Pittsburgh’s Perfect Ten

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won six in a row, eight of the last nine and when five-for-five in their most recent road trip yielding them ten points out of a possible ten. Since hiring Bylsma, Pittsburgh is 8-1-1 with an increase in the level of scoring, a rise in offensive zone pressure and spectacular goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury. Not only did the road trip go very well for the Penguins but in those five games, four of the teams are either in a playoff spot or are tied in points with a team who is. The addition of Chris Kunitz has been priceless thus far as he has netted three goals in four games and five points overall. Kunitz gives them a presence in front of the net they missed dearly with the loss of Ryan Malone. Along with Kunitz was the acquisition of Billy Guerin who has provided invaluable experience and a right-handed forward for a power play that has improved with every game since the return of Sergei Gonchar. Pittsburgh’s power play scoring has not exactly been stellar, but the amount of opportunities they are creating is more than they have in months. The amount of movement for those with and without the puck has increased which is a substantial change from recent months and will only lead to more scoring which is key to the Penguin’s continued success.

As great as the last ten games have gone for Pittsburgh they have needed to use every point gained to reach a playoff position. Right now they stand in eighth with 76 points tied with Florida and New York ahead of them and are only one point behind fifth place Montreal. However, Carolina and Buffalo are breathing down their necks and even a minor slip up can spoil this ten game party. Thus far the trades have been great, the coaching move is paying dividends and Fleury has elevated his game. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh they cannot celebrate their recent success too much because they almost have to go 8-1-1 in their NEXT ten in order to ensure themselves a playoff spot. The Penguins have certainly proven that this new look team can make a lot of noise in the NHL’s second season; but for now… they just have to get there.

Role Players are Golden Commodities

In all sports there is always talk about the superstars and what they bring to teams. A lot of fans—teams for that matter—expect superstars to be super heroes. Like all sports people see superstars on a team and assess their team’s chances based on—essentially—the big names alone. Now that the NHL season has hit February a lot of teams who were successful last year are learning—if they didn’t know already—how much impact a role player can have on a team’s success or lack thereof. Two great examples of that are the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.

Granted, the Penguins lost Marian Hossa in the offseason but even before him the Penguins were a pretty good team; but along with Hossa they lost a number of role players and now they find themselves struggling just to get into the playoffs. Pittsburgh is really missing the toughness of Georges Laraque but also his ability to handle the puck down low in the offensive zone which really helps protect leads, something the Penguins have really struggled to do. Another thing the Penguins have not had a lot of are “garbage” goals in front of the net because nobody is willing to stand in front of the net to take that punishment the way Ryan Malone did. A strong presence in front of the net for any team is invaluable and it was almost poetic for Ryan Malone to score one of those “garbage” goals against the Penguins in Tampa’s 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh last week. Likewise, Jarkko Ruutu’s ability to not only draw penalties but frustrate the other team getting them to focus on things other than winning the game was priceless. Pittsburgh has a pretty good chance of making the playoffs with the team they have assembled but they would be in better shape with at least those three guys back in all likelihood.

The free-falling Montreal Canadiens role player issues focus mainly on losing Mark Streit to the Islanders. With Streit the Canadiens had an incredible power play that made teams who took penalties against them pay dearly and pay often. In the offseason the Canadiens lost Streit and now their power play is one of the worst in the league. The advantage of the power play is obvious but it is an even bigger deal when a team thrives on it because when its performance goes down the team is less likely to be successful. Since their power play is no longer lethal, the Canadiens needed other guys to accelerate their respective games to be successful and for most of the season they got that. Robert Lang became the team’s leading scorer providing them with more than they could have possibly hoped for from him. Along with Lang’s play Carey Price’s game had really improved and that allowed Montreal to stay afloat. But now Robert Lang is out for the season, Price has been struggling with his confidence and Kovalev’s play has been below average all year. As a result of these recent events the Canadiens are in a free-fall and coming dangerously close to missing the playoffs. Now, both Pittsburgh and Montreal know the value of role players more than ever before.

Talent Not Enough for Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have two starters at the NHL All-Star game later this month but that’s about all the team has going for itself at the moment. Pittsburgh has lost four in-a-row and only won 5 games in December of the 14 played and thus far January does not look good either. Malkin and Crosby are both in the top three in scoring in the league but winning is so much more than simply putting up good numbers; there are, after all, OTHER parts of the game that equate to winning. Much like in the playoffs it is important to have strong role players and more importantly big bruisers to: A. keep the other team from beating up on your team’s stars without being punished for their actions and B. to wear down the other team much like an run-game does in football so that by the end of the game your team has stronger legs than the other as well as stronger legs as the season progresses. Goaltending has not been strong for the Penguins either but the biggest problem is not getting enough from big, tough guys. Eric Goddard and Matt Cooke do a bit of that but it’s not deterring other teams from inflicting punishment on the likes of Crosby and Malkin.

Also, the Penguins can no longer slow the game down with big guys who can protect the puck and burn time the way Georges Laraque could for them last year. Pittsburgh’s power play lacks a guy who can stand in front of the net and take punishment while giving the opposing goaltending grief while getting a stick on pucks to get a tip goal or clean up the garbage on a rebound (Ryan Malone anyone?). These are all things Pittsburgh had last year and to some degree early on but now they are trying to use their skill and talent to push forward and get them out of the slump but it is not and will not work. If Pittsburgh happens to make the playoffs without correcting these problems then they will be the very reason the East winners of a year ago will win NOTHING this year.