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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Have the Pittsburgh Penguins hit bottom?

Just when I thought the Pittsburgh Penguins got it going, they fell flat on their face. The Penguins lost Wednesday night to the Boston Bruins 7-4. They had a 4-2 advantage going into the 3rd period only to have the Bruins score 5 unanswered goals on its way to victory. Could this be the bottoming out for the Pens?

Through 2 periods, the Penguins were doing it all. A power play goal, zone pressure, scoring 4 goals on a red hot goaltender that has barely been giving up a goal per game. They had crisp passes, good defensive coverage. Then what happened? The 3rd period rolled around and the team fell apart. The defense took too many risks. Alex Goligoski is singled out as making some horrible decisions. Ben Lovejoy, playing for the first time in a few games, finished a -3. The other red hot goalie, Brent Johnson, deflated. It was, in my opinion, the lowest point in the season. As Sidney Crosby said, the Penguins didnt give up a ton of chances, but the ones they did, Boston took advantage of. Thats what good teams do.

As bad and depressing this season has been so far, the Penguins arent out. They dont have the amount of problems as, say, New Jersey. They can turn this around. They are currently 3rd in the Atlantic division and 10th in the Eastern Conference. They are only 3 points out of 4th in the conference. But in order to right the ship they have to gain consistency and they have to start it now. I'm not suggesting some players are lazy, but the effort, at times, seems weak. This league is too good and too even right now to take a period off. They saw that last night.

One of the areas that needs shored up is goaltending. I posted my thoughts on this earlier. I really like Brent Johnson but to ask him keep up his early season success is unrealistic. He has been a backup for a reason. Marc Andre Fleury needs to get in there, take his lumps, and move on. He has to be the number 1 goalie on this team and the coach has to give him that chance. Let him work through his slump. The defense also needs to play smarter. There is no excuse for getting caught pinching with a 2 goal lead. There is no excuse for allowing Mark Recchi, who is 42, to outwork your supposed big time free agent defensemen(Michalek). Dan Byslma has to take control of this situation and instill discipline in this team. He talks about this system in nearly every interview. Where was the system last night in the 3rd period? Players ultimately decide the wins and losses but the coach has to put them in the position to win and hold players accountable.

The Penguins have issues. It extends from goaltending to defense to coaching. The more I see things, the more I am beginning to put more of this on the coach. The team and the coach have 2 days to prepare before playing back to back Friday and Saturday. If the team drops these 2 games, I think Dan Byslma may be on the hot seat.


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