It’s Time the Pens Get Back to Basics
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First, some good news. Kris Letang is working out on the ice, reports the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
No Sidney Crosby, no problem. No Kris letang, no Jordan Staal, no James Neal? Who needs ‘em, the Penguins can get by without these stars by playing sticking to a simple defensive game. Either that or their season is done…
Right now the Pens don’t seem to be playing with much focus. Perhaps that will change when the team realizes that it doesn’t have the offensive weaponry to compete the way it usually does. The scoring is gone and Pittsburgh must play together as a unit for 60 minutes to achieve the wins it desires.
Evgeni Malkin looked good with Tyler Kennedy and Steve Sullivan the first few days of training camp. Perhaps those three will be reunited on a line. Chris Kunitz is the obvious choice to stick with Malkin, but coach Bylsma needs to show some creativity.
Some folks believe Bylsma’s comeuppance might stem from his adherence to a similar on-ice philosophy regardless of his personnel. “Get to your game” is a battle cry that entails getting the puck out of your end quickly and keeping the puck in the opponent’s end for as long as possible, taking as many shots as possible. But the system’s effectiveness depends upon the players carrying out the system. Right now they’re not very good.
Defenseman Brooks Orpik spoke his thoughts about the team after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to New Jersey. "We give up a couple of goals, and everybody's attitude [stinks] afterward," Orpik said in the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "You can see on the ice, our energy starts out great, then they score a couple of goals and instead of getting [angry] and battling back, we just come out flatter and kind of feel sorry for ourselves, hang our heads.
"We start taking stupid, lazy penalties and start getting off our game plan and doing whatever we want."
Interestingly, the Penguins have scored the first goal in three of their last four games, all losses.
Can the Pens rally around a depleted lineup the way they did in the second half of 2010-11? Last year, the team lost Sidney Crosby and Malkin but had the services of most other complementary options. This year, Malkin is healthy (still) but Crosby and Letang are out while Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek seem to be operating at less than 100 percent.
Kennedy and Dustin Jeffrey might hold the key to the Penguins’ survival while the stars heal. Kennedy contributed with 14 power-play points in 2010-11, finishing with 45 points (21, 24) in 80 games. He currently has five goals and 19 points in 29 contests, with a shooting percentage only a defenseman could love at 5.1 percent. Kennedy takes too many long-range shots to ever shoot 20 percent, but a year ago he chipped in with a nine percent mark.
Ten Pens players average more time on the man advantage than Kennedy (1:56 TOI), but that’s got to change and it will.
The team also needs to look at bringing someone that can win faceoffs. Joe Vitale has done an admirable job inside the faceoff circle, but without Sidney Crosby and Mark Letestu the team is lacking in that area. The Rangers won 70 and 62 percent of the draws against Pittsburgh in the first two meetings. Teams can’t possess the puck if they can’t win faceoffs.
In looking at potential trade targets, Marty Reasoner stood out. The Pens tried getting him at last season’s deadline but he went to the Islanders. Reasoner must have known Pittsburgh could use him because he broke his hand in a game Friday and is out indefinitely. Moving on, Eric Belanger’s name has been bounced around. Belanger is already 34, however, and has two more years of a cap hit at $1.75 million per year. Boyd Gordon has a hit of $1.35 million this season and next. Ex-Penguin Dominic Moore might be a decent candidate. Moore is signed by Tampa Bay for 2011-12 only at $1.1 million.
Perhaps a career AHLer could do the trick in the mold of Mike Zigomanis. The AHL Web site doesn’t list faceoff wins and losses as a statistic, however.
The Penguins need to play with better defensively, they need to win more faceoffs and they need to play smarter. During one Pittsburgh power play Saturday, the New Jersey Devils created four short-handed breakaway attempts.
The Pens can survive this run of bad luck and poor performance. The chips are down and some observers feel the season is over. But remember that the team was no higher than 11th in the Eastern Conference in January of 2008-09 and things turned out alright. Maybe Crosby doesn’t come back at all in 2011-12, but maybe he does. Would he best serve the team now or in March and April? Same goes for Letang. Staal and Neal will be back. Michalek, Martin and Orpik will be closer to 100 percent.
Boston is the best team in the East right now, but much can happen between now and season’s end. Teams will rise and teams will fall. It probably isn’t the time to throw in the white towel.
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RINK LINKS
Slumping Penguins lose more stars, the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Fate of depleted Penguins could rest on status of Sidney Crosby, the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
Checking in on the Baby Pens, from the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Goalie prospect Brad Thiessen has struggled this year for the Baby Pens.
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Treasure Life!
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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