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Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger •
The Penguins seemed to sleep through their alarm this evening, because they definitely showed up late for their game against the Phoenix Coyotes. Their first period looked even worse than the 60 minutes that they played in San Jose on Tuesday night and they managed to get out shot 12-2 in the process.
They did come out with all guns blazing in the second period and unleashed a barrage of offense not seen thus far during the young season. Evgeni Malkin’s 9 shot outburst helped the team outshoot the ‘Yotes 18-8. Unfortunately, they still found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-1 score when the horn blew to signal the end of two.
Things didn’t get any rosier in the third period as the Penguins squandered several opportunities to tie the game. Their fate was sealed when Miro Satan was whistled for hooking and misconduct penalties and they lost their captain to an undisclosed injury.
The Coyotes opened the game up as Kevin Porter scored his first NHL goal and the victory was clinched by a Shane Doan empty netter.
Crosby left the ice after taking only one shift in the third period and seemed pretty frustrated after the game when he met with the media. He talked of his status being “day to day” and cited discomfort as his reason for shutting it down tonight. (EDIT - I felt I needed to clarify my comments here...I was sharing the wording that Sid used to describe the situation in his post game comments...he is far to competitive to pull himself from a game if he wasn't truly injured. The league now allows teams and players to keep the true nature of their injuries under wraps and that I what I chalk these comments up to.)
Crosby also disagreed with team mates assertions that they are not buying into the system and summed the team woes up to a lack of urgency.
Jordan Staal played another lackluster game. I just do not understand what the malfunction is, but he is clearly frustrated himself. He missed a tap in from right in front of the ‘Yotes net during a power play and sort of stopped playing and looked to the heavens. His bouncing back is vital to the team turning things around this season.
Evgeni Malkin was the lone bright spot for the Penguins on this night; he paced the team with 10 shots and really seemed to have extra hop in his step. Could another Sidney Crosby injury be the kick start the team needs to gel? Time will tell...
Chris Minard didn’t look out of place in the NHL and he seems to have progressed significantly. His shifts were definitely a lot more noticeable than during his call up last season. He also looked a lot faster.
Jay Caufield echoed the sentiments from my earlier blog on the Penguins post game show...he doesn’t like anything about the Penguins current line combos except Malkin and Sykora together. He specifically criticized the selection of line mates for Sidney Crosby and feels that the team has got to utilize Miro Satan in that role until they find a better option.
The Coyotes are teetering on the edge of being a very dangerous team. They have great young talent, a very good goaltender and veteran players who can chart the course. Olli Jokinen was a huge get for this team and he just may break his “never been in the playoffs” curse this year.
There isn’t much more that can be said about the Penguins at this point. They have got to find a way to overcome their injuries and get back to playing the style of hockey that they are capable of. They are looking lethargic, slow and frustrated for large chunks of time and it is Michel Therrien’s job to find the answer. I hope that he finds the solution before Ray Shero has to intercede.
More tomorrow...
They did come out with all guns blazing in the second period and unleashed a barrage of offense not seen thus far during the young season. Evgeni Malkin’s 9 shot outburst helped the team outshoot the ‘Yotes 18-8. Unfortunately, they still found themselves on the wrong end of a 2-1 score when the horn blew to signal the end of two.
Things didn’t get any rosier in the third period as the Penguins squandered several opportunities to tie the game. Their fate was sealed when Miro Satan was whistled for hooking and misconduct penalties and they lost their captain to an undisclosed injury.
The Coyotes opened the game up as Kevin Porter scored his first NHL goal and the victory was clinched by a Shane Doan empty netter.
Crosby left the ice after taking only one shift in the third period and seemed pretty frustrated after the game when he met with the media. He talked of his status being “day to day” and cited discomfort as his reason for shutting it down tonight. (EDIT - I felt I needed to clarify my comments here...I was sharing the wording that Sid used to describe the situation in his post game comments...he is far to competitive to pull himself from a game if he wasn't truly injured. The league now allows teams and players to keep the true nature of their injuries under wraps and that I what I chalk these comments up to.)
Crosby also disagreed with team mates assertions that they are not buying into the system and summed the team woes up to a lack of urgency.
Jordan Staal played another lackluster game. I just do not understand what the malfunction is, but he is clearly frustrated himself. He missed a tap in from right in front of the ‘Yotes net during a power play and sort of stopped playing and looked to the heavens. His bouncing back is vital to the team turning things around this season.
Evgeni Malkin was the lone bright spot for the Penguins on this night; he paced the team with 10 shots and really seemed to have extra hop in his step. Could another Sidney Crosby injury be the kick start the team needs to gel? Time will tell...
Chris Minard didn’t look out of place in the NHL and he seems to have progressed significantly. His shifts were definitely a lot more noticeable than during his call up last season. He also looked a lot faster.
Jay Caufield echoed the sentiments from my earlier blog on the Penguins post game show...he doesn’t like anything about the Penguins current line combos except Malkin and Sykora together. He specifically criticized the selection of line mates for Sidney Crosby and feels that the team has got to utilize Miro Satan in that role until they find a better option.
The Coyotes are teetering on the edge of being a very dangerous team. They have great young talent, a very good goaltender and veteran players who can chart the course. Olli Jokinen was a huge get for this team and he just may break his “never been in the playoffs” curse this year.
There isn’t much more that can be said about the Penguins at this point. They have got to find a way to overcome their injuries and get back to playing the style of hockey that they are capable of. They are looking lethargic, slow and frustrated for large chunks of time and it is Michel Therrien’s job to find the answer. I hope that he finds the solution before Ray Shero has to intercede.
More tomorrow...
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