As Stanley Cup hangover victims go, the Pittsburgh Penguins don't even rate.
It figures. You almost have to expect that from a team with a milk-and-cookies-at-bedtime persona and several players who look young enough to get carded from time to time.
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| Coach Dan Bylsma says players called up from the minors know the system and how the big club likes to play. (Getty Images) |
The Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks and to a slightly lesser extent the Detroit Red Wings last year all went through it in the first three post-lockout seasons. But with the title rings now on their fingers, the Penguins had to deal with a different type of challenge in their Stanley Cup defense -- mostly because of a lack of it.
Pittsburgh has played only nine games this season with all of its top six defensemen in the lineup. Five have spent at least four games on the shelf, three are still there now and a couple who played a key role in Pittsburgh's run last spring left months ago via free agency.
Throw in the loss of Evgeni Malkin for four games, energizer bunny Tyler Kennedy for a dozen, and Stanley Cup Finals Game 7 hero Maxime Talbot for the first seven weeks, and it would be reasonable to assume the Penguins would be getting to Thanksgiving in the same place as the similarly tested Red Wings are right now, that is struggling to keep their heads above water.
Instead Pittsburgh really hasn't looked any worse for wear. The Penguins haven't necessarily wowed anyone just yet, and they did endure a four-loss snag that started on the West Coast early this month. But that streak was the only time Pittsburgh has lost twice in a row in what has otherwise been a very methodical and almost robotic approach to the title defense.
Players get hurt, no problem. Bring up someone from the farm, put them next to the big league healthy and have them all support core stars Malkin, Sidney Crosby and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury as they do their thing. Piece of cake, right?
"It's adversity but that's part of the process you have to deal with sometimes to find your identity," said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma. "We've been fortunate that the guys coming up have been in our organization for a couple of years. They know our system, what they're supposed to and how we like to play."
Truth is the Penguins like to play in your face. They did Monday against a red-hot Panthers team when they outshot Florida 45-21 to erase a two-goal deficit in the third period before winning 3-2 in overtime. It just hasn't been easy at times this season because Sergei Gonchar, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski, the puck movers from the back end have been gone, along with a couple of the wingers.
Gonchar, however, is back now, along with his stay-at-home partner Brooks Orpik and forward Talbot. Malkin and Sidney Crosby can now take matters in their own hands as they did in the third period against the Panthers. Malkin made a brilliant play to draw two defenders toward him behind the net as he set up Michael Rupp's tying goal, and then launched a howitzer in overtime that provided Crosby with an easy rebound to convert for the winner.
"Even though we weren't 100 percent on our game the first two periods, we still did things to set up the third and when we played the way we can play, like we did in the third, we're going to win hockey games," Penguins forward Michael Rupp said of the 16-3 shot advantage Pittsburgh had in the final frame. "The thing is that even when our team has a lot of skill out of the lineup, there's still a lot skill on this team."
Enough for Pittsburgh to be leading the Eastern Conference and to be tied with the San Jose Sharks for wins at this point. But maybe not enough for the team to get the best read on itself right now. "You're always kind of measuring where you need to improve and adjust, especially around the quarter mark, but it's really been tough for us to evaluate when so many guys are missing," Crosby said. "We've gone through adversity as a group, so you kind of know what to expect and at same time, you kind of try to succeed through it.
"It's much easier to deal with those kinds of things when you're winning games."
So far, so good. The Penguins actually gave themselves some breathing room out of the gate with a 9-1 start. Fleury was in goal for all the wins and played well enough to get into contention for not only a roster spot on Team Canada at the Olympics, but possibly the starting nod. And now the lineup is getting close to being whole again, not an inviting prospect for the rest of the league.
"We've shown signs in our last couple of games of getting back to our game no matter what the score is," Bylsma said. "Hopefully that's a sign our team is growing the way we'd like as we go toward the second half."
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