Have you ever gotten a feeling when you talk to somebody that what they’re telling you and what you’re feeling from them don’t match up? Lip service is clearly a skill that defines people. It sounds great, and maybe the first few times it’s used it sounds real, but the longer you inspect it, the more it seems to fail under any kind of pressure. Case in point the Pittsburgh Penguins; they were sold to us as the best team in the east, and yet, for a pretty good portion of the playoffs thus far, this team has appeared pretty pedestrian.
This team shouldn’t have these problems as often as they do. They’re an elite team, and pedestrian doesn’t even begin to cut it. General Manager Ray Shero, one of the only guys you can’t hold responsible for this being the case, went out and got three players of pretty good mettle: Jarome Iginla, Douglas Murray and Brenden Morrow. Iginla and Morrow were the respective captains for their team – leaders, and yet, I would say that leadership is one area that is failing this team right now.
This team has bought into its own hype. They believe they’re so good, that some nights, they just don’t feel like playing their system that got them to this point. They believe they have enough good players that they can overcome anything. You know that old adage “there is no ‘I’ in team?” Well, these Penguins have a tendency to forget that on a regular basis. When they lose, you pretty much always hear the same thing coming out verbatim: “We didn’t get to our game tonight.”
That phrase and that style of play is one reason I don’t think Dan Bylsma is the right man to lead this team. I will long hold to the belief that all he did was take Michel Therrien’s team, and turn them loose in the playoffs in 2009, the year they last won the Stanley Cup. They had discipline from Therrien’s reign, and they had enough offensive firepower that they were the best team that season, but every season since, this team has fallen well short of expectations.
Bylsma is known as a player’s coach, which I take to read as he’s extremely unlikely to ever make the hard call. Sometimes, when you’re the boss, you need to make the hard call for the betterment of the team. A good coach wouldn’t accept “we didn’t get to our game tonight” as an answer so often, let alone advocate it. Sometimes that means benching your biggest offenders. Yes, that can cause unhappiness in the ranks, but it sends a message that players are accountable. Bylsma likes doing that to rookies, not so much to his veterans, most of whom know better, and most of whom never miss so much as the next shift… so much for accountability.
Last night, the Penguins were 30 seconds away from going up 3-0 in their series with Ottawa. I’m not even going to pretend that they played well enough at that point to win, and ultimately, a game tying goal and close to 30 minutes of overtime later, they failed to win. Good teams find ways to win, bad teams make excuses.
On the game tying goal, I watched Chris Kunitz, usually a hard-working and reliable player, fail to skate hard into his own zone, completely lacking any effort. Would it have made a difference? More than likely not, but the effort he showed – or lack thereof – spoke volumes: this team is content to rest on their heels because they think they’re going to win, and utterly lack the killer instinct needed to ensure it happens.
They’re not hungry. You hear things like “these guys are hungry” a lot when teams want to win. They’re focused. They’re relentless. They stop at nothing to win. This team acquired three guys prior to the NHL trade deadline who had never won a Stanley Cup before. They claim they want to win another Stanley Cup. Yet more often than not, this team can’t put together an effort worthy of the team that they should be. They’re deep. They have enough talent to blow through most of the Eastern Conference. They should make the finals in 16 games, that’s allowing for four losses spread over three series.
The Islanders were green, and Pittsburgh should have put them down in 5 games. The truth is, a few more battle tested players on that team, and the Penguins might not have escaped that series. Ottawa couldn’t beat Pittsburgh in the regular season, and while they’ve only managed to win one game at this point, it’s getting clear that the Penguins aren’t learning from their mistakes. If the Penguins come out in Game 4 with the same kind of intensity that they had last night, Ottawa is going to tie this series.
That’s why I suggest altering the lineup again. Obviously, you can’t bench people like Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang or Chris Kunitz, guys who clearly didn’t play well last game.
Malkin is both brilliant as a player, and maddening. One shift he can come out and make five excellent defensive plays and score a goal with the greatest of ease, and the next shift he can cough up the puck and give it away for a goal easier than taking candy from a baby. Consistency clearly is an issue. Letang needs to find his focus. He, like Malkin, has good shifts and bad ones, but lately, he’s coming apart a little bit, and frustration is taking a toll. Kunitz I never expected, until I watched the video of the Alfredsson goal, and was stunned he didn’t put in more effort to get back. No, none of those players are individually responsible for the loss last night, but their play points to a team that isn’t putting in their best effort to win.
I suggest replacing Tomas Vokoun with Marc-Andre Fleury. First off, no, Vokoun doesn’t deserve to be benched. However, seeing as you can’t afford to bench one of your top players, this is a move that can be made. In fact, if Bylsma holds to the theory of playing ‘the hot hand’ than this would mean that this move is likely. Plus, if you look back at the first game Vokoun started, the team played excellently in front of him, and got him a shutout. This team won’t win a Stanley Cup with Tomas Vokoun as your starter. Vokoun can carry you as far as the Finals, but against a team like Chicago, you need somebody to steal a game. That somebody is Fleury, not Vokoun.
Fleury needs to play again soon, but the Penguins have the right idea in playing both. Both are capable of winning games, and both might be needed at various points as we go along. The Penguins need a shot of reality, sitting Vokoun, who did everything in his power to help them win four, almost five games, would be a shot. The team will acknowledge it wasn’t Vokoun’s fault, and that they didn’t play like they should have. History says the next game played, their effort would be much better, and they should put Ottawa on the brink of elimination.
That shouldn’t be their only move. It’s clear now that Jussi Jokinen was injured from the hit he absorbed in Round 1. It would appear that Joe Vitale is injured as well, since he was a late scratch. Tanner Glass played well enough on the fourth line if you needed some grit, but why couldn’t you play Beau Bennett if your first choice was Jokinen? Bennett playing on one of those bottom two lines would add another shot of offense into the lineup.
Sitting Derek Engelland, a move I was happy with, was a step in the right direction on defense. Engelland is a great nuclear deterrent during the regular season, but he’s not effective in the playoffs. He’s too slow, and too prone to taking costly penalties to prevent goals. Why not play Simon Despres? Despres is a better defenseman now than Engelland, and if he continues to develop, will be better than a lot of them by this time next year. Matt Niskanen played badly last game as well, how about you sit Niskanen and play Despres for a game? That would be an easy call to make if Bylsma were a good coach, but again, I feel Bylsma isn’t in the correct mindset to make that call.
Being a coach is hard in the NHL. You’re the focal point more often than not. If the players aren’t getting it done, you’re the guy who’s told to take a walk. Bylsma has allowed his team to be listless for too long. A good coach would have demanded better, and held his players to that, benching them if they don’t listen – even his stars. Nobody is above the team, especially this time of year. If Ottawa gets enough of a foothold, and Pittsburgh doesn’t know how to respond to adversity when they’re tested, Ottawa can eliminate the Penguins – they shouldn’t – but they can. If the Penguins fall this round, I have to think Bylsma will go. The wrath of the fan base will be incredible of this team fails to live up to expectations four playoffs in a row.
Now is his time to prove that he’s the coach that the franchise thinks he is, and not the one that the fan base fears he is. Make changes. Make sure the team knows what’s at stake. If they don’t get it, don’t be afraid to sit people. Here’s the thing – everybody in the world can complain before the puck is dropped, but if your team wins, most of them won’t remember the details. The time for hand holding and kid gloves is over. It’s time to put up or shut up. Is this team as good as they are on paper? Are they as good as the hype? Or are they a loosely constructed team of misfit toys that don’t play as well together as they should. The time to decide is now.
BROCK'S 101 PROOF 