The Pittsburgh Penguins are on the brink of elimination. The Tampa Bay Lightning were able to tie the game late in the third period and find themselves on the right side of a deflection goal in overtime.
This was the first time the Penguins have lost back to back games since mid-January and it is the first time the team has lost this year while leading after two periods.
There is plenty to talk about on the Penguins side of things but I would like to start with how the team is handling their two biggest stars.
When talking about star players in the NHL there are a few things that we know for certain. We know that every single player will go through stretches without tangible offense. We know that it is a league that does not cater to the skilled player. We know that aging curves are a real thing and that over time superstars can continue to be productive, but maybe not carry everything on their own.
We also know that the two best wingers on the Penguins currently play with the third line center. That line has been great, but it has come at a cost to both Crosby and Malkin.
At some point if you want the superstar players to carry you then you need to create a working environment where they can do just that. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are going to be really good for a long time. I look at Joe Thornton's career arch as reasonable evidence of this. However, they aren't always going to be as good as they are right now. Sid and Geno are still among the best in the sport and I don't think the Penguins are doing enough to maximize their potential. You can look all around the league and you’ll see that teams allow their best players to play with their other best players. The top centers in the game aren't given the leftovers and told to just make it work. The HBK setup is predicated on Crosby and Malkin being superheroes on a nightly basis, but that is quite the bar to clear and not realistic given the league they play in. Evgeni Malkin playing with Bryan Rust and Eric Fehr is a step down from the Blake Comeau standard and that wasn’t exactly an ideal situation either.
Let's remember that Evgeni Malkin was really good with Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin, too. That winger pairing is really good. Nick Bonino (who is playing good hockey) doesn't possess magical chemistry with those two players that alluded a guy like Malkin. Here's the evidence
Quality of teammate matters and if you are going to let Bonino have the two best wingers then the other guys aren't going to have as much to work with especially when you need four wingers to accommodate Crosby and Malkin on separate lines. That's the reality of the current setup. Expectations placed on players should account for this.
The Penguins still have an incredibly good look at the Stanley Cup this year. It is the team’s best look since the 2009 championship. It would be such a shame if the team bowed out before putting Crosby and Malkin in a position to maximize their potential. You have two generational talents. You have the two best active players in the playoff points per game department. Ride them. Go down throwing your best punch. If HBK is going to be left together anything short of Crosby and Malkin playing significant minutes together at even-strength for Game 6 is a great disservice to the two star centers and gross malpractice by the coaching staff. The 27 seconds they received at even-strength together in Game 5 was pathetically low and unacceptable.
Over the years Crosby and Malkin have seen their playoff chances evaporate because of terrible goaltending, injuries, and atrocious player depth depending on the year. This year the both of them are left scrambling for the table scraps at the winger position. At least this year the issue is fixable.
This is the Crosby and Malkin era. Let them loose. Let them lead. Let them dominate. Let them have the chance they deserve to try and accomplish that. You don't know when the team will get another look like this again. Go down with your best players being put in the best position to succeed.
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Here are some other thoughts on Game 5:
The most noticeable change Tampa Bay has made is the way they are attacking the neutral zone. What was a weakness at the beginning of the series has now turned into a positive for them. They have started to utilize a tactic that should look very familiar to Penguins fans. They have adopted the stretch pass. It was opening up a lot of free space for Lightning players to skate with speed in the middle of the ice rink. By stretching players behind the Penguins defense it drew the Penguins defenders back and opened up the middle of the ice for passes and/or a skating lane. Tampa Bay took full advantage of this newfound space and while they weren't rewarded early on they did control the entire first period because of it. Even if Tampa can't gain a controlled entry off the stretch pass the defensemen on Pittsburgh are still forced to play up on the forward at the blue line and any chip-in makes Pittsburgh defenders skate all the way back from the blue line. That is tiresome. It isn’t a terrible strategy given the amount of minutes Letang has to play, Maatta's foot speed, and the less than desirable puck skills Lovejoy and Cole have when under duress.
Nikita Kucherov has been an animal the past few games. After going pointless in the first two contests he has multi-point games in each of the last three games. He had two goals and an assist last night and a pair of assists in Games 3 and 4.
His partner in crime has been really good, too. Tyler Johnson has a goal in each of the last three games including the overtime winner which ricocheted off his body and into the net. Overall he has four points in his last three games.
Both players were on the scoresheet for the tying and game winning goal in Game 5.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is providing better goaltending to the Lightning than what the Penguins are getting from their goalies. His all situations save percentage is .929 in the series which is excellent. And with that said I will now segue into the Penguins goaltending situation.
Marc-Andre Fleury was given his start. He did not make the most of it. Much like in Game 4 with Matt Murray there were certain goals you don't tend to place at the goaltender's doorstep, but it wasn't just the goals that went in that were worth noting with Fleury. The Penguins longtime starting goaltender did not look the part for much of the night. He sprinkled in a brilliant toe save which saved a goal on the back door, but he had the looks of a goaltender who was "shaky". His angles weren't great and there were a quite a number of near misses. The first Tampa Bay goal was unacceptable and an example of the angles issue. You can't get beat short side high from the wall. That isn't an NHL standard that is just a basic goaltending standard.
Marc-Andre Fleury's .840 save percentage on the evening was lower than any of Matt Murray's 26 career starts to this point. The closest Murray has come to that number was on May 7th against Washington when he was at .842.
Whatever perceived "spark" Fleury was supposed to provide to team morale has gone by the wayside and that is under the assumption that kind of thing exists at all.
The truth is that the goaltending hasn't been good enough from either goalie in this series. The Penguins have an all situations save percentage of .885. You can't win that way against good teams. Pittsburgh scored three goals in back to back games you'd like to think they would have earned at least one victory out of that, they didn't. The good news for Pittsburgh is that even with Vasilevskiy playing great they have still managed to put pucks past him with four in Game 3, three in Game 4, and three in Game 5. This isn’t a situation where the Penguins are asking their goalie to steal a game like in the Washington series. They don’t need anything fancy. They just can’t receive below average.
So what is Mike Sullivan to do on the goaltender front? I think the only option is to go back to Matt Murray. The Penguins rookie goaltender hasn't had a sparkling series like he did against Henrik Lundqvist and Braden Holtby but he's the guy who has gotten the team to this point. He’s the guy who has seen regular game action. He’s the guy with a more conservative style of play with less moving parts. I don't like the risk reward of seeing if Fleury can find his angles for a Game 6 with no room for error.
Regardless of who plays the Penguins need a quality start and that didn't happen in Games 4 or 5.
Chris Kunitz has goals in three straight games and that has been much needed for the team. Lately he has been flashing signs of the previous version of himself and no play highlights that more than the area pass he made to Bryan Rust on the first goal last night. A lot of players just mash the puck against the wall when they are pressured in that spot on the ice. Kunitz has always had a knack for placing pucks into areas for players to skate into. Most times it has gone to Sidney Crosby blazing through the neutral zone. Last night it was Bryan Rust. Rust's stick lift to maintain possession against Victor Hedman looked a lot like a poor man's Lemieux. It was a great individual effort. Those little under the radar plays are why I think Kunitz should get the nod to play with Crosby and Malkin on a line at even-strength if Mike Sullivan finally decides to go that route.
Kris Letang is so important to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kris Letang had a very bad game on Sunday night. When that happens it is usually tough for the Penguins to overcome. Letang means so much to Pittsburgh’s ability to drive play. When he has a rare off night it is very noticeable. A lot is being made of his -4 but we all know the limitations of the plus/minus stat and why it has been put to the pasture in favor of more reliable measures. Kris Letang’ 36.84% possession (CF 14/CA 24) is the more reliable information which highlights what a poor game he had. Letang’s discipline put the team in a bad spot in Game 4 and his poor play in Game 5 contributed to the team losing. Letang has also been held without a point for three consecutive games. That is the first time it has happened since February 10-15. Kris Letang is a great player. He needs to find his way in Game 6 or the Penguins are probably cooked.
One of the wild cards entering Game 5 was Olli Maatta and if he would be able to perform at an acceptable level. He did that and more. His zone entry on the Kunitz goal was tremendously skilled and he was a net positive (62%) on the possession front playing most of his minutes with Ben Lovejoy. With Trevor Daley out for the year somebody needed to step up. Maatta did.
The decision to play Beau Bennett isn’t controversial. He’s one of the team’s 12 best forwards. Placing him on Crosby’s line on his off wing probably wasn’t the most ideal thing after the long layoff. He did not have a significant positive impact on that line. He also did not have a significant negative impact. He finished the night as a 50% possession player. Putting him in the bottom six for Game 6 seems like the prudent decision.
Phil Kessel had some really great looks in Game 5, but none of them found the back of the net. He was on a six game point streak where he registered a whopping nine points. He just needs to continue doing what he’s doing. The results will be there more times than not.
As a fan all you can ask for is that your team is still playing when the stakes are at their highest. Tomorrow night is the highest stakes game the Penguins have played since that very fun June night in 2009. Let’s hope the players are put in the best position to succeed.
Thanks for reading!
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