https://triblive.com/sports/fixing-how-the-penguins-play-with-the-lead-begins-with-diagnosing-the-root-of-the-problem/
Fixing how the Penguins play with the lead begins with diagnosing the root of the problem
I know what went wrong with the Pittsburgh Penguins en route to blowing a three-goal lead Tuesday night.
During their “Pittsburgh Night” festivities, with the team up 5-2 in the second period over the Boston Bruins, the Pens decided to play “Renegade” as an homage to the Steelers.
Let’s just say that worked about as well for the local hockey club as it has for the Steelers defense the past few seasons.
Shortly after play resumed following that musical interlude during a television timeout, Brad Marchand scored for the Bruins to narrow the gap to two goals.
No calling that back. @Bmarch63 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/Sf8c3wNMCl— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 2, 2022
Then Boston scored twice in the third period and got an overtime winner from Hampus Lindholm to steal an extra point with a 6-5 win.
LINDY LESSON IN SESSION: pic.twitter.com/wMgflTlwiD— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 2, 2022
The loss was the Penguins’ fifth in a row. Over their first 10 games, the Penguins lost to Boston on Tuesday after being up by three. They also frittered away a 3-1 advantage in Edmonton, a 1-0 edge in Seattle and a 2-0 third-period lead in Montreal.
So, besides cosmically bad musical karma, given how the Steelers defense has similarly run afoul, what went wrong Tuesday?
The Penguins’ biggest problem right now may be that there are too many different interpretations as how — and why — they are playing poorly with leads. Defenseman Marcus Pettersson had one suggestion after the loss to the Bruins.
“I think we played a little bit on our heels and tried to protect the lead instead of playing our game and moving forward,” Pettersson said.
Head coach Mike Sullivan had a totally different interpretation.
“I didn’t get the sense behind the bench that we were sitting back on the lead at all,” Sullivan said. “I thought we were playing on our toes. We had some offensive zone time. We had some looks in the offensive zone. It wasn’t like we didn’t establish any sort of zone time or didn’t get any chances. It wasn’t a matter of getting hemmed in our end the whole third period. I didn’t feel that at all. I thought we broke down on a couple of occasions and it ended up in our net.”
Captain Sidney Crosby seemed to embrace Sullivan’s concept. He just wanted to see the Penguins do more of it and do it better.
“It doesn’t mean sitting back,” Crosby said of the Penguins’ need to protect leads. “Possessing the puck. Playing in their end. You know a team is going to push. They are down a couple of goals. I think just finding a way to play in their end and play on our toes. Sitting back, or giving up chances, can go either way. Unfortunately, tonight it didn’t go our way.”
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So a player sees it one way. The coach sees it another. And the captain agrees with the coach’s approach, but the team just didn’t do it well enough.
Got it?
Maybe forward Jason Zucker said it best.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Zucker said. “We have got to make them work 200 feet rather than (have) clears out to the red line — instead of getting them turned and get right back after us. We have to help our defense out so they can get changes. Make them go 200 feet. … We didn’t grind them down quite enough and it gave them some life.”
I’m with Zucker. For the Penguins right now, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. During these five losses it’s been a whole lot of … another.
Maybe they are working too hard to get to the opponent’s end of the ice with the lead, and once they get there, they aren’t hard enough on the puck to keep it there.
When they are more focused on locking it down and defending their own end of the ice, they aren’t proficient enough in their own zone and clearing it when they have their chance. All of that sounds right to me.
And of all of it sounds like a lot more work to fix than to just avoid playing “Renegade.”
Although, until things improve with the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium, that would be the easiest place to start.
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