Tim Benz: Different issues, same result for Penguins vs. Dallas
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Just about everyone on the Pittsburgh Penguins seemed to feel that the team’s 4-1 loss Tuesday to the Dallas Stars was a better effort than their 4-2 defeat in St. Louis on Saturday.
But it still wasn’t good enough. And frankly, it still wasn’t all that good.
Parsing different degrees of “we weren’t as bad as we were last time out,” or, in the bigger picture, “we’re not as flawed of a team as we were last year” also isn’t good enough.
Not for an organization that keeps trying to convince itself and its fanbase that it is still a Stanley Cup contender — even though qualifying for the playoffs is very much in question for a second straight year.
“The first period, I thought our team was terrific,” coach Mike Sullivan said after the loss to Dallas. “We had a number of really high-quality scoring chances. We could have scored more than we did. I thought their goalie (Jake Oettinger) played really well in that first half of the game. I just think that it’s a whole different set of circumstances tonight than it was in St. Louis. I thought, in St. Louis, we beat ourselves in so many ways.”
That’s true. And the Penguins were sharp against Dallas in the first period, carrying a 1-0 lead into the second 20-minute frame. But the fruits of their labor weren’t enough to build a multi-goal cushion and really make the Stars chase the game or press the issue.
“In St. Louis, I felt like we generated some good (chances) but probably at the expense of giving them up the other way. I don’t think tonight that was the case (against Dallas),” captain Sidney Crosby said. “Obviously (we) made some mistakes that ended up in our net. We probably got more offensive chances and gave up less but didn’t get the result. That happens sometimes.”
Indeed, creating scoring chances wasn’t the problem for the Penguins on Tuesday. Finishing off goals was. After all, the Pens generated 39 shots against Oettinger.
That’s been a disturbing theme for a team that’s allegedly as offensively talented as the Penguins are. In games when they sacrifice whatever it is they are sacrificing in terms of structure or defensive responsibility, the implicit trade-off is that it is being done so in the quest to fulfill this team’s naturally high-scoring destiny.
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Except that, so far this year, they aren’t scoring all that much.
The Penguins are 22nd in the league at just 2.83 goals per game. Yet, they are tied for second with the Toronto Maples Leafs in shots per game at 35. Only the Carolina Hurricanes (37.5 per game) are averaging more. The Pens’ 8.1 shooting percentage is 27th in the league.
Not very impressive for a team that is presented as having so many elite goal-scorers. Following the loss to Dallas, at least one of the Penguins suggested that part of the problem is the chances generated by the club aren’t really coming from the most threatening locations on the ice.
Or with enough traffic near the goalie to heighten the risk of going in the net.
“I think the difference (was) they won two battles inside the blue paint. The times the puck was there, we didn’t win those battles. And I also don’t think we got the puck there enough,” forward Lars Eller said. “That was the difference. A couple battles inside the blue paint, they win. We don’t. And it shows on the scoreboard.”
Sullivan agreed with that assessment.
“I think there are things that we can do to increase our chances — like fighting for the blue paint. Making the goalie’s sightlines difficult. Creating broken plays. A lot of times those broken plays are the hardest ones to defend. Because it forces a lot of decision-making and hesitation, and the goaltenders have to fight to find the puck in the chaos,” Sullivan said. “When you looked at the goals that (Dallas) scored, they’re right at the blue paint.”
Back to the team’s public displeasure with the defeat in St. Louis, it seems almost commonplace and simple to dismiss any Penguins’ loss by laying the blame at the feet of what the team is doing in the neutral zone and back. Or mediocre goaltending. Or a lack of defensive interest, accountability or responsibility.
That’s easy to do.
Yet, the Pens begin NHL play on Wednesday averaging 3.33 goals allowed per game to start the year. That’s 15th in the league. Right in the middle. Being average defensively with a team as presumably gifted on offense as this one is should be good enough.
At 2-4, it hasn’t been so far this year. With the 6-0 Colorado Avalanche coming into town Thursday, it better get better fast.
At both ends of the ice.