Where Do the Pens Go From Here?
The Penguins (25-12-3) are tied with the Philadelphia Flyers (24-10-5) for the most Eastern Conference points with 53 apiece, though Philly has a game in hand. Pittsburgh holds a 4-4-1 record after coming off its historic 12-game winning streak.
A bit of a letdown is probably to be expected. Points are valuable, regardless of when they're earned, but it was hard to see the Pens playing at such a rarefied air from December straight through April. Struggles aren't always a bad thing, and it's more important to have a team playing its best hockey heading into the postseason rather than during the Christmas holidays.
One of the reasons for the team's lack of recent success lies in the failure of the power play. The Pens have been held scoreless on the man advantage in nine of their last 12 games, clicking at 12.8 percent (6-for-47). Evgeni Malkin leads all NHL players with an average 5:35 PP TOI while Sidney Crosby (5:28) ranks third and Chris Kunitz (4:44) ranks 11th. Overall, Pittsburgh checks in at 21st in the league with a power play converting at a 16.5 percent clip.
Part of the power-play problems might lie with the inequities of the players getting points. NHL.com has an application listing the top pairings of power-play producers when the same two players record a point ('"http://www.nhl.com/ice/app?service=page&page=playerfantasystats&fetchKey=20112ALLSAFSAll&viewName=ppPointPairs&sort=timesRecordedPoint&pg=2). For some reason the first page doesn't post a link, so the second page is linked here.
Crosby and Malkin come in at 17th and 18th on the list. Both players have recorded points on the same power play 11 times. Crosby and Letang rank 31st and 32nd, recording points on the same pp goal nine times. No other Penguins combo comes in anywhere in the rest of the top 100 NHL combos.
On a team that has hummed along so perfectly, the power play is one area that could be improved upon. Minnesota power-play specialist Andrew Brunette might help remedy what ails Pittsburgh. Brunette's $2.33 million 2010-11 salary could slide nicely into Pittsburgh's lineup in another month or so.
The 37-year-old winger has proven to be quite the power-play specialist over the years. He's struggled for much of the current season, though he potted goals No. 8 and No. 9 on Sunday. Over 40 percent of Brunette's 681 career points have come on the power play -- he has 107 career PP goals and 170 PP points.
The penalty killing unit has come off of its elite levels recently, too. The Pens have killed off penalties at an 82.8 percent (48-of-58) in their last 12 contests. For the season, Pittsburgh remains second in the NHL (behind Montreal's 87.4) with a PK rate of 87.1 percent.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury didn't play his best game in the Winter Classic, but it's hard to say how much of his struggles could be attributed to the weather. He struggled with pucks behind his own net, but came up big repeatedly on close-range Alexander Ovechkin opportunities. At 17-9-2, the Flower holds the lowest goals-against average of his career (2.31) and his save percentage (.918) is the second-best of his seven-year career.
*****
Only three NHL referees came into the league before the Winter Classic's Stephen Walkom (9/1/1990), but one wonders what he was looking at when Sidney Crosby got blindsided by Washington's David Steckel to end the second period of Saturday's game. Replays show Walkom on the near glass looking in the direction of the "collision" between Crosby and Steckel. Sid's head & helmet missed hitting the ice by inches after the unexpected blindside hit. There were still 10 ticks left and Steckel has a right to the ice, but the Caps player turned his right skate directly into Crosby during his last stride before impact.
It was strange hearing so many fans of an opposing team at Heinz Field. As Doc Emrick regularly pointed out, there were 30,000 Caps fans & 40,000 for the Pens. Here's to hoping Caps owner Ted Leonsis would have "allowed" that many of the Pittsburgh faithful at a venue such as the Washington Nationals' park? He of the discretionary area code dialer ticket sales designed to limit Penguins fans at Caps home games.
There might've been a disconnect between the TV viewer and those in attendance at Heinz Field. It was perhaps difficult to appreciate how raucous the event was as a live event. For future Winter Classics, NBC might want to send a camera crew and personality like Heidi Androl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEq2xOnVHME) or Alyonka Larionov (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dDiGbNChO8) into the crowd. The Winter Classic is about the fans. Why not give them a bigger part in the gig?
Why did NBC focus on the weather while play was ongoing? The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore became a big star for his in-game weather updates. "Jim Cantore has just reported in that this rain should last only about five more minutes," Emrick noted during live action. The only thing the weather updates lacked was a Saturday Night Live skit guest-starring Cantore. Weather reports are fine for breaking news or if it's done during breaks in play, but the sheer volume of rain mentions was a downer. Only the wise Washington coach Bruce Boudreau pointed out that, regardless of the on-ice conditions, they're the same for both teams. Case closed.
The overhead shots from the "aircraft," as Emrick called them, were somewhat confusing. The game-winning goal was seen live from about three thousand feet above Heinz Field. Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was the size of an ant when he got caught behind the net on Eric Fehr's first score.
So glad Steelers great Franco Harris beat Jerome Bettis in the second-period intermission hockey "thing." Harris exudes the class that others grasp helplessly for. It was weird seeing both running backs throw a football into a hockey net, but it wasn't surprising to see the receiving end of the "Immaculate Reception" come through in the clutch against a player whose legacy was saved by Ben Roethlisberger's tackle in Indianapolis.
I'm wondering if Winter Classic gear gets discounted in Pittsburgh and kept at retail in D.C. I wouldn't mind picking up some stuff here in the Burgh for the rest of winter.
Not so funny, but December in Pittsburgh saw 16 straight days of 32-degree weather or colder, the eighth-longest such streak in city history.
The Winter Classic ruled the ratings war Saturday night, according to the
Sports Media Watch Web site.
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