Kovacevic: For openers, no shortage of issues

DALLAS -- Rob Scuderi might no longer be capable of playing at an NHL level.

It feels like it's no longer possible to discuss the Penguins without stating that as a preface, so there it is, right up there in plain terms. It's not exactly a riveting observation. It certainly isn't a revelation. But consider the deed done.

OK, can we proceed now?

Good, because there's plenty more to pluck from this 3-0 season-opening egg laid against the Stars on Thursday night at American Airlines Center, and every last bit of it not named Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist -- the only visitors with a demonstrable investment in the outcome -- ranged from blah to bad to ... oh, never mind.

You win. Here they are ...







On the first, Ales Hemsky capitalizes on the extra power-play ice to dipsy-doodle around a strikingly passive Evgeni Malkin, then turns Scuderi into a set of wickets through which to whip a wrister behind Marc-Andre Fleury for a 2-0 lead in the second period.

On the second, Scuderi weakly backhands a clearing attempt that one of the NHL's most potent power plays almost instantly boomerangs into a Jamie Benn tip-in goal for Dallas' final goal midway through the third.

Scuderi was on the ice for all three goals. He was not at all good. He might be done. And if the Penguins were smart, they'd be weighing alternatives immediately.

There. Now can we move on?

For sure?

Awesome, because going over and over stuff that's painfully obvious will only delay an already lengthy list of non-Scuderi fare from this evening. And even though this game was No. 1 of 82, some of what was witnessed could linger if not addressed in due time:

• The penalty-killing doesn't present an optimal outcome.

If that sounds convoluted, so be it. That's been my thought all through the preseason on how the Penguins will remain among the NHL's top handful of short-handed performers without Paul Martin, and nothing I've seen has altered it. It's hard to imagine what this team will look like when it's killing penalties effectively.

The forwards in this game were Sidney Crosby and Malkin, neither of whom has done the job on a regular basis. And Chris Kunitz, who'd gotten away from the PK in recent years. And Bobby Farnham, who isn't in the NHL for anything other than the abstract concept of energy. And Matt Cullen and Nick Bonino, the only naturals in the bunch.

That's one-third.

"It's going to take time, and it'll be good when we have Duper," Crosby told me, referring to Pascal Dupuis. "We had one preseason game together as a unit, and you've got to learn how the guys around you work, what they like to do."

Maybe he's right. Or maybe the penalty-killing's loss of Martin will be felt much, much more than some might realize. In this game, Letang -- correctly described by assistant coach Rick Tocchet as being "just a machine all night long" -- was forced to log 3:19 of the Penguins' total 5:18 spent short-handed. Scuderi, Ben Lovejoy and Olli Maatta logged most of the rest, with Ian Cole inserted sparingly. And Brian Dumoulin, the rookie, wasn't trusted to set foot on the ice.

Does that sound like a stage being set for success in this area?

Again, I'm just not seeing it.

• Wait, why was Daniel Sprong kept again?

Through two periods, the Penguins' top draft pick and 18-year-old unquestioned top performer in camp logged a decent 7:58 of ice and attempted four shots. Two were blocked and the other two missed, but hey, he was pulling the trigger.

And this despite some early nerves, as he later confessed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZKvbxfl2QM

In the third period, with the Stars ahead by two, then three goals, Sprong logged one minute. That's it. And most of that came in the final stages with the goaltender pulled.

I've enthusiastically supported management's handling of Sprong up until the past week. Jim Rutherford and Mike Johnston gave him an honest chance entering camp, and all concerned, including Sprong, delivered on that. But once he made the roster, at least for the NHL's regulated nine-game tryout period, the first move was to place him on the fourth line and, now in this game, to sit him when the team most needed exactly what he's here to do.

This makes no sense. Especially when, all other factors aside, Sprong still looks like one of the team's most dangerous forwards.

• Splitting Crosby and Malkin on the power play?

The press box at the Stars' place might as well be on Pluto as it relates to the rink, so I had to rub my eyes to be sure. But yeah, there it was: The Penguins' first man-advantage saw Malkin and Hornqvist ... uh, on the bench?

Oh, really.

Johnston decided -- unilaterally, from what I could gather -- that he'll go with two power-play units, and that his units would split two of the world's greatest scorers and, in the case of Hornqvist, have one of the league's better net-front guys watch, too.

"I thought we generated quite a bit," Johnston said to this subject. "I really liked the looks we had."

Looks aside, the power play went 0 for 3 and put all of five pucks on Antti Niemi.

This won't work. Johnston sounds like he'll keep doing it for a while, but it won't work on any sustained basis. Power plays require your top talent and chemistry. And being handed the gift of Phil Kessel over the summer, only to water down the potential edge of a minute and change of five devastating offensive performers ... man, that's just not penetrating.

Read our report from Josh Yohe for much more on this.

• Sergei Plotnikov brings ... what, exactly?

I'm still tiptoeing on this, still open to being swung 180 degrees in the other direction. But I'm also still waiting for the first firm signs that Plotnikov has NHL potential, and they most certainly were not evident in his debut. At all.

• No goals?

Johnston and Tocchet both cited dismay with the nature of the Penguins' screen-setting in front of Niemi, Johnston describing a "flat screen" as what he'd hoped to see. What that means is the forward lining up squarely with the goaltender rather than off to the side, much the way Benn did with his tip-in.

"Beautiful job by Benn," Tocchet said.

Overall, though, this isn't a reason to lose sleep. After the first seven minutes, the Penguins controlled possession, the shot clock -- by a 37-24 margin, no less -- and general play. And they might even have found a better fate had Niemi not been so sharp.

Kessel, in his debut, had six shots, half of which were golden chances. As he put it, "We'll get goals if we create that much."

Kunitz, under the microscope as much as anyone skating alongside Crosby and Kessel, looked surprisingly sharp. That had to be one of the most encouraging outcomes, really, given how he looked most of last season.

Letang, to repeat, was superb. He was physical, he was flying, and he registered eight shots, more than anyone on either side.

Crosby and Malkin were mostly quiet, the captain finishing without a shot, but that has zero chance of holding up.

It's one game. It determines nothing, and it's hardly devastating. But Rutherford, Johnston and all concerned would do well to take action on any and all issues aggressively in what's expected to be a richly competitive Metropolitan Division.

Yeah, that means action on Scuderi, too.