensive zone when he has played during this call up.

- The Pens came out today like it was a playoff game and ran out to a 3-0 lead and ran Tim Thomas out of the game.  Despite that, it was still a close game throughout the afternoon due to sloppy play.  It was a good thing that the Pens capitalized on the first period, because the game was pretty much 50/50 the rest of the way.

- Point shots continue to be a big factor for the Pens.  The first goal was on account of Lovejoy’s shot from the blue line and the 2^nd was Niskanen’s blast from the point.  Both goals were off of odd bounces/blocks/tips, but the lesson remains the same – when the defensemen are getting pucks to the net, the Pens are going to do well.

- The Pens are (for now) 2 points behind the Rangers with a game against them on Thursday.  The Rangers still play before then, but Thursday’s game will certainly be a massive one, and one where Crosby may come back.  It will be the perfect playoff test as MSG will be rocking, especially if Crosby returns.

Pens Record: 42-21-5, 87 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/15 @ NYR, 7pm