“Well, that sure can’t happen again.”
While these aren’t the words that I would say to my team in the dressing room after an opening night loss that should have been a win, if I were Mike Sullivan, these are definitely the words and the message I’d be sending to my coaching staff this week.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ head coach, who’s of the most games coached and won of any head coach in Penguins history, could not have been happy with his team’s opening night performance, especially the second half of the game. Having taken a 2-0 lead against what virtually the entire hockey world considers to be one of the worst few teams in the NHL this season, only to see it implode into a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, did not give anyone in the Steel City that warm and fuzzy feeling that this year would be better than the last.
Erik Karlsson Was Not the Problem
Being on the East Coast, I have not seen many Erik Karlsson hockey games in recent seasons. So, on a personal level, there was an air of excitement to witness the magic that everyone speaks about when they discuss Karlsson’s play. Instead of magic, what I saw on Tuesday night was a defenseman who can skate well, has great offensive instincts, can make some incredible passes, is a mess from pure defensive coverage standpoint in his own zone, and really someone who looked like a 40-to-50 point defenseman over the course of a full season.
To be clear, a mess against someone who was playing their first NHL game on Tuesday night. Even if you’re Connor Bedard, there’s no excuse for Karlsson’s coverage to have been that shoddy – just ask Kris Letang, who let Bedard know who was running things whenever they were both on the ice.
That said, Karlsson was not the problem on Tuesday night. This falls in the hands of the coaching staff. The buck stops with Sullivan, though ace associate coach Todd Reirden, who manages the defense, shoulders some blame here.
At five-on-five, Karlsson looked fine with the puck. Fine, however, is not what the team is looking for from a future Hall of Famer. Fine is the version of Karlsson that scored at a 40-50 point pace for most of his time with San Jose and not the 101-point dynamo we saw last year.
Karlsson, who spent a surprising amount of time on the ice with Sidney Crosby compared with what was expected to start the season, certainly had his moments. He always looked strong and confident with the puck, capable of making magic happen. He made a couple of good neutral zone passes and a couple of great passes in the offensive zone that led the scoring chances. He also stepped into the high slot and got a good shot off that Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek easily stopped.
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On the other side, as mentioned, Karlsson had considerable trouble handling Bedard. He seems to take a zone defence approach, where he manages the space in and around him and lets the offensive player do what they want with the puck. Playing this style, it is inevitable that you will give up goals simply because you don’t have the puck and you’re not engaging in trying to regain possession.
As Karlsson grows to understand Pittsburgh’s defensive system, one hopes that he can be more aggressive in the right areas and not let other teams’ top players have the time they need to be creative.
Karlsson Was Not the Solution, Either
Karlsson certainly had his moments offensively at five-on-five, but on the power play, it was more of the same from the preseason. Karlsson, who has experience both playing on the left point and down the left half-wall on the power play, did not at all look capable of doing anything special from his spot on the left point. Considering he took that spot from incumbent Kris Letang and the prevailing wisdom was that Karlsson was an upgrade, this is troubling.
Part of this certainly is due to the absence of Jake Guentzel early in camp and that he is still getting up to speed from the ankle injury suffered in the offseason. The fact that Guentzel even played on Tuesday was a bonus (though one that cost us the Penguins the presence of The Great Radim Zohorna).
That said, there is no excuse for Karlsson to not put low shots on goal from the point and try to score some of the “garbage goals” we see so often in the playoffs that determine who wins and who loses. Pittsburgh had both Crosby and Malkin buzzing around the posts on the power play, ready to stuff in rebounds, and on top of having Guentzel getting beat up in front of the net, Karlsson needs to take advantage of that umbrella setup. Similarly, it will take time for the team to get used to how Karlsson wants to quarterback this power play and what his strengths are. This needs to be a group effort between the coach running the power play and the stars on it.
Watching Pittsburgh’s power play and seeing both Letang and Rickard Rakell become invisible was surprising. Both were key reasons for any success that the Pens had with the man advantage last year and something that needs to be quickly rectified.
Time Is Not an Infinite Construct in the NHL
There were several reasons why the Penguins lost this game. The team plays an offensive system in the same vein that the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, and Edmonton Oilers play. However, especially on the second and fourth lines, the Penguins lack the speed to execute that system properly. You saw in the penalties taken by Lars Eller, Jeff Carter, and Matt Nieto that we are in the early days of the season, where silly decisions are made by players still knocking some rust off. Either these players will improve, or especially in the case of Carter and Nieto, you will see Pittsburgh’s best American Hockey League players, like Zohorna and Sam Poulin, called up and given a chance to take those spots in the lineup.
Be it with the bottom-six forwards or the top-four defensemen, there is still much chemistry to develop and proverbial jelling yet to happen. While this Penguins team has a great deal of potential, it will not be realized until everyone gets used to playing together. This will take time.
Pittsburgh acquired Erik Karlsson to bring them the later career, modern-day Paul Coffey of this generation, much like a previous Penguins’ team (from ‘Oilers Trade Coffey to Penguins,’ The Washington Post, Nov. 24, 1987) did a generation earlier to great results. What we got on Tuesday night was an effort to be safe instead of an effort to be great.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s early. Teams can start off slow, get on a heater, and ride that wave into the playoffs. Most of the time, though, you can look at the NHL standings at the end of November and know who will make the playoffs and who will not, so the Pittsburgh coaches and Karlsson must figure this out in the first month. Otherwise, there will be a lot of surprises this season and an end result that no one is expecting.
