By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
It's not just about goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, Brooks Orpik was saying Sunday, although he acknowledged Fleury will give the Penguins their best shot at a deep playoff run in the next month or two or three.
"It's the back end. That's a lot more solid," Orpik said. "It's the seven guys we have on 'D.' Those guys have been playing really great."
That defensive unit became whole again when Orpik returned to the Penguins' lineup in their 2-1 shootout victory against the Florida Panthers after missing 13 games with a broken right index finger. Just in time, too. The playoffs start in a little more than two weeks. The Penguins are going to need Orpik. Big time.
"He just means so much to us in so many ways," coach Dan Bylsma said.
Orpik's teammates proved that by giving him their highest honor -- the Players' Player Award -- despite the fact he has missed 19 games this season, including six in October when he had a groin issue. It's the only team award voted on by the players. That makes it the most significant, if you ask me.
"It's not a popularity contest by any means," Bylsma said. "It's about respect and the way you carry yourself every day. It's about being a professional."
"The ultimate compliment," Orpik called it.
Orpik, who immediately was given back his "A" as alternate captain, played nearly 21 minutes against the Panthers and was paired with Kris Letang. He was a minus-one because he was on the ice for Florida's only goal. He had four hits and helped kill the Panthers' two power plays.
Neither Orpik's hits nor his penalty-kill work came as a surprise. He has long been known as a physical player and he is at his best when the Penguins are short-handed. I've got the numbers to back it up. Orpik has 181 hits, second-most on the team behind Matt Cooke (192) despite missing almost a quarter of the season. The team's penalty-killing unit has an 88.3 percent success rate with him in the lineup, 79.7 percent without him. Those numbers are hard to ignore.
"I thought his timing and skating looked good today," Bylsma said of Orpik.
Orpik figures his game will get much better once he settles back in. Sitting out since taking a shot by San Jose's Patrick Marleau off his right hand Feb. 23 wasn't all bad. "I don't have the aches you usually have this time of year when you've got to just grind it out," he said. "I wasn't getting hit for a month. I got four good [weight] lifts in each week and skated five or six times a week in the morning. My body feels great."
Unlike last season.
"I didn't practice. I just played in the games. That was tough," Orpik said of a painful abdominal issue that bothered him much of the season. He wasn't the same player in the playoffs -- the Penguins were knocked out in the second round by the Montreal Canadiens -- and he had surgery in June followed by a brutal rehab.
Orpik wasn't happy with how the Penguins played against the Panthers. "Not our best effort," he called it. "We got outworked in the first 20 minutes and I thought we were sloppy at times." That could have been because this was the team's fifth game in eight days, the previous three going to a shootout. Or it could have been because the Philadelphia Flyers come to town for a game Tuesday night that could go a long way toward deciding the No. 1 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
Orpik is looking forward to all of it. The game against the Flyers. The five regular-season games after it. The playoffs ...
He is especially looking forward to the playoffs.
"Confidence is the big thing," Orpik said. "We're going into games expecting to win. I think last year we sort of tiptoed into the playoffs. It just seems like the overall energy is better going down the stretch this year."
Fleury is the biggest part of that. But don't overlook that seven-man defensive corps. Letang is a Norris Trophy candidate. Offseason acquisitions Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek have been terrific. Trade-deadline pickup Matt Niskanen has been solid. So have Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland, who are in their first full NHL season. Lovejoy scored the Penguins' only goal in regulation Sunday with a dandy little wrist shot.
Now, Orpik is back.
The Players' Player.
"I didn't even get to vote for it this time because I wasn't around that day," he said.
And if he had a vote?
"There are so many deserving guys," Orpik said. He thought about it for several seconds before saying, "It would be pretty hard to ignore [Engelland]. He's such a selfless guy. He doesn't care if anyone notices him. He just does his job. And, obviously, he sticks up for his teammates pretty well, too."
Engelland was the defenseman scratched by Bylsma against the Panthers.
Orpik's right.
That's a pretty strong defensive unit.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11087/1135253-87.stm#ixzz1Hz3kBYVH
No comments:
Post a Comment