Recap: Hockey Offseason '12

As we continue through September and (some) players return to their teams for informal workouts, it’s time to say goodbye to another NHL offseason.  Though there is still plenty of CBA uncertainty and a lockout looming on the horizon, the actual offseason will be over as of September 15^th.  Yes, the calendar moves on even if the NHL does not.

It has been four long months since the Penguins were knocked out by the Flyers, how have we passed the time?

April 22:  Pens season officially ends at the hands of a 5-1 loss to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.  Memories of the series: Blown 3 goal leads, Neal Suspension Watch, Kris Letang shushes the crowd, Crosby fights Giroux, Collapse of the Defense/PK/Fleury, Jordan Staal’s potential assent to stardom.

This moment will live in infamy.  How will he explain that to
his kid one day?!?

April 25:  Joel Ward scores the winner for Washington to knock the defending Cup Champion Bruins out of the playoffs.  Tim Thomas gestures at his daughter to smile in the crowd while Ward gets berated by racists on the internet.

May 12:  The Conference Semifinals end as the Rangers, Devils, Kings, and Coyotes advance.  Pens fans rejoice at seeing the Flyers and Caps go down while NHL fans are confused to see the existence of a Pacific Division that plays at 10pm EST.

May 25:  The Conference Finals end as the Devils and Kings advance to the Stanley Cup Final.  NBC executives sob in a dark corner due to the unexpectedly sudden death of their tv ratings.

May 31:  Future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom retires thinking that the NHL’s postseason had already ended.

June 4:  Tim Thomas announces on facebook that he will take a year off from the NHL.  Millions realize it’s time to get off of facebook.

Yes.

June 11:  The Los Angeles Kings win the Stanley Cup in a 6-1 rout, forever boosting their fan base unless something crazy like a lockout might occur 3 months later.

June 14:  Fans go f*cking crazy about the f*cking Kings thanks to Jonathan f*cking Quick.

June 20:  The NHL wows its fans in Vegas with a horrible awards show.  Brendan Shanahan is not amused.  Malkin takes home ALL of the awards (literally, for display at the draft).

June 27:  At the NHL draft in Pittsburgh, fans go wild as Jordan Staal is traded to Carolina in the first round.  Fans later go wild again when the Trib’s Rob Rossi suggests that the team might acquire Keith Yandle from Phoenix.  Reports are later confirmed that the Pens actually just gave away Zbynek Michalek as a charitable donation to Phoenix instead.  Rumor has it, the donation was tax deductible.

June 29:  Pittsburgh agrees to a 12 year deal worth $104.4 million with Sidney Crosby.  Instead of rejoicing over a signing, Pens fans tear each other apart over whether the term was too long and what Malkin should get.

June 30:  NHL fans hit DEFCON 1 as they prepare for a free agent frenzy that is led by bidding wars for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

July 1:  The “frenzy” begins at 12:30 as Jonas Gustvasson signs with Detroit.  10 hours later, NHL fans realize they have no life in the summer.  Meanwhile, HockeyyInsiderr reports that Parise and Suter will both go to Pittsburgh, Detroit, New Jersey, Minnesota, or some mystery team over the course of a few days.

Errrrr....

July 1:  Jordan Staal signs a suspiciously familiar 10 year, $60 million extension with Carolina.  Pens fans start to consider the idea that maybe he didn’t want to stay in Pittsburgh, but go unconscious at the thought of such a concept.

July 2:  Parise Watch continues as the media and fans fight each other about where Parise will end up.  Mark Madden leads the charge with arguments suggesting that there is no way Parise would turn down Pittsburgh and Crosby.  Fans vomit.

July 3:  Everyone hits the snooze button as the watch continues.

July 4:  In a patriotic move that forces reporters to do work on a national holiday, Parise and Suter sign with the Minnesota Wild.  Pens fans call them stupid for turning down a chance to play with the magical Sidney Crosby and for the best franchise that was every created in the history of the universe.  Ha, and Tortorella thinks Pittsburgh is arrogant…

July 5:  Pittsburgh shifts to Doan watch after the Parise debacle.  Historians later determine that the Mayans were not predicting the end of the world, but actually suggesting the end date for Doan Watch.

July 12:  As the wait for Doan continues, head coach Dan Bylsma suggests that Eric Tangradi could play a role on one of the top lines as the Pens search for a winger.  Fans call for Bylsma’s head, begin questioning Shero’s abilities, and look to bang bodies.

July 14:  The NHL makes its first CBA offer to the players.  The offer restricts seemingly everything about player careers, ranging from contract lengths to brands of toothpaste.  Fans side with the players and the lockout monster dusts himself off after a 7 year slumber.

July 17:  The Flyers offer Shea Weber a massive offer sheet worth $110 million over 14 years.  The contract is truly in the spirit of the new CBA offer as it would violate every single clause of it.  Nashville has 7 days to match as they argue that they can’t afford to compete in the NHL with these player salaries.

July 23:  Scott Howson wakes up and realizes it has been roughly a month since his last trading gaffe.  Forgoing his traditional call to Philadelphia, he decides on the Rangers and sends Rick Nash to New York for role players.  This would also be the last morning that Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky would ever smile.

July 24:  Nashville matches the Weber offer sheet as the NHLPA scratches its collective head about the owners not having enough money to spend.

August 1: Doan watch continues as he is reportedly interested in every NHL, AHL, KHL, and somehow OHL team, according his agent.  He has also been spotted in 8 different cities with 4 different kids wearing 6 different jerseys at the same time and is expect to sign “soon” with all of those teams.  There is also a rumored mystery team that offers him a winning powerball ticket.

August 13:  Reports come out that HockeyyInsiderr is a 17 year old kid.  Thousands of fake accounts continue to follow him.  More concerning, thousands of real accounts continue to do so as well.

Read:  This is how much the Owners care.

August 14:  The NHLPA finally sends the NHL a counteroffer after a month of consideration.  Bettman tells the media that the NHLPA clearly put some thought into their counteroffer.  In a helpful and revolutionary method of protest, fans begin using 3 seconds of their day to type “No Lockout”, create twitter accounts, and sign petitions.  The owners use those 3 seconds to double check their bank accounts instead of paying attention or caring.

August 21:  EA Sports releases their NHL 13 demo.  The game receives universal praise for gameplay while dealing with harsh critiques about its realism with no lockout mode.

August 29:  The NHL provides the players with their 2^nd CBA offer.  Hope grows as the media leaks that the NHLPA will provide a counteroffer within a day or 2.

August 30:  NBC releases its national tv schedule for the NHL.  Advertisers take note of which 3 hour periods to avoid until 2013.

August 31:  The NHLPA meets with the NHL briefly; talks stall and break off completely with no future scheduled meetings.  The lockout monster swallows hope whole.

September 1:  An anti-lockout video goes viral as fans try to protest the upcoming lockout.  The video runs 8 minutes and 31 seconds.  NHL owners collectively earn thousands of dollars in interest during that time and laugh about it on their way to the bank.

Want the harsh truth?  Together we can't make a difference because together we don't matter.  Get over yourselves.  Also, if you cry over a lockout, I strongly urge you to reconsider what you're doing with your life.

September 4:  Gabriel Landeskog is named the captain of the Colorado Avalanche.  Pens fans have a meltdown that Crosby is no longer the youngest captain in history, arguing about Crosby’s achievements and skill level in comparison to Landeskog.  Crosby finds out he was once the youngest captain in NHL history and shrugs.

Today, September 6:  Nothing.  And nothing is anticipated until…

September 15:  Expected Lockout.

Pens End Their Season with a Whimper and Elimination

Quick Notes:

- Well, now you understand why I hated #PensIn7 so much.

- I’ll just recap the game here.  Series recap on Monday probably.  Season Eulogy shortly thereafter.  Eventually an offseason outlook.  However, I will be shifting more to Kings coverage at thehockeywriters.com too.

Result:

Flyers  5  Pens  1

Goals:  Malkin (3) (PP), unassisted

               

Interesting Stats:

- The Flyers blocked 40 shots.  That right there is a commitment to team defense and doing everything to win a game.  The Pens had that back in 2009.  They had nothing near that in this series.  It’s an attitude and a mindset; it has nothing to do with talent.

- Sidney Crosby and Brooks Orpik, arguably the 2 biggest leaders on this team, came up with a -3 each in this game.

- Kris Letang played almost 32 minutes in this game, including over 13 minutes in the 3^rd period.  He did not play those 32 minutes well.

The Good:

- Some players were good in spurts: Malkin at times, Neal, Staal, but no one was good enough throughout the game to get into this slot.

He showed more effort, but the Flyers D definitely won the battle.

The Bad:

- Well, Pens season is over, and it’s not because they weren’t the more talented team.  The Pens lost this series because the Flyers showed more focus, more preparation, and more discipline than the Pens.  That is simply unacceptable from top to bottom in the organization, and it is a VERY important lesson to a team of young stars that clearly thought they could win through anything, even a lack of work and willpower.  It is a lesson that they should have learned without this defeat though.

- Bylsma clicked the panic button almost immediately after the Flyers scored, pairing Malkin and Crosby together and changing up the lines constantly.  It was a pretty good sign right then that he didn’t know what to do and the Flyers were going to win this game.  The strength of having 3 amazing centers is that you have to force 3 different lines to play against them.  Pairing Crosby and Malkin together and then putting Staal on the 2^nd line hurt Bylsma’s depth at forward by his own doing.  Also, taking apart the team’s hottest line (Cooke-Staal-Kennedy) was a bad idea to begin with after the series they had.

This team realized their destiny quickly.

Steve Sullivan – I have praised Sullivan all series for his great effort and work ethic, but he didn’t show up in a big way today.  He gave up the puck to Giroux that led to the Flyers’ first goal 32 seconds into the game.  He also committed multiple turnovers at the blue line on the powerplay and made no impact in the offensive zone.  In a series where the average play was turnovers and disappointment from the Penguins, Sullivan reverted to the mean in Game 6.

Kris Letang – I have no clue what is going on with Kris Letang, but I hope he takes the offseason to relax and get back to normal.  He had trouble keeping pucks in at the points and his shot choices were flat out terrible.  I can recall at least 5 times where Letang shot it directly into the shins of a Flyers defender.  He also lost a foot race to Max Talbot, which is very unexpected for Letang’s skating skills.  Letang never really came through in this series as the Penguins needed him.

Sidney Crosby – Sidney?  Captain?  Where are you?  Crosby was quiet all game after getting rocked by Giroux on the very first shift.  He often looked tentative and lacked the grit he usually plays with.  I felt this was the worst game of his series and it looked like his least passionate.  Now I know Crosby cares and I’m sure he tried, but he went quiet at the wrong time for his team.  Captains can’t afford to do that.

Giroux was the clear cut winner in this battle.

The Ugly:

- The reffing was, well, inconsistent as usual, but the Pens put themselves in bad situations on their own. A Caps blog had a perfect bullet point for all your reffing qualms: “Everyone seems to want to talk about the refs rather than the hockey in this series, so this bullet is reserved for complaints about the officiating. Please choose one answer from each bracketed section and you'll have some fine boxed whine. "The [a) call; b) non-call] against [a) my team; b) their team] when [insert player name] committed [insert infraction] was [a) unconscionable; b) proof that Gary Bettman has a conspiracy against my team; c) responsible for all of the problems in Africa]. Until the NHL can get some refs that are [a) good; b) consistent; c) Vulcans], the league will always be relegated to [a) niche; b) garage; c) bush; d) Mickey Mouse] league status."”
(Credit to: Rob Parker on Jasper’s Rink: http://www.japersrink.com/2012/4/22/2967119/recap-bruins-4-capitals-3-overtime)

- Reffing aside, it was another game of bad penalties.  Cooke’s interference was simply stupid as he put himself in a bad position on the blue line where Kunitz had gotten called earlier in the series.  The Flyers scored on the ensuing PP to make it a 2-0 lead, which apparently was insurmountable today.  Niskanen also took a stupid slashing penalty late in the game, and honestly could have gotten a few more with the way he was whacking people.  The discipline and hockey IQ on this team were not impressive through this series

Marc-Andre Fleury – I am frequently the one defending Fleury, but this Game 6 reminded me so much of Game 7 vs. Montreal 2 years ago.  The first goal was a tough shot, but savable for a goalie of Fleury’s caliber who can come up with big saves.  He then had a couple of weak goals from pucks bouncing around the crease area and also a horrible shot from the blue line that he let in.  Yeah, the shot was deflected by Michalek’s stick, but it was so far out that Fleury is capable of reacting to it in time.  The defense may not have helped him, but he didn’t help himself either.

This picture...well it says a lot. 

Thoughts:

- I can simply say, I expected a stronger, harder, and more furious start from the Pens, but they didn’t play with any urgency until it was too late.

- I was amazed that Neal a) forearmed Jagr in the back of the head at the end of the 1^st period and b) got away with it.  Shining example of players not learning anything from a 1 game suspension.  I expect better conduct out of him.

- The Pens wasted a wonderful opportunity by displaying an amazing amount of immaturity early in the series.  The problem with going down 3-0 is that, no matter how talented you are, you need 4 perfect games to move on.  The Pens had 2 wonderful games, but stringing together 4 was asking for too much.  This playoff team simply did not act like the team that put up 50+ wins in the regular season, but I’ll cover that more in the series recap and season recaps later this week.

- Also, give the Flyers a lot of credit in many facets. Laviolette coached brilliantly, Giroux showed up to play his best in the biggest game of the series, and their powerplay made a joke of the Pens penalty kill.  They outplayed the Pens, no matter how much we all hate it.  They earned the right to move on.  It’s on the Penguins for not earning that right themselves.

Pens season is over.

Flyers win the series 4-2 and move on to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

Home Ice Advantage Isn't a Myth, Pens Win Game 5

Quick Notes:

- I think it’s hilarious that the most popular hashtags lately are PensIn7 and RememberTheIgloo.  If the Pens took that attitude, they would be out by now; it’s gotta be one game at a time - no looking ahead.  Also, the Pens couldn’t win a cup in the igloo and had some difficulty there aside from 2008 and 2009, but that’s what we push?  I realize they are just in fun, I just find them amusing for different reasons.

- Five games, Five times the team that scored first lost the game.  Who’s excited for the inevitable 0-0 game going to OT as neither team wants to score?

- #PensInGame6 now.

Result:

Pens  3  Flyers  2

Goals:  Sullivan (2) (PP) from Letang, Neal

            Staal (6) from Kennedy, Letang

            Kennedy (3) from Cooke, Staal

TK's been working on his vertical.

               

Interesting Stats:

- Crosby went a staggering 16 for 22 in the faceoff circle.  Despite this, Jordan Staal took the last 2 faceoffs of the game in the D zone against Giroux.  I have no clue what Bylsma was thinking on that (Staal lost both faceoffs).

- The Flyers haven’t scored a 5 on 5 goal since midway through Game 3.  The Pens should perhaps adjust to that and keep it 5 on 5 a little more.

The Good:

- Start with the easy one yet again, PENS SEASON ISN’T OVER!!!  Half way to a series win, but still a ways to go.

- This was finally a playoff type game with a playoff atmosphere in the arena.  Both teams were much better in terms of fundamentals and pace which made a huge difference in overall gameplay, as reflected in the score.

Marc-Andre Fleury – You had to assume Fleury would need to steal at least a game for the Pens to comeback in this series and he certainly put in his work in this one.  The last 3 PKs that the Pens dealt with were full of beautiful saves by Fleury.  He looked strong all game, proving that the end of Game 4 wasn’t just a fluke because of the score.  Two biggest changes in his game compared to the start of the series: 1) He challenged shooters much more and was at the top of his crease for most shots, cutting down the angles completely and 2) he allowed his athletic ability and reaction time do the work rather than overthinking and overplaying pucks.  His confidence will only go up after that game, so that is a great sign for the Pens.

What are the odds Staal is yelling "WOO!"?

Jordan Staal (with Cooke and Kennedy) – Staal put together another wonderful game, scoring on his only shot and making an impact on almost every shift he took.  Staal and the rest of the 3^rd line were by far the most successful group when it came to stretching the ice and powering through the neutral zone.  They gave the Flyers’ defensemen fits deep in the zone, which is what led to TK’s goal as all 5 Flyers dropped down to Staal and Cooke on the crease.  This line is in 2009 Cup Finals form, where they became the huge difference makers for the Pens.

Steve Sullivan – Sullivan only played 11:52 in this game, and less than 8 minutes were at even strength, but I was very impressed yet again with his defensive zone coverage when he was on the ice.  He is leading by example with just how badly he wants this playoff run to continue and how hard the team needs to work to keep it going.  His goal was of course a nice touch as he continues to help the powerplay click, but his general awareness of what is going on around him on the ice is what impresses me the most about his game right now.

Sullivan looks so tiny in Neal's arms.

Other notable performances: Despres, Niskanen, and Michalek played very very well, especially with Michalek on the PK.  It was nice to see Kunitz go a game without taking a horrendous penalty.  Dupuis had another great game in the defensive zone.

The Bad:

- The Pens REALLY need to eliminate the stupid/unnecessary/pointless penalties they are taking.  Engelland got called for a roughing penalty, mostly because he gave Briere an extra unnecessary shove down while Briere was already going down.  Malkin’s penalty on Schenn was after the play and absolutely needless.  The team knows that penalties will be called tight, so they need to adapt for how poorly the PK is playing.  Some claim Schenn dove, but in my opinion, it’s pretty hard to dive sideways when your skates are perpendicular to where you are being hit from.  He was off-balance, so it looked worse, but that was hardly a dive.  Finally, TK took an awful retaliation penalty as he broke his stick on a slash.  The team needs to show more discipline to survive right now.

Hitting? okay.  Driving him into the ice?  Probably a penalty.

Kris Letang – Letang did have 2 assists and has looked pretty good in the offensive zone, but his defensive zone coverage and especially his puck movement has been off.  His pass up to Staal was simply brilliant to set Staal on a 2 on 1 which he scored on.  For that one play though, Letang countered it with at least 3 or 4 turnovers and bad plays in his own zone.  Letang is smarter and better than he is playing right now; we’re all just waiting to see it.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin simply played one of his worst games of the series and the season.  He took 2 completely unnecessary penalties and had an astounding 5 giveaways.  To put that into perspective, most box scores have players with at most 2 or 3 giveaways.  I already discussed how the Schenn hit was needless; his second penalty was after he lost the puck and interfered with Couturier.  Everything Malkin did in Game 4 he did not follow up on in Game 5.  He went back to selfish puck possession and trying to skate through 2 or 3 guys.  He needs to give the puck up more to earn more space from the Flyers D if he wants to keep playing this style.  The stupid penalties just have to stop.  Also, it'd be awesome if he didn't steamroll Crosby, whoops.  More on Malkin later as well.

The Ugly:

- The penalty kill needs to stop leaning on Fleury completely to survive.  He was brilliant at the end of the game, which was necessary because the PK was pretty much useless.  The first goal that the PK allowed was because of nice Dupuis screen which had Fleury leaning the wrong way.  The second one came during a 5 on 3, where Orpik was essentially caught on a 2 on 1 at the crease and the Flyers made some nice plays to score there.  The Pens still look a little too passive on the PK (5 on 3 aside) and really need to start challenging the points as hard as the Flyers have done to the Pens PP.  No matter how bad anyone is playing, this kill rate is pathetic.  This is all with the PK actually improving in this game to stopping 3 out of 5 instead of the usual 2 out of 5.   

Help this man!!!

Thoughts:

- Don’t expect the lineup to change at all.  Bylsma will stick to what’s working as long as it works, he hates changing his lineups during winning streaks.  So it’s pretty safe to say 7 D, Tangradi still in (and he has earned it) for Game 6.

- Both goalies played much better in Game 5, but Bryzgalov can still be beaten more than he was in Game 5.  He looked very shaky with his rebounds and the Pens didn’t test him as much going side to side in this game.  I was rather disappointed with the low shot total for the Pens, the need to attack Bryz harder with his rebound control as shaky as it is right now.

- The reffing was inconsistent as usual.  But my problem with it was actually how the Flyers were screwed over.  Brooks Orpik held JVR for a solid 20 seconds late in the 3^rd period in front of the net, and then knocked him over from behind.  Easily could have been one, if not 2 penalties.  When JVR was knocked over, he ended up hitting Letang in front of him and people clamored that Letang showed great restraint.  Letang showed great restraint?  JVR should have attacked everyone for the abuse he took on that play.  I have no clue how Orpik got away without being called for all kinds of penalties on that shift.

Orpik was getting away with murder on the crease all night.

- Though the Malkin hit on Couturier was clean, the Flyers are still quite upset about his elbow on Grossmann and many people started talking about Malkin’s track record.  If you have been reading these posts, you probably know my thoughts, if not, check out Game 2’s recap.  Malkin isn’t the cleanest player by a longshot, he is very sneaky about getting hits in and tends to do a lot behind the play.  He’s a brilliant player, but he’s very emotional and that’s going to catch up with him eventually.  I think it’s safe to say that the league will be watching for it right now, so he needs to be careful moving forward and tone it down a bit.  He’s probably overdue for supplemental discipline already.

- That brings me to the Torres suspension.  25 games is quite a bit, but I honestly don’t care about this suspension one way or another.  The key will be how the next 2-3 suspensions turn out.  If the next few are 1 game apiece, then players won’t learn anything.  The NHL’s inconsistencies in this department make the next few rulings incredibly important in regards to taking them seriously.

- Finally, so glad that Hartnell scored and we didn’t lose – making me both right from my last game recap and happy that it didn’t hurt us.

Keep quiet...

Keys to Game 6:

- Fleury is looking sharp, so the team simply has to help him out by taking fewer stupid penalties and strengthening up the PK.  It’s time for the special teams to actually take over a game on both sides because it’s damn tough to win a series while losing the special teams battle.  The PK MUST pull its weight to survive Game 6 in Philly.

Flyers lead series 3-2.  Next Game: 4/22 @ Phi, 12pm, NBC

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

Start Strong, Relax, Blow Lead, Repeat. Pens Lose.

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals: #4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers lead series 1-0

New recap format for the playoffs, critique as you wish:

Final:  Flyers  4  Pens 3 (OT)

Goals:

1-0 Pens, 3:43 1^st Period

- With the Sullivan-Crosby-Dupuis line out, the Pens put a lot of pressure on the Flyers deep in the offensive zone.  The puck gets back to Kris Letang at the point and he takes a shot which ultimately hits both Pascal Dupuis and Flyers’ defenseman Nicklas Grossmann.  Grossman can’t find the puck at his feet, but Crosby can and lifts a backhander perfectly over Ilya Bryzgalov for a 1-0 lead.

2-0 Pens, 7:49 1^st Period

- Kris Letang gets the puck from the defensive zone up to Jordan Staal who is rushing through the neutral zone.  Staal enters the Flyers offensive zone with Tyler Kennedy streaking down towards the slot with only defenseman Andreas Lilja between them.  Staal sends a bouncing pass over that gets past Lilja and Kennedy hits it perfectly to beat Bryzgalov for the 2-0 lead.

3-0 Pens, 19:23 1^st Period

- On a seemingly harmless play, the Crosby line is again chasing a puck behind the net in the offensive zone.  Sullivan gets to the puck and backhands it short side back to the slot as he skates behind the net.  Dupuis skates in front ahead of Grossmann and hits it where it takes a few bounces and trickles in the net past Bryzgalov to make it 3-0 very late in the 1^st period.

Doesn't count to the streak, but Dupuis is still red hot.

3-1 Pens, 6:22 2^nd Period

- Joe Vitale overskates a puck in the neutral zone and loses control of it.  Brayden Schenn picks up the puck and passes it up to Briere, who is offsides by a stride but the call is missed.  Brooks Orpik is out of position at the blue line and is stuck on the outside of Briere where he can’t get in his way.  Briere goes into the offensive zone with a partial breakaway and beats Fleury to cut the lead to 3-1.

3-2 Pens, 9:17 3^rd Period

- Danny Briere skates the puck from behind the net around the corner up the boards and turns to make a seemingly harmless shot on net.  Crosby has a full screen on Fleury though and the puck goes right past Fleury on an odd angle shot to cut the lead to 3-2.

Upper back contusion, eh?

3-3 Tie, 12:23 3^rd Period

- Brooks Orpik is in the box for a questionable interference penalty (maybe roughing, not interference, puck was there).  Jagr does a great job of bringing the puck into the zone and leaves it for Hartnell at the point.  Hartnell shoots it towards Schenn in the high slot, who redirects it past Fleury to tie the game.

4-3 Flyers, 2:23 Overtime

- Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy miscommunicate on who will retrieve a puck in the corner and neither one clears the zone.  The puck ends up crossing across in front of Fleury where Letang again misses a chance to clear and Fleury cannot cover it.  The puck ends up getting down to Matt Carle, who finds a wide open Jakub Voracek on the backside of the net, uncovered by Staal who shoots it into a basically wide open net.  Game over, Flyers win.

Positive Takeaways:

- The first period was perfect.  The Pens dominated in puck possession, hitting, and obviously on the scoreboard with a 3-0 lead.  Philly was not ready for the pace that the Pens came out with, nor the crowd at Consol which was simply raucous to start.  The Pens even survived the usual turning point for the Flyers, which was Laviolette’s timeout.  They dominated every facet of the 1^st period from top to bottom. 

- Tyler Kennedy had a great game aside from that very last gaffe where he and Letang couldn’t decide who was going to chase that puck in overtime.  Aside from his goal, he was skating very hard to the puck and made some great little plays, like diving to clear a puck from the defensive zone.  His effort was easily the best on the team and his shots were spot on net.  TK showed up to play.

After harping on him all season, who cares if he plays like this in the playoffs.

- Despite allowing 4 goals in the end, Fleury made some fantastic saves, including a couple great chances from the slot and Jagr on a breakaway.  The Pens could have lost much earlier and much quicker with how they turtled from the 2^nd period on, but Fleury kept that one going to overtime at least (not that it matters anymore, no points for that sadly).

Negative Takeaways:

- The turnovers in the defensive zone were horrible as usual.  Fleury made some great point blank saves because of turnovers, especially by Martin and Letang around the net.  The Pens also failed to clear the puck at least 3 times where they tried to wrap it around the boards without looking at the fact that a Flyers forward was on the boards waiting for the puck.  The Pens simply became predictable in their own end and Laviolette’s team was looking for it.

- Special teams just didn’t do the job and that will usually equate to a loss.  The powerplay was 0 for 3 and the penalty kill was 0 for 1.  The powerplay again looks great on the rush but much worse once they have set up.  At one point, Letang and Crosby were a foot away from each other on the same point looking for a pass.  This powerplay set up still doesn’t work as a natural powerplay, it’s just so talented that it puts up goals despite itself sometimes.

- The defensive coverage in the slot and around the net was poor again.  The Schenn goal is tough to defend for the PK, so I won’t harp on that, but the Voracek goal to win the game was inexcusable and somewhat foreseeable.  The Pens got caught puck watching and that is what is happening to most of the defensemen in the slot when they blow their coverages.  Head on a swivel is a concept that has evaded this team over the past month.  Their D coverage in the 2^nd and 3^rd periods reminded me of a relapse to the Islanders games, which is a problem that should not exist for Game 1 in the playoffs.

Jagr all alone in front, I'm sure that's safe to leave alone all series.

Thoughts:

- One thing I took note of which surprised me was that when a defenseman is carrying the puck up, it has become very rare for a Pens forward to drop back in coverage for him.  I had recaps around midseason that praised the Penguins for covering back perfectly, but somehow that has disappeared.  The surprising part to me in this one was that it was Staal’s line that wasn’t covering (mostly when Martin or Letang carried).  If your best defensive forward line isn’t covering for the defensemen, how can you expect anyone else to.

- I’m starting to notice that most of the people who boo Talbot are the people who wouldn’t even be hockey fans had he not had the Carcillo fight and scored in the Finals for the Pens…ironic, isn’t it?

- Yes, Briere was offsides.  Yes, the Orpik penalty was a bit questionable.  But regardless, the Pens couldn’t maintain a 3 goal lead, or a 2 goal lead after the offside goal and they couldn’t kill off the one penalty they had.  Anyone who thought the Pens would escape this full game without a penalty after having 3 powerplays is crazy, that’s just a rarity.  Regardless of referee influence, the Pens didn’t execute when they needed to and that’s the reason for the loss, not the refs.

Complain all you want, this goal wasn't the problem.

- Not that Sid had a great faceoff night, but in terms of the powerplay, I do not understand why Malkin takes faceoffs and Crosby does not.  Crosby is the better faceoff guy in general and the powerplay supposedly moves so much that they could rotate to whichever positions they wanted.  I just don’t see why you have a worse faceoff guy in the circle when there’s another one at the point.  Let Crosby take the faceoff and then get back to the point.  (Actually, split the 2 up on the powerplay, but I’ll leave that one for another game)

- I don't understand the line matchups that Bylsma picked at all.  I felt like Laviolette was picking them to be honest. Couturier is the Flyers' best defensive center and Bylsma kept putting Malkin's line against him. I couldn't comprehend that decision at all.  Malkin seemed pretty non-existent throughout the game and I would say that is a big reason why.

- Best Pens: Kennedy, Dupuis, Fleury.  

-Worst Pens: Michalek, Vitale, Malkin

Keys to Game 2:

- Another quick start is necessary but the pressure has to be sustained.  A great first 20 minutes is worthless if the team won’t put any pressure on for the last 40 minutes.  The Pens need to understand (and hopefully learned) that no lead against the Flyers is safe.  The Flyers won over 40% of the games in which they were scored on 1^st, there’s a reason for that stat.

- Slot coverage.  I want to see a game where the Flyers do not get any 1 on 1 chances with Fleury from the slot or crease area.  Fleury is a great goaltender, but no goalie can survive the amount of unobstructed chances that the Pens give away in close.  Heads on a swivel, the Pens have to keep track of what is going on around the net.

Maybe you should have covered that guy Staal...

- Powerplay success.  The powerplay has to score to win.  The team had a chance to put the Flyers away for real with their PP opportunities but instead gave momentum to the Flyers.  In the playoffs, a failed powerplay is not just a missed opportunity, it is a massive boost for the opponent and the Pens gave the Flyers plenty of momentum to work with.

Flyers lead the Series 1-0.  Next Game: Friday, 4/13, 7:30pm.  LET’S GO PENS!

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