Memories: The 2013 Pittsburgh Penguins

It was a cold December evening when I decided to start writing a blog about sports.  I was on the way to Consol Energy Center, to see, not NHL Hockey, but College Hockey.  It was in the final weeks of the lockout, not that we could see the end coming at the time.  It is fitting that my last post for a few months will be about the end of a hockey season.

For the Penguins, this season was magical.  It was late December, and many thought there would be no NHL season.  People were already making plans, and even I persuaded my Dad to buy Pirates tickets instead of spending money on Hockey tickets we would never receive.  Then, suddenly, it was over.  I woke up one Saturday morning and hockey was back.  We gleefully followed updates as various Penguins arrived at the Arena for practice.  We were clamoring for Hockey; enough to fill the 18,387 seat arena for an intra-squad scrimmage.  Hockey was back.

The regular season began excitingly enough, with a 3-1 handling of, guess who, the Philadelphia Flyers.  The next night, a 4-1 defeat of the "Cup Favorites" New York Rangers meant the Pens meant business.  The Penguins had an incredible regular season.  I'm only going to share a few highlights.

We dominated the Flyers in 3 of the 4 meetings, including an overtime win thanks to this beauty by Tyler Kennedy.  The Flyers, much to any Penguins fan's joy, had a dismal season.  They finished last in the Atlantic Division.  They weren't around in the playoffs to bother the Penguins.  It's always fun when the Flyers suck.

Then came the month of March.  I'll put it simply:  In the month of March, the Pens had 15 wins, and 0 losses.  It was a fun time to be a Pens fan.  The Penguins were not only scoring like there was no tomorrow, they weren't allowing many goals either (see: 3 consecutive shutouts).  The streak included wins against powerful wins such as Montreal (2), New York (Islanders), Boston (2), and Washington.  Make no mistake, Pens captain Sidney Crosby was the man behind all of this.  This is his team.

Next on our trip down memory lane: the Trade Deadline.  We went into this always-exciting time of year not expecting anything huge.  Maybe a depth winger or a 3rd line defenseman.  General Manager Ray Shero had other ideas.  The raid of the NHL began with the acquisition of winger Brenden Morrow from Dallas.  At the time, it was common thinking that he'd be a good tough guy to play alongside Evgeni Malkin.  We would have been content if Shero had stopped there.

Then came defenseman Douglas Murray, or "crankshaft".  We hadn't seen much of him (he played in San Jose), but we would soon find out that he was one of the better hitters in the NHL.

Next came the big prize.  It was the evening of March 27th.  It was pretty much agreed upon that star winger Jarome Iginla would be traded to Boston.  There was a deal "in place".  However, Iginla had a No-Trade Clause, meaning he could approve or reject any trade offers.  So, late at night, when all the Pens fans had gone to sleep, the Pens put in an offer.  It was inferior to that of Boston, but that was beside the point.  Iginla wanted to come to Pittsburgh.  It's the benefit of having Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  People want to play here.   It was a Christmas-Morning scenario:  Pittsburghers everywhere woke up to the news that Ray Shero had robbed Boston of Jarome Iginla.

And now, the Playoffs.  The first round was kind of a mess.  It featured a dominant win in game one, then a hard fought loss in game two.  An overtime win in game three preempted a disgustingly sloppy loss in game four, allowing the Islanders to tie the series at two.  Marc Andre Fleury played awful, and that would be his last start of the playoffs, and possibly as a Penguin.  Vokoun entered the crease for the Pens, and they blew out New York in game five, and won a thrilling game six off a Brooks Orpik overtime goal.

Round two was a fun time for all.  We solidly took a 2-0 on home ice against the Ottawa Senators.  Game three was all Pens, but Craig Anderson robbed the Pens of the W.  Game four looked to be headed the same way, until the Pens broke Anderson and put in five goals in the third period.  Game five was a blowout, dispatching the Sens quickly.

Nobody wants to talk about the third round against Boston.  We all know what went wrong.  We couldn't score.  Yes, Bruin Goaltender Tuukka Rask was great.  However, we would have had a lot more goals if Penguins simply went to the net to provide screens and collet rebounds.  They didn't do that at all.  That's why we lost game three 2-1 and game four 1-0.  That's all I have to say about that series.

Overall, it was an incredible season.  I don't think Dan Bylsma should be fired, and I don't think he will be.  I'll be right here when training camp opens in September.

Clean It Up, Pens

The first three games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are in the books.  On paper, the Penguins appear to be in good shape.  You see a 5-0 blowout win in game one, a tight 4-3 loss in game two, and a 5-4 overtime win in the third game.  On paper, it appears that we not only took a series lead, but demoralized the Islanders.  They fought back so hard towards the end of the game to force overtime.  After all that, Crosby set up Kunitz for the winner in OT, making it look easy.  All in front of a wild crowd at the ancient Nassau Coliseum, a building that hadn't seen a playoff game in six years.

Sure, the Penguins are in a good position going forward in the series.  But if they hope to get close to a Stanley Cup, or even to get out of this series, things need to change.  The Pens are stocked with talent, we all know that.  The trouble is putting it to good use.  The Penguins need to play smart.  In Sunday's 5-4 win, there were two players who played smart:  Sidney Crosby and Douglas Murray.  Everybody else astounded with their dumb decisions.  Matt Niskanen had two turnovers, both of them costing the Pens a goal. Letang turned the puck over uncharacteristically.  Countless others did the same.  The bottom line is that none of the players need to play as well as Crosby, but they all need to play as smart is him.

They need to stop making blind passes.  They need to stop forcing passes to star players.  They need to stop slinging the puck 80 feet up ice, hoping it will connect with someone (this almost always ends up being a turnover).  They need to stop trying to outskill the Islanders' defense.  Instead of trying to walk right into the offensive zone, try dumping it in and using that fore-checking thing that worked so well in game one.

The Pens had a 15 game win streak this season.  They didn't accomplish that by speeding up the ice, beating the entire team and scoring 10 goals per game.  The played a tough, defensively sound game.  They hit their opponents hard, and lock it down in front of Marc Andre Fleury.  They waited for the other team to give them opportunities to score.  What they are doing now is essentially trying to force goals, and in the process, giving the Islanders opportunities to score.

This needs to stop.

Equipped for Success

Last year, the Penguins were a favorite to win the Cup for much of the year, especially after Sidney Crosby made his second return in March.  As the the trade deadline approached and passed, the Pens' GM Ray Shero did something out of character: nothing.  He made no moves to strengthen the team in any way.  This proved to be a mistake, as Philadelphia would eliminate the Penguins from the playoffs in the first round, embarrassing them defensively.

This year was obviously different.  Shero did a lot to strengthen the team.  In fact, he did far more than any other NHL GM.  Here's a look at the Pens' 5 acquisitions (In chronological order), and how they can help them to a Stanley Cup win.

1. Tomas Vokoun One of the glaring problems in the Pens' playoff loss to Philadelphia was the goaltending.  Marc-Andre Fleury played very poorly (an understatement).  This was in part because of fatigue.  Backup goalie Brent Johnson played so poorly in 2011-12 that he couldn't be trusted to win a game, forcing Fleury to play over 20 games in a row.  He had nothing left by the time the playoffs came around.  So, Shero went out and got a reliable backup who could relieve some of the load.  Enter Vokoun.  While he won't see the ice during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he will give Fleury the rest he needs to play well.

2.  Brenden Morrow Before this season started, in my New Year's Resolutions blog, I pointed out that the Penguins needed to regain their toughness.  The toughness they had in their 2009 Cup win, but totally lacked in 2011-2012.  The bottom line:  The Playoffs are not a scoring-fest, they are a defensive, hard-hitting battle.  The Pens got some of the toughness back with the veteran winger Morrow.  He will play on the third line instead of Tyler Kennedy, making that line more of a traditional third line (hard-hitting, good defensively, hard to play against in general).

3.  Douglas Murray In 2009, as the Penguins were gearing up to eventually win the Stanley Cup, Shero acquired defenseman Hal Gill.  Gill was a great shutdown defenseman, something infinitely valuable in the Playoffs.  Gill left for Montreal after that year.  The Penguins have lacked that solid, veteran presence ever since, especially after Sergei Gonchar left town.  The Pens regained some of that when they got Doug Murray.  He is probably the most underrated hitters in the league.  He adds to the Penguins' toughness and defense, which (not to sound like a broken record) is incredibly important to win a Stanley Cup.

4. Jarome Iginla  This is the one we're all excited about.  Last Wednesday, we all went to bed thinking Iginla went to the Bruins.  To the delight of Pens fans everywhere, Ray Shero swooped in at the last minute and grabbed him.  This is an obviously great addition to this team.  Iginla has a scoring touch which is always a plus, and he can also hit and even fight.  Another player in the "tough to play against" list.

5.  Jussi Jokinen Jokinen is a 3rd-line-at-best center.  He was acquired mainly because Crosby is injured for the time being, and we need depth at center.  Tyler Kennedy wasn't exactly cutting it as a No. 1 center, so Shero pulled the trigger (Jokinen came with a very, very low price tag).  Once Crosby returns, he will be slotted into the fourth line, which desperately needs a spark.  He is a whiz at faceoffs, which the Penguins have lacked this year, even during the 15 game win streak.