The Pittsburgh Penguins "earned" one point out of a possible four in their home and home series with the New York Islanders. The New York Islanders were the better team both nights and displayed why they are for real. As somebody who was bullish on the Islanders success earlier before the season started this does not come as a surprise. Their offseason roster moves have been terrific. You can see how getting a few competent defensemen has transformed their forwards ability to play with speed.
To highlight just how bad the Penguins were against the Islanders I am going to show a few different things on the possession front.
Here is a before and after shot of the league leaders in Score-Adjusted Fenwick
The Islanders did a number on the Penguins in both games. The Penguins really only played one good period which was period 2 in the Friday night matchup.
The Islanders are for real.
The Penguins were one of the best shot suppression teams in the NHL before the Islanders home and home. To put into perspective how successful the Islanders were against the Penguins I have calculated what the Penguins average Fenwick against totals were for their first 17 games and then what they were for this weekend's Islander games.
The first 17 games of the season the Penguins averaged a Fenwick against of 28.3. That is really good. Remember that total isn't shot on goals, it is shot attempts that are not blocked.
The past two games the Islanders registered 48 Fenwick attempts on Friday and 42 on Saturday. Friday was an overtime game and the Islanders registered 2 Fenwick attempts during the extra session so even if you threw the extra time out of the equation the Penguins would still have given up a season high 46 attempts against.
Prior to the Islanders home and home the most Fenwick attempts against a team got against Pittsburgh was 35. This was in the Jets game which was an overtime game (Jets had 3 attempts in OT).
There isn't just one answer to why the Islanders were able to find that kind of success. A lot of it has to do with the quality of the Islanders team, but some of it is on the Penguins end as well. Losing Pascal Dupuis is an obvious place to start. The line combos are going to suffer without a player like that available.
The Crosby line hasn't done anything with Blake Comeau, he is a better fit with Malkin, but even more so a better fit for the bottom six. Nick Spaling isn't a top six forward regardless of which center he plays with.
The Penguins have two of the best possession drivers in the NHL on their roster, Mike Johnston will have to maximize their potential to do just that moving forward even if it means the third line loses some of its ability to chip in offensively.
The Penguins aren't in a position like they were last year where Tanner Glass and Craig Adams were seeing third line minutes. Playing Goc with Comeau and Downie is capable of not drowning every shift they are on the ice. I would rather take my chances with a third line that is able to tread water and buy time for the top six to carry the team. Right now the best two players on the Penguins are neutered .
You can say that Crosby and Malkin are supposed to elevate their teammates but there is a realistic limit to what they can do when Pittsburgh is playing against legitimate competition like New York. They aren't miracle workers despite doing their best to convince us otherwise throughout the years.
The Penguins could probably get away with the line combos they used last night against a team like Carolina (this week's home and home matchup) but not against a playoff caliber team.
Let Crosby and Malkin do the heavy lifting, but give them the best resources to do so.
A lot has been made of the Penguins lack of power play opportunities the past few games. Certainly there have been a few non calls you could question but the fact of the matter is when you don't have the puck you don't have the same ability to draw penalties. The Islanders owned the puck the past two games.
Simon Despres should never be a healthy scratch again while Rob Scuderi and Robert Bortuzzo are the other two players in the equation.
Steve Downie is what he is. Good third line player with discipline issues. Last night while the Penguins were being outplayed he took a useless penalty and the Islanders power play put the game out of reach. No telling what would have happened in the game if Downie didn't take that penalty. Being one goal down while being severely outplayed is still a doable task. We see bad bounce goals go in all the time. Being two goals down playing that way is insurmountable.
The scuttlebutt before the season was that Rick Tocchet was going to be some kind of Dog Whisperer for Steve Downie to keep him in check. The opposite has been true thus far.
Lots of different routes the Penguins could go to get a top six winger in Pittsburgh but one I would seriously consider is Edmonton's David Perron. He is off to a terrible start in the goal production category this year and that is more a reflection of bad luck than it is his ability. A perfect storm could be brewing where the Penguins could buy lower than what he is actually worth (don't read that as Edmonton giving him away). I have mentioned Perron as a Penguins trade target a few different times this year (
here and
here)
My previous ideas centered around Brandon Sutter but with the Oilers struggling because their defense can't get the puck to their forwards I would shift that focus to guys like Simon Despres and Brian Dumoulin. You have to give to get. I think Despres playing well this year has helped his value. With Harrington and Pouliot extremely close to regular NHL action the Penguins can deal from a position of strength. I also wouldn't rule out the Oilers being overly infatuated with a player like Robert Bortuzzo. The Oilers may have Tyler Dellow, but they also have that old school Oilers brass still calling the shots.
Defensemen have value in the trade market right now. The Penguins have a lot of them.
That is the type of deal that makes sense for Pittsburgh. It can't hurt to float something to Edmonton, worst thing they can say is no.
Edit:
Even if he doesn't score he is still contributing to his team in a positive way.
Thanks for reading!
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