Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Johnston's biggest task? Speaking up for the Penguins


By Chris Mueller Special to The Times 
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
April 21, 2015
Penguins coach Mike Johnston
Penguins coach Mike Johnston, second from left, sets up a play during a timeout in Monday's Game 3 against the Rangers. New York won 2-1, to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.(Gene Puskar/AP)

Politeness is often a desirable trait we look for in people. The ability to be friendly and avoid confrontation or damaging speech is often lauded as a mature, positive quality for a person to possess.
In the case of Mike Johnston, politeness is a vice, not a virtue. Johnston’s refusal to criticize the referees after the Penguins’ Game 3 loss to the Rangers was a disservice to his team, which was marginally outplayed by New York, and clearly hamstrung by the officiating.
Before you dismiss this statement as a homer claim by a columnist who picked the Penguins to spring an upset in seven games, think about what you’ve seen.
The officials policed the early stages of Game 1 with vigor, calling a boatload of penalties on the Penguins, most of which were richly deserved, and thought to be part of an effort on their part to intimidate the Rangers. When the Penguins were trying to get back in the game later on, they were subject to the typical clutch-and-grab garbage that has largely ruined the NHL game. Nothing was called.
If something is a penalty in the first period, it should be the same in the third.
Period.
In total, the series has seen nearly twice as many penalties called on the Penguins than on the Rangers. That’s fine, so long as there is obvious evidence that the Penguins are playing a more physical, borderline style. There isn’t, though. The Rangers are doing just as much clutching and grabbing, often at crucial times of the game. During Game 3, Sidney Crosby’s stick was held for several seconds on what turned out to be a Patric Hornqvist goal.
Seeing two teams apparently held to different standards, and seeing the criteria for what constitutes a penalty change as a game wears on should disgust fans of the sport.
Johnston needs to step up to the plate and make his case for his team. If he really thinks that the “battles” are enjoyable, something he said after Game 3, then he’s off his rocker. The teams aren’t battling, they’re doing blatantly illegal things on the ice while the officials look the other way. Johnston’s team is the one getting punished more often for it, to boot.
It’s hard to imagine Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, or any other Penguins player being happy with their coach claiming that blatant obstruction is really just “good battling.”
No one is asking for perfection when it comes to the way the game is called, but some measure of consistency would be nice. There have been plenty of missed or botched calls on the Rangers, as well, none more egregious than a phantom tripping penalty drawn by Taylor Chorney in Game 2. Chorney simply fell down, and the Ranger unfortunate enough to be in close proximity was sent off.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault has openly campaigned for his team, suggesting that the Penguins are being too rough with goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who flopped so obviously in Game 3 that it brought to mind thoughts of former NBA center Vlade Divac, a large man often toppled by a light breeze. Johnston needs to emulate Vigneault, even if he doesn’t believe it is necessary.
Vigneault is making sure that the officials know he is unhappy, and perhaps it is working. He’s also convincing his guys that he has their backs, which can’t hurt from a morale standpoint. Johnston needs to level that particular playing field.
The Penguins are by no means out of this series. They’ve taken some good punches from the Rangers and come right back, and this series could easily be 2-1 the other way. They have competed hard for three games, and look to be a more than worthy challenger. Johnston has actually done well, too, when it comes to making tactical adjustments.
All he has to do now is send a message to the referees that, like his team, he won’t stop fighting until the bitter end. His charges are owed that much, and then some.
Chris Mueller is the co-host of “The Starkey & Mueller Show” from 2-6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 The Fan.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Not enough goals, no chance for Pens


By Chris Bradford cbradford@timesonline.com 
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
April 20, 2015
David Perron #39 of the Pittsburgh Penguins moves the puck between the defense of Jesper Fast #19 and Dan Girardi #5 of the New York Rangers in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 20, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH — David Perron hasn't scored in 15 games and it doesn't appear he will if the Penguins were to play another 15. Which, after Monday night's 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers, isn't looking too promising.
Daniel Winnik? Hasn't scored since March 28. Evgeni Malkin? Nothing since March 6.
That, folks, is the Penguins' second line. A scoring line, in name only.
The penalties, the careless stick infractions that have dogged the Penguins through the first three games of this series, continued unabated in Game 3. But those penalties, like injuries and spotty officiating, all legitimate complaints to varying degrees, are just mitigating factors in the Penguins' dilemma.
It was Monday and has been the Penguins' lack of scoring that will ultimately end the Penguins' season in the first round against the Rangers. Mark that down.
Credit the Rangers and their stifling brand of defense, clogging up the neutral zone and limiting chances, but this is about the Penguins. This is about a team that has collectively forgotten how to score and that's nothing new.
Saturday night's four-goal outburst in New York was the exception, not the rule for the Penguins who struggled mightily down the stretch to find the back of the net with any consistency. That offensive outburst at the Garden gave the Penguins some much-needed confidence but clearly it didn't carry over into Monday.
It was another slow start for the Penguins, who required 15 minutes to register their first shot and who have given up the first goal in each of the first three games. It wasn't until the final nine harried minutes of Game 3, that the Penguins were able to generate quality scoring chances or as much as sustain pressure against Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who had faced just 11 shots through the first 40 minutes.
The Penguins' lone goal came from Patric Hornqvist on a fifth-effort rebound. OK, slight exaggeration but it was the kind of "greasy" goal as they say, that the Penguins need to score more of.
Malkin's wonky back is obviously preventing him from being the Malkin of old. But, like Perron, Malkin has passed on too many of the chances the Penguins have gotten.
"Geno had some looks, he has some speed," said coach Mike Johnston. "He had the work ethic. It will come for that line."
Just don't hold your breath.
The mid-season trades that brought Perron and Winnik to Pittsburgh were largely hailed at the time but haven't had the desired effect. Perron had 12 goals in 43 games for the Penguins but just two since Feb. 12. Winnik, a capable penalty killer currently miscast in a top-six role, had two goals in 21 games.
Perron and Winnik might go down as general manager Jim Rutherford's Alexei Ponikarovsky, except for the not-so small detail that Ponikarovsky only cost the Penguins the forgettable Luca Caputi and Martin Skoula. Clearly Rutherford is frustrated. The GM threw a profanity-laced tirade against a local columnist after Monday's game in the bowels of CEC. Perron cost the Penguins a first-round pick in this year's draft and Winnik cost a second-rounder in 2016.
Perron, a former 28-goal scorer, had three shots but has frustrated whether he's played on the first or second line.
"Some times you'd like to have chances back because you'd do something a little bit differently but these I 'd do exactly the same," he said.
Not to single out Perron, Winnik or Malkin. There's plenty of blame to go around. Blake Comeau isn't scoring and neither is Steve Downie or Beau Bennett, The list goes on.
And it's not to say there's weren't positives to take from Monday. They are still alive, being down 2-1 beats 3-0. They nearly tied the game in the frantic final moments and can build from that.
But it's all a moot point if the Penguins can't solve their scoring problems.
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Rutherford falling apart, too

Monday, April 20, 2015, 11:39 p.m.
 

Crisis is supposed to reveal true character, right?

General manager Jim Rutherford lost his cool after the Penguins' 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night to fall within two defeats of a first-round elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After exiting a media elevator and while walking with other reporters to the Penguins' dressing room, Rutherford addressed this columnist, a frequent critic since his hiring last June, in an obscenity-laced diatribe.

“Thanks for your support,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

“You're a (expletive) jerk,” Rutherford said repeatedly.

Rutherford followed the jerk comment with a suggestion to “go sell ice cream now,” then a challenge to look him in the eye, which I did while explaining my role as Trib Total Media's lead sports columnist.

My role is to provide opinion.

“Well, your opinion is (expletive),” Rutherford said.

As (expletive) as my opinion might be, it remains that Rutherford has botched an attempted retooling of the Penguins. If this unfortunate incident is any indication, he lacks the poise necessary to move that project foward.

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, the Penguins' majority co-owners who attended Game 3 at Consol Energy Center, should make the call to hand over Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury to a general manager who cares less about what a columnist writes and more about the salary cap.

And Rutherford either doesn't care about or can't figure out that salary cap.

That's the only sense I can make of his Penguins having to play five of their final seven regular-season games with only five defensemen. Too close to the cap after the NHL trade deadline, the Penguins could not sustain injuries to defensemen Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff.

Rutherford inherited Letang and his $7.25 million cap hit.

But he added Ehrhoff, at a cost of $4 million against the cap, even though the last thing the Penguins needed last offseason was another veteran defenseman. Ray Shero, Rutherford's predecessor, had spent a majority of his draft picks stocking the Penguins' farm system with defensemen.

So, yeah, Rutherford's signing of Ehrhoff only enhanced my opinion that he was not qualified to improve the Penguins, who had stagnated under Shero's leadership after reaching the Cup Final in 2008, then winning the Cup in '09.

The day Rutherford was announced as general manager, I asked him about his final five years as GM with Carolina. In those years, Carolina never reached the playoffs.

Since the NHL instituted a salary cap for the 2005-06 season, only three of Rutherford's teams have qualified for the playoffs. The Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006 and lost to the Penguins in the '09 Eastern final.

Nine of the Penguins who dressed against the Rangers in Game 3, including backup goalie Thomas Greiss, were brought to the organization by Rutherford. He has brazenly continued Shero's penchant for trading draft picks for players to help the Penguins win now.

But the Penguins aren't winning now.

A top-four Eastern seed in each of the previous seven years, they did not qualify for the playoffs until the final night of the regular season and are in the postseason as the No. 8 seed.

A franchise branded for its offensive prowess, co-owned by the team's all-time leading scorer in Lemieux and employing two former two-time scoring champions in Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins finished 19th in goals during the regular season.

They have scored only two goals in their two losses to the Rangers during this series, which they likely would trail, 0-3, if not for Crosby's two-goal surge in a 4-3 win in Game 2 on Saturday night.

Have injuries derailed Rutherford's best-laid plans?

Absolutely.

But the Penguins' 343 man-games lost in the regular season were considerably fewer than the league-leading 529 in the last year of Shero's tenure.

Shero's final team won its division, albeit against weaker competition, and came within a win of returning to the Eastern final.

Under Rutherford, the Penguins have regressed.

They need a leader.

And on Monday night, Rutherford's behavior was far short of that.

Rob Rossi is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at rrossi@tribweb.com or via Twitter @RobRossi_Trib.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/robrossi/8209495-74/rutherford-penguins-final#ixzz3XwWkXrzh 
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Monday, April 20, 2015

Crosby warming up, Johnston catching on


By Mark Madden Special to The Times 
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
April 20, 2015

Penguins vs. Rangerse // Game 2
Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the second period of Game 2 against the Rangers Saturday in New York. The Penguins won the game 4-3.(AP)

Series on! By way of tribute, enjoy this series of refreshing Penguins playoff notes. Get 'em while they’re hot! And while you can.

* Nobody ever needed to score two goals more than Sidney Crosby needed to score two goals Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Those tallies were obviously crucial to the Penguins’ chances, and Crosby had to start mending his tattered playoff reputation sooner, not later. Has normal service been resumed?
* Crosby got 49 seconds of penalty-killing time Saturday. After 84 games, coach Mike Johnston may be starting to catch on. He’ll get it eventually.
* The New York Rangers’ Carl Hagelin executed a blind-side hit on Crosby that was very reminiscent of the hit by Washington’s David Steckel in the 2011 Winter Classic. Crosby was concussed by Steckel, and the effects of that blow damaged Crosby’s career for over a year. The puck was nowhere in sight, then or now. No penalty called, then or now. Will the NHL ever properly protect its poster boy?
* Brandon Sutter and Chris Kunitz each scored power-play goals Saturday. At what point does the No. 2 power play become the No. 1 power play?
* He’s nowhere near 100 percent because of a presumed back injury. So it’s unfair to expect more from Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins nonetheless need more.
* Those who suggest putting Crosby and Malkin on the same line couldn’t have often seen them play together. They’re not very good together on the power play, let alone five-on-five. A better Plan B is using Malkin on Sutter’s wing. That combination worked in the season’s salad days. Sutter is playing excellent right now, and Malkin could concentrate more on the offensive end that way.
* The Penguins’ victory Saturday doesn’t justify their non-stop rash of utterly moronic penalties. The high-sticking infractions committed by Kunitz and Ian Cole were careless. The slashing minors committed by Patric Hornqvist and Blake Comeau were just stupid, as was Nick Spaling’s boarding penalty. Is anyone telling the Penguins to wise up? It’s easy to assume no one is, because idiocy continues.
* Rob Scuderi can’t do much anymore, but he’s still excellent on the PK.
* The Penguins were mostly useless for the series’ first 90 minutes, and then things turned on a dime. That says two things about the Rangers: They’re not playing that well, and they’re not necessarily that confident.
* Down low, Hornqvist is the perfect winger for Crosby. In the middle third of the rink, not so much. In neutral ice, Hornqvist’s lack of finesse slows Crosby and limits his options. Hornqvist is good. Just not ideal for Crosby.
* Reuniting Crosby with long-time linemate Kunitz gave each a jolt Saturday. If Kunitz can play like Kunitz used to, that would help the Penguins immensely.
* Maxim Lapierre came to the Penguins with a reputation as an excellent playoff performer. It’s early, but so far Lapierre has justified that rep.
* The Penguins’ defense has zero grit. Trading Robert Bortuzzo and Simon Despres was crippling in that regard. How could GM Jim Rutherford not know that? The Penguins are totally non-threatening physically in their end of the rink.
* After two games, Brian Dumoulin is plus-1.Taylor Chorney is even. Each young defenseman has played as well as could be expected. Simple, but competent.
* The Penguins should dump the playoff beard tradition. Every year, it lets down 15 teams. Malkin has always been a staunch non-participant. Good for him.
* The first two games of the current series reiterated that goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has ditched his playoff yips. Without his excellence, the Penguins lose both.
* The Penguins defended resolutely Saturday, blocking shots, clogging lanes and pushing play to the boards while sacrificing possession. You might imagine the Riverhounds defending in similar style against FC Barcelona. Nervy times.
* Admit it: When the Rangers scored to cut the Penguins' lead to 4-3 with 5.1 seconds left Saturday, you were scared. The Penguins are that kind of team, and it’s that kind of year.
* Recently, there’s been a sense that many Penguins players know the team isn’t very good. Will Saturday’s win dispel that? Tonight is crucial, as Game 3 usually is. The Penguins were never in danger of winning Game 1, and could have easily lost Game 2. They were better Saturday, but must be better still tonight.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
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Penguins' Sidney Crosby proves to be Sid Vicious vs. Rangers in Game 2


By Filip Bondy
April 19, 2015
Penguins' Sidney Crosby scored twice in the win over the New York Rangers to even the first-round series at 1-1.
Penguins' Sidney Crosby scored twice in the win over the New York Rangers to even the first-round series at 1-1.(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
He scored two goals, killed a few penalties out of sheer necessity, got flattened by Carl Hagelin. Then Sidney Crosby walked out the tunnel and heard some ugly taunts from Garden fans who understand that he is the one way the Rangers can still lose this first-round series to the Penguins. Crosby is the finisher that the Rangers lacked on Saturday, when they frittered away their first five power plays and lost Game 2, 4-3, to a team that really isn’t nearly as good.
“We had so many penalties, and it’s hard to argue with the (calls),” Crosby was saying, after the Pens tied the series, 1-1. “We hit ’em in the face with our sticks. We broke sticks. We’ve got to be better. Hopefully, through trial and error we learn it’s not worth the energy.”
It required considerable energy, and foolishness, but the Penguins grabbed real momentum from their penalty kills. The Rangers aren’t perfect, we know. They have this gnawing problem with Game 2s, a history of making these playoff series closer and longer than they need be. They toss away power plays in some games as if they were disposable diapers, as if their forwards want nothing to do with finishing. They waste opportunities to put away opponents early, decisively.
The Rangers haven’t beaten a lower seed in a Game 2 since 1994. On Saturday the Rangers did not lack chances. They just lacked a player such as Crosby. The Penguins scored on their first man advantage, then again on the second. Crosby scored twice in even-man situations to make this whole first-round series a bit more interesting, to get the boo birds going from all sections.
The Rangers somehow managed to awaken Crosby, who had scored exactly one goal in his last 19 playoff games, an uncanny slump for such a skilled player. He said afterward that these two goals did not take the pressure off him, that he needed to keep scoring.
“But it’s good to get rewarded,” he said. “Sometimes in the playoffs you play well and you don’t always get the result that you want.”
He got it this time, two acrobatic scores that came from buzzing around the crease, pouncing on the puck. When Crosby is fit and motivated, he can still be the same star who beat the U.S. for a gold medal back in 2010.
“He’s a great player,” Alain Vigneault said. “The best players in the NHL are going to get some looks. He got some looks tonight.”
Vigneault understood all this going in, that the Penguins would have the best two players on the ice in Crosby and Evgeni Malkin; and that the Rangers would counter with depth, discipline and goaltending. Power plays accentuate that difference, tilt things in Pittsburgh’s favor.
This is all still very likely to end happily for the Rangers, but now three of the last five games are in Pittsburgh so the task grows more difficult.
“The most important one is the next one,” Crosby declared. “We have to be intense, but smarter.”
Crosby took a hit in the third period from Hagelin that shook his jaw and knocked him to the ice. The Garden crowd responded by jeering him, which didn’t seem to faze him one bit.
“I didn’t know what hit me, shoulder, stick . . . ,” Crosby said. “I didn’t even know it was (Hagelin).”
Crosby said he was feeling fine, which could be bad news for the Rangers. It may well prolong yet another first-round playoff, creating long-term mental and physical fatigue for the later rounds. First, though, the Rangers have to advance to those later rounds. To do that, they will need to handle Crosby better in front of Henrik Lundqvist and they will need to take greater advantage of those power plays.
“Obviously 1-for-7 isn’t good enough,” Vigneault said. “They ended up making us pay.”
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The inevitable struck, and Crosby finally makes Rangers pay

By Howie Kussoy



April 19, 2015
The inevitable struck, and Crosby finally makes Rangers pay
Sidney Crosby attempts to get the puck past Henrik Lundqvist.Photo: NHLI via Getty Images
It was only a matter of time.
Facing the Rangers in the playoffs the past two seasons, Sidney Crosby has often been made to look mortal, even made to look mediocre, with the superstar unable to score or set up teammates with the ease he is accustomed to. But on Saturday night, the world’s best player broke out of his postseason slump, scoring two goals in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals to give the Penguins a 4-3 upset win at Madison Square Garden and tie the series at one.
Crosby had scored just one goal in his previous 19 playoff games.
“Great players always find a way,” teammate Maxim Lapierre said. “He doesn’t listen to what’s been said about him or complain. He’s professional, he works hard, he doesn’t say a word, and when it’s time to do something big, he does it.”
Crosby had been successfully contained by the Rangers since being held to three points in last year’s seven-game playoff series, and only registered one shot in Game 1 this year. From Saturday’s start, Crosby displayed none of the tentativeness he felt swallowed the team the other night, getting to the net with a mix of patience and aggressiveness.
With the game tied at one in the second period, Crosby scored his first playoff goal since Game 3 of last year’s series loss to the Rangers, giving the Penguins the first lead of the series after getting behind Ryan McDonagh to score on a backhand alone in front with 5:52 left in the period.
The two-time MVP could only be kept quiet for so long, ripping off the muzzle and slapping one on every seat of the sold-out crowd.
“You want to contribute, [so] when you’re able to score it feels good,” Crosby said. “It’s nice to get rewarded. Sometimes in the playoffs you play well and you don’t always get the result you want.”
Less than five minutes later, Crosby showcased his unique gifts by maneuvering through multiple defenders without the puck to find a sliver of open space, redirecting a pass from Chris Kunitz past Henrik Lundqvist to put the Penguins up 3-1 with 1:14 left in the second period.
Brilliant on offense, Crosby also contributed on multiple penalty kills, filling in on multiple shifts as Pittsburgh committed seven penalties.
“He had good puck possession, time in the zone, but the big thing for me still is he plays 200 feet,” Penguins coach Mark Johnston said. “His battle in our zone was as hard as it was in the offensive zone.”
After the sensational performance, Crosby was asked if the pressure to score had now been lifted. With the series tied at one and more at stake in Game 3, the weight remains just as great.
“There’s always pressure to score, especially this time of year,” Crosby said. “The most important one is the next one now. It’s playoff time, I expect that, try to go out there and play hard every night and trust the puck will go in.
“We wanted to make sure we went home with one and we’ll try to build on that momentum.”
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