Pittsburgh in midst of coaching golden era

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Friday, June 24, 2011

Meeting of the champs: Mike Tomlin greets Dan Bylsma in August 2009.(Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)


Penguins coach Dan Bylsma won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL coach of the year Wednesday night, but the big winners are the fans. They have a terrific young coach. Bylsma is well on his way to becoming the longest-tenured and most successful coach in franchise history. More Stanley Cups are in his future.

If you think about it, all Pittsburgh sports fans are pretty lucky when it comes to their coaches. Bylsma has won a Cup in his first 2 1/2 seasons. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has won a Super Bowl and taken the team to another in his first four seasons. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, in his first season, has done a marvelous job getting his team to .500 in late June against all odds after 18 consecutive losing seasons.

We've had great coaches here -- Hall of Fame coaches -- but I'm not sure the city's three professional sports teams have had better coaches at the same time. That's mostly because the Penguins were largely irrelevant before Hall of Famer Bob Johnson took over behind the bench in 1990.

Steelers Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll and the Pirates' Danny Murtaugh, who many believe should be in the Hall of Fame, overlapped briefly, primarily from 1971-73. Murtaugh led the Pirates to a second world championship in 1971 -- he also was manager in 1960 -- at a time when Noll was just building the Steelers dynasty of the 1970s.

The legendary Noll won the franchise's fourth Super Bowl after the 1979 season, just months after Chuck Tanner led the Pirates to the '79 world championship. But, again, the Penguins were mostly unsuccessful at that time with Johnny Wilson as coach. Their long list of coaches from the franchise's inception in 1967 until '90 hardly produced greatness: Red Sullivan, Red Kelly, Ken Schinkel, Marc Boileau, Wilson, Eddie Johnston, Lou Angotti, Bob Berry, Pierre Creamer, Gene Ubriaco and Craig Patrick. None lasted more than four seasons.

The Penguins' fortunes changed dramatically when Johnson took over as coach and Mario Lemieux's career as a player took off. The team won the Cup in '91 only months before Johnson died from complications of brain cancer. It won again in '92 with Scotty Bowman as coach. Bowman was, arguably, the greatest coach of any sport at any time, winning a record nine Cups with the Montreal Canadiens, the Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings.

Pirates manager Jim Leyland led his team to three consecutive division titles in 1990-92 but couldn't get to the World Series. Noll wasn't nearly as successful during that time and retired after the 1991 season. Bill Cowher was just getting started in what surely would be a Hall of Fame career if he had not resigned after the 2006 season after 149 regular-season wins and a Super Bowl title after the '05 season.

Tomlin has much work to do before he's Hall of Fame-worthy, but he's off to a great start. He could have been NFL coach of the year last season. The work he did without suspended quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the first four games and injured starters Troy Polamalu, Aaron Smith, Willie Colon and Max Starks for all or a large part of the season was nothing short of remarkable. He also did a deft job handling the James Harrison helmet-to-helmet hits controversy. You just won't find better coaching.

Well, unless maybe you look at Bylsma's work last season.

It's nice to know the NHL got the Adams Award right. Bylsma led the Penguins to fourth place in the Eastern Conference despite being without injured Jordan Staal for the first half of the season and injured Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for the second half. That the team was bounced from the playoffs in seven games in the first round by the Tampa Bay Lightning without the great Crosby and Malkin didn't detract from a strong year.

Then, there's Hurdle. He has made the Pirates matter again with his energy and enthusiasm. Who saw that coming? He refused to allow the team to fold when it lost six games in a row in mid-May to fall to 18-23, then again this week when it lost four in a row to drop to 35-37. Now, he faces perhaps his biggest challenge in keeping the Pirates at or near .500. The powerful Boston Red Sox come to PNC Park for three games this weekend before the Pirates head to Toronto to play the Blue Jays next week. The Pirates have lost 13 consecutive interleague road games.

So who's the best of the three -- Tomlin, Bylsma or Hurdle?

You have to eliminate Hurdle at this point because his body of work needs to be bigger. He's also the one coach/manager of the three without a championship.

That leaves Tomlin or Bylsma.

I'll take Tomlin.

Ask me next week and I might say Bylsma. They are that close. They are that good.

You really are lucky.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

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Penguins' Bylsma claims Jack Adams Award

By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Thursday, June 23, 2011

Dan Bylsma became the first coach in Penguins history to claim the Jack Adams Award. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)


LAS VEGAS -- A lot of things named raced through Dan Bylsma's mind Wednesday night as he headed for the stage at the Pearl Theater inside the Palms Casino and Resort.

The Penguins coach thought about the people he needed to thank upon winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best coach. He thought about the coaches who had won the award previously. He thought about his wife, Mary Beth, and 12-year-old son, Bryan. And he thought about Donny Osmond.

Donny Osmond?

"I didn't picture Donny Osmond being the guy who announces it," Bylsma said of his presenter at the annual NHL awards show. "Once I found it out was Donny, I had a couple jokes I thought about saying, but 45 seconds wasn't even enough to thank the media -- and that would have been hard enough for a coach to do, to thank the media."

Bylsma, 40, beat out fellow finalists Alain Vigneault, who led Vancouver to the best record in the regular season, and Barry Trotz, who guided Nashville to its sixth playoff berth in the past seven seasons.

The Jack Adams is determined in voting by NHL broadcasters, and there is little doubt that they were swayed by the performance of the Penguins -- 49 wins, 106 points, both second most in club history -- despite the extended absences of centers Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal. Each missed about half the season, with Crosby and Malkin out the second half.

The stars were not the only ones hurt. The team lost 350 man-games to injuries in 2010-11, and, at one point, the top seven scorers from minor league affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton were on the NHL roster.

"I was very happy for him and his family," said Penguins general manager Ray Shero, whose father, Fred, was the first recipient of the Jack Adams in 1974. "With Crosby and Malkin injured, people see what kind of coach Dan is. We're proud to have Dan as our coach. He's very deserving."

Bylsma deflected credit for his coaching job and the award to his players and their adherence to the system Bylsma has preached -- with a tweak on defense devised last summer -- since he was promoted from Wilkes-Barre in February 2009.

The Penguins won the Stanley Cup with that system, so Bylsma staunchly stuck with it rather than make changes to compensate for his injured stars.

"I'd like to tell you I did something marvelous to keep it going, but that's not the case," Bylsma said. "In looking back, I really think the best thing we've done and continue to do is, our players have a clear understanding of how we're going to have success as a team and how we're going to play.

"I felt sheepish, thinking, 'I'm really not doing that much.' I think all that was done long before the injuries. The players did an amazing job to keep going through the injuries and some of the down times. They kept expecting to win, and they did."

Bylsma also gave credit to the HBO special series, "24/7," which aired in midseason and showed behind-the-scenes footage of the Penguins and Washington Capitals.

"Even within the Pittsburgh community, people thought they had a picture of Dan Bylsma in their brain," he said. "They see about 5 percent of who you are. I've often had to tell people that's not really me if you think I'm that serious guy behind the bench who doesn't show a lot of emotion. I'm a terribly emotional person.

"I think with 24/7, to see a little bit of behind the scenes, to see a little bit more of the coach that I am, I think that opened some eyes to maybe a different style than they thought I was and the rapport that we have with our players. I think it was advantageous for me."

The other winners:

• Boston's Tim Thomas pulled off an impressive trifecta. He won the Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender after winning the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP.

• Anaheim's Corey Perry, who led the NHL with 50 goals, won the Hart Trophy as MVP. The other MVP award, the Ted Lindsay, voted on by NHL players, went to Vancouver's Daniel Sedin, the league's scoring champion.

• Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom won his seventh Norris Trophy as top defenseman.

• Boston's Zdeno Chara missed out on the Norris but received the Mark Messier Leadership Award.

• Vancouver's Ryan Kesler won the Selke Trophy for top defensive forward, breaking the streak of three in a row by Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk.

• At 18, Jeff Skinner was the youngest player in the league, and the Carolina center won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

• Also from Vancouver, Mike Gillis was named general manager of the year.

• Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship for the second year in a row.

• Philadelphia's Ian Laperriere, who has struggled through persistent concussion symptoms, won the Masterton Trophy for sportsmanship and perseverance.

• Doug Weight, recently retired from the New York Islanders, won the King Clancy Trophy for Leadership.

• Los Angeles' Dustin Brown won the NHL Foundation award for charity and community work.

For much more on the Penguins, read the Pens Plus blog with Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson at www.post-gazette.com/plus. Shelly Anderson: shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721

Love of the game took Mike Emrick from Fort Wayne to the Cup final

Richard Deitsch > MEDIA CIRCUS
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
June 1, 2011

New Jersey Devils television announcer Mike 'Doc' Emrick poses with co-owners Mike Gilfillen (L) and Jeff Vanderbeek (C) as he is honored prior to the Pittsburgh Penguins playing the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on January 30, 2009 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The inch-and-a-quarter thick document sat dormant on the shelf of a cluttered library for a decade, but last week, upon prodding by a reporter, Mike Emrick dusted off his doctoral dissertation and proceeded to tell the story of how Ernie Harwell became his nonacademic adviser.

The year was 1973, and Emrick was a first-year doctoral student at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In an effort to sate his academic responsibilities and gain some insight into the work-a-day-life of a professional sports broadcaster, Emrick embarked on a rigorous exploration of the history of baseball broadcasting. With Detroit only an hour or so up the road, Emrick reached out to the Tigers organization. Yes, he was told, Mr. Harwell would be happy to meet with you.

The Tigers broadcaster took an immediate shine to the kid and offered Emrick his walking Rolodex of contacts. He introduced him to broadcasters and writers, hot dog vendors and ushers, and even procured a dugout interview for Emrick with Al Kaline.

Shortly after he started his dissertation, Emrick landed his first job in professional hockey. The pay was just $160 per week, but Emrick found himself in heaven as the radio and public relations director for the International Hockey League's Port Huron Flags. Three years later, he completed his thesis, becoming the rare sports broadcaster who owns a PhD in something other than ego. The dissertation ("Major League Baseball Principal Play By Play Announcers: Their Occupation Background And Personal Life") contains a couple of paragraphs dedicated to Harwell in the acknowledgments section.

"I learned so many life lessons from Ernie," said the 64-year-old Emrick, who everyone except his wife calls Doc. "He always started each conversation with, 'I want you to shake hands with a friend of mine, Mike Emrick.' You don't forget treatment like that. Ernie always said: 'A man is really lucky if God gives him a job he enjoys.' That is what I found, and that is apparently what Ernie found, too."

Few in broadcasting have enjoyed their job more than Emrick, the NBC Sports and VERSUS announcer who will call his 13th Stanley Cup Final this year. Traveling through an alphabet soup of employers (including NBC, CBS, Fox, MSG, VERSUS, TNT, OLN, CSTV, SportsChannel Philadelphia, PRISM and Fox Sports Net) during his five-decade career, Emrick has earned enshirnement in the Hockey Hall of Fame and cemented himself as the announcer most associated with the sport in America. It's a fun parlor game to debate the best play-by-play broadcaster in a sport, but there is no debate when it comes to hockey here.

There is Mike Emrick, and then there is everyone else.

"We employ Kenny Albert and Sam Rosen for football, and they are both very good in hockey, but even they will even tell you: Doc Emrick is special when it comes to the sport," said Fox Sports senior producer Bill Brown.
Said Sam Flood, the executive producer of NBC Sports and VERSUS: "No one calls a hockey game better, no one paints a better picture, and no one is better at building up a moment. He is the voice of hockey in this country, and as talented a play-by-play guy as there is in any sport."

In addition to his national broadcast schedule, Emrick has served as the play-by-play voice of the Devils since 1993. He litters each broadcast with a panoply of verbs and imbues the audience with facts and stories that come only with intense preparation and a scholar's appreciation of history. For NBC and VERSUS, Emrick must navigate between his booth partner, Ed Olczyk, and on-ice analyst Pierre McGuire -- not an easy task given the pace of the sport.

"My role is to be a conduit between the skill of the players and the understanding of the fans," Emrick said. "I'm just more or less someone who can describe something, and hopefully with passion. If you have a good product, you don't have to do a lot of selling. I don't have a real grasp of how to describe what I do other than I try to enhance the experience and not get in the way of it."

Given hockey's standing in the U.S. sports landscape, Emrick is unlikely to be recognized in most American cities. His greatest exposure came last February when he called the Olympic gold medal game -- the most-watched hockey game in the U.S. in 30 years. (NBC drew an average audience of 27.6 million and at least 52.9 million U.S. viewers watched a portion of Canada's 3-2 win over Team USA.)

But the low profile suits Emrick; his colleagues refer to him as "egoless" and his bosses say he needs very little stroking. When the NBC crew goes out to dinner the day before a game, Flood says that Emrick will metronomically order the same thing (a Caesar salad and a single glass of Sam Adams or Diet Coke) while his analysts chow down on thick steaks.

The son of a high school principal and guidance counselor, Emrick grew up in a La Fontaine, Ind. (pronounced La Fountain and not like Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine). He initially fell hard for baseball, but his life changed on Dec. 10, 1960 when his parents took him and his older brother Dan (a retired junior high school teacher and coach) to an IHL game between the hometown Fort Wayne Komets and the visiting Muskegon Zephyrs.

"It was love at first sight," said Emrick, who was 14 at the time. "I had seen hockey in black and white on our grainy television. We were a long way from Indianapolis and by the time the signal got to us, it was pretty snowy. You could see the Pistons in Detroit or basketball at any high school gym, but there were only two places in Indiana that had hockey: Indianapolis and Fort Wayne."

While calling games in Port Huron in 1974, Emrick met Joyce Sult at a social outing at their local parish. On their first date, he told her that he wanted to some day broadcast in the National Hockey League.

"After I stopped laughing, I realized he was very serious," said Joyce Emrick, now his wife of 32 years. "I more or less tried to not get interested at that point because I knew it would take all he had to pursue it."

The couple dated for four years and were married on July 1, 1978. Times were lean during the early years. Mike landed a job in Portland, Maine, to broadcast the AHL's Maine Mariners. To subsidize their income, he and Joyce often walked along the forest and shore-lined highways of Cape Elizabeth to search for beer and (soda) pop cans for the deposit money.
"There were a couple of times where we paid our groceries for the week from the money we earned from those cans," he said.

It was in Maine when Emrick had the "Doc" sobriquet bestowed on him by Ed Anderson, the president of the Mariners. "He knew I had a doctorate from Bowling Green so he started calling me Doc. It's not a terribly creative nickname, but it stuck."

So did Emrick with hockey, including a number of different on-air roles with the Devils and Flyers during the 1980s and his being hired as the full-time voice of the Devils in 1993. The turning point of his broadcasting career came when CBS asked him to call the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics. Fox Sports vice chairman Ed Goren, who worked with Emrick at CBS, brought him over along with John Davidson to be the lead broadcasters when Fox acquired the national rights to the NHL in 1995.

Today, he and Joyce live in St. Clair, Michigan, an hour north of Detroit, so they can be close to Joyce's family. The couple have no children, but own two Yorkies (Liberty and Joy Bells) and two quarter horses, a reigning horse and a rescue horse named Sappy Pants who had been left to die in a deserted field before the Emricks brought her in. Animals play a major role in the couple's life. In 2006, Mike opted not to travel to the Turin Olympics when the couple's first dog -- a four-year-old terrier named Katie -- was diagnosed with a serious kidney ailment. The dog was put to sleep three days after the hockey tournament started.

Two years ago, the Devils honored Emrick with his own night, and last month at New York City's Lincoln Center, he won his first Sports Emmy in the category of "Outstanding Sports Personality -- Play-By-Play" topping Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Joe Buck and Verne Lundquist. It was his third nomination and first national Sports Emmy. Upon reaching the stage, Emrick received a standing ovation.

"He still prepares for each game as if it was his first," said Joyce. "I can't really account why the passion grabbed him, but it did. I find it amazing, but I think it is something he will go to his grave with. I don't see him ever not having a passion for hockey. He has never gotten tired of it and it's been a long time."

Flood said he hopes that Emrick will be a part of the entire life of Comcast's deal with the NHL which gives NBC/VERSUS the rights to broadcast the sport through the 2020-21 season. When told what his boss said, Emrick laughed.

"I'm flattered that Sam would say so, but 10 years? Well, I don't know, but it's always nice to be asked."

The bet here is that Emrick will be around in the next decade. The pipes are good and the love of the game is even stronger.

"When my parents took me to that game in Fort Wayne, I don't know how to describe it other than it was a life-changing adventure that night," Emrick said. "My family probably thought it was a normal night when they trudged back to the station wagon we rode in. But it wasn't a normal night for me."

Is change in store for NHL?

Sunday, May 22, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In this Nov. 4, 2010, file photo, Philadelphia Flyers' Jody Shelley, left, and New York Rangers' Derek Boogaard fight during an NHL hockey game in Philadelphia. Boogaard, at age 28, died on Friday. Boogaard signed with the Rangers as a free agent in July,2010 appearing in 22 games last season, registering one goal and one assist.(AP)

Penguins forward Mike Rupp was on vacation with his wife and three kids in Magic Kingdom at Disney World when he got the news. Suddenly, The Happiest Place On Earth seemed a lot less happy.

"It's awful," Rupp said of the death of New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard. "Really scary."

Boogaard, 28, was found in his Minneapolis apartment May 13. Medical examiners ruled Friday that the cause of death was an accidental mixture of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone, but the story doesn't end there. Boogaard didn't play this season after he took a punch Dec. 9 from Ottawa's Matt Carkner. It was at least his fourth concussion. His family members are suspicious enough that his death was tied to his head injuries that they donated his brain to Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. That's the outfit that is studying the long-term effects of sports concussions on athletes. In March, it determined that NHL enforcer Bob Probert had degenerative brain disease when he died in July at 45.

It's safe to say Penguins star Sidney Crosby is following the Boogaard story closely. He didn't play this season after Jan. 5 because of concussion symptoms.

Rupp also is watching intently. He led the Penguins the past two seasons with a total of 24 fights.
"If [Boogaard's death] is linked to fighting, it could change the face of hockey," Rupp said. "I would think the league would have to look to go down that road [to banning fighting]."

Rupp has mixed feelings. He knows the players take risks when they drop their gloves. "A lot of bad things can happen. Guys are so much bigger and stronger." But he also fears what the NHL would be like without fighting. "I think the violence in the sport would hit a new level. It would be worse."

Rupp is hardly a hockey goon -- he has good skills for a man 6-foot-5, 245 pounds -- but he became more of a fighter after he was released by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2006. "I was a No. 1 draft choice and had scored some big goals, but I knew I had to do something to make myself different." He had 55 fights during the next five seasons. According to hockeyfights.com's scorecard, his record in those fights was 24-22-9.

"There have been times I've been dropped with one punch," Rupp said. "There have been times I've felt the aftereffects for a week. Is that a concussion? I don't know ...

"I guess I don't think about the risks. You can't think about it. If that's in the back of your mind, it's going to be difficult to do what you have to do. That's why it's probably best not to think about it."

Rupp admits that's getting harder to do. The news about Probert was sobering for many NHL players.
Now, there's Boogaard, a man Rupp never fought but one he said he greatly respected for his toughness on the ice and his kindness and charity work off it.

"He sure wasn't one of those guys you volunteered to fight," Rupp said of Boogaard, who was 6-foot-7, 257 pounds. "You'd never just say to him, 'Hey, Boogie, you wanta go?' You'd watch him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, but you just hoped he would be sleeping the night you played against him."

Rupp mentioned former NHL enforcer Riley Cote, an opponent he did fight frequently. "I remember when I was younger telling teammates, 'If I'm a fan, I'm paying to watch Riley Cote fight.' He's not the biggest guy in the league, but he puts his head out there every night. Some of the older guys said to me, 'Yeah, it's good, but you can't do that very long.' Now, Riley Cote isn't playing anywhere. What is he? 28? 29?"
Rupp also talked about Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Colton Orr -- another frequent foe -- who was dropped by Penguins defenseman Deryk Engelland with one punch in a fight in October. "I had never seen Colton Orr get one-punched before this year. Carkner did it to him once or twice. Engelland did it. Someone else did it ... Is it a recurring thing? Do you get to the point where you can take less and less? That's scary to me."

The sellout crowd at Consol Energy Center roared when Engelland knocked out Orr. The Penguins used the punch as a regular highlight on the arena scoreboard the rest of the season. It was a big hit -- literally and figuratively -- every night. Clearly, fighting still sells in the NHL.

But what if there's a connection between Boogaard's death and the hits he took to the head from fighting? That might be hard to prove, but let's assume the doctors can do it. Wouldn't the league have to look into banning fighting? From a legal standpoint if not a moral standpoint?

What would happen to the NHL then?

"I think the alternative [of no fighting] would be worse," Rupp said.

Rupp talked of "cowardly" players taking cheap shots at the league's star players. "A lot of guys will think they're tougher and meaner than they really are because they'll know there won't be any repercussions."

Rupp also said he would worry about an increase in other forms of violence on the ice. He mentioned Marty McSorley hitting Donald Brashear over the head with his stick in 2000 and Todd Bertuzzi sucker-punching Steve Moore from behind in 2004.

"We're grown men skating at who knows how many miles per hour," Rupp said. "We're allowed to hit each other into a wall. We have a weapon in our hands. We're shooting a weapon. We have weapons on our feet ... There are moments when you just get enraged. It happens. Unfortunately, you react sometimes. Fighting is probably the best way to let it out. If you can't fight ... "

Rupp said he's grateful to the Boogaard family for making the decision to donate Boogaard's brain to science. "It means a lot that they're doing something to try to make the game safer for the players." He said he will continue to read up on concussions and their long-term impact. He wants to know more.
Of course, Rupp already knows more than he ever imagined after watching Crosby's struggles this season after taking two hits to the head that weren't fight-related.

"I guarantee you Sid will be watching how this plays out," he said of the Boogaard tragedy.

Every NHL player should.

The future of their sport is at stake.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

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Adding Jagr would be error

Monday, May 16, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Jaromir Jagr of Czech Republic celebrates his goal during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Quarterfinal match between the Czech Republic and USA, in Bratislava, on May 11, 2011. (Getty Images)

Whew! What a relief. For a minute there, I was starting to believe the speculation that had Jaromir Jagr possibly coming back to the Penguins. It turns out that isn't likely. Good. Jagr is the last player they should want to add to a team that's only a healthy Sidney Crosby and a healthy Evgeni Malkin from being a Stanley Cup contender.

The Post-Gazette's Shelly Anderson reported Sunday that Jagr probably will stay in the Kontinental Hockey League, where he has played the past three seasons. I don't know if he has matured as a person -- he was the most immature player I've covered in Pittsburgh -- but he seems to be smarter. He has to know he has a good thing going in Europe. He's making a fortune, much more than he could make with the Penguins. He also has to know it's difficult for any athlete to go home again and be successful.

It would be especially difficult for Jagr if he were to come home to Pittsburgh, where he started his hockey career after being the Penguins' first-round draft choice in 1990, No. 5 overall.

Many people seem to have forgotten what a royal pain Jagr was here. He was great in the beginning, a kid with talent that almost was beyond description. He was a key contributor to the Penguins' first two Cup teams in 1991 and '92. He should always be remembered for that -- first and foremost -- more than the five NHL scoring titles and league MVP award that he later won with them.

But as Jagr got older, he became difficult in the Penguins' room. He wasn't a good teammate, unless you value selfishness and moodiness as important team traits. He frustrated all his coaches with his many mood swings and his frequent sulking. I still can hear the late, great Herb Brooks preaching that the name on the front of a player's sweater is so much more important than the name on the back.

Man, he hated coaching Jagr.

The Penguins were so desperate to keep Jagr happy that they hired fellow Czech Ivan Hlinka to be their coach in 2000. Hlinka couldn't speak English, which didn't work out too well for the team. He was fired after just four games of his second season.

But the language wasn't Hlinka's only problem. Jagr sabotaged him with his moodiness. It was during Hlinka's one full season that Jagr made his infamous observation that he was "dying alive," presumably because he wasn't happy with how he was playing. Later that season, after not scoring a goal for the eighth time in nine games, he said, "I feel all this pressure on me, like people are waiting for me to screw up. Well, here it is. It's happening. Get used to it. This is me. I'm not a good player."
Jagr was the Penguins' captain at the time.
Some leader.

It was during this period that Jagr asked Penguins owner Mario Lemieux -- a man he professed to worship -- and general manager Craig Patrick to trade him. He did so many times. Finally, in the summer of 2001, Patrick sent him to the Washington Capitals with Frantisek Kucera for prospects Kris Beech, Ross Lupaschuk, Michael Sivek and future considerations. It was one of the worst trades in franchise history and devastated the team.

That's why Jagr was booed -- rightfully so -- each time he returned to Mellon Arena with the Capitals and then with the New York Rangers.

That's also why the Penguins shouldn't retire his No. 68 jersey.

It doesn't belong in the Consol Energy Center rafters next to Lemieux's magical No. 66.

Jagr is 39 but still has game, as he proved in the world championships last week by scoring a hat trick against the United States. If he somehow were to take a lot less money to join the Penguins again, maybe he would help their power play, although I'm willing to take my chances with it if Crosby and Malkin are healthy. Maybe he would be a better teammate.

Maybe.

It seems more likely that Jagr would have a hard time as a role player behind Crosby and Malkin. How long would it take him to be "dying alive" again? Crosby, as the team captain, doesn't need that. Certainly, Malkin, who has had his moments of sulking here, doesn't need it.

The Penguins don't need Jagr.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.

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Bring back Jagr

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, May 12, 2011

VANCOUVER, BC – FEBRUARY 21: Jaromir Jagr of Czech Republic is seen during the ice hockey men’s preliminary game between against Russia on day 10 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Canada Hockey Place on February 21, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Penguins should do more than invite Jaromir Jagr to their alumni golf tournament this summer.

They should offer him a one-year contract.

Go ahead, laugh at the prospect of procuring a 39-year-old winger who couldn`t even score 20 goals in Russia this season. Bombard me with snide comments …

Is he going to borrow Kovalev`s walker?

Didn`t he quit on this franchise once already?

How long before he loses interest, dying alive on the second power play with Matt Niskanen?

Which of his 11 personalities would he bring?

Question back atcha: Have you perused the Penguins depth chart lately? Not exactly rife with top two-line wingers. James Neal is the closest thing to a prototypical fit, and his first stint in a Penguins sweater made Nils Ekman`s look productive (Ekman had six goals in 34 games; Neal two in 27).

Call him James Nils.

Chris Kunitz is fine on the left side, even if he has only 10 goals in 78 career playoff games. Tyler Kennedy`s the top option at right wing and maybe not a bad one, followed by Nick Johnson, I guess. Arron Asham was the Penguins` leading playoff goal scorer among wingers.

Still laughing?

Wait, now you`re crying.

The Penguins` game of winger roulette isn`t likely to end anytime soon. General manager Ray Shero plays it all the time, because he has allocated his big money to center, goaltending and defense. You can`t have everything in a salary-cap world, so Shero spins the wheel each year.

You`re telling me Jagr would be a stretch when Shero already has taken fliers on Bill Guerin, Alex Kovalev, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Petr Sykora, Ekman, Gary Roberts, Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan? They`ve signed everybody but Gordie Howe. Some of those guys worked out. Others flamed out. None carried huge risk. Jagr wouldn`t, either.

Besides, the Penguins don't exactly have millions to throw around. Who's a better option?

The Penguins grew so desperate last summer that they devised a grand plan to take one of the best centers in the world — Evgeni Malkin, a natural playmaker who led the NHL in assists two years earlier — and make him a winger on a line centered by Jordan Staal.

The plan never materialized because of Staal`s injury. Here`s hoping it never does. I`d rather see Malkin play center with Jagr on his right. Offer Jagr something like $1.5 million (less than what Fedotenko got last season) and see what he has left.

Last time we saw Jagr in the NHL — in the playoffs three years ago — he was easily the Rangers` top threat. He was a point-per-game player in the Kontinental Hockey League this season (19 goals, 51 points in 49 games), looked good at the Olympics last year and is having a terrific world championships in Slovakia. Through seven games, he has five goals and eight points, including a hat trick against the U.S. on Wednesday, as Shero looked on.

"He's still got it," U.S. captain Mark Stuart said.

Jagr would love the way the Penguins play these days. He`s still a monster protecting the puck on the walls down low. His game never was built on speed. He`s still in great shape, too. He's a much better option than Kovalev. Not even comparable.

Unlike Kovalev, Jagr has avoided major injury, though age is an obvious concern. Jagr turns 40 next season. It takes a special kind of player to stay productive at the age, but it`s hardly unheard of. Teemu Selanne, 40, had 31 goals for Anaheim this season. Nicklas Lidstrom, 41, remains an elite defenseman. Mark Recchi, 43, and Dwayne Roloson, 41, are facing each other in the Eastern Conference final.

Ron Francis turned 39 the year he helped Carolina reach the Cup Final.

Guerin, at 38, helped the Penguins win one.

Here`s something else: I believe Jagr, deep down, would love to achieve closure with the Penguins. Yes, he was chronically immature and pouty for much of his final few years here. He asked out. That`s ancient history. I`m betting he`d crave one more shot to make things right, particularly with Mario Lemieux.

Ask people who were around Jagr during his Rangers tenure, and they`ll tell you he`d finally grown up. He then made some nice money in Russia, reportedly around $5 million per year. Now it`s time to salvage his legacy.

Can`t hurt to ask.


Read more: Starkey: Bring back Jagr - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/columnists/starkey/s_736641.html#ixzz1M6uDKdvo

Jagr’s Return to Form Fuels Speculation of N.H.L. Return

By BRIAN PINELLI
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
May 13, 2011

Jaromir Jagr scored three goals in the Czech Republic's 4-0 victory against the United States on Wednesday.(Peter Hudec/European Pressphoto Agency)

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Showcasing the skills, strength and quick hands that made him a five-time N.H.L. scoring champion and a two-time Stanley Cup winner, Jaromir Jagr, 39, has seemingly turned back the clock at the hockey world championships.

Jagr, who scored three goals Wednesday to lead the Czech Republic to a 4-0 victory against the United States in the quarterfinals, had been his team’s catalyst throughout the tournament. The Czechs, the defending champion, lost their semifinal against Sweden, 5-2, on Friday.

Jagr, a powerful 6-foot-3 wing who is ranked No. 9 in the N.H.L. in career points and No. 12 in goals, is looking a lot like the star he was 15 years ago with the Pittsburgh Penguins and later with the Rangers. And if his play at the world championships is an indication of his skills, it seems plausible that he could yet return to the league where he gained stardom.

“Unless I stop liking the game, I want to play,” Jagr said. “I love the game. I want to play better and better every day. I think I enjoy the practices and games more than I ever did.”

Ray Shero, the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins and a member of the United States team’s advisory group, watched Jagr on Wednesday and came away impressed.

“It’s almost impossible to fathom,” he said, referring to Jagr’s hat trick, in which he demonstrated a different skill with each goal. “Playing here must be special for him. The Czechs have a good team. He’s one of their leaders and the reason they’re undefeated.”

Jagr, wearing his familiar No. 68, is tied for sixth in scoring at the worlds, with five goals and three assists.

“The game has changed; it’s so much about practicing,” said Jagr, who began his N.H.L. career with the Penguins in 1990. “I don’t think age matters much if you’re willing to practice, plus you have more experience. My advantage is that I don’t think my game was about speed. When you’re older, you’re losing the speed, but my game was never about the speed.”

Ilya Kovalchuk, a Russian player who twice scored 50 goals in the N.H.L., said this week that he thought Jagr could play until age 50. The Czech goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, 23, who hails from Kladno, where Jagr grew up, called him a “great teammate, great guy in the locker room.”

Jagr scored 646 goals and totaled 1,599 points in the N.H.L. Playing alongside Mario Lemieux, now a Penguins co-owner, he helped give Pittsburgh the league’s most formidable 1-2 scoring threat and led the franchise to consecutive Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and 1992.

Jagr was traded to the Washington Capitals in 2001 and then joined the Rangers in 2004. His N.H.L. career came to an end after the 2008 season, when he felt he was no longer the centerpiece around which Rangers General Manager Glen Sather would build.

Jagr moved to the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, where he has played with Avangard Omsk the last three winters, averaging 22 goals and 48 points a season.

He is currently without a professional contract, and it remains to be seen whether he will return to Russia, go home to play in the Czech Republic, or perhaps attempt an N.H.L. comeback. Speculation has swirled at the world championships about a possible return to North America.

Asked whether he believed he could still compete in the N.H.L., Jagr responded with a laugh and answered, “I think so,” then added, “When people say you cannot play anymore, it’s extra motivation to prove them wrong.”

Jagr said he had a good offer on the table from Avangard Omsk, yet he still waffles about where to play next.

“It’s too early for me,” he said. “I really don’t know where I want to play next year. Right now, I just want to concentrate on this tournament, and then I have to make a decision.”

But could Jagr, who lost favor with the Penguins and their fans when he asked to be traded in 2001, return to Pittsburgh for a chance to play with the team’s latest superstar, Sidney Crosby?

“Jagr is a guy who is part of the Penguins family and always will be forever,” Shero said. “He was drafted by the Penguins, grew up as a Penguin and won Stanley Cups with the Penguins. The relations that he had with guys like Mario and Craig Patrick is really special. We don’t want him to forget that because we certainly haven’t forgotten him.”

Shero also said that Jagr had been invited to a summer golf outing with Lemieux and his former teammates to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their 1991 Stanley Cup championship.

“The fans in Pittsburgh, they all wanted to help me and they all liked me when I was younger,” Jagr said. “Plus, the biggest thing is I had a chance to watch and play with the best player ever, and that’s probably the best thing that’s happened to me in my life.”

In hockey, where has the respect gone?

Sunday, May 08, 2011
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Philadelphia Flyers' Mike Richards checks Buffalo Sabres' Tim Connolly during the second period of Game 6 of their NHL Eastern Conference quarter-final hockey series in Buffalo, New York April 24, 2011. Richards was given 2 minutes for Boarding on Connolly, who did not return to the game.(Reuters)


It's easy to blame NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the league's owners and its general managers. They have shown virtually no interest in eliminating the cheap headshots that are ruining their players' careers or at least threatening them. Penguins owner Mario Lemieux and general manager Ray Shero have spoken out about trying to make the game safer with tougher punishments for those who commit the cheap hits and their teams, but they've received little support. The view of the majority seems to be: "Our game is just fine the way it is even if players are getting hurt. We'd sure hate to lose Sidney Crosby as the face of our league because of a concussion, but if it happens, it happens. We'll just find another face."

Ridiculous.

It's also easy to blame NHL discipline czar Colin Campbell. His inconsistent and often mind-boggling handling of punishment for the headshots has done nothing to eliminate them. The Penguins' Matt Cooke tries to take out the New York Rangers' Ryan McDonagh with an elbow late in the season and gets a 17-game suspension. The Penguins' Chris Kunitz does practically the same thing to Tampa Bay's Simon Gagne in the playoffs and gets one game. The New York Islanders' Trevor Gillies receives nine games for hitting the Penguins' Eric Tangradi from behind and taunting him after Tangradi is down and out in a game in February. The Philadelphia Flyers' Mike Richards knocks Buffalo's Tim Connolly out of the playoffs with a brutal hit from behind and gets no punishment.

Embarrassing.

That's garage league stuff.

But where's the blame for the players?

Go back to the Richards' hit on Connolly in Game 6 of the Flyers-Sabres series. It prompted the usual vitriol from the Buffalo room. "Unbelievable," goaltender Ryan Miller said. "We lose a player for the rest of the game [and also Game 7]. That's the kind of hit the league has been talking about that's dangerous."

But it also prompted this from Sabres coach Lindy Ruff: "It's a lack of respect for another player on the ice."

That one really hit home with me.

Where has that respect among the players gone?

I understand the violent nature of hockey. There are going to be unavoidable hits because of the speed of the game. Players always are going to be injured no matter how safe they try to make the sport.

I also know that players always are looking for an edge, especially in the playoffs. Most things are fair game. If they know a guy has a shoulder injury or a knee problem, they are not above targeting it. I think about Game 2 of the Detroit-Phoenix series when the Coyotes' Shane Doan left the Red Wings' Johan Franzen with a bloody face after a clean hit into the boards. Franzen left to get 21 stitches and a plug for his nose before returning only to get -- you guessed it -- a face wash from Doan.

I spoke to a number of Penguins who watched that game and everyone applauded Doan. Darn right Franzen's face was a fair target.

But the deliberate hits to the head have no place in hockey. It's hard to imagine what made Cooke go after McDonagh with his elbow or Kunitz after Gagne. How can you explain what Gillies and Richards were thinking when they took out Tangradi and Connolly?

Did they really believe they could get away with it?

Oh, that's right.

Richards did get away with it.

The players say they are confused about the way Campbell hands out his discipline. How can they not be confused? The punishment for Cooke -- the final 10 games of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs -- seemed harsh but fair at the time. It generated much hope -- at least at Penguins headquarters -- that the NHL would take similar tough stands against other cheap-shot perpetrators. But that's hardly happened.

Cooke's punishment now seems like little more than Campbell and Bettman getting back at Lemieux and Shero for having the nerve to speak out and trying to make the league better.

"They want tougher penalties? We'll give 'em tougher penalties."

But the players lose me when they say they don't know what's a clean hit and what's not anymore. Trust me, they know. You can't tell me that Cooke, Gillies, Kunitz and Richards didn't know what they were doing was wrong. They just didn't care if they hurt someone.

"It's a lack of respect for another player on the ice ... "

There still are two rounds of playoffs to go.

I won't even begin to predict the Stanley Cup winner.

But I can predict this with some certainty: There will be plenty of cheap shots, more players will be hurt and Campbell will confound everybody with the punishment he hands down.

Garage league?

Did somebody say garage league?

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11128/1144751-87-0.stm#ixzz1Lqw6fuh6

Penguins' crowded booth

By Mark Madden
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Penguins broadcasters Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey

You wouldn't want to be the guy who follows a legend.

You'd want to be the guy who follows the guy who follows a legend.

Paul Steigerwald is the former. He took over as the Penguins' TV play-by-play broadcaster in 2006-07, succeeding the incomparable Mike Lange.

Will Doc Emrick, the voice of network hockey, be the latter?

Rumors are flying that Steigerwald will be replaced. His contract is expiring. So is Emrick's pact with the New Jersey Devils. Emrick has a modicum of Pittsburgh roots, having taught speech and broadcasting from 1969-71 at Geneva College in Beaver Falls. He's a die-hard Pirates fan. Penguins management feels the club has become an international brand worthy of a big-name announcer.

Steigerwald would be offered another job within the Penguins organization, a franchise he's served non-stop since 1980. Steve Mears would fill in when Emrick misses Penguins games to do network duty. Lange, now on radio, would be kept in his current capacity. Same with color commentators Bob Errey and Phil Bourque.

That's the rumor. Will it become reality?

Not sure. Emrick has been with the Devils non-stop since 1993. Why would he want to leave?

If the Penguins want a big name, put Lange back on TV. Fox Sports Pittsburgh (now Root Sports) canned Lange because he cost too much. Emrick would cost more. I wouldn't want to be there when Lange gets told Emrick has been hired as the Penguins' TV voice, and for better than Lange had been earning.

Ditching Steigerwald adds nothing tangible. The Penguins have 210 consecutive sellouts. TV ratings are huge. Advertising dough is plentiful. Aesthetics shouldn't matter, not even a little bit. Why tinker with a successful formula?

Penguins management reportedly feels Steigerwald is lazy and often lacks preparation. Too worried about appearance, not enough about content. Management also feels Steigerwald is unworried about these concerns.

Steigerwald also made a tasteless joke about the death of Hobey Baker, the namesake of college hockey's Heisman, during a Dec. 22, 2009 broadcast. The remark was innocuous, but gave Steigerwald's critics ammunition. The New York Islanders got upset when Steigerwald excoriated their team during the chaotic Penguins-Islanders all-night brawl this past Feb. 11, but Steigerwald was right.

I wouldn't dump Steigerwald. But I would never have taken Lange off TV, either. Poverty is no excuse. If you can't afford quality, get out of the business. That criticism applies to Root Sports just like it does Pirates ownership.

Announcers don't matter to me. I never watch (or turn off) a sporting event because of one. Most stink. Howard Cosell was the last one to drive ratings and draw money, because he was the last one allowed to be unique.

I enjoy Lange a great deal, sure. And sometimes Steigerwald does make me nuts. Like when he effusively praises winger Chris Conner, perhaps because they're both undersized overachievers. Conner doesn't belong in the NHL.

But me disagreeing with Steigerwald on certain hockey matters doesn't make the broadcast bad. In fact, it makes it more interesting.

Steigerwald's a homer. So are the rest of the Penguins broadcasters. That's what they're told to be by the franchise, and by their respective outlets. It's just not as obvious with Lange because he's better. He can walk that tightrope.

This is far from a done deal. Emrick is 64. He might not want to relocate, or he might choose to not work for any team and just do his network chores.

Hiring Emrick would do right by the Penguins franchise's vanity. Putting Lange back on TV would do right by the majority of Penguins fans. And leaving the broadcasting situation like it is would be right, period.

Game 7 home ice meaningless

Thursday, April 28, 2011
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 27: Arron Asham #45, Chris Kunitz #14 and Jordan Staal #11 react after losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 27, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Lightning defeated the Penguins 1-0. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

Maybe we can remember this before we spend six to eight weeks next winter trumpeting the importance of home-ice advantage.

Maybe we can dispense with the thundering this-is-our-house entreaties that explode from the Consol Energy Center's state-of-the-art amplifiers, the aural bravado that simply isn't worth the decibels it absorbs, much less describe any relationship to reality.

Now, with the only semi-startling events of a forgettable Wednesday night, the Penguins are 2-6 in Game 7s on home ice, having lost, 1-0, to the indestructible Tampa Bay Lightning, just as they closed Civic Arena last spring to the Game 7 delight of the Montreal Canadiens.

Oh yeah, home ice around here is huge.

Three of Tampa Bay's four wins in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals came in Pittsburgh, the only place in North America where the home team lost Game 7 on home ice.

There was no more appropriate way for this Penguins season to end than in the middle of another frantically inept power play, which is exactly what was in full regress at the sound of the final horn of the final game of the inaugural season across the street from the Civic tomb.

Destiny might have a new home, but it has got a chicken-scat power play.

Tampa Bay scored the only goal it needed to win Game 7 on a virtual replay of the exquisite play it worked against Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period of Game 6. Dominic Moore took the puck behind the net just far enough to force Fleury to turn his head, and just as he did, Moore slid the biscuit in the opposite direction with the backhand to a waiting Sean Bergenheim at the goal line.

Bergenheim flicked it home again -- again from about 15 feet away -- and again he gave the Lightning a one-goal lead, this time in the final game of a series that seemed more combustible with every twist of the wrist.

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 27: Dwayne Roloson #35 of the Tampa Bay Lightning makes a save on Tyler Kennedy #48 of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 27, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Lightning defeated the Penguins 1-0. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

But for their last comical power play, the one that left them 1 for 35 in the series, and 0 for 25 at home, Dan Bylsma kept Alex Kovalev off the ice, even when he pulled Marc-Andre Fleury for an extra skater. The head coach had clearly run out of patience with Kovalev, whose second Pittsburgh engagement will go into history as pretty much a bust. And it's pretty much history as we speak.

But even 6 on 4, the Penguins could do nothing with Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

Perhaps the most underrated of all the potential determinants of this series when it began April 13, Roloson continued two incredible postseason statistical trends that doomed a Penguins team without the snipers to do anything about it.

Roloson has been in four postseasons with four teams, and the older he has gotten -- the man is 41 -- the better his goals against averages have been. It was 4.32 with Buffalo in 1999, 2.60 with Minnesota in 2003, 2.33 with Edmonton in '06, and 2.05 when Game 7 started, which, you might have noticed, ended 2.05 goals below his average. On top of that, Roloson was 5-0 in elimination games.

His performance is all the more remarkable when you consider the volume of rubber the Penguins threw at him, 36 shots last night and 257 for the series, 11 more shots per game than the Lightning put on Fleury.

Finally, maybe we can somehow become comfortable with the inescapable truth of the highly complicated Penguins-Lightning dynamic, which is this:

The most significant event between these teams came not in any frozen moment of the past two weeks, but on the night of Jan. 5, when Sidney Crosby drifted in a diminished fog from the Uptown ice surface under the compound effects of punishing hits he absorbed in two consecutive games and left the balance of this hockey season to his teammates.

They did all they could, chasing the best record in the Eastern Conference to the season's final week, ignoring anyone who said they were kidding themselves for entertaining any notion of a postseason that would penetrate May.

But, in the end, they were unable to overcome Crosby's absence, compounded by the knee injury to Evgeni Malkin, which left them looking strikingly ordinary to downright inept in the offensive zone. Bylsma's forwards look absolutely first-rate as complementary players -- role players if you must -- but they strike little fear in the opposition without top-shelf centers to set them up. Kris Letang, who appeared capable of picking up some of that slack, failed to get a goal over the final 31 games, including the seven against Tampa Bay.

If nothing else, Game 7 gave us the long-awaited news on Crosby. I'm pretty sure he's not coming back this year.


Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11118/1142601-61-0.stm#ixzz1KoioMmxY

Where was Kovy?

By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, April 28, 2011

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 27: Alexei Kovalev shakes hands with Tampa Bay Lightning coach Guy Boucher after Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Consol Energy Center on April 27, 2011 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Lightning defeated the Penguins 1-0.(Getty Images)

It's not often you see a player go from top power play to healthy scratch in the same game.

It happened to one Alexei Kovalev on Wednesday night in the biggest game of the season — Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning — and it has to leave you questioning coach Dan Bylsma in the wake of a bitter 1-0 loss.

Particularly galling was the sight of the Penguins flailing away with a 6-on-4 advantage in the final minute (goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had been pulled) as Kovalev watched from the bench.

Aren`t those precisely the kinds of situations he was brought here for?
"It`s pretty hard to say I wasn`t happy (about Kovalev`s absence)," said Tampa Bay goalie Dwayne Roloson, who made 36 saves. "He`s a world-class player, so skilled and so good."

Actually, Kovalev is a shell of his former self. He was terrible in this series. Not just a passenger but a disruptive one, harming his own team with careless plays. One easily could have made a case to scratch him for Game 7, in favor of Eric Tangradi, who could have stood in front of the net on the power play.

But if you`re going to play Kovalev, use him in a 6-on-4 with the season on the line, for goodness sake, especially on a night when he came out flying and was the Penguins` best player on an unusually effective power play in the first period.

Asked about Kovalev`s absence for the 6-on-4, Bylsma said he wanted "guys on the ice who were battling, giving us the best chance to cash in on an opportunity."

Best chance to cash in? Why, then, was Mark Letestu on the ice? How about James Neal, who finished his first Penguins go-round with two goals in 27 games — one on a deflection by the other team and one on a shot from the half boards that somehow eluded Roloson in Game 4?

It`s not Kovalev`s fault, by the way, that none of his teammates know what to do with his passes.

I can understand limiting Kovalev at even-strength in the third period (he played 2:11 in the frame). He was turning over pucks as if they were pancakes. He was credited with four giveaways overall. But let`s be serious: If the Penguins were afraid of Kovalev`s risky play, they shouldn`t have acquired him in the first place. His middle name is risk.

Kovalev, by the way, was unavailable for comment in what surely was his final game in a Penguins sweater.

Meanwhile, the real story of this game was a familiar one: The Penguins` failure to find the net.

The game also had New York Islanders` overtones, as seemingly every soul-crushing Penguins loss does. Roloson is a former Islander; and the lone goal-scorer last night, Sean Bergenheim, was an Islanders draftee.

This was the second time in franchise history the Penguins blew a 3-1 series lead. The first was 1975, when they went to Game 7 against the Islanders — having been up three games to none — and did everything within their power to win. Except score, in a 1-0 loss.

I don`t have the numbers, but I`m guessing the ‘75 team couldn`t have been as bad as this year`s club on the power play. The Penguins were 1 for 35 with 42 shots in the series. Still, Bylsma made no changes to his first unit — sending out Kris Letang, Zbynek Michalek, Neal, Kovalev and Jordan Staal in the first period.

Kovalev had his best period of the series in the first and seemed to shoot more in a two-minute span than he had in the previous month. Roloson held strong on that power play, and the second one did not go so well, drawing boos from the sellout crowd.

It would have been interesting to see what the Penguins could have done with a five-minute man advantage — OK, probably nothing — which is precisely what they should have had after Tampa defenseman Mattias Ohlund smashed Talbot from behind, sending Talbot head-first into the boards. Talbot crumpled to the ice and did not rise for several seconds as play went on.

The no-call by either referee — Dan O`Halloran or Brad Watson, who was closer to the play — had to be particularly galling to the Penguins, as it was O`Halloran who called the dubious boarding penalty on Sidney Crosby 10 seconds into last year`s Game 7 against Montreal.

The Penguins were the only team in the NHL that failed to a win a game when trailing after two periods, a stat that surely would not have held if their two superstars, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, had not missed so many months. The final three games of the series marked the only time all season the Penguins lost three straight games in regulation.

There`s no telling if Kovalev would have made the difference on that final 6-on-4, but having him on the bench was inexcusable.

Highlights (Game 7): Lightning 1, Penguins 0

Fleury is Penguins' saving grace

By Kevin Gorman, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Wednesday, April 27, 2011

TAMPA, FL - APRIL 25: Goaltender Mark-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins defends the net with the help of teammate Zbynek Michalek #4 against Steve Downie #9 of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the St. Pete Times Forum on April 25, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)



The chants should start the second he takes the ice — if not before — and reverberate throughout Consol Energy Center for every shot, every save, even if the Tampa Bay Lightning score a goal.

Fleury! Fleury! Fleury!

Face it, Penguins fans: Marc-Andre Fleury is your best hope.

This Eastern Conference quarterfinal series has come down to Game 7, and the Penguins will rely on their best player this season to be the best player on the ice tonight. Fleury has to hold up his end, has to make sure he allows the Penguins to score more goals than the Lightning.

You should have every reason to believe that he is going to do it.

Fleury has not lost a game he had to win in a season where the Penguins have spent long stretches without either Jordan Staal or both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and even Matt Cooke. Fleury is the most valuable player for the Penguins, maybe the NHL.

Now, he has an opportunity to prove it.

"It's a game that you need your best players to play their best," Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. "Everybody needs to be at their best. I think he's been our best player all year, especially in the playoffs so far. He's been playing really well. We expect him to have his best game of the series."

Game 7s are often defined by a goalie making a spectacular save. Fleury shined in such situations in the 2009 playoffs, whether it was the glove grab of the rocket launched by Alex Ovechkin at Washington in an Eastern Conference semifinal or the Secret Service save of Nicklas Lidstrom's last-second shot at Detroit that clinched the Stanley Cup championship.

Fleury has a chance to erase the nightmarish ending to last postseason, when he was pulled against his hometown Montreal Canadiens amid a 4-0 deficit in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series in the final game at Civic Arena. That defeat haunted him into the early part of this season.

But Fleury bounced back, as he usually does.

He might not be a Vezina Trophy finalist, but Fleury kept the Penguins in games long enough to win in overtime or by shootout. He has shined at times this series, absolutely stealing Game 1 by making 32 saves in a 3-0 shutout and was almost as brilliant in stopping 29 of 31 shots in Game 4.

The series numbers might favor Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson, who has a .941 save percentage to Fleury's .890 and a 2.05 goals-allowed average to Fleury's 2.79. But let's be honest here. Fleury is facing a firing squad in Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos. The Penguins are shooting mostly blanks, as evidenced by going 1 for 30 on the power play.

They have won the three games when he allowed two goals or less, lost the three games when he gave up four goals. That statistic alone is why Fleury must be at his best, why he needs the sellout, whiteout crowd to be boisterous in backing him whether the Penguins are leading or trailing.

As Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said after Game 6, "goalies have to be outstanding in the playoffs for your team to win, and in key moments, even more."

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma sidestepped talking Tuesday about the importance of Fleury's play in Game 7, placing the emphasis on the entire team instead of one individual. Bylsma can tinker with the lineup all he wants, subbing Mike Comrie or Eric Tangradi or Deryk Engelland to provide a spark, but such moves would be more out of desperation than decisiveness. Unless Crosby or Malkin made a miraculous recovery overnight, this is the best the Penguins have to offer at the moment.

So it comes down to Fleury.

The Penguins believe he's ready.

"We know he's going to play great," center Mark Letestu said. "He's obviously a big leader on this team. He's going to be somebody we're going to lean on — hopefully not too heavily — but I'm sure there's going to be some big stops in there for us. His experience probably brings him a lot of confidence in this situation, and it breeds throughout the room. It gives us confidence to go out there and get him a few goals to work with."

If the Penguins don't, their fans better be behind Fleury.

He needs you, but not nearly as much as you need him.

Letang slumping instead of rising to playoff occasion

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

 

 

TAMPA, FL - APRIL 20: Kris Letang(notes) #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins crosses sticks with Sean Bergenheim(notes) #10 of the Tampa Bay Lightning and teammate Vincent Lacavalier #4 in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the St. Pete Times Forum on April 20, 2011 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images)

The Penguins didn't do a new contract with Sergei Gonchar after last season because it wasn't fiscally prudent to guarantee him a third year at his age, 37 at the time. They also had Kris Letang to run their power play.

The Penguins traded promising offensive defenseman Alex Goligoski to Dallas for power forward James Neal in February to help them not just this season, but for many seasons to come. They still had Kris Letang to quarterback their power play.

That's a lot of faith in Kris Letang. He hasn't lived up to it.

That isn't to say the Gonchar decision and the Goligoski trade weren't good moves by Penguins general manager Ray Shero. They were. That doesn't mean Letang, who turned 24 Sunday, won't be a terrific defenseman for the next decade. He has a real chance to be just that. It doesn't even mean Letang won't be the hero tonight when the Penguins play the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series at Consol Energy Center. He's due.

It just means Letang hasn't been what the Penguins expected he would be since two things happened at virtually the same time: People started talking about him as a Norris Trophy candidate and teammate Sidney Crosby went out of the lineup with concussion-related symptoms.

Letang hasn't been the same consistent player.

The Penguins' power(less) play is 1 for 30 against the Lightning. Letang hasn't scored a goal of any kind in the series, although he did hit a post in the 4-2 loss in Game 6 Monday night. He hasn't scored a goal in 31 games dating to Feb. 11.

No one has missed Crosby more than Letang. Clearly, the two make magic together. Letang was on his way to that Norris Trophy with six goals and 30 assists in the first 41 games with Crosby on the ice. He had just two goals and 12 assists in the 41 that followed after Crosby went down after the Jan. 5 game.

"Everybody misses him, not just me," Letang said Tuesday. "Our team. Our coaches. Our organization. He's the best player in the world. What do you expect? Everybody needs him."

No argument here.

But the Penguins miss Letang's production. He was a force in the playoffs last year with five goals in 13 games. He made Shero look smart for giving him a four-year, $14 million extension a few weeks earlier. But that was with Crosby and, for that matter, Evgeni Malkin, who has been out since Feb. 4 with a knee injury.

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma acknowledged Letang's game has been impacted by their absence. "He feels more offense falls to him and doing some things maybe more himself."

Not so, according to Letang.

"Not at all," he said when asked if he is pressing. "I keep doing my thing and playing my way."

That might be the problem. Letang's way isn't good enough now. One for 30, remember?

That's not nearly good enough for a team that's offensively challenged 5-on-5 without Crosby and Malkin.

By Tuesday, the power play had become a tiresome topic in the Penguins' room. The problems started long before the playoffs. It was 6 for 76 in the final 23 regular-season games.

At least rookie center Mark Letestu took the issue head on.

"For us, it's the mentality of, 'It's the next one,' " he said. "If you look back at the numbers, it can be discouraging. It's a single-digit percentage. But we're looking to the next one. If we score one [in Game 7], the power play will look great."

It would be nice if Letang gets it. That might get him going. It might get the offense going. Not that Letang can do it by himself.

"It's a unit of five," he said. "It's a question of everybody getting shots. You don't put pressure on [Alex] Kovalev. You don't put pressure on anyone."

It's interesting that Letang mentioned Kovalev. He has done nothing in the series after scoring the first goal in Game 1. He doesn't even look as if he's interested in shooting on the power play. It might not be wrong for Bylsma to sit him tonight for rookie Eric Tangradi.

Neal hasn't been much better. He hasn't had a power-play goal since joining the Penguins, although he did get a significant even-strength goal to beat the Lightning in double overtime in Game 4. Jordan Staal has had just one power-play goal since Feb. 11. Maybe his first goal in the series against the Lightning in Game 6 will lead to something bigger tonight.

"It's not so much of Kris Letang having to do more [in Game 7] or one person on the power play needing to come up with a big game," Bylsma said. "It's going to be our team and how we play. It's putting ourselves in position to win the hockey game because of the way we play.

"As a team, for Game 7, if we can do that, someone will put on the cape. It could be Kris Letang ... But it's more important how we play vs. one guy going out and thinking he has to put the cape on to help us win the game."

That's Bylsma's way of saying he hopes Letang doesn't press. I'm guessing he'd love to see him score a goal, though. Wouldn't we all?

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. More articles

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11117/1142160-87-0.stm#ixzz1KjWX8oNI

Playing a Game 7 is a chilling prospect

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Lightning players celebrate a second period goal by forward Sean Bergenheim during Monday's game at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.

TAMPA, Fla. -- No one ever admits as much, but part of what you earn when you jump ahead, 3-1, in any best-of-seven series is a temporary license to screw around with that lead, and now no one will accuse the Penguins of failure to exercise all said rights and privileges therein.

Coming off a pasting on home ice Saturday that chopped their lead in half, the Penguins followed up at St. Pete Times Forum Monday night by failing to so much as put a shot on the net for more than half the first period, setting the tone for another feckless giveaway, this one gladly accepted by the Lightning as a 4-2 victory that puts the season on the line Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center.

The Penguins have had a 3-1 lead nine times in their postseason history, and eight of those times they hammered things down without facing the chilling prospect of a Game 7. The one time they were compelled to do so, the New York Islanders beat them; that was 1975.

That's real historical Chiller Theatre stuff right there.

Moreover, no one need be reminded that losing Game 7 on home ice is something of a Penguins vice if not a full-blown habit, and there's a certain hockey symmetry about the prospect of that very thing.

A year ago, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin flying around the offensive zone and Sergei Gonchar quarterbacking something called the power play, the Penguins still coughed away Game 7 to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round to close Mellon Arena. Doing the same thing a year later to the Lightning in the first round might just be the natural order of having none of those stars this time around.

"There is some experience on our team with that kind of drama and emotion," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said after his team's first road loss of the postseason. "A do-or-die situation for both teams is a different kind of emotion and something we're familiar with."

The emotion of a Game 6 Monday night didn't seem to electrify anybody in uniform. Tentative probably isn't the precise adjective to describe the early chapters, so let's just say that both teams could have benefitted from a shot clock.

The Lightning, having spent most of the morning interviews explaining how it was an inexperienced but evolving playoff team after five games of this Eastern Conference quarterfinal, instead looked as jumpy as a Lindsay Lohan public relations staffer.

"We know how to act and what to do now," is what Lightning coach Guy Boucher was selling Monday morning.

Halfway through the first period, no one was buying it.

The Lightning spent the first 9:37 without managing a shot on goal, by which time the Penguins had just put their fifth shot past Tampa Bay goaltender Dwayne Roloson for a 1-0 lead. Pascal Dupuis got his first goal of the postseason and the all-important first goal of the game, or so it was thought. The first goal had signaled victory in the first five games of this series until Monday night. But in those first five games, the team scoring first was also the team scoring second. So shift your focus to the second goal. The team with the second goal has won all six games.

But shockingly enough, the Penguins answered Tampa Bay's offensive indifference with a whopping 10:32 in which they didn't generate a shot on goal, by which time the Lightning had tied the score. Teddy Purcell flipped home a Ryan Malone rebound to arrange that.

For an offense that had been outshooting the Floridians by an average of more than 11 shots per game, it was way out of character, but fortunately for the Lightning, the Penguins' power play continued with its all of its trademark consistency.

Consistently wretched.

The hockey audiences who inhabit St. Pete Times Forum like to boo melodically as the Penguins carry the puck up ice on the power play. They should be cheering.

Tampa Bay has got these Penguins right were they want 'em when there are four Bolts against five Penguins. There's no safer place in this series for Boucher's team than short-handed. Its strategy should be a fairly consistent menu of roughing, high-sticking, hooking, elbowing, tripping and interfering with the goaltender, all of which, come to think of it the Lightning did one or more times. The only things it missed where slashing, boarding, fighting, biting, low-sticking, slapping, too many men on the ice, and parking in a fire lane. But there's still a game left.

The Penguins are 1 for 30 with the man-advantage, but don't worry, at home, they're 0 for 20.

"We'll certainly look at what we can do better," Bylsma said.

Having done exactly that since about January, I suggest he simply call off the search.

By contrast, Tampa Bay used two first-period power plays to build the momentum that would carry it through most of two periods.

"They scored right after the second power play," Bylsma said.

The guy behind the other bench said he doesn't believe in momentum in the playoffs. You may count that among today's few comforting thoughts.

Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11116/1141993-150-0.stm#ixzz1KdJl1pte

Highlights (Game 6): Lightning 4, Penguins 2