Dan Muse and the Penguins came away from the weekend with two loses and only one point in the standings, but my biggest takeaway is that I am very happy with the new man behind the bench. Friday night was one of the worst hockey games I have ever attended. Sidney Crosby looked like he wanted to be at the History Museum more than he wanted to be at PPG Arena, Kris Letang looked like he was replaced with 2015 Rob Scuderi, and outside of a select few the rest of the team looked like they forgot how to play hockey. Saturday was next and the Penguins unsurprisingly played a much better game but still came away with only a loser point. However, I believe what happened after the game on Saturday to be the most important thing to happen to the Penguins so far this season. Dan Muse met with the media as a head coach usually does and he wasn’t content with the fact the process was better Saturday. As a matter of fact, Muse was pissed off. He didn’t unleash his anger in some fiery rant, rather he was composed and explained that getting 1 out of 4 points at home over the weekend was unacceptable. Muse said they are beyond the point of being happy with the process, the season is too far along to be content with playing well but losing. This was a breath of fresh air compared to what Mike Sullivan would have said. Sully would have got up to the podium with clear discontent at losing but give one-word answers that could have been boiled down to “We didn’t have our best Friday, but we played the game the right way Saturday and didn’t go our way.” I love what Sully did for this team, but that message was stale. Muse pointedly telling the team that wins are all that matters is a shockingly refreshing thing to hear because at the end of the day that is truly all that matters.
Everyone on this team is well aware of the preseason anecdotes and if they want to prove all the hates wrong maybe their coaches most recent press conference will help them do just that.
Some other takeaway’s from the weekend:
Erik Karlsson is scary good right now and thank God because Kris Letang is not. Karlsson was one of 3, maybe 4, players that had his legs on Friday evening. Number 65 will always do some careless things in his own end, but he has really limited those deficiencies so far this season. He is using his superb skating to close players off at the wall, he is making heads up passes to swiftly breakout of the zone, and he is picking his chances to jump up into the play wisely. Letang on the other hand is constantly blowing defensive assignments and making boneheaded plays all over the ice that are leading to goals against. Letang and his partner Shea were on the ice for all five goals against Friday versus the Wild, simply not even close to good enough.
Evgeni Malkin has showed absolutely no signs of slowing down. He was another guy that I noted looked like he was actually interested in winning on Friday and he carried that performance over to Saturday. Malkin scored a Power-Play goal Saturday by being relentless at the net-front and finding a loose puck after a good third effort by Ben Kindel. Beyond the goal, Geno was galloping all weekend long and when he’s going like this it seems like the puck always finds its way onto his stick, which it was. He could really use Justin Brazeau back because after a good second game in Sweden, Kevin Hayes looked slow, as usual, but looked like he had no feel with the puck all weekend long.
Speaking of players that need a new winger, Sid desperately needs Rakell back. The first line hasn’t looked great since Rakell left the lineup. Kindel was a logical replacement and had his moments on that line, but the center depth goes directly in the toilet when you remove the rookie from the third line. I will never knock Dewar because he constantly gives the team all he has but it’s painfully obvious he is meant for a fourth line role. Dewar almost exclusively gets the puck deep as he lacks the skill to make quick plays at the blue line to spring Rust/Crosby. Constantly forcing Rust and Crosby to go hunt pucks in the corner is not a recipe for success, you want the puck on their sticks with speed through the neutral zone. Luckily, Rakell was skating all week and even if he isn’t back for another two weeks, I think Dubas would be wise to throw out the back to play plan for the team’s best prospect (besides Kindel) and call up McGroarty. Rutger scored for WBS again, his second goal in his second game, and not only has he scored both goals have been a product of what looks to be a significant upgrade in skating speed/stride. McGroarty does not factor to be a long-term top-line winger, but he does possess a massive skill upgrade over Dewar and could help the top-line get back to their dominant ways.
Sergei Murashov and Ben Kindel didn’t enjoy the best weekend. Kindel was invisible for much of Friday, as was most of the team. Kindel fanned on a pass that led to the Kraken’s first goal Saturday, and his line was unable to clear the puck later in the game leading to their second goal. Granted, the second goal was more a product of Ryan Graves losing an edge in the corner and failing on a clearing attempt coupled with Novak abandoning his man on the back door. Kindel did pick up an assist on Saturday, but he was over passing and losing his edge way too consistently throughout the game. Murashov played well on Saturday and made a few huge saves but it’s hard to not feel disappointed with the second and third goals. On the second goal, the team did allow a cross-seam pass, but Sergei read the pass well and got to his post in plenty of time, instead of getting out to challenge the shooter, he remained in his reverse VH and tried to shoulder shrug at the puck which was ticketed for the top corner. In other leagues, Murashov played that perfectly fine, but this is the NHL, almost everyone on the ice is going to find the corners with extreme consistency. It was a learning moment for the talented netminder. All in all, both Kindel and Murashov are the future for this team, and they will be perfectly fine.
The Penguins will host the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night, and I expect them to respond positively to their coaches call out and come away with a win. Muse seems to have earned the respect of the entire team which was the biggest question mark when he was hired and it’s time his team goes out and wins for him. There is another team in Pittsburgh that should also be looking at Muse and realizing that it is certainly okay to fire a coach who will be hired immediately upon his departure because sometimes a new voice is needed. A coach’s message can grow stale, Sullivan definitely did, and now Muse is at the helm and letting the boys know that they will not be accepting of moral victories because the only victories that matter are the ones that leave the team with two more points in the standings. Injuries are an issue right now, but Muse is no longer in the business of making excuses, excuses are the nails that build the house of failure, and this coach is not going accept failure. Ultimately, I am thankful for Dan Muse as I think he has the pulse of this team and has a serious chance to lead them back to the playoffs if they decide to listen to his message.
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