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The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the New Jersey Devils last night by a score of 4-1. If you invert the score from the game you have the Penguins record in their last 5 games. The Penguins are in a slump.
Jaromir Jagr scored twice in the game including the back breaking insurance goal in the 3rd period. Jagr is now only 2 goals and 19 points away from Penguins owner Mario Lemieux.
Here are the game highlights which includes a classic #JagrBomb:
The only goal for the Penguins came on a Chris Kunitz breakaway which was the direct result of a self inflicted wound by Devils defenseman Marek Zidlicky.
The Penguins had issues in the second and third period generating shifts in the offensive zone that created multiple chances. The Penguins shots were one and done and that was the result of the Devils playing a sound positional game.
Any time you fall into a rough patch that lasts around 5 games or so it becomes time when a few tweaks might be in order to freshen things up. 82 games is a long season and sometimes alterations to common variables creates new life and energy.
I would encourage some changes in the lineup to help facilitate some wins. Here are my suggested lines:
Dupuis-Crosby-Bennett
Kunitz-Malkin-Neal
Jokinen-Sutter-Megna
Glass-Vitale-Adams
The rationale here is that for the Penguins to win they need Evgeni Malkin to get going again in the goal department. Sacrificing Kunitz from the Crosby line is the elixir that is guaranteed to help on that front
.
Beau Bennett has shown flashes of his highly skilled potential, however being on the Penguins current third line has not generated time and space for him. Who better to open up space for a player than Crosby?
Sutter and Jokinen have played together in the past with Carolina so that should be a smooth transition. Jayson Megna has done a nice job when given the opportunity and he has been the better player over Matt D’Agostini. D'Agostini to this point has literally done nothing with his opportunity. He continues to be a complete non factor. I don't see a future for D'Agostini on the Penguins when Chuck Kobasew returns from injury.
None of these changes need to be permanent, but when things are going poorly sometimes just getting out of a routine can get a team back to the basics.
As far as the defense goes there really isn’t much to do until Scuderi gets back. Simon Despres is doing a really nice job with top pairing minutes in WB/S but he is down there for cap/waiver reasons. I think his experience anchoring the top pairing will actually be highly beneficial to him later in this season. Simon Despres will be called up; I just don’t think it will be right now.
Deryk Engelland should not be in the lineup anymore. It’s as simple as that.
Last but certainly not least Kris Letang has to start making other players better around him. So far in this young season he has done the exact opposite of that.
This point has been beaten to death but keeps being reinforced with each passing game. He has all the physical skills that you dream about for a defenseman, but he does not process the game of hockey at a high level.
There is no doubt in my mind that if you told Letang something very specific to do on the ice that he would go out and execute it successfully 99 times out of 100. The problem is that hockey is a fluid game with many fast moving parts and being told exactly what to do isn’t a realistic thing. This is most likely why his physical skill set has never materialized into being a quality power play quarterback.
I don’t think Kris Letang has a very good hockey IQ. It's harsh but true. His risk management decisions make it taxing for his teammates to play with him at times. Matt Niskanen has consistently struggled when paired with Letang. When Niskanen was with Scuderi he did not look bad at all. Olli Maatta’s worst game of the season occurred in his first game paired with Letang this past week. Coincidence? Perhaps.
For those that are tired of possession metrics I’ll switch it up. Here are the goals for percentages for the 5 players who have been on the ice with Letang at even strength most often. You will notice a trend:
With the exception of Sidney Crosby, every player on this chart seems to experience a drop in their GF% playing with Letang than when they are not playing with him.
Matt Niskanen has seen the most ice time with Letang this year and he is a lot better away from Letang than with him. Letang also sees a drop in his numbers when he is away from Niskanen.
Evgeni Malkin has had a slower than usual start this year and his numbers are low across the board, but they are higher away from Letang.
The really damning part of the chart is that Letang’s numbers are dreadful when he is not playing with Kunitz or Dupuis. When Letang is not playing with those two the puck is going in the Penguins net 4 times out of every 5 goals, brutal. Once again you will see that when the players are away from Letang they improve on their GF% numbers.
Crosby might have better numbers when he is with Letang than when he is not, but Crosby’s numbers away from Letang are still very respectable. Letang’s numbers without Crosby are not so hot.
For the Penguins to be legitimate contenders they need Kris Letang to play like a top pairing defenseman. Right now he is not doing that. Perhaps things get better when Scuderi gets back in the lineup, but a guy who is slated to start making 7.25M per season should be the one driving others to be better, not the one in need of help.
There is a 0% chance of Kris Letang being traded during the 2013-2014 season, but if his play does not improve all bets are off when his 7.25M extension kicks in.
The Penguins do not need to be in a panic mode at this point. It is still way early in the season and they are still in 1st place in the Metropolitan Division. Given that it is early in the season it makes the most sense to try some different approaches and new combos now. The positive thing about it being early in the season is that the Penguins have time to try new things out.
I don’t know what the Penguins will actually do but the present setup has yielded 2 points out of their last 10.
Thanks for reading!
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