Bob Smizik: Penguins Losses Are Just As Bad As Empty Seats

Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If you're going to call them the fumbling, stumbling, bumbling and possibly crumbling Penguins, in the name of fairness you must also call them this: The perfect Penguins.
Nine starts, nine losses.

In the real world this translates into 0-9. In the sometimes absurd world of the National Hockey League, the Penguins are 0-4-5, which makes it sound like they have five ties. They don't. They have nine losses in nine starts.

No. 9 came at Mellon Arena last night when they fell to the Florida Panthers, 4-3, in overtime.

The Panthers scored 53 seconds into overtime on a power-play goal by Stephen Weiss. The man advantage was created by an interference call against Mario Lemieux late in regulation play. In a rare outburst, Lemieux argued with referee Dan O'Halloran over the penalty. After the game-winner, Lemieux went after O'Halloran but the linesmen intervened.

The frustration of the owner-player, who was held without a point in 21 minutes of ice time, was understandable. No one expected such a start. Not in Lemieux's darkest nightmare could he have expected 0-9.

A crowd of 14,636 watched the game, and who would have expected, even on a Tuesday might in October, that this heralded team would play in front of more than 2,000 empty seats? But an 0-8 start will do that even to a fan base that is among the most dedicated in sports.

The empty seats, and there might be as many or more tomorrow when Atlanta visits Mellon Arena, are every bit as difficult to take as the losses. The Penguins hierarchy, Lemieux and general manager Craig Patrick, is squarely behind coach Eddie Olczyk and should be. Losses don't make them flinch or lose their faith in Olczyk. But empty seats can.

If Olczyk is fired in the near future -- and this is not to say he should -- it might have more to do with the size of the crowds than the number of his wins. There's a financial bonanza out there to be reaped in this town by anything approaching a respectable hockey team. The Penguins don't want to miss out on these riches.
Olczyk got another vote of confidence last night.

"We're professionals and we know how to play the game properly," said forward Mark Recchi. "We're just not doing it properly. It think Edzo is taking unfair criticism right now. The players have to take a lot of the responsibility. You can't look at him. That's easy to do."
The Penguins came back from a 2-1 deficit to go ahead in the third period. But lost the lead and then the game.

Little things continue to do in this team.
Astonishingly, with all the Penguins' offensive fire power they had a two-minute five-on-three advantage in the first period and could not score.

On the Panthers' second score, goalie Jocelyn Thibault, lost control of a rebound. As the puck sat in front of the goal, Florida's Martin Gelinas burst down the middle, past defenseman Ric Jackman, and drove the puck home.
In discussing some of the team's shortcomings before the game, Recchi said, "We have to be more willing to beat people in puck races."

This was an example of the Penguins not doing that.

Many questions surround the Penguins but none greater than these:
How is it that this supposedly lethal offensive machine is being outscored, 42-26? Better yet, how are Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Ziggy Palffy, Recchi and company being outscored a ridiculous, 30-15, in the first two periods?

In the early going last night the reason was clear. Roberto Luongo, the Panthers goalie, was the best player in the building for the first two period. In the first period alone, he turned aside 16 of 17 shots. The Penguins only goal was by Ryan Malone. By comparison, Thibault could stop only five of the first seven shots against him.
A multitude of reasons have been put forth for the team's malaise.

Not working hard enough.
Too slow coming through the neutral zone
Too concerned about making the perfect play.
Too weak on faceoffs.
Not enough cycling down low.
Too left-handed.
Too old.
Let's add one more to the mix.
Not good enough.

With this start, that reason has to be given serious consideration. The additions of many veteran players with excellent resumes -- Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair, Palffy, Recchi, Thibault -- along with the drafting of Crosby and the return of Lemieux generated enormous enthusiasm and high expectations. It's possible these veterans will hit their stride as the season progresses. And maybe they won't.
It was suggested to Recchi that all the Penguins need to end this disastrous start is a victory.
Not so, he warned.
Even if we win, it doesn't end everything," he said. "We still have a lot of work to do."

(Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.)