Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
Brad Marchand beat Tomas Vokoun for one of his two first-period goals as the Bruins built an early lead over the Penguins in Game 2.
PITSBURGH -- Dan Bylsma boldly predicted Monday morning that the team scoring first was “going to win this hockey game.” Oh, how right he was.
It may have been the only thing he was right about.
In a recurring theme throughout this Eastern Conference finals, Game 2 was not Bylsma’s team’s finest 60 minutes. Not for a single one of them.
Not for Sidney Crosby, whose first of four giveaways put the Penguins down a goal just 28 seconds in. Not for Kris Letang, who was a minus-3 after less than 20 minutes.
And certainly not for their coach.
The missteps started well before the captain’s egregious gaffe led to Brad Marchand’s breakaway goal. It began with Bylsma’s misguided “first goal” prognostication in the morning. No matter how true it may have been, why go public with it? What purpose did it serve?
Seven times in this postseason Bylsma’s team had give up the first goal. Five times they had come back to win. Talk about being set up for failure. Even when they were down just one with 59:32 still to play on Monday, you still had to like the Penguins’ chances. However, a couple of Letang turnovers later and the Penguins -- who committed a gad-awful 12 giveaways -- were effectively done in this game and quite possibly in this series.
There are no shortage of scapegoats to go around in this third-round debacle. And Bylsma is no exception.
Forget Crosby vs. Patrice Bergeron or Zdeno Chara vs. Evgeni Malkin. The biggest mismatch in the series has been Bylsma vs. Claude Julien? Not even close. Even with the benefit of home ice, and the last change that comes with it, Bylsma has been unable to get favorable matchups. Crosby, Malkin, Letang, James Neal and Jarome Iginla have all been rendered pointless, literally and figuratively. A supposedly superior offensive team has now been outscored by a combined 9-1. A power play that hovered near 30 percent is now 0 for 6 in the series.
And then there is the situation in net.
Compared to Bergeron and Chara, Tomas Vokoun and Marc-Andre Fleury were the least of the Penguins’ problems on Monday. But, where there would have been no controversy had Bylsma given a hearty thank you and a handshake to Vokoun after the second round, one now exists. It’s not as much about who should play but why either would want to. It’s that bad. And so a Penguins team which hadn’t lost three games in a row all season now find itself in a deep hole to a team that was just 10 minutes away from losing to Toronto in the first round.
With no disrespect meant toward the upstart Islanders and Senators, the Bruins have presented the Penguins with their first true test of these playoffs. So far Bylsma and Co. are failing. Miserably.
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