By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Dan Bylsma, left, earned his first win as the Penguins' coach
There's absolutely no truth to the rumor that Penguins interim coach Dan Bylsma went home after the team's horrid loss Monday to the New York Islanders, locked the door, sat in the dark, popped a cold beverage and asked the hockey gods, "What the heck have I got myself into?"
Some of the rest of us asked that question on Bylsma's behalf, though.
How could you not make the inquiry after that lost holiday weekend in Toronto and on Long Island?
Everyone in the organization said they were embarrassed by the Penguins' 6-2 loss Saturday night to Toronto. It truly was dreadful; the Penguins blew a 2-0 lead against one of the NHL's worst clubs by giving up six unanswered goals. It proved to be too much to take for general manager Ray Shero, who fired coach Michel Therrien the next day in a desperate attempt to save the season and get the team back in the playoff picture.
But the 3-2 shootout loss to the Islanders in Bylsma's first game might have been worse. A team is supposed to get an emotional boost -- at least temporarily -- when it makes a coaching change. The Penguins appeared to get nothing from Bylsma's hiring. The Islanders are, by far, the league's worst team. Never did the playoffs seem so far away as when the Islanders skated off with their rare win.
That's why the 5-4 win last night against the Montreal Canadiens had to feel so darn good to Bylsma. He knew it was coming, of course. He just had to be hoping it would come before, say, April.
"This was more important for the guys in that room than it was for me," Bylsma said moments after forward Matt Cooke handed him a game puck as a cherished souvenir.
The man wasn't kidding.
"I didn't want to say it before, but we needed a positive result," Bylsma said.
Since taking the job, Bylsma has preached about the Penguins' need to play a faster, more aggressive game than they did under Therrien, whose style, it should be noted, was good enough to get the club to the Stanley Cup final last spring. Bylsma is talking about faster to the offensive zone, sure, but also faster to loose pucks and faster back on defense.
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Evgeni Malkin scores against Canadiens goaltender Carey Price in the third period last night at Mellon Arena.
Bylsma said beating the Canadiens "gives us a seed that this is what we can do. ...
"I think the players were energized and focused, ready to go. I think they had a clear understanding of what was at stake and how we wanted to play. I think we sent a message loud and clear that this is a team that can go and play aggressive. It was a great message."
I'm not so sure.
Not to dump freezing rain on Bylsma's parade.
I just want to see more.
A lot more, actually.
Don't get the wrong idea. It was nice to get a win against one of the teams the Penguins are chasing in the Eastern Conference. After the way the weekend went, any win is terrific.
But the Penguins didn't look much different in the first two periods than they did under Therrien. Play opened up in the third period with mixed results for the home team. It scored two goals in 2:31 to take a 4-2 lead, then gave up two goals in 3:18 for a 4-4 tie. Thankfully, defenseman Sergei Gonchar -- remember him and that shot of his? -- scored the winning goal with a wicked slapper.
But before you start thinking Cup, know this about the Canadiens: They came into the old building in a 3-10-1 slide, had played the night before in Washington and also were carrying the extra baggage from the Alex Kovalev fiasco. Management is so down on Kovalev that it told him to stay away from the team for a few days, prompting Montreal legend Guy Lafleur to rip general manager Bob Gainey and coach Guy Carbonneau in the Montreal Gazette yesterday for their handling of the situation.
And we think the club here is having problems because of Therrien's firing.
The competition gets much tougher for the Penguins this weekend, just when they're at the point of the season where they need to win just about every game. They'll play tomorrow in Philadelphia and Sunday in Washington -- the start of a brutal stretch that has them playing seven of the next nine games on the road.
Good luck with that.
The Penguins are 1-7-2 in their past 10 away games.
Beyond that, they haven't won more than two games in a row of any kind since mid-November.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
That the seed Bylsma planted had better grow quickly?
Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on February 20, 2009 at 12:00 am
No comments:
Post a Comment