It's not easy coming up with complaints after the Penguins come back once, then twice, then a third time, then ultimately overtake the archrival Flyers in overtime, then wheel out future Philadelphia mayor Sidney Crosby as one of the the three stars, then send off carloads of black-and-orange clad fans cussing the whole way back to the wrong end of the commonwealth.
Tends to make for a pretty pleasant scenario, right?
Yeah, I get it. I was there, too, for Bryan Rust's redirect Sunday afternoon and the 5-4 outcome that enthralled most of the capacity crowd at PPG Paints Arena. Crosby's sweet feed from the left side kissed Rust's blade and blew by Petr Mrazek's glove at 2:25 to end it ...
... and all concerned came away seemingly satisfied.
"It was an intense game out there," Justin Schultz would say. "I mean, it's the Flyers. It was tough to give up that goal late, but I thought the guys did a great job in overtime. We got the two points. We got the job done."
They did. That can't and shouldn't be taken away. For sure, nothing anywhere should diminish the superhuman individual efforts on the spectacular goals by Evgeni Malkin and Crosby, in which they skated around so much of the Philadelphia franchise that Bobby Clarke probably was stuck with a minus.
But being candid, the home team's overall performance left me at least a little cold.
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TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEO[/caption]
That was partly because of the obvious, meaning the Flyers' tying goal by Sean Couturier with 42.6 seconds left in regulation, the one Schultz referenced, as well as the 45-32 deficit in shots. Neither came with a comfortable feel, and that's entirely because neither has been an outlier for a while now: In the 15 games since Ian Cole was traded Feb. 23 -- and I'll get to that aspect specifically in the Monday Grind -- the Penguins have given up an average of 3.53 goals, third-most in the NHL in that span, and 31.5 shots, 13th-most in the league.
Heck, narrowing it down to just the past four games, the opponent's average shot total is 37.5.
That stinks. That's not going to cut it, certainly not at a championship level.
It's true, as Mike Sullivan pointed out after this, that these Flyers, under counterpart Dave Hakstol's urging, gun from all angles.
"The shot clock, in some instances, can be deceiving. Not always," Sullivan said. "It's an indication of where the game is being played, because you've obviously got to be in the offensive zone to shoot the puck. Philly's a team that shoots the puck a lot."
Then he got a little more real.
"I don't think we did as good a job at getting in shot lines, and that's an area of our game where we haven't been as good at making it hard for teams to get pucks to the net. It seems like every shot they're taking is getting to the net. That's an area where I know we have to improve. And that's a mindset. In my opinion, it's a willingness to play the game hard. It's a thankless job, but it's an important job. It's happening five-on-five, but it's also happening on the penalty-kill, and that's one of the reasons it's been a struggle as of late."
In my best Malkin voice: Bingo.
That's not Sullivan's inner John Tortorella speaking on blocking shots, either. He's won two Cups with his own thought processes, and he's witnessed with his own eyes that preventing pucks from getting to the goaltender is generally a really good idea. It doesn't need to be lying down in front of slap shots. It can be a simple stick in the lane, which is how Erik Karlsson annually leads everyone in blocks up in Ottawa. But it's got to be something.
What follows are Philadelphia's first two goals, by defensemen Travis Sanheim and Brandon Manning:
Matt Murray got off to a terrible start. These goals were on him, though he eventually strengthened.
Still, Sullivan, Mark Recchi and Jacques Martin had invested most of their pregame prep on warning their players about the Flyers' defensemen, who now have 46 goals -- an incredible 33 of those at even-strength -- to rank second in the league. The players were instructed to front them at all times, keep a body on "the right side of the puck," as Sullivan likes to say.
The only ones up there even close to Sanheim are Derick Brassard and Phil Kessel, neither of whom picked up anyone on the trackback. Same goes for Malkin coasting miles behind Manning.
That's a problem. It's a recurring problem. For almost everyone.
And to hear Sullivan tell it, it's a matter of will rather than skill.
"There are always ways to improve," he said. "We had moments where I thought we were playing the game the right way, we were stingy on the puck, we had awareness ... and there were moments where we weren't. It's finding that consistency, I think, that's going to make us a stiffer team to play against."
The man's been saying that nonstop to us. Imagine how often he says it to them.
The captain's mentioned the same.
"If we play well defensively, we know we're going to get our chances at the other end," Crosby said on the same subject. "I think being patient, making sure we're not taking unnecessary risks, but also just making sure our habits, the details are there."
Seeing will be believing, right?
I had a problem with the performance at the far end, too, crazy as that could sound after a five-spot on the scoreboard.
Stop me if you've heard this one, too, but the Penguins need to get back to making quick work of subpar goaltenders. In this case, the Flyers were so starved for goaltending, with Brian Elliott being out with a long-term injury and Mrazek being Mrazek, that they served up Alex Lyon, a 25-year-old journeyman from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms making his 10th NHL start.
In the first period, the Penguins put six pucks on the guy. One was a Brassard breakaway, two others were harmless flicks.
Most of it looked like this:
Why wouldn't Conor Sheary shoot that?
Because ... Penguins?
Even on Crosby's brilliant effort, the shot was clearly his last resort ...
You could read his body language and see he wasn't thinking shot until that moment, as I'd confirm with him:
The grit that Sullivan covets on the defensive end needs to apply on the offensive end, as well. And part of that is pure shooting, as Rust would support:
Now, this is where it can get vexing, and I know it's exactly that for Sullivan: How does a coach sell his group on shooting when it's blessed with the talent to hold the puck for an eternity and the precision to pull off slam dunks like Rust's winner?
I ran that by Schultz, and not just because he registered three assists to zero shots.
"You can always shoot the puck more," he replied. "I mean, there's a time and a place to make a play, and we've obviously got a lot of guys who can do that. You're not going to tell them to not make great plays. But there are times to take that shot, too, to create that spray."
Spray?
"It's not just about the shots getting on goal. It's the havoc you create around the other team's net. It puts the other team back on their heels. It makes a lot of things go in your favor."
And as a result ...
"Right. It's definitely easier to defend. Anyone can defend when the puck's in their (opponent's) zone, right?"
Sounds like a plan. Seems like well past time to turn serious about it. Because the Stanley Cup playoffs are a couple weeks away, and the Penguins' two most likely first-round opponents, the Flyers and Blue Jackets have one commonality above all: Neither has a playoff goaltender.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
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Penguins vs. Flyers, PPG Paints Arena, March 25, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]
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