Hi again folks. Old Reg has been invisible for a while now. It turns out my day jobs and other responsibilities have been taking over recently. I did want to take a few minutes to jot down a few thoughts I had at this point.
1. It turns out that maybe Sidney Crosby was right about Marc-Andre Fleury. Crosby told reporters that MAF needed to play 5 games or so to get his rhythm back. It seems like maybe he has gotten said rhythm back. (Or at least let’s hope) Over Fleury’s past 7 games, he has recorded a 6-0-1 record. He has looked pretty good in each of those starts. I, for one, am hoping he can continue to play like that and lead this team to the promised land.
2. Speaking of Crosby, he is good. After scoring a hat trick in the Pens victory over the Calgary Flames, he leads the league in scoring. Not bad after a “slow” start. Did anybody realize that had he made the penalty shot against the Flames, he would have topped Mario Lemeiux’s “unbreakable” record of scoring 5 goals in 5 different ways. Lemieux scored at even strength, on the power play, short-handed, a penalty shot and an empty netter. Had Crosby scored on that penalty shot he would have scored a penalty shot, an even strength goal, a power play goal and on the same shot an empty netter and a shorty. So, he would have accomplished what most have said would never be duplicated, in four goals instead of five. ...
Well, the season is now 20 games in which means that roughly one quarter of it is gone, and so, just like when you were back in school, it is time to issue the first quarter report card for the team, the players and the coach.
The Team: B-
The team has had to make quite a few adjustments this year from welcoming in new players to learning to play in a brand new facility and the adjustments have been anything but seamless. The Penguins currently sit fourth in the Eastern Conference four points behind division leading Philadelphia but with games in hand on both Philly and teams right behind them in the standings, this could change easily. The team has taken some time to get used to their new home, and it showed in their early games, but a 2-1-1 record in the last four at home shows that they may be settling in nicely. Scoring goals, which has never been a problem for this team is definitely not a problem this year as the Pens are currently 7th in the league in goals per game, but early struggles to find the right defensive pairings has led them to only 13th in goals allowed per game. Finding the right defensive players for the Penalty Kill has definitely not been a problem as they currently rank 3rd in the league killing off almost 90% of all man advantages. Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten how to play with the man advantage as their Power Play has sunk to 25th in the league converting on barely 12%. This team has way too much offensive firepower for this to continue, but I don’t think the problem is up front, I think it is on the blue line as the coaching staff seems to be relying way too much on Letang and Goligoski to get the job done. In the last 12 games(5-5-2), the Penguins are 4/49(8.2%) on the Power Play, and in that time, GoGo and Tanger each only have 2 Power Play points. I’m thinking it might be time to give Paul Martin a shot or go with an extra attacker at the point.
Trying to figure out what is wrong with the Penguins is like trying to figure out why people search for the closest parking spot when they go to work out. Ray Shero probably gave up his pension fund for the two new defensive players that were going to be the answer to all of the Penguins problems. He also filled in the offensive gaps with a few wingers that were going to be a big improvement. Analysts everywhere had the Penguins winning the cup, if only That was good enough. All the Pens have now is the big question What the heck is going wrong?
Let’s start with the goaltending. First off, if you thought that Brent Johnson was going to play the whole season at the pace he played at the first 7 games, well then your picnic basket may be short one peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Same goes for if you think that Marc-Andre Fleury is going to continue to play at the horrid pace he started out on.
One thing the Penguins may want to up the ante on is a new goaltending coach. Even though Fleury has been to the finals twice, his numbers have never been stellar. He was a number one over all pick after all. Some of the best goaltending Fleury has played was after he had a long term injury a few years ago and spent time down with the WB/S Penguins working with their goaltending coach. When he came back up he all the sudden was way better at moving the puck, controlling rebounds and playing angles. Maybe it’s time to give Gilles Meloche a full time scouting job.
As for the Penguins defense and the aforementioned money they dished out on two big defensemen Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin. Michalek is looking better each game, but must have brought along some of the bad Phoenix mojo, the Pens have only won 1 of the seven games he has played in and he has the worst plus/minus per game than ...
As disheartning as it may have been to see the Pens lose their first two games at the CEC, it was that much of a relief that they beat the New Jersey Devils yesterday afternoon. The Pens lost all 8 games against the Devils last season, so it is like getting that perverbial monkey off your back by beating the Devils last night.
The bad news is that Brooks Orpik was a late scratch. He is apparently feeling some effects of his abdominal surgery. The Pens were also without Zybnek Michalek for much of the game. He sustained a shoulder injury after a big hit in the second period. Let’s hope that those guys are OK and don’t miss any time.
Notes:
Alex Goligoski continues to impress.
After getting booed by the half-full New Jersey crowd, it was nice to see Paul Martin seal the deal with an empty netter.
Brent Johnson played very well in relief of MAF. Please, let’s not get too hasty about calling for Johnson to be the starter. Unfortunately, many Pens fans are too quick to blame Fleury for everything.
The Pens are generating a lot of good chances, but aren’t finishing with as much frequency as we would like. I anticipate that it will come in due time.
I cannot look at losing all of our games against New Jersey and Washington as anything but a negative. I know Crosby and some others have downplayed the importance of not being swept by an inevitable playoff opponent, but I don’t see it. I feel that it does not bode well for a playoff matchup. Now, I have heard countless people say that they are not worried because the Pens will “step up” their game in the playoffs. Don’t you think that the Capitals will also “step up” their game? New Jersey….maybe not so much because they play such a defensive game to begin with. I would have felt better if the Pens could have pulled tonight’s game out.
I have to say that after watching the game tonight, I have determined the Pens shooting is horrible. For quite a while now, people have been complaining about Kris Letang missing the net. (Which, of course, he deserves) The problem is not limited to him. Also, it is not just missing the net. It involves passing up shooting opportunities or even shooting the puck right into the goaltender. Tonight, Goligoski passed up more good shooting chances than I care to remember. Tyler Kennedy has been a focus of mine regarding this issue all season. It still holds true. He is a nice player. He could be a really good player if he could finish. It just seems that there is a lot of room for improvement in the overall team shooting.
Notes:
Fleury with not 1, but 2 softies tonight. I am hoping he can get that worked out in like a week.
What was up with Semin acting like he got shot in the head on Talbot’s hit on him? I saw the replay, and I could not see anything that would cause him to go down for the count. Have I mentioned that I dislike him as much as any player in the league. He is such a baby, and this clip is embarrassing to men and to hockey alike:
So Crosby scored one goal and Ovechkin scored two goals to tie up the goal-scoring race. One of Ovechkin’s goals was an empty netter. For those of you wondering: Crosby has just one empty net goal vs. Ovechkin’s 5.
Looking forward to the last game in the Igloo on Thursday night. It should be quite a night.
I want to give the Capitals their due as they are a very good hockey team. They have so much talent all through their line-up. The only weakness that anyone might find is the goaltending, but Theodore has been playing well lately — maybe that problem is solved.
Are they really 17 points better than anyone else in the East? I decided to look a little deeper into their record and this is what I discovered. The Southeast Division that they play in is by far the worst in the Eastern Conference. ...
Maybe the closed door meeting held by the players after the horrible performance against the Lightning helped, or maybe it was something else. The Pens played a better game today against the Thrashers. The win was made a bit better when considering that Atlanta is a team scrapping for a playoff berth and that former Penguin goalie Johan Hedberg played a very good game….mostly.
Johan Hedberg is beaten by Malkin in the second period.
All PenguinPoop Posts, RegDunlop | Reg Dunlop | 
November 29, 2010 9:51 am | 
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