Monday, February 12, 2007
By Dave Molinari
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Penguins' better play this season can be accredited to coach Michel Therrien's attention to detail. Here's a look at the team's improvements this year:
The Penguins' 11-0-2 surge lifted the team into a tie with Ottawa for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
At 29-17-9, the Penguins have won 17 more games than they did at this point last season (12-32-11).
After 55 games, they have 67 points, up from 35 at the same time last winter.
The Penguins have allowed 171 goals through 55 games, an average of 3.1 per game. At this point last season they were giving up 4.04 goals per contest (222).
Goal scoring is up for the Penguins. They have averaged 3.5 goals per game this season compared to 2.76 scores per contest last year at this point.
It was suggested during an NBC broadcast Jan. 13 that Michel Therrien was on the verge of being fired as coach of the Penguins.
It seemed off-the-wall and more than a bit absurd at the time, for a variety of reasons.
Not anymore.
Now, it sounds like the kind of inside information that would come from the business end of a bong.
A few hours after that dire pronouncement about Therrien's future, the Penguins finished off a 5-3 victory in Philadelphia. They haven't lost in regulation since.
So when NBC dispatches a crew here for the game Sunday against Washington, Therrien's job security -- which, in the real world, never was even remotely in doubt -- doesn't figure to come up in the conversation.
But if the broadcasters still want to talk about him, perhaps they could discuss his credentials as a coach of the year candidate. Which are far more valid than some people in the industry might realize.
Although the 11-0-2 surge that has lifted the Penguins into a tie with Ottawa for fourth place in the Eastern Conference is starting to attract attention across the continent -- it's kind of tough to ignore a team that has taken at least one point out of every game for a month -- not much of it has focused on Therrien.
Instead, the talk is of Sidney Crosby, and how he's a serious threat to win his first NHL scoring title and MVP award. How goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has dramatically elevated his game. How the poise and productivity of rookie forwards Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal belie their age and inexperience.
Which, Therrien said, is precisely how it should be.
"I've always been a believer that players deserve the credit," he said. "We write the script, but the actors have to act."
He has a point. Give Tony Dungy a group of awful football players to work with, and you'd end up with a group of well-coached, awful football players.
But it also is true that casting Al Pacino in the lead role won't help if the script is for Bedtime for Bonzo. That's why it's ridiculous to suggest that Therrien and his assistants, Mike Yeo and Andre Savard, have been little more than casual bystanders to what the Penguins have accomplished this season.
After 55 games, they have 67 points, up from 35 at the same time last winter.
"All of them have prepared us to play every game," defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "We still have to go out and do it, but they've told us the way we have to play to win games. And when we've done what they've said, we've won."
When Therrien replaced Eddie Olczyk as coach 14 months ago, he emphasized adding structure, on and off the ice. Practices were demanding, performance critiques tough.
This year, the days off -- like one yesterday -- are more frequent, the decibel level generally lower.
"He's communicated very well with the guys this year," right winger Mark Recchi said. "And he's been very composed in how he's handled things."
That should not be construed as a sign that Therrien is going soft, however.
"He'll still tear a strip off you if he has to," left winger Erik Christensen said.
The fact is, though, that he doesn't often have to, because the players understand what he wants from them.
"It's not a matter that I've mellowed," Therrien said. "They know what the standard is. They know what the standard of our work ethic is. They know the standard for competing. They know the standard for being disciplined. They know what I'm expecting from them."
And the players know what to expect from Therrien: A well-conceived, thorough game plan built on a framework designed to take full advantage of their speed and skill.
"He's brought a system that works so well when it's done right," Christensen said.
Earlier in his career, Therrien had a reputation for being hardwired to coach defensive hockey, for treating it as his alpha and omega. But while that remains the cornerstone of his philosophy, Therrien doesn't shackle the Penguins' gifted players by turning them into one-way automatons.
"We have a plan when we don't have the puck," he said. "And we have a plan when we have the puck."
And a plan for just about everything else. Therrien has an eye for detail, and little tolerance for those who ignore them.
The Penguins might lose games because other teams are more talented or experienced or sharper, but not because those clubs are better-prepared.
"He's done a real good job of realizing what it takes for us to win," Whitney said, "and showing us how to do it."
If that doesn't change, the members of the NHL Broadcasters Association who vote for the Jack Adams Award might begin to take notice, although Therrien insists that's a non-issue for him.
"Honest to God, I don't think about those things," he said. "I'm thinking about the big picture with our team, where we want to be at the end of the year. Where we want to be in a few years."
It will be up to others to realize how far the Penguins have come. And who has helped to lead them there.
Assuming, of course, that it doesn't all go up in smoke.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com. )
No comments:
Post a Comment