http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Friday, May 14, 2010
When the defending Stanley Cup champions lose a Game 7 at home to the No. 8 seed, the blank stares and shock inside the Penguins' dressing room are accompanied by finger-pointing outside of it.
PITTSBURGH - MAY 12: A general view of the last game at Mellon Arena, played by the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Mellon Arena on May 12, 2010 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Canadiens defeated the Penguins 5-2 to win the series 4-3 and advance to the Conference Finals. (Photo by Dave Sandford/Getty Images)Blame Sidney Crosby for not duplicating his Olympics heroics and losing his "Rocket" Richard Trophy goal-scoring touch.
Blame Evgeni Malkin for his scoring shortage one year after winning the Conn Smythe.
Blame both Penguins superstars for not living up to their $8.7 million salaries by combining for two goals and eight points in the seven-game series. Blame defenseman Sergei Gonchar and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for letting the puck get past them too easily and too frequently.
But here's something to consider in the blame game: The Montreal Canadiens were the better team.
That's right.
Montreal is not nearly as talented or as accomplished as the Penguins, but it was no accident that the Canadiens won their Eastern Conference semifinal series, just as beating Washington in the first round was no fluke.
They have the best goal-scorer and hottest goalie of the playoffs, went deep enough on defense to seamlessly replace their best blue-liner and power-play quarterback with a rookie and relied on a shutdown defensive pairing.
Sound familiar?
That was the Penguins last year.
Crosby scored the most goals and Malkin the most points in the playoffs. Fleury stoned the Capitals and Detroit Red Wings on the road in Game 7s. Alex Goligoski stepped in for an injured Gonchar, allowing him to overcome a devastating knee injury. Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi combined to keep Alex Ovechkin, Eric Staal and Henrik Zetterberg from dominating.
That is the Canadiens this year.
Mike Cammalleri has a league-best 12 goals, including seven against the Penguins. Jaroslav Halak stoned the Capitals and Penguins on the road in Game 7s, turning away their shots and making stars into mere mortals. PK Subban stepped in for an injured Andrei Markov, allowing them to overcome a devastating knee injury. And Gill and Josh Gorges combined to keep Ovechkin, Crosby and Malkin from dominating.
Let's see these Penguins for what they were, a talented but incomplete team whose weaknesses were exploited by both the Ottawa Senators and Canadiens. Those series were a microcosm of their season, one in which the Penguins proved they could play with anyone — and usually did, no matter the caliber of opponent. Remember, they finished fourth in the East.
Don't say that defenseman Brooks Orpik didn't warn us multiple times during an inconsistent regular season that the Penguins weren't as good as everyone expected them to be.
The Game 7 loss also illustrates the difficulty of winning the most demanding playoffs in all of pro sports, even with home-ice advantage. There's a reason no NHL team has won back-to-back titles since the Red Wings in 1997-98. It's an unforgiving grind. As good as Montreal has been through two rounds, it still needs eight more victories to claim the Cup.
General manager Ray Shero deserves some blame, too.
The Penguins are unparalleled up the middle with Crosby, Malkin and Jordan Staal, and the team has invested heavily in those three, Fleury and Gonchar. Shero has done such a marvelous job of locking up the core that he has virtually no salary-cap margin for error in free-agent signings and trades.
But he made some mistakes.
It's time to declare the trade-deadline deal for Alexei Ponikarovsky a major flop. Ponikarovsky was supposed to be the high-scoring wing the Penguins needed to play on one of their top two lines, but he scored three goals and 14 points in 27 games and was so unproductive that he was demoted to the fourth line before being benched for Games 5 and 6 against Montreal.
Trading for puck-moving Jordan Leopold didn't address the need for a stay-at-home defenseman in the postseason. Shero thought he was getting just that — not another Phillippe Boucher — in free agent Jay McKee.
The Penguins never found suitable replacements for the Gill-Scuderi pairing, but that wasn't their biggest problem in the playoffs. Instead, it was that their highest-paid players didn't produce when it mattered most.
That should serve as a learning experience that the most talented team doesn't always win.
The best team does.
More Columnist Kevin Gorman headlines
Igloo-minious end for Penguins
Gorman: Nonagenarian comes up aces
Penguins downplay Game 7 failures
Pens lethal in road clinchers
Race2Four: Ponikarovsky, Fedotenko sit for Game 5
Race2Four: Montreal a mixed homecoming
Gorman: Bell Centre provides a celebration of hockey
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