PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s the question of the hour, day, week, couple of weeks. Why weren’t the Pens able to play the way they played the last three weeks over the entire season?
There are several opinions, here are some of them from the Pens locker room a day after the season ended.
“I think we had some times during the season where we just got too low emotionally and quality of play, when we were so far from our best. (It took) a little too long where we didn’t get points,” said former Capitals and first-year Pens forward Lars Eller on Thursday as the team was cleaning out their respective lockers.
“There were times where I felt like we had a firm grip on games where we had leads or even multiple-goal leads that we didn’t close out. A lot of those games we felt like we were the better team for most of the game and I think you got to find a way to win more of those. Those things combined, I think we would still be playing.”
“When we did play well, we were very capable of beating anyone. We beat some of the best teams in the league and went toe to toe with them. So we were very capable but I think our lows were a little too low for too long.”
"I think we kind of have to look in the mirror a little bit and understand that obviously, this organization has had a lot of success,” said first-year Penguins forward Reilly Smith. “There hasn't been a ton in the last six or seven years. So, sometimes you have to find different ways to win and I think we did a better job doing that the last month of the season.”
“We lost a lot of leads,” said Pens forward Bryan Rust. “Not really sure what the reason was, but we had a lot of games where we had one, two, three-goal leads and found a way to lose points or lose games all together.
When things are this close in the League, you can't afford to have those things happen."
“The season has its ups-and-downs,” said Pens alternate captain Kris Letang. “We made a lot of changes in the offseason, sometimes there is a period where you adapt to new teammates, new things you bring on board. Overall, we were not consistent enough. We were playing well for five-six games and we hit a dip. These things kind of kill your momentum to climb in the standings and stay in a good spot.”
“Our ability to manage games and control momentum is a critical aspect,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “For example, playing with leads and understanding the risk-reward relationship and being harder to play against. Obviously, our power play was an area where that was a challenge for us this year.”
“It took some time for us to find our game, we just ran out of runway,” said captain Sidney Crosby. “A lot of the new guys, it was a pretty big turnover. You know it’s going to take time, it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Eller added he noticed the team get really low after the trade of long-time teammate Jake Guentzel. The first game after that happened was a listless 6-0 loss at home to Washington. Eller, who played in spirited games in his career against the Pens, said he was surprised how far from their best the Pens were at certain points of the season.
The discussion turned to making sure it’s better next season. Eller said all have to look at themselves individually and when they are 10 games into the season, do they look at the standings? And what is the urgency if they are not in the top three. It’s right then that you have to pay attention to details. It’s about shortening the times when you don’t play well and not let performances bleed into each other.
“It’s a real empty feeling,” said defenseman Marcus Pettersson. “We really feel like we found something at the end. It’s frustrating. I think it brings a hunger and belief.”
“I think everyone will come back with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, knowing how good we can be, as you saw over this last month or whatever it was,” Rust said. “I think that's only going to help us."
"Points at the start of the year are worth just as much as they are at the end,” Smith said. “And, I think that's something that kind of caught us and hurt us at the end. So, we have a long summer to figure out these answers and to work with each other and to try to find solutions."
“I feel like there’s lots of reasons to be optimistic because of how well we were able to play at certain times and the way we finished when we decided to and we got over this emotional lull,” Eller said. “We picked ourselves up, but I think it took too long to pick ourselves up. A little too late. There was a steep mountain to climb.”
“Even though we finished really strong. I think those stretches early or midseason around the deadline – that’s where you’ve got to look to where we could have been better.”
It’s the lesson they must learn. They feel like they not only showed, but proved at the end of the season they can get back to where they want to go.
Right now, they are only words. It’s a long six months until we find out if they act on those statements.