Game 88
The Penguins’ offseason, from firing Ron Hextall to hiring Kyle Dubas to revamping the bottom six forwards to signing Erik Karlsson, was supposed to be about getting past the obstacles that made 2022-23 the first playoff absence for the organization since Sidney Crosby’s rookie year 18 years ago.
There was simply too much change for things to not… well,… change.
Yet here we are, only two weeks in to the season, with just five games played, and the 2-3 Penguins are very seriously staring down the barrel of a possible 2-5 start considering the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche are coming to town this week.
Mike Sullivan was rightly more than just a little annoyed on Saturday in St. Louis when his team played like it was disinterested and uninspired, aside from the recently recalled Radim Zohorna and the rest of his line.
It’s unfortunately been a problem that’s come up at least once every season for the past few years, yet Sullivan and his front office -whether it was Jim Rutherford, Ron Hextall, or now Dubas- back him in his desire to lean on established veterans he’s comfortable with rather than younger and/or less experienced, hungrier players such as Zohorna, Valterri Puustinen, and Alex Nylander.
We’ll see if the re-shuffling of the power play that took place at practice on Monday, replacing Rickard Rakell with Bryan Rust on the top unit, is enough to spur change on not just the man advantage group that’s 0-for-5 at home this season, but also a team that’s just 18th in the NHL with a +1 goal differential at even strength through five games.
The Slide
With 48 hours to digest it, I’m still having a hard time listening to the whining about Christian Veilleux’s ill-timed slid that cost Pitt a game-clinching first down at Wake Forest on Saturday night.
Are we going to ignore yet another hideous offensive game for Frank Cignetti, Jr. regardless of who his QB was?
Are we going to ignore Pitt’s defense allowing an offense led by a third-string QB to beat them in the biggest moments of the game?
Are we going to ignore everything leading up to this that now has Pitt tied with Virginia for the worst overall record in the ACC at 2-5?
If anyone should be familiar with the slide rule, aka the Kenny Pickett Rule, it sure as damn well better be the Pitt Panthers and their quarterback.
And even if for some reason he wasn’t familiar with the rule, isn’t Veilleux at the very least good enough at math that he could’ve understood going out of bounds there, followed by a couple of knees, would’ve ended the game?
Aside from the pronunciation of his last name, maybe we should worry about Veilleux’s awareness, and just as importantly, worry if his coaching staff has him prepared in big moments like that.
1-9
Don’t worry, if we’re going to rip head coach + offensive coordinator + quarterbacks combos, we’re sure not going to let James Franklin, Mike Yurcich, and Drew Allar off the hook.
In arguably the biggest game Penn State has played in at least six years, all three of Penn State’s major players came up short.
Franklin and Yurcich never opened up an offense that’s more conservative than the small town in Footloose, and went 0-for their first-15 on 3rd downs.
And Allar didn’t look like he was up to the task anyway, playing like a kid in his first real big road test. Scared, tentative, and simply not good enough are all ways to describe Allar, who didn’t hold back on his own self-evaluation after the game.
Now Penn State has to rest their slim playoff chances on the hopes that they can win out, including a huge game against Michigan in a few weeks, and Ohio State and the Wolverines lose more than once, or Penn State wins some elaborate tiebreaker.
Either way, it doesn’t speak well for Franklin that he continues to struggle in big games, especially against Ohio State and Michigan.
Grip It & Rip It, Hounds
From the things-we-definitely-missed-this-weekend-but-can-totally-get-behind file: John Daly is apparently a Pittsburgh Riverhounds fan, and was in town to cheer them on against Detroit City FC.
While the outcome was disappointing for the ‘Hounds – a 1-0 loss in the opening round of the playoffs after sporting the best regular season record in the USL – I’m sure there’s some solace for everyone involved in the fact that Daly was chiefing a dart about a quarter mile away from where one of America’s finest Hooters once stood.