It was hard watching the Pittsburgh Penquins struggle in Detroit, especially if you live and die Penguins hockey. The team of youth and vigor didn't look quite as strapping. In fact, what they looked was just young, and confused, and intimidated.
Rule Number One: You cannot win a hockey game if you don't shoot at the goal. With just minutes left in the first period yesterday, the Pens - a team as much about young scoring stars as about solid playoff defense - hadn't taken a single shot on goal in the first period. Playing on the back of their skates, the Pens looked more like a team playing not to lose than a team playing to win. If you don't shoot the puck, you can't put the puck into the net.
Rule Number Two: Don't take nine penalties if you want to win the game. I'll be the first to say that the Pens were the recipients of some favorable refereeing over the first series of games, and perhaps that caught up to them. But the penalty give-aways in the second Detroit game weren't even arguable. Blatant penalties as the result of sloppy and disoriented play.
Rule Number Three: Believe - and I don't think that the Pens do. It almost seemed as though they were shocked to dominate the Rangers and Flyers. They don't feel like a team that believes they're the best team in the NHL. Detroit believes they're the best team in the NHL. In fact, sometimes Detroit believes that so much that it makes the rest of us hate them just a little bit. Okay, more than just a little bit.
Rule Number Four: Understand the urgency - hey, Penquins? How long do you think you get to keep this miracle line-up together? It's not long. You're in a small market and still a couple of solid years away from turning profit with a new stadium. I have a theory about why the San Jose Sharks never do well in the playoffs. I mean, aside from just being coached to be soft in a soft, hippie-dippie part of the country (I love you San Jose! Miss you!). But the Sharks always know the following: :They will always fill stadiums even when they're losing, they will always have a strong lineup, they have management committed to putting great teams on ice and the financial resources to do so. So they never feel like this is the year they HAVE to win it. I think possibly because the Pens lineup is so young, they don't realize that they won't have many more opportunities to grab a cup. There doesn't seem to be the same sense of urgency that a more experienced team would understand. You almost feel like there is a part of the brain in some of the younger Pens players that says, "This is where we get the experience to win a cup later."
Dear Pittsburgh Penguins Young Players - email me! I will send you a list of all of the talented, super star hockey players who played in the league their entire career and never won a cup. Or never even had a chance to. NOW is your chance. Play like it is.
I have a friend who does a sports radio show in Montreal. At the beginning of the series, he asked me what I thought would happen. I said, "It'll either be over early and Detroit will blow the Pens out with experience and drive, or it will stretch all the way to seven and the Pens will win on a Crosby miracle shot and some stand-on-his-head goal tending."
I fear that, as usualy, I will predict correctly, but it will be my first prediction.