In swift summation, three things that don't matter in the slightest from the Penguins' performance on this Thursday night inside PPG Paints Arena:
1. Looking flat after a rare layoff
2. Losing to the Flyers
3. Losing to anyone in a shootout
We cool on all three before I proceed?
No?
OK, well, the home team had been game-free for three full days -- "the longest break we've had of any kind in a while," as Mike Sullivan termed it -- and the legs can't feed Herb Brooks' fabled wolf if they're crossed on the couch for too long. That's been true since the advent of vulcanized rubber, and it was true right through Claude Giroux and Sean Couturier taking turns traumatizing Tristan Jarry in the shootout to take the bonus point, 2-1.
As for the Flyers, they and Carter Hart folded their figurative tent more than a month ago. They're as much a Stanley Cup threat as the Sabres, the Senators and Sax Man out on Centre Avenue, and all they'll probably cash in that bonus point toward Wawa perks. Or preferred tee times at the Chester County course of their choosing.
As for the shootout ... come on.
Here, want three things that did matter?
1. Jeff Carter looked terrific.
2. The Penguins defended hard.
3. They're still lacking at the latter.
Not the effort, mind you. Not at all.
Cody Ceci will be carrying the welt to prove it this coming weekend and likely beyond:
Owwwwwwww ... I'm not sure where that Travis Konecny one-timer in the fading seconds of overtime might've struck Ceci, and I'm not sure I want to know.
But I can attest from way up in the press box and over the collective gasp of the 4,672 on hand that I could hear the thick thud.
Here's presuming his teammates heard it, too:
His coach sure did.
"That was a huge block for us at a key time of the game," Sullivan replied when I brought it up. "A four-on-three kill in overtime gives us the opportunity to get that extra point in the shootout."
It wasn't isolated, either. Check out the yard-sale scenes on these two scrambles at Jarry's crease, both late in the second period:
If nothing else, get a glimpse of the greatest player of his generation up there on all fours.
Again, the defensive effort was there across the board.
The execution ... not so much.
On this night, the Flyers generated 13 of the game's 24 high-danger scoring chances overall, 12 of 21 at five-on-five. That's not good enough against anyone, much less an opponent that's been getting its brains beaten out.
Both the effort and the execution issue have been in place for a while, actually, though the latter's been masked by some of the NHL's best goaltending between Jarry and Casey DeSmith. Consider that over the past two months -- Feb. 15-April 15 -- the Penguins' 72 goals-allowed over 30 games are the fifth-fewest in the league. Which sounds great, right until it's further weighed that they've also conceded 323 high-danger chances in that same span, seventh-most in the league.
My friends, that's all goaltending. Jarry and DeSmith have combined for an .864 save percentage on high-danger chances; that's third-best in the league in that span. Plain and simple, the skaters break it, and they fix it.
Which puts this whole franchise, as I see it, at something of an uncomfortable crossroads.
First, at the foundational level, they've got to confront the reality that Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and the rest of this core, while still outstanding at times offensively, won't win a championship on the attack. Not now. The league's adapted -- and learned, really -- from those two most recent Cup teams in applying a lot of the same strategies aimed at speed, skill and shots, shots, shots. And that principle's a far better fit, with all due respect, for superstars in their prime than into their 30s.
Maybe, in some silent way, that's sunken in. Because, to reiterate yet again, the defensive effort's been there.
Listen to Letang when I asked about that:
That's fair. And no lie, that's a heck of a start. Commitment's always where defense starts, and it's commendable -- however that impression's been made by whoever's made it -- that it's occurring.
At the same time, as my odds-on favorite for having been most responsible for this impression would word it ...
"We're not perfect," Sullivan would reply to my question on that count. "We're making some mistakes out there, and we're trying to get better through those experiences. But certainly, the coaching staff is real cognizant of the commitment that the team's trying to make."
Which is when he flipped to philosophical.
"It's hard to score your way to success in this league. You've got to be willing to defend and play the game on both sides of the puck if you want to win consistently. And I think this group understands it, and they're willing to make the commitment. Now, it's just a matter of getting better with each experience."
Right. Just that.
It'll be a challenge. And now that Ron Hextall and Brian Burke are as done as it gets with adding their imprint to the roster -- Carter will help in all ways -- it'll really be incumbent on Sullivan, Todd Reirden and Mike Vellucci to do exactly as Sullivan described above. And it'll further be incumbent on the captain to keep getting down on all fours. And it'll further, further be incumbent on Malkin to make sure he's willing to partake in the same sort of commitment.
If they do, and I wouldn't dare underplay the scope of this, they can compete with anyone. But competing and contending can be separated by the thinnest of lines, which is why all the correlating boxes need to get checked sooner rather than later.
