Brief and to the Point ...
• It was 1986 gloriously revisited Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, with the Penguins going chili-plus on the Senators, 8-5, while overcoming a two-goal deficit and outputting an oh-by-the-way Bryan Rust hat trick.
People, seriously, this is getting insane.
It's not just that they've now overcome a two-goal deficit to win six times while starting up 16-7-3, accounting for 37.5 percent of their victories.
It's not just that they've now overcome a two-goal deficit to win 13 times out of Mike Sullivan's 49 regular-season victories, or 26.5 percent, since he took over a year ago.
Rather, it's that ... it just feels so casual, you know?
Or, to get at least a little cynical, unsustainable.
Not to be a downer here, but the fact remains that the Penguins have virtually the same roster as the one that celebrated on that unforgettable summer's night in San Jose. Everyone back but Ben Lovejoy, in fact. And that collective, both in that Game 6 and all through the Stanley Cup playoffs, was founded on a firm defense-first approach. That was evident in their numbers, with a 2.29 goals-against average that was third-best among all 16 participants and through outshooting opponents in 19 of the 24 games. But it was also evident in their approach.
"We wanted to take care of our own end first," Olli Maatta recalled. "That was the goal every night."
And within that, though much less recognition was given to this facet, the penalty-killing was exceptional. Two of their last three opponents had top-ranked power plays in the regular season, the Capitals at No. 3 and the Sharks at No. 5. And yet, the Penguins wound up with a 85.1 percent kill rate, allowing only 10 power-play goals the entire postseason. They'd been almost as good in the regular season, with an 84.4 percent kill rate that ranked No. 4 in the league.
Now?
Eh, not so much ...
Even the blocked shots, while commendable, aren't impressive once placed in the context that they've conceded far too much possession in their zone, ranking 17th in shot attempts allowed.
Sullivan's been smartly cautious about all this. He can't slam his players for winning, and he certainly can't criticize a characteristic of never quitting. But it's been easy to see, including after this latest win, that he'd love to find a happier medium that better fits hockey as it's played in the playoffs. Because two things you seldom see in any postseason are two-goal rallies and touchdown-sized goal production.
There is, as he made clear Monday night, such a thing as too fast.
"We want to play a speed game. We want to use our speed to our advantage," Sullivan said. "But not to feed their transition."
He's talking turnovers, especially at the opponent's blue line.
"When we get away from our game a little bit, we have a tendency to get into a track meet. We try to make them aware of it, on the bench, between periods, if we think it's occurring. So we can reset the awareness that everybody has. And for me, that starts with our decision with the puck. If you look at our roster, we're a team that wants to play with the puck. And certainly, we want to encourage guys to make plays. But when we recognize the danger zones, or when the plays aren't there to be made, that's when we've got to force teams to play 200 feet."
He's talking dumping the puck deep.
"That's when we become a more difficult team to play against. That's playing a speed game."
• Speaking of speed, why oh why oh why do opponents still line up across from the Penguins thinking they can skate with them?
How many teams, if any, can actually do that?
We saw it in the playoffs last spring with the Lightning and the Sharks, both of whom refused to adopt more defensive stances, and we're still seeing it this season. We saw it with the Senators.
"This is a Stanley Cup winner here," their coach, Guy Boucher, marveled afterward. "We're talking about a powerhouse."
We sure are. So why allow your team, one that held its previous six opponents to 10 total goals, to try to flex its collective muscle to the bully on the beach?
Bravado?
• Well, we now know, beyond any sliver of a doubt, that the Penguins play better in front of Matt Murray than Marc-Andre Fleury.
I mean, it was 4-2 when Sullivan yanked Fleury and explained that decision as one based entirely on how the team was playing in front of Fleury, and then we all witnessed the Penguins annihilating the Senators, 6-1, once Murray had relieved.
So it's just got to be true, right?
I finally asked Murray himself this one.
"Playing better in front of me? No, that's not something I see," he said. "I don't think that's something you'd see, honestly, at any level of professional hockey league. I think it happens in, say, the OHL."
That's the Ontario Hockey League, his junior loop.
"I think you can see a goalie really get hot, and a team will be more comfortable trading chances or changing how they play like that. But not above that kind of level, no."
• The Steelers' top priority to sign in the coming offseason is Le'Veon Bell. Obviously. But with all due respect to Lawrence Timmons, who's been unreal over the past month, second on that list has to be Ross Cockrell.
Sure, he'll be a restricted free agent and, thus, far less likely to leave than an unrestricted. But this guy's 25, he's bright, he's big for a corner, and his future has never looked better at a position where there had been such need. He's making $600,000 now, just $150,000 above NFL minimum, so even an exponential raise would be worth it.
Put it this way: Where else can Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler expect to turn up someone they can confidently match up against A.J. Green, Terrelle Pryor and other taller receivers, while also lining him up opposite a speed guy like Odell Beckham Jr.?
Beckham wound up with 10 catches for 100 yards Sunday, but the Giants targeted him six additional times to no avail, and he committed an offensive pass interference penalty against Cockrell.
Every coordinator in the league would applaud that corner's work.
And Cockrell himself?
https://vimeo.com/194287758
• Here's the most stunning statistic you'll hear this NFL season: The Steelers' defense is now seventh-best in the league in allowing 19.7 points per game. And in total defense, meaning yards allowed, they rank 14th at 348.3.
That tells me two things:
1. They might be better than we think.
2. They could get even better, especially considering they're young and they've already faced the best offenses they'll see in the regular season.
• Reason 73 billion why Ramon Foster rules: When he saw Bell being bent backward during a late-whistle play Sunday, he freaked on the New York player, even tried to kick him.
"You know what? I'll probably get fined," the big man told me. "But I'll take the fine. That's my running back."
• The NFL's real culture problem isn't excessive celebration or some general lack of discipline. It's excessively fussing over it all.
No, really, Cam Newton, who carried the Panthers on his back to the Super Bowl last season, was benched for the start of Carolina's game Sunday because he didn't wear a tie on the team's weekend flight to Seattle.
Every team in every major professional league has a dress code. Some take it more seriously than others. In Winnipeg a couple years ago, the Jets' Evander Kane, known for being the bad-boy type, showed up without a suit, and teammate Dustin Byfuglien famously tossed his casual clothes into the shower to force him to ... well, get a little cold. Byfuglien was mostly applauded for it, maybe because he was at least creative.
But this is absurd. And I've got no doubt it's a trickle-down residual of Roger Goodell's pointless vendetta against celebrations of any kind.
• The magic payroll figure in Major League Baseball is $150 million. Fourteen teams achieved that figure in 2016, and only one of those that didn't -- the almost-champ Indians -- even made the playoffs.
Never forget that, for all the Pirates' own failings, North America's only professional sport without a salary cap is unfair to the extreme.
• Wait, Jung Ho Kang has been hit with three DUIs in Korea since 2009?
Where I come from, and where Kang is employed -- meaning this particular commonwealth -- that gets you jail time, depending on your blood alcohol level.
Here's guessing there won't be any meaningful move by the Pirates to address this. And not just because Frank Coonelly, their team president who had his own DUI in 2012, would be the man administering any such move. But primarily because they've really got nothing to gain by doing so.
Public sentiment?
Wow, what's left of that?
• If Andrew McCutchen is traded for any 19-year-old outfielder anywhere, unless his surname is Bonds, Mays or Griffey, just turn the lights out until the franchise owner gets serious about who's running his franchise and how.
• Nearly a decade since Dave Littlefield's wholly justified firing, we're still talking about Cutch and Neil Walker, and now Tony Watson, as the prime pieces that have been or could be traded in 2016.
All of those were Littlefield draft picks.
Think about that.
• I can't stand anything about college football's playoff system other than that it at least exists and, therefore, is a step up from its predecessor. So I'm loath to engage in any discussion related to it.
That said, consider these four things:
1. University presidents oversee their conferences.
2. The conferences themselves, including the Big 10, are the ones who draw up the rules to determine which school will be the conference champion.
3. Penn State beat Wisconsin and, per those rules, is the champion.
4. Ohio State, another Big 10 team, was the only one chosen -- repeat, chosen -- for the playoff.
It's blown my mind, going way back to childhood, that anyone emotionally invests in this process. It's the absolute antithesis of what competitive athletics should be about.
• I've long expressed that Duquesne basketball remains a latent commodity in this town, meaning people would love to hop aboard at the first sight of anything encouraging. The past few days since the City Game, I believe that more than ever, based on voluminous communication from people once and still at the university.
We'll see if the school's new president, Ken Gormley, who was bouncing around on the court along with the Dukes themselves at their trophy presentation, will back up that enthusiasm with spending.
• If you'll pardon me now, I've got to get over to the Ivan Nova signing press conference at PNC Park.
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