Blame injuries for Penguins' sour notes

By Mark Madden

Special to The Beaver County Times | Posted: Sunday, April 7, 2013 11:47 pm

http://www.timesonline.com

After 12 home games in 33 days, the Penguins are on the road until April 17. How best to sustain the buzz? Refreshing Penguins notes! Getting everyone healthy wouldn’t hurt, either.

-- When the Penguins acquired Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow and Douglas Murray, they became Stanley Cup favorites. But now Sidney Crosby and Paul Martin are out indefinitely, and Kris Letang has played just once since March 17. The best-laid plans, etc.

-- Jussi Jokinen was brought in for playoff depth at forward, and to replace Matt Cooke on next season’s third line. Cooke will be a free agent. Jokinen’s contract has one more year left at $2.1 million and he often skated on a line with Brandon Sutter in Carolina. Players of that ilk will always be interchangeable under a salary-cap system.

-- The NHL’s compacted schedule is denying the Penguins practice time, thus preventing their recent acquisitions from meshing with their system. Coach Dan Bylsma’s decision to give his players yesterday and Saturday off was nonetheless wise. The Penguins have the best part of a month to blend. But as the season winds down, you can’t catch up on rest.

-- Defenseman Matt Niskanen is being force-fed a bigger role and more ice time in the absence of Letang and Martin, and the result is a crummy stretch of play for Niskanen. With Niskanen, less is more. With rookie Simon Despres, more could be more. He’s got pedigree and potential. Yet Despres was a healthy scratch in this past Friday’s 2-1 home win over the Rangers. The very marginal Robert Bortuzzo and Deryk Engelland played instead. Can’t figure it.

-- That said, Bortuzzo has a touch of Hal Gill about him. He’s 6-foot-4, just physical enough, and that long stick is everywhere.

-- Minus Letang and Martin, the breakout has slowed to a crawl. Most of the defensemen just whack the puck up the boards, or freeze a forward with a pass. Very rarely can a forward generate speed while receiving the puck.

-- Fans who criticize the play of Morrow because he has just one point in six games don’t understand what Morrow provides. He’s a leader, he’s physical, he’s gritty, he goes to the blue paint and he generates a body count. Morrow is the type of player that breaks the opposition defensemen down over a seven-game series. Murray provides the same element on defense. This is the NHL, not a fantasy league.

-- Statistically, this season is in line with Marc-Andre Fleury’s best ever. Beyond that, he’s making big saves at big times, which is the primary job of a goaltender on a good team. Fleury beat the Rangers nearly single-handedly. He should have received all three stars.

-- Odd stat: Chris Kunitz leads the Penguins with 20 goals. But he has had goal droughts of eight games, six games, four games and four games.

-- It seems inevitable, if everyone gets healthy, that Crosby centers Pascal Dupuis and Iginla, and Evgeni Malkin centers Kunitz and James Neal. Everyone would be in his comfort zone. Bylsma should approximate those combinations as much as possible as soon as possible. The Malkin-Iginla-Neal line isn’t scoring, and doesn’t pass the eye test. Iginla and Neal both need to play right wing.

-- Geno Nation is loyal but misguided and occasionally downright stupid. If you think Malkin’s play is worth $8.7 million, you’re putting hero worship and fanboy gibberish ahead of your powers of observation. Or maybe you just don’t know hockey. If Malkin’s hurt, he shouldn’t play.

-- Michael Del Zotto’s elbow to the head of Neal during this past Friday’s game was damaging and reckless, but I didn’t detect malice. It should have drawn a penalty. But the Rangers defenseman was not suspended, and rightly so.

-- The NCAA Division I men’s hockey championships take place Thursday and Saturday at Consol Energy Center. The Frozen Four is sports’ last truly great neutral-site event. The tickets belong to fans, not corporations. You see dozens of people wearing jerseys of schools that aren’t participating. The passion is tangible every minute of every game. It’s electric.