Pens can't allow this trend to continue

By Mark Madden
The Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
April 23, 2012

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 22: Evgeni Malkin #71 and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins look down after a goal by Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers in the first period of Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 22, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Flyers won the game 5-1 to eliminate the Penguins from the playoffs. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Valiant efforts are for high school teams. The Penguins accomplished zero by "battling back" from a three games-to-none deficit in their playoff series against Philadelphia. A first-round loss is a first-round loss.

Yinzer Nation acted like getting #PensIn7 to trend on Twitter would have some kind of magical effect. Admire optimism, but know history. When something happens just three times in a league's 95 years, two victories are nothing to get overly excited about.

The Penguins' core must now be considered underachievers. Losses in three straight playoff series don't lie. Final in '08, Stanley Cup in '09, but nothing close since. Too disappointing, too early, too often. The Penguins lost to Philadelphia for many reasons.

But three overwhelm:

-- The abject collapse of the Penguins' penalty-killing unit. Third in the NHL during the regular season with a success rate of 87.8 percent, the Pens' PK ranks last in the playoffs with a mark of 47.8 percent. You can't win a series when your foe's power play is 12 for 23. It's impossible. Tack on three shorthanded goals allowed, and special teams were a bloodbath for the Penguins.

--The inconsistency of Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury allowed at least one bad goal yesterday, but that loss wasn't his fault. The pace-setting first-minute goal by Claude Giroux was just a great play, and Philadelphia never lost momentum. Fleury played spectacular in Game 5. But Fleury was so brutal in Games 2 and 3 that the Penguins never had a chance in those contests. That's a deep ditch to dig.

-- The inconsistency of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Each had eight points. Those numbers were doubtless inflated by the series' high-scoring nature. Crosby netted the first goal in each of the first two games. He gave the Penguins a chance to win.
But Crosby and Malkin combined for one point over the series' final two games. Neither was ever a force for an extended period. The Penguins needed more from their two superstars. They didn't get it. As Mario Lemieux used to say after losses, "I make the most. I need to do more." That's how goats are determined in big-money sports.

The off-season is upon us. General manager Ray Shero has some hard decisions to make, especially given that the team that vanquished his blew up its foundation last off-season, peddled two of its best players, and somehow came out the other side even better. Flyers GM Paul Holmgren took big risks, but has reaped big reward.

The Penguins won't trade Crosby. He's hockey's best player and the face of the game. The Penguins won't trade Malkin. He led the league in scoring and besides, what if Crosby gets hurt again?

Jordan Staal's contract is up at the end of next season. His overtime gaffe in Game 1 aside, he was the Penguins' best player against Philadelphia. But can Shero fit him in under the cap? Does Staal want to be a third-line center forever? I would never trade Staal. But is it possible to keep him?

One change is necessary: The coaching staff needs a power-play specialist and a bad cop. The players aren't lazy, but signs of entitlement are certainly present. And there's no excuse for not molding Crosby and Malkin into a killer power play after years of inconsistency.

Hire ex-Pen Rick Tocchet. He'd provide both elements required. He'd also be a head coach-in-waiting if the Penguins further falter under Bylsma.

This is the first off-season in many where the fertilizer is really going to fly. The Penguins were coming off a Cup when Montreal upset them in 2010. They were wracked by injury when Tampa Bay upset them last season.

But now the Penguins have again lost early. They lost to their bitter rival. They're easy to play against. They have significant contracts soon coming due. They're saddled with some deals that are potentially crippling (Paul Martin, three more years at $5 million per and Zbynek Michalek, three more years at $4 million per). The further the Penguins get away from their previous coach, Michel Therrien, the more their discipline lapses and the worse Bylsma looks. It doesn't seem a team on the brink of success.

Tough questions must be asked ... and answered.

The key? Get something trending on Twitter, of course.

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).

Highlights: Game 6 - Flyers 5, Penguins 1

If Fleury is back, so are Penguins

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Thursday, April 19, 2012

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 18: Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins slides over and kicks the puck away from Jaromir Jagr #68 of the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 18, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Penguins defeated the Flyers 10-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA — Anyone doubting whether the Penguins remain alive in these Stanley Cup playoffs, no matter how faint the pulse, really shouldn`t have paid too much heed to the franchise-record-tying offense, tough as it was to miss in the 10-3 all-out annihilation of the Flyers in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

Yeah, Jordan Staal was rewarded with a hat trick after he`d been one of the few steady performers all series.

Evgeni Malkin broke through with his first two goals.

Steve Sullivan, in addition to almost singlehandedly restoring sanity to the power play, found top shelf on a rink-length rush.

And, in what I`d bet was most satisfying inside a palpably sighing locker room, Sidney Crosby essentially wrapped up the Philadelphia Daily News` cheap-shot cover – he was amateurishly photo-shopped as the "Cowardly Penguin" – and used it swat the Flyers for three points.

It was a ton of fun, all of it.

At the same time, we knew Crosby could do that.

And we knew the Penguins could score in big bunches. They`ve been doing it all along.

To me, the moment that should mean the most — to the Penguins and even the Flyers — was, of all things, a save.

I`ll wait until you check a hockey glossary for the term.

Rewind the clock to 14:38 of the second period: Claude Giroux, Philadelphia`s finest forward, darted to the left hash and — just as uncontested than most Flyers have been all series — fired a bullet for the far post.

Except this time, Fleury jutted out that big left pad, rock-em-sock-em-robots style, and got the better of the battle.

You know, like he used to.

"It felt good, I know that," Fleury said. "I`ve been giving up some goals, and it felt good to stop a player like that."

It wasn`t exactly a brilliant showing. Not with Fleury giving up three goals on 11 shots — a bad-angle Giroux stuff and two that found the five-hole — in a first period that looked as shaky as his 18 goals over three-games.

But be sure that Fleury stopping his final 14 shots and enjoying two periods of silence is precisely what the Penguins can use to turn this single staving-off into much more.

Brooks Orpik had gone out of his way to defend Fleury to wave after wave of reporters, and he didn`t stop afterward.

Citing the save on Giroux, Orpik said, "It`s nice when he only has to make one of those a game. I mean, we`ve given him five breakaways, five two-on-ones and five tap-ins every game. He hasn`t been his best, and he`d be the first to tell you that. But we`ve been terrible."

What`s funny is that Fleury might not even need to be at his best to beat Philadelphia.

Did you see Ilya Bryzgalov continuing to look like he lost his contact lenses in the ice?

Five goals, 18 shots.

And how about replacement Sergei Bobrovsky?

Five goals, 18 shots.

Bryzgalov probably will be the Flyers` choice for Game 5, despite 17 goals in four games. I don`t think they have a choice.

"He has to have confidence in himself," Jaromir Jagr said. "Nobody`s going to help him but himself. I think he`s OK."

Reassuring, huh?

Fleury`s capable of being far better than OK.

He made another eyepopping save at 5:52 of the third, snagging Braydon Coburn`s point-blank backhander, then raising it high enough for the grumbling sea of orange to see.

That`s the real Fleury.

That`s the one who flashed the boyish grin when I asked if this had lifted him up a bit.

"Well," he answered, "I`m looking forward to Game 5."

Highlights: Game 4 - Penguins 10, Flyers 3

A confession: Jagr was right

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 13: Jaromir Jagr #68 of the Philadelphia Flyers handles the puck against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 13, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

VOORHEES, N.J. — Jaromir Jagr was right.

For all else that will pain Pittsburgh`s passionate hockey fans once the Penguins complete their epic collapse in these Stanley Cup playoffs, either Wednesday night in Game 4 or later this week, nothing should cut deeper than those four words.

Jagr was right, and we were wrong.

Well, I was wrong, speaking for myself.

It was just last summer, amid all the fuss of "Jagr Watch" and folks staking out Pittsburgh International with dusted-off No. 68 sweaters and turtles delaying his flight out of JFK and endless nonsense from loopy agent Petr Svoboda, that I criticized Jagr once he signed with the Flyers.

In this space on July 2, 2011, the day after Jagr accepted the Flyers` $3.3 million offer over the Penguins` $2 million, I called him greedy. Called him a mercenary. Pointed out that he`d amassed $101 million over his career and still went for the extra million.

"This wasn`t about greener pastures," I wrote that day. "It was about going for the green."

I`ll say it again: I was wrong.

Oh, sure, it can never be known what would have happened had the Penguins countered with, say, $4 million. Jagr might have looked at the whole scene — renewing his bond with the franchise, the city and Mario Lemieux — in a wholly different way.

But that part about greener pastures ... well, kind of hard to argue that now, isn`t it?

The first three playoff games have powerfully illustrated that Philadelphia is the better team to this point, and there`s also no question that the Flyers have been an exemplary fit for what he needed.

I spent some time with Jagr, whom I`ve known since 1997, after the Flyers` practice here last Wednesday, primarily for the purpose of fessing up. Told him what I wrote last summer, the terms I used, the whole deal.

Not surprisingly, he laughed.

"Well, what do you think now?" Jagr came back with a chuckle as he unlaced his skates. "For me, it was never about the money. If it was about the money, I could stay in Russia and make twice as much. I wanted to come to the NHL, play with great players and have the chance to win the Cup again. I`m very happy here."

Happier, no doubt, than he would have been in Pittsburgh.

Remember when Jagr wondered if the Penguins were "serious" about signing him?

That was legit. I have no doubt Lemieux and Dan Bylsma wanted it to happen. But I also have no doubt that general manager Ray Shero, who has every right to build his roster as he sees fit, really didn`t. And Jagr acknowledged Wednesday for the first time that he sensed Shero`s trepidation during the talks.

"For sure," Jagr said. "I knew there were some people there that wanted me, others who didn`t. I know Mario did."

Remember when Jagr said he`d prefer playing with Claude Giroux over Sidney Crosby?

Oh, we howled at that one. Not anymore.

Giroux isn`t Crosby. No one is. But Giroux raised his status to one of the game`s unquestioned top five forwards with a 93-point season, shining as Jagr`s centerman. The two also became good friends.
"He`s a special player, a special kid," Jagr said.

Remember when Jagr worried he wouldn`t have a spot on the Penguins` top two lines, or the first power-play unit?

We scoffed at that, too. But what would have become of Jagr once James Neal began busting out as a 40-goal sniper?

As for the power play ...

"They can`t even have Sid on the power play," Jagr said, with the trademark devilish grin. "Where would they put me?"

Remember when we saw Jagr joining the rival Flyers as a direct shot at the Penguins?

Well, this was what he had to say about being up, 3-0, in this series against his former team and the city that boos him with each touch of the puck: "All I know is that I appreciate every time I`m on the ice. I don`t know how many playoff games I have left in my career. If I`m happy about beating Pittsburgh — if we do — it`s because they`re the best team in the league. That`s special."

Jagr is openly talking about coming back for another NHL season, and he`s told the Flyers he`d prefer to stay put. I can see that happening, especially if he goes on to play a productive-mentor role similar to Mark Recchi`s with the champion Bruins last spring.

I`m guessing No. 68 would happily take a third Cup over that statue outside Consol Energy Center.

It was the right call.

James Neal Cheap-Shots Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux

By Jason Sapunka
http://bleacherreport.com/pittsburgh-penguins
April 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 15: Braydon Coburn #5 of the Philadelphia Flyers and James Neal #18 of the Pittsburgh Penguins collide along the boards in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 15, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Flyers defeated the Penguins 8-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Pittsburgh Penguins showed little class in a Game 3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers that put their team one loss away from elimination.

In addition to Sidney Crosby punching Claude Giroux with a linesman between them, Arron Asham cross-checking Brayden Schenn in the throat, and Craig Adams jumping Scott Hartnell from behind, James Neal took part in two dirty plays.

The first happened with just under 5:30 to play in the third period.

Philadelphia's Sean Couturier touched the puck near the boards (which were to his left), roughly five feet into his offensive zone. He was skating up-ice to Pittsburgh's end when the play occurred. The puck went deeper into the Philadelphia zone after he touched it.

At this point, Neal was skating toward the Pittsburgh end of the ice at the blue line in the center of the ice.

Couturier glided out of his zone and looked back at play. A full two seconds after he made contact with the puck, Neal leapt into him, hitting him high in the chest and sending Couturier down to the ice.

Not only was this a very late hit, Neal leaving his feet made it dirty, regardless of where the puck was. Neal had plenty of time to avoid Couturier, but skated right at him instead.

A little over 40 seconds later, the Penguins forward went after Giroux.

Giroux was in his offensive zone at the right faceoff circle, facing across ice. Neal came from outside of the zone toward Giroux.

Neal not only aimed his left elbow at Giroux's head, but left the ice as well—again. Had Giroux not ducked under the attempted cheap shot, the Flyers could have a disaster on their hands with an injured superstar.

Giroux missed time earlier this season due to a concussion; Neal aiming at his head with an elbow is completely irresponsible.

Does Neal want the Flyers aiming elbows at the head of Sidney Crosby? Because that's the only fair way for Philadelphia to respond his cheap-shot attempt.

Hartnell told reporters after the game,

"They were going after a couple of our guys' heads. It's scary when it comes down to that level," he said. "You ask the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby, what they're thinking over there: 'That's playoff hockey?'

"For me, that's not playoff hockey, that is dangerous hockey. They were just trying to hurt people."

The Penguins were pathetically cheap in the game that may very well seal a first-round exit this year.

The NHL has been very strange in their supplementary discipline decisions this postseason (even the New York Rangers say so), but it would be absurd for the Penguins to escape this game without at least one suspension.



Jason Sapunka covers the NHL and Philadelphia Flyers. He is available on Twitter for updates, analysis and commentary.


Related:

Sidney Crosby, from Prodigy to Punk -
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1146515-nhl-playoffs-2012-sidney-crosby-from-prodigy-to-punk

Crosby puts series into gutter

By Phil Sheridan
Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer
April 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 15: The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers battle during the first period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 15, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA -- Justice may or may not come from the NHL office in Toronto. History suggests it would be ill-advised to hold your breath waiting.

The Flyers got their justice on the scoreboard Sunday, beating the surly Penguins, 8-4, and virtually assuring themselves of a berth in the second round of the playoffs.

"We've been talking about that the whole series," said Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen, who was uncharacteristically ejected for fighting. "We're not going to get any favors from the referees or league or whatever. We have to be the ones to stay disciplined. ... If they think they're going to win that way, it's not working for them."

It's a shame, really. Games 1 and 2 of this series were thrilling, memorable hockey games. There was little of the expected extracurricular idiocy, and that was something to applaud.

Then Sidney Crosby changed the channel to a WWE steel-cage match. The feeling here has always been that Crosby's reputation outside the 'Burgh is overblown, as much a product of his success as his reputed cheap shots and referee-lawyering.

But Crosby earned every epithet that has been hurled at him in the first period of Game 3. Incapable of leading his choking team to wins despite early leads, Crosby the captain resorted to leading this series into the gutter.

Crosby started a scrum behind the Flyers net by chopping at goalie Ilya Bryzgalov's glove after he had covered the puck and the whistle had been blown. Then he reignited things into a full-blown melee by flicking Jakub Voracek's glove away as Voracek leaned over to pick it up.

Timonen took exception, so Penguins defenseman Kris Letang went after Timonen.

"If he gets in a scrum, they're obviously going to be all out there," Timonen said. "They're going to make sure he's not the one [who fights]."

Except Claude Giroux made sure, this time at least, that Crosby did. The Flyers' best player dropped his gloves and engaged Crosby. If Giroux wasn't already beloved by Flyers fans, this would have sealed the deal.

It would have been one thing if that had been the end of it. But it was the start. Taking a cue from their captain, the Penguins took a series of cheap shots at various Flyers targets. Arron Asham cross-checked Brayden Schenn up high, then pounded his head into the ice. James Neal launched himself at Sean Couturier in the third period, then took another shot at Giroux.

If there is a sentient being in the Toronto offices, perhaps he has noticed that more than 1,000 former NFL players have filed lawsuits against that league for its handling of concussions over the decades. That hasn't happened in hockey yet, but it's only a matter of time.

So here's the test for commissioner Gary Bettman and his czar of discipline, Brendan Shanahan. Saturday's playoff games were marred by similar dangerous cheap shots. Now here were the Penguins, all but finished in this series, trying to disable some of the league's future stars with outrageous head shots.

Precedent is mixed. Nashville's Shea Weber skated, literally, after a dangerous head shot. Sunday, the NHL suspended the Rangers' Carl Hagelin three games for a nasty head shot to Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson.

If Asham or Neal play again in this postseason, it will appear the league considers player safety secondary to satisfying the blood lust of some fans. That's going to look bad when the class-action suits are filed.

"If you look around, the whole playoffs, it's been like that," Timonen said. "It's not just our game. I watched games last night, and it's been like that."

Let's be clear here. The Flyers aren't dewy innocents competing for the Lady Byng instead of the Stanley Cup. This is a violent game, and who knows what misdeeds they might have gotten up to had the situation been reversed? But this series had been a compelling case for hockey as a contact sport, not a cheap-shot sport, until Crosby changed the temperature.

"They've got to do what they've got to do, I guess," Giroux said.

During the long stoppages, while the referees sorted out the 148 penalty minutes, Flyers fans chanted, "You can't beat us," at the Penguins.

It was true, and it was sweeter justice than any hit the Flyers could deliver.

Don't bother showing for Game 4

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, April 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 15: The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers fight during the first period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 15, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Flyers defeated the Penguins 8-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA — Within a couple hours of maybe the most pathetic playoff performance in Penguins history, the sloppy, senseless and stupid-beyond-words 8-4 loss to the Flyers in Game 3 on Sunday, the tattered remains of this team boarded an aircraft for Pittsburgh. That`s where they`re set to practice the next two days, then return here for Game 4.

Do us a favor, gentlemen: Don`t come back.

No, I mean it.

Just fold the sweaters like you`ve folded mentally in these Stanley Cup playoffs. Pack up like you`ve packed it in, and head off to Moose Jaw or Magnitogorsk for the summer.

But don`t come back here.

Not until you`re ready to use — and keep — your heads. Not until you`re prepared to take the ice with some semblance of dignity, discipline and, yeah, maybe even a shift or two of defense.

Want to send a busload of call-ups from Wilkes-Barre?

Go nuts. It`s right up the road.

Those kids, even the full-time knuckle-draggers, wouldn`t soil the franchise`s reputation like Arron Asham did with his disgraceful stick assault on Brayden Schenn, that before jabbing Schenn while face-down on the ice. The NHL`s suspension should be fierce.

Those Wilkes-Barre kids wouldn`t waste half the afternoon petulantly chasing personal grudges, either. Kris Letang killed the Penguins` early momentum with his stupid, selfish cross-check, then saw fit to get tossed for fighting while another fight was going on. Chris Kunitz was no sharper when slashing a Flyer in the attacking zone when the Penguins again had something going in the third. James Neal`s later hit that wiped out Sean Couturier wasn`t nearly as bad as folks here fussed about, but it was well away from the puck.

Even Sidney Crosby lost his cool, inexplicably risking his health by fighting Claude Giroux — though Crosby assured me nothing landed — and whacking his way all over the rink.

Afterward, too, despite assurances that "we`re not frustrated," he uncharacteristically raised eyebrows by saying of the Flyers` mega-pest Jakub Voracek, "I don`t like him. Why? Because I don`t like him. I don`t like any guy on their team."

That`s Crosby?

These are the Penguins?

You shouldn`t wonder what Mario Lemieux was thinking. I saw No. 66 shaking his head outside the locker room like a disgusted parent, and he had every right. He speaks out for the NHL to clean up its act, and his team pulls this garbage?

And yet, amazingly, the defense was still ugliest of all.

In all seriousness, do you suppose those Wilkes-Barre kids could hold the Flyers to fewer than 20 goals in three games?

Jordan Staal — who, along with Neal, Craig Adams, a gutsy Matt Niskanen and only a couple others, performed at an actual playoff level on this day — looked me in the eye and said the effort was there. I believe him. There are 11 ring-bearing champions on this roster.

But there`s a colossal difference between working hard and working smart, and the Penguins fell laughably shy of the latter — yet again — when it came to preventing goals.

The breakdowns spanned the length of the Turnpike, but nothing stood out like Pascal Dupuis failing to dump the puck on a penalty-kill late in the second, leading to Wayne Simmonds` breakaway goal that put the Flyers up, 6-4. This after relentless reinforcement about moving forward all week.

Dupuis is smarter than that.

The Penguins as a whole are far, far better than this. Or at least they should be.

They still sound determined, minus any bold declarations.

"We`ll be fine," Staal said.

They still sound together, too, with Crosby and Brooks Orpik offering — wholly unsolicited — that there`s "no finger-pointing" in the locker room.

But none of that matters with Evgeni Malkin being outclassed by 19-year-old Couturier, with Marc-Andre Fleury fishing rubber out of his net every five minutes, with the citizenry still waiting on Dan Bylsma`s first strategic adjustment and, above all, with dumb turning dumber.

Figure it out, fellas, or save the airfare.

Pens abandoned system, then hope

By Mark Madden
The Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
April 16, 2012

PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 15: Claude Giroux #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers celebrates a goal against Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins by Maxime Talbot #27 (not shown) at 6:44 of the first period in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Wells Fargo Center on April 15, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Flyers defeated the Penguins 8-4. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

When the Penguins deal with injuries, they're a good hockey team. They master fundamentals, stick to their system.

But when all their vast talent is at their disposal, the Penguins stink. They play with a sense of entitlement, like glory is their birthright. No humility. When their rattle is snatched away, the Penguins react like any baby: They scream or they pout.

Say what you might about blowing a 3-1 series lead to Tampa Bay in last year's first round, at least the Penguins never abandoned their framework. Their structure was sound. With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin out and their power play dysfunctional as ever, the Penguins just ran out of goals.

That was disappointing, but noble.

There's nothing noble about what's going on now.

The Penguins are not only being slaughtered by Philadelphia, they're stooping to embarrassing levels of mayhem. The Flyers aren't innocent, but they're not instigators. Not this time.

The Penguins' organization has often taken a stand against abhorrent behavior. That doesn't mean their players have to be angels. But sticks to the face? Leaving their skates to hit?

The frustration is understandable. I've never seen a playoff series with worse goaltending at both ends. Marc-Andre Fleury has imploded. Scoring 12 goals in three games should be enough to be on the verge of a sweep, not being swept.

But between Fleury's collapse, anemic defensive play and horrific special teams, the Penguins simply can't score enough. Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov merely has to outplay Fleury. It's not hard. Fleury played so badly in Games 2 and 3, it was impossible to overcome, although Bryzgalov did his best.

But the problems go beyond goaltending. They can be traced back to March 15, the day Crosby returned to the lineup.

At that point, the Penguins became a flying circus. The Penguins have since averaged 4.5 goals per game, but have gone just 9-8.

Crosby's return was a catalyst for the negative. But don't blame Crosby. No player has a bigger commitment to two-way hockey than the Penguins' captain. Crosby hasn't been great in this series, but he scored the first goal in Games 1 and 2. He gave the Penguins a chance.

When Crosby returned, however, it seemed to give the Penguins a feeling that success was inevitable. They got intoxicated by whiffing high octane. Give up a goal? No problem. Go score two. Give up four goals? No problem. Go score five.

But what if you don't? And what if you give up eight?

Last season's Penguins could bleed out low-scoring wins. The current Penguins don't want to bother.

The Penguins' defensive malfeasance has been thorough and despicable. Defensive-zone coverage is pathetic. The Penguins frequently leave the zone without the puck. Too many odd-man breaks allowed, especially by the third and fourth lines.

The Penguins' defensive problems too often start with neutral-zone turnovers created by arrogance, stupidity or the always deadly combination of both.

When their stars are injured, the Penguins win via systematic play. In 2009, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup via systematic play. They didn't dazzle Detroit. They frazzled Detroit.

Now, their system exists only in theory. That's what causes blown leads. That's what causes blowouts. There's no structure. Can't go back to square one when you forget where it is.

When the Penguins eliminated the Flyers in 2008, it was the handshake line Pittsburgh had waited four decades for.

But yesterday, there was no denying the chant that rang around Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center and made its way back to Pittsburgh via television: "YOU CAN'T BEAT US!"

Loud, clear and true. It's a nightmare.

Highlights: Game 3 - Flyers 8, Penguins 4

Penguins live and die with team identity

By Bruce Arthur
http://sports.nationalpost.com/
April 14, 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 13: Chris Kunitz #14 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his first period goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 13, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH — Nobody expected the ledge to come this quickly, but here it is. The Pittsburgh Penguins had the fourth-best record in the National Hockey League this season, sported perhaps the two best players in the game, and were the betting favourites to win the Stanley Cup. What could be better?

And now they are down 2-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers and heading back to Philadelphia after two games in which they watched an early lead slip away, in pieces or in bursts. They haven’t just lost; they have been beaten. And much like the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks, two games into the post-season it has become a question of identity and trust, and whether the Penguins can hold onto either one.

“I mean, I think if you really watched the game closely it’s not like they’re carrying the play and all of a sudden it’s five shifts that they’re wearing us down and then they’re putting one in,” said Sidney Crosby, who had a goal and an assist in each of the first two games.

“It’s the other way around. We have possession for most of the time and we make one mistake, and it ends up in our net. Unfortunately that’s the way the game goes sometimes — it doesn’t seem fair, but that’s the way it goes. So we really, really have to focus on not making those mistakes, and we all believe we we have the guys to score goals.

“I think eventually, we keep doing good things, we keep going hard to the net, keep doing the things that we’re doing, hopefully we get some bounces too.”

Bounces is one thing; free-range defensive play is another. Philadelphia didn’t luck its way to eight goals in Game 2 — they did it on a rebound off a breakaway, a power play, an open rebound, an open shot from the slot extended, a defensive zone giveaway for a breakaway, a contested wrist shot from near the faceoff circle, a 3-on-1, and an empty netter. The Flyers had acres of room, and came flying at Fleury as if he was standing in the middle of an expressway. In Game 1 Philadelphia came back from a 3-0 deficit; in Game 2 Pittsburgh led 3-1, 4-3, and 5-4, and lost going away.

“If you’re asking does it affect the mindset, I think it does,” says Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma. “You can say that losing 4-3 is a 4-3 loss no matter how it goes down, and an overtime game is painful for anybody who’s losing 4-3. But I think we understand we had leads, 3-0 leads and two-goals leads, and they were able to come back … It’s difficult to deal with those losses but at the same time, we have to put it behind us.”

The question is what is wrong, and how to fix it. Down the stretch holes opened up in Pittsburgh’s defensive ice — an 8-4 loss to Ottawa, two 5-3 losses to the Islanders, a 6-4 loss to this same Philadelphia team in which the Flyers scored four third-period goals. Marc-André Fleury started three of those games, and finished two of them.

As Penguins defenceman Paul Martin puts it, “when you think of playoff games, and it being tight, the last couple of games I think for the most part have kind of caught us off guard as to what you expect, some of the chances given up … But I think we know the type of team that we are. I think the hardest part is we spend too much time trying to figure out why we let the lead slide.”

Pittsburgh was 32-0-3 this season when leading after two periods, tied for the sixth-best winning percentage in the league in that situation. But they were tied at the end of two in Game 2, and were only 19th in the league when leading after one period. They were 17th in goals-against, and 24th in save percentage. In their final 14 games with Sidney Crosby in the lineup, they went 1-4-1 when scoring fewer than five goals, and 8-0 when they scored five or more.

They have become, it appears, a sort of run-and-gun team, and against the Flyers — third in the league in scoring this season, two slots behind Pittsburgh — they have proven incapable of turning off the spigot once they race out in front.

But the Penguins believe this is wholly uncharacteristic. Maybe they’re right. Maybe they have no choice.

“This is who we are, this is our team, this is our identity, then as it unfolds down the stretch and you end up going goal for goal or you end up giving up some goals late — it can definitely be frustrating for teams,” said Martin. “For us, I think we still believe in who we are. We know who we are.”

Who are the Penguins? They think they know, but it’s time to find out again. And in Game 3 they can either peer into the abyss, or pull themselves away from it. We’ll see who they are. They will, too.

“We faced a lot this year. We had a lot injuries, a lot of media questioned our team, how fragile it was, and we always responded well,” says Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang. “We have a lot of character, I think, we have a lot of leaders in that dressing room. I’m really confident in this group.

“A good rivalry like that, you just want to live for those games. It’s fun to be part of, and we’ll see the true face of our team. And I think we’ll see if guys have character, and we’ll prove a lot.”

• Email: barthur@nationalpost.com


Related:

Flyers follow comeback script to take 2-0 series lead over Penguins

Jaromir Jagr’s evolution comes full circle

Penguins throwing it all away

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Saturday, April 14, 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 13: Sean Couturier #14 of the Philadelphia Flyers scores hat trick against Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 13, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Flyers defeated the Penguins 7-5. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

If someone had told you Sidney Crosby would score 15 seconds after the opening faceoff, that he'd make a moving show of leadership by giving up his place on the power play, that it would reap a reward right away, that his sweet setup would bring a two-goal lead in the first period ... would you take it?

If someone had told you Tyler Kennedy would snap a tie in the opening minute of the third period ... would you take it?

If someone had told you the Penguins could enter these Stanley Cup playoffs richly healthy, with the exception of defenseman Matt Niskanen, for the first time in three years ... would you take it?

Don't ask these Penguins. They're too busy throwing it away.

They should be capitalizing on more talent than they've had up front since the early '90s, more good fortune than they've known since Crosby raised that Cup in Detroit. But instead of stamping out a Philadelphia team they've had under their foot countless times, they've crumbled again and again.

Flyers 8, Penguins 5.

"We're down, 2-0," coach Dan Bylsma said of the score that really counts. "There were some crazy situations, a lot of back and forth. The bottom line is that they came into our building and won both games."

How sad.

And, really, how ugly it all looked: Every rush up ice by the Flyers brought a cringe, every rebound seemed to find an unguarded opponent, and every shot felt like it would find a hole. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up a touchdown on 30 shots, even though he really only could be faulted on the final two goals, and the defensive play — forwards and defensemen included — fluctuated only from porous to pathetic.

The day after Bylsma stressed moving forward — skating and passing — defenseman Ben Lovejoy maddeningly flicked a puck across the middle of the Penguins' zone, right at Philadelphia's Sean Couturier. That resulted in a breakaway and the goal that made it 5-5 just 17 seconds after Kennedy struck.

Seventeen seconds!

As if it didn't occur to anyone on the home side to preserve a lead for, oh, a minute or so.

How about Brooks Orpik going for a big hit in the neutral zone to set the stage for Philadelphia`s last-second goal in the second period?

Or Zbynek Michalek passing the puck laterally through the neutral zone in the third … to a linesman?

Seriously, there wasn`t a teammate within 30 feet, and he still went sideways.

Small wonder most Penguins sounded mostly eager to erase this and get on with Game 3.

"We've got to be a lot better, and that's all that we can control from this point," Crosby said. "The mistakes that we've made have ended up in our net. It's not like mistakes have gone by without any consequence."

"We made some mistakes, and they capitalized" Orpik said. "But there are 20 guys working as hard as they can. No one's pointing fingers in the room. Everybody's giving max effort."

He'd better be right. If things are going to change, it will be in performance and not personnel.

I'd been calling since mid-winter for the Penguins to promote Simon Despres and prepare him for the playoffs. But he's still in Wilkes-Barre, and that ship likely has sailed.

Odd how Niskanen, a third-pairing guy, has been so terribly missed in this setting, huh?

While I'm asking questions, here are others the Penguins might want to ponder ...

Will Evgeni Malkin, the league's imminent MVP, continue to be outshone by the 19-year-old Couturier, who not only shut down Malkin again but also netted a hat trick? Or will Malkin stop trying to stickhandle through the world?

Will the power play score or allow more goals by series' end?

Will the penalty-killing ever expand from its tiny box against the Flyers' killer power play?

Will Fleury flat-out dominate, because that's now critical?

Was Chris Kunitz really a minus-5 with two goals?

It's very much worth praising the Flyers. They've been relentless in bouncing back, furious on the forecheck and deadly on the finish. They found a way to hold their only lead in the third.

But sorry, I can't accept that this Philadelphia roster is the '80s Oilers reincarnated. It's a good group of forwards, but it's not eight-goals good. Nobody is in today's NHL. That takes two.

Alas, it takes only one to blow a beautiful opportunity.

Highlights: Game 2- Flyers 8, Penguins 5

Pens undone by power play

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Thursday, April 12, 2012

Philadelphia Flyers' Jakub Voracek (93) scores in overtime past Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) and Penguins' Jordan Staal (11) during Game 1 of the opening-round NHL hockey playoff series Wednesday, April 11, 2012 in Pittsburgh. The Flyers won 4-3. (AP)

What a bizarre evening — and I`m not talking about the animals in the stands.

"Did you see all the bears out there?" Jaromir Jagr said to no one in particular in a joyous Philadelphia Flyers` dressing room. "There were like 70 or 80. How did they get tickets?"

They were not real bears, of course. They were Penguins fans dressed as bears, playfully mocking Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who, before the series, memorably told reporters the only thing he was scared of was "bears in the forest."

The Penguins looked pretty darn scary for a period, jumping to a 3-0 lead before they were undone by a familiar foe: their own power play.

That is their bear in the forest.

Unable to bury the resilient Flyers, the Penguins saw their three-goal lead melt into a stunning 4-3 loss when Jakub Voracek scored at 2:23 of overtime. Kris Letang flubbed a puck in front of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and Voracek whacked it home.

"What we did," Bryzgalov said, "was unbelievable."

To call the loss dispiriting would be a radical understatement. Blame it on the power play.

Not only did the Penguins fail to score on their three chances — all coming with an opportunity to bury the Flyers — but they sapped themselves of momentum.

"We didn`t have much end-zone time," said coach Dan Bylsma. "It was more off the rush, and within five to 10 seconds a shot, and (the Flyers) got it cleared."

The ineptness was enough to spark memories of last year`s power-play meltdown against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Surely, you remember. The Penguins went 1-for-35 overall and 0-for-25 at home.

At least that power play had an excuse. It didn`t have enough talent.

This one might have too much.

This isn`t new, either. The power play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin underachieves to its talent level.

It`s time for Bylsma and his staff to make some changes. One, the Crosby-at-the-point experiment needs to end. He belongs around the net. That is where he does his best work. It`s where he scored a brilliant even-strength goal last night.

Two, Steve Sullivan belongs back on the first unit full-time. Gaining entry has been a problem. Sullivan is a master there. He and Kris Letang need to man the points. It seems obvious now. Chris Kunitz would then be the odd man out.

The Penguins didn`t shoot enough with the man advantage last night. They got too cute. When they did get a decent shot, they had zero net-front presence.

The only space that cleared faster than the Flyers` goal crease was the Penguins` dressing room after the game. Players were gone in record time, leaving a trail of unanswered questions.

The Flyers gained life immediately after a failed Penguins power play early in the second period. A goal there, and "it`s over," as Voracek put it.

Instead, Daniel Briere took advantage of a Joe Vitale turnover to make it 3-1 (yes, Briere was a mile offside on the play).

Briere struck again early in the third to make it 3-2, beating Fleury on an odd-angle shot from near the left boards.

"I`m sure he`d like to have that one back," Briere said.

The Flyers showed the Penguins what a real power play looks like after Brooks Orpik went to the box for interference at 10:41 of the third. Brayden Schenn skillfully deflected a Scott Hartnell pass into the net at 12:23.

Game 1`s don`t always foretell a series, especially when the Penguins are involved. In their past four playoff series, and five of their past six, the Game 1 winner went on to lose.

But this was a shocker.

It puts a ton of pressure on the Penguins Friday night, unless they`re planning more 2-0 escapes on their way to another Stanley Cup.

That doesn`t sound like a good plan.

A mandatory practice today, featuring lots of power-play work with Sullivan at the point, sounds like a great one.

Time to bear down.

Highlights: Game 1- Flyers 4, Penguins 3 (OT)

Say it: Penguins will win Cup

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman presents Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins with the Stanley Cup after his team defeated the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1 to win Game Seven and the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Finals at Joe Louis Arena on June 12, 2009 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

It`s been three years since Marc-Andre Fleury slid across to stone Nicklas Lidstrom and Sidney Crosby raised the Stanley Cup on that joyous June 12, 2009, at Joe Louis Arena.

Three long, lousy years.

Or, to put that in more painfully precise terms, it`s been 101 games lost by Crosby to concussions and other stuff, 61 games lost by Evgeni Malkin to knee injuries and other stuff, and 60 games lost by Jordan Staal to two foot surgeries, three related procedures, an infection, a broken hand, a strained knee and … am I missing something?

Oh, yeah: Two Game 7 losses to inferior opponents on home ice.

Those might have hurt the most.

Anyone ready for a change?

Anyone ready for all that misfortune to take a hard Pittsburgh left?

I can name at least 20 individuals — notably the 10 who were in uniform that defining night in Detroit — who sure sound ready to generate that change, beginning with Game 1 against the Flyers on this great Wednesday for hockey at Consol Energy Center.

"The fire is there, for sure," Crosby said Tuesday after practice.

"This team`s really hungry," right winger Craig Adams said.

"We`ve wanted it all along," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "The desire was there even last year when we were playing without Sid and Geno. This year, it`s just a little more realistic."

Sure is.

Everyone around town has been sharing their first-round predictions in recent days. Here`s mine: These Penguins are going to win the Stanley Cup.

And when they do, few of us will even remember how they took out the Flyers.

I`m not suggesting it`ll be easy. Clearly, it won`t, based on the rivals` heated, mostly even back-and-forth this season. But I am saying there isn`t another NHL team — not the Flyers, Canucks, Blues, Predators, Rangers or anyone else — that can match the Penguins` total package.

Scoring?

That was No. 1 in the league, led by the game`s preeminent players in Crosby and Malkin and suddenly one of its preeminent wingers in James Neal.

Depth?

Not many teams can claim seven players with 17 or more goals, and bear in mind that Crosby isn`t among them. He had eight. Chris Kunitz (26), Pascal Dupuis (25) and Matt Cooke (19) all had career-high outputs in supporting roles.

Special teams?

The power play ranked fifth, the penalty-killing third. If your biggest problem on special teams is how to utilize the best player on the planet with the man-advantage, you have no problems.

Defense?

It`s got a star in Kris Letang, it`s got good mobility and, while it`s hardly rambunctious, I wouldn`t cross the blue line with my head down against Letang, Deryk Engelland or Orpik. That`s half the corps right there.

Toughness?

This is as tough as any roster, top to bottom, in franchise history. And I`m not talking about fights, which are rare in the playoffs. I`m talking Adams tough, Arron Asham tough, in-your-face tough.

Discipline?

OK, we`ll see on this one. Suffice it to say facing the Flyers first should help.

Goaltending?

Of the current top performers at the game`s most important position, Fleury is the only one with a ring. That counts.

Add all this up, look at the rest of the field, and don`t be afraid to say it: This team is built to win the Cup.

Not to take a round or two.

Not to reach the final.

To win it all.

The way most in this locker room see it, they should have challenged for the Cup every year since 2009. They should have reaped so much more from this blessed well of talent, and they would have had it not been for the curse of injury.

"I think now comes the realization, with these last couple years, that you don`t know when you`ll get the opportunity again," Cooke said. "You don`t know when you`re going to have a full lineup like this. You don`t know when you`re going to have all this potential like we have. You want to make the most of it."

He`s right.

Now, dump the Flyers in five or six and get on with it. There`s bigger business at hand.

Flyers don't scare Pens; won't beat them, either

By Mark Madden
Special to The Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
April 8, 2012

The first-round playoff series between the Penguins and Flyers is a mismatch on paper. The Penguins have better hockey players.

But sometimes the Flyers play better hockey.

The Flyers went 4-2 against the Penguins this season by repeatedly applying the same formula: Lots of offensive-zone time, exploitation of odd-man breaks, a razor-sharp power play and a maximum of distraction. The Penguins have difficulty getting to their game against Philadelphia.

The Flyers could win this series. But they won't.

Over seven games played consecutively, talent adds up. Matchups and game plans adjust constantly, but Dan Bylsma certainly takes no backseat to Peter Laviolette in those departments. It's hard to imagine the Flyers dealing with the Penguins' three centers over the long haul of a series.

The Penguins enjoy a massive advantage in goal, with Stanley Cup-winner Marc-Andre Fleury facing a ready-to-erupt goalie controversy.

The Flyers are playing Ilya Bryzgalov $51 million to be their No. 1 netminder. But Sergei Bobrovsky is 5-1 lifetime against the Penguins. If Bryzgalov drops Game 1, the Philly faithful will call for Bobrovsky. If you think you have two great goaltenders, you really don't have any.

The Flyers' power play is their biggest weapon. The Penguins normally hope for tight refereeing. This series, not so much.

Hopefully, mayhem gets curbed. But the Penguins don't want to trade power plays with Philadelphia. Each team's man-advantage unit converted 19.7 percent of its chances, but the Flyers led the NHL in power-play goals with 66. The Flyers' PP produces relentless pressure with quick passes and plentiful shots. The Penguins' PP indulges a bit too much.

The Penguins' offense has been insane since Crosby's return, averaging 4.8 goals per game and netting fewer than four just twice in 14 games. That's incredible, especially given how laissez-faire officiating is slowing down NHL hockey.

One disclaimer: High-octane offense doesn't win in the postseason. The Penguins have played great hockey. But are they playing playoff hockey?

Not really. But they will be. This team isn't a bunch of dummies, and Bylsma didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

When the Penguins had their early-'90s juggernauts, they definitely had an unstated philosophy: The regular-season is for stats, the playoffs are for winning. Trap if you have to. Do whatever it takes. These Penguins have 12 holdovers from their 2009 Cup winner. They understand.

The Flyers, despite zero psychology degrees, were always going to try to get inside the Penguins' heads. That's what Laviolette's histrionics a week ago and assistant coach Craig Berube's volatile quotes were about.

But all that seems to have backfired. NBC analyst Mike Milbury, Hockey Night in Canada gadfly Don Cherry and Rangers coach John Tortorella piled on, and it seems to have brought the Penguins even closer, instilling an us-against-them mentality Hines Ward would be proud of.

I've never understood the idea of angering Crosby. When is the last time that paid off?

The Penguins did not engage the Flyers' silliness in Saturday's regular-season finale, save when Joe Vitale paid for past transgressions by being forced to repeatedly bruise his knuckles on Harry Zolnierczyk's melon. Stamp that message "return to sender." The Flyers don't scare the Penguins. The Flyers may not even annoy the Penguins, not any more. There's a bigger picture. The Penguins see it.

Pittsburgh in six. It could be shorter.


Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).

Defenseman Letang is Penguins' unsung star

BY FRANK SERAVALLI
Daily News Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/
April 10, 2012

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 15: Kris Letang #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates with the puck in front of Marian Gaborik #10 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on March 15, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH - For the Pittsburgh Penguins, one player - more than any other - is vital to their on-ice success against the Flyers.

He is a 24-year-old Canadian with a sparkling resumé that includes a Stanley Cup, multiple All-Star appearances and statistics that stack up with the best in his position in the NHL.

He missed a significant chunk of this season with postconcussion symptoms. He returned for a bit, dazzled to pull the Penguins out of a funk, and then was forced to sit out again later because of fogginess. His team struggled mightily without him.

His name is not Sidney Crosby.

In fact, many think the Penguins learned how to win without Crosby, who missed 107 games over the last two seasons and five against the Flyers alone. Instead, it's a lot tougher to explain Pittsburgh's marginal 18-13-0 record without Kris Letang this season.

The Penguins' two-pronged attack of Crosby and Evgeni Malkin deservedly garners the spotlight on a nightly basis. Quietly, some think Pittsburgh will go only as far as Letang - their horse on the back end - will take them in the playoffs.

"When he's out, we miss him, there's no question about that," Penguins forward Arron Asham said. "He's just as talented as any one of those guys [pointing around the locker room]."

To say the least, it was a tough season for Letang. Injuries are the only thing that have kept him out of the Norris Trophy race as the league's top defenseman. Even with the concussion and knee injury, which caused him to miss 31 games, Letang was nearly a point-per-game player, with 42 in 51 contests.

He finished second among defensemen in points-per-game to Ottawa's Erik Karlsson. Letang has 21 points in 28 career games against the Flyers.

But to single out Letang as simply an offensive dynamo would be to shortchange him.

"I've really seen his overall game develop," Penguins assistant coach Todd Reirden said on Saturday. "We have quite a bit of depth, both here and in [AHL] Wilkes-Barre, but none have the unique package that he does.

"He's a unique package of being able to add in the offensive zone, whether it's on the power play, or just getting a shot through most of the time. Then he's able to be able to defend with his feet. His pride with defending has changed quite a bit.

"His feet are great. His stick-on-puck is arguably one of the best in the league. When it comes time for him to play physical, he's got a great center of gravity down low. He can win battles down low against bigger, power forwards, and that's something that goes unnoticed."

Reirden, the former NHL player who heads the Penguins' defense under Dan Bylsma, said Letang's game has changed thanks to a daily video session that has quickly become a tradition. Letang and Reirden review game film together "for at least an hour" daily.

Even though plus/minus is a flawed hockey statistic, Letang finished this, his fifth full season, as a plus-21 playing against each opponent's top line nightly.

"The video has allowed him to slow the game down," Reirden said. "He's studied how to make himself better. Then he watches the top defensemen around the league."

Asham said Letang will "skate you into the ground." Letang averaged 24:50 in ice time this season, which Reirden said is "just a normal game for him." For the Penguins, any sense of normalcy is fleeting when Letang's familiar No. 58 is not meandering the blue line.

Pittsburgh lost six straight from Dec. 29 through Jan. 11. Letang returned on Jan. 19 and, not surprisingly, the Penguins went on to win five consecutive games; they had another 11-game streak from late February to mid-March.

"We saw our numbers on the power play drop quite a bit without him," Reirden said. "The minutes he can play are effortless. He takes a lot of pressure off our other guys."



Contact Frank Seravalli at seravaf@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DNFlyers. Read his blog, Frequent Flyers, at www.philly.com/frequentflyers.

Crosby regaining his hockey instincts

By Shelly Anderson
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
April 10, 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 7: Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins handles the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers during the game at Consol Energy Center on April 7, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Skating over the blue line, Sidney Crosby still finds himself pondering a little about what comes next.

That makes him just a mite envious of his Penguins teammates who have played all season and are performing heavily on instinct.

"They go in and they don't have to worry about stopping in the [defensive] zone," Crosby said. "They have to think about it, but it's becomes more [a habit]. I miss that. I miss it feeling automatic."

Only a well-trained eye could pick up on that rustiness. Crosby has been out most of the past 15 months because of concussion and neck problems, but he has stormed back in his latest, second comeback.

He enters the first-round playoff series against Philadelphia, beginning Wednesday at Consol Energy Center, with 25 points -- six goals and 19 assists -- over 14 games since returning to the lineup.

Where many might see an impressive average of 1.79 points a game in that month-long stretch, Crosby sees room for improvement, especially with goals.

"It's more of a timing thing for me," he said. "I want to make sure I take advantage of [scoring opportunities]. When you get to the playoffs, you're not going to get five, six a game. It could be two.

"I've been trying to focus on every little detail and make sure I improve. Sometimes it just takes time, but it hasn't been from a lack of effort. I knew coming in that it's a little tougher jumping in in March than it is jumping in in November. It's a different style. The games are different, faster-paced."

Crosby first returned to the lineup this season on Nov. 21, to great fanfare after he had been out since Jan. 5 -- more than 10 months spanning two NHL seasons. He had two goals, two assists in a 5-0 win at home against the New York Islanders. His numbers wilted a bit -- no goals, eight assists -- over the next seven games before recurring symptoms again forced him out of the lineup.

Back to watching. Back to waiting. Back to wondering when he would feel normal for good -- his version of normal being one of the best hockey players, if not the best, on the planet.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/penguins/sid-regaining-his-hockey-instincts-630697/

For more on the Penguins, read the Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com and Twitter @pgshelly.


Related: Ron Cook - Flyers Crumble When Crosby At His Best -
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/ron-cook/flyers-crumble-when-crosby-at-his-best-630686/

Extra cash won’t change Cutch

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, April 9, 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 08: Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a walk-off RBI single in the 9th inning in front of Brian Schneider #23 of the Philadelphia Phillies during the game on April 8, 2012 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Andrew McCutchen is an extraordinarily wealthy young man, you might have heard. That six-year, $51.5 million extension he signed with the Pirates a couple of months ago launched him into a spending bracket most of us can't fathom, much less attain.

As McCutchen loosely acknowledged Sunday morning, "It's a heck of a lot of money. A lot more money than I'd ever be able to spend on my own."

Must be nice, huh?

But here's another way to think about all that cash: If McCutchen takes 500 at-bats a year over the life of the extension, he'd be paid $17,167 for every time he steps into the box.

That can exact a price of a different kind.

It can bring pressure.

It can have a player squeezing his bat to sawdust.

"Really? You think so?" McCutchen offered through a playful smile when I raised the topic. "You think that's me?"

Um, well, no.

And if it recklessly crossed my mind ever so briefly in seeing McCutchen go 1 for 7 and bounce into two double plays through two games of this opening series with the Phillies ... well, all was set right by Sunday afternoon: The Pirates' best player went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk and, oh yeah, a walkoff single slammed off the center-field fence in the ninth.

Pirates 5, Phillies 4.

The outcome was a thing of beauty, a second walkoff in as many days and two of three from a National League power armed with great arms.

But it was no prettier than the final at-bat alone, one that Pedro Alvarez adroitly said, "just shows the kind of player Cutch is."


Read more: Kovacevic: Extra cash won’t change Cutch - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/columnists/s_790471.html#ixzz1rYTVVSRZ

Don’t rip Penguins, or else

By Larry Brooks
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com
April 8, 2012

Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin (71) and Sidney Crosby (87) sit on the bench during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Pittsburgh Saturday, April 7, 2012. The Penguins won 4-2. (AP)

As If there had been any previous doubt, this week’s events demonstrated once and for all the Penguins are the NHL’s version of Made Men, not only untouchable but protected by the authorities against insult.

The league responded to John Tortorella’s withering verbal attack on the Pittsburgh organization, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as if the Rangers coach had bellied up to the bar and told Mario Lemieux to go home and get his shine box.

The NHL whacked Tortorella in the pocketbook is what they did, because if there’s one thing the league can’t allow, it’s calling attention to the Most Favored Nation status granted the Penguins and their owner.

The irony is that’s exactly what the league accomplished by overreacting to Tortorella’s colorful verbiage with its $20,000 fine approximately 14 months after the NHL had allowed Lemieux to skate away free of charge after the owner issued a statement on his team’s website in which he condemned the league for its response to brawls between the Islanders and the Penguins at the Coliseum.

Lemieux threatened to walk away from the NHL the way he once threatened to take his team to Kansas City. He said the league had failed. The league said it would take no action against the owner.

The “arrogance” of the Pittsburgh ownership to which Tortorella referred is a sense of entitlement bestowed upon it by a league that appears more invested in protecting the Penguins than opponents who might be injured as a result of reckless plays that somehow always are deemed accidental or not worthy of NHL sanction.

On its own, the Brooks Orpik knee-on-knee hit delivered to Derek Stepan in the final minutes of Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh probably was not worthy of a suspension.

The fact is, however, it was not a stand-alone incident. Orpik initiated a similar, perhaps even more malicious, knee-on-knee hit against Brad Richards in the neutral zone midway through the first period of a game at the Garden on Nov. 29, a play in which neither a penalty was called nor supplemental discipline issued.

Malkin is notorious for his slew-footing escapades on which he never is cited, all the way back to the 2008 playoffs against the Rangers. Matt Cooke got away with a leg sweep on Richards in the second period of a game at the Garden on Jan. 19. Aaron Asham injured the Bruins’ Johnny Boychuk leg-on-leg April 3, two days after another one of those “accidental” collisions against Philadelphia that just happen to follow the Penguins from city to city.

Pierre McGuire, meanwhile, saw nothing.

Better for the NBC’s between-the-glass future employment prospects in either the broadcast industry or in an NHL front office to remain silent rather than cast a critical glance at the Penguins, much less record anything other than an audio love letter their way.

It always has been inexplicable NBC would have wanted Mike Milbury, someone whose idea of analysis is invariably to dive straight to the bottom and engage in character assassination and attack on an individual’s manhood, as its representative.

But the network never one time flinched until this week, when Milbury had the audacity to defame Crosby, Malkin and the Penguins the way he has built a TV career defaming Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel and Henrik Sedin ... uh, maybe there’s a pattern?

The network, and by extension, the league, was fine with years of ridicule and personal attack over its own airwaves, but when Milbury dared to similarly bottom-feed on the Penguins and Crosby in a radio interview, no less, whoa boy, enough was enough.

An apology was coerced and Milbury conveniently will not be among the participants in tomorrow’s joint network and league conference call (“Uh, Mike, did you mean it when you called Crosby a ‘punk’ before you recanted?”) designed to publicize the coverage of the playoffs.

The 11th Commandment: “Thy shy not speak ill of the Favorite Son.”

Everyone is on notice from the league. The problem for the league though, is everyone has noticed the double standard as applied to the Penguins by a league that was silent when Lemieux, coolly detached two days after an event, attacked the operation but reached into Tortorella’s pocket for $20,000 when the coach, white hot 20 minutes after an incident, did the same.

As far as the smell test goes, the league has passed.

It smells, all right.

larry.brooks@nypost.com

Malkin's feats thrill team

By Ron Cook
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
April 8, 2012

Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin (71) celebrates his 50th goal of the season, in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Pittsburgh Saturday, April 7, 2012. (AP)


It turns out there was a good reason the Penguins' power play looked so putrid Saturday during a five-minute major penalty given to the Philadelphia Flyers' Zac Rinaldo for checking defenseman Zbynek Michalek from behind into the boards midway through the first period.

"We were killing ourselves looking for [Evgeni Malkin]," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.

Getting Malkin his 50th goal was the Penguins' No. 2 mission going into the game. No. 1 was getting out of it with everybody healthy against a team that likes to play it rough and tacitly had threatened violence against Penguins star Sidney Crosby earlier in the week.

The Penguins accomplished both goals in their 4-2 win.

They will start the playoffs against the Flyers this week with all hands on deck, including 50-goal scorer Malkin.

Does that have a nice ring to it or what?

"That's a huge number," Bylsma said.

Malkin didn't get No. 50 during that long early power play, but he did become the ninth player in Penguins' history to reach it when he took a drop pass from defenseman Kris Letang and blistered a shot by Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky at 19:48 of the second period for the game's final goal. Crosby is one of the other eight along with Jean Pronovost, Pierre Larouche, Rick Kehoe, Mike Bullard, Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens and Jaromir Jagr. Crosby, who scored 51 goals in the 2009-10 season, knows how hard it is to reach.

"When you get close to 50, the games start to go and start to narrow down," he said. "You obviously think about it. It's a great number. To do it coming off the injury that [Malkin] did makes it even more impressive. I think we're all really happy for him."

Happy?

"Everybody is ecstatic," Bylsma said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/ron-cook/cook-malkins-feats-thrill-team-630432/