Watching the Pittsburgh Penguins against the trapping Boston Bruins has been like DeJavu all over again. This is the same script and result we've seen the Pittsburgh Penguins perform against trap system teams in the Playoffs dating back to the 1990's when Playoff choking and failures were an annual ritual for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The problem with the Pittsburgh Penguins isn't Dan Bylsma, just like the problem with the 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins wasn't Scottie Bowman. This team is constructed with so much individual talent that the team concept gets lost when it needs to be in the fore front. Against teams like the New york Islanders and the Ottawa Senators, the Pittsburgh Penguins pure individual talent can take over and win games. When facing teams like Boston who have recently won a Stanley Cup, have individual talent and play a Trap System, it takes a "TEAM" to win. The Pittsburgh Penguins aren't playing like a team and no coach in the NHL, not Dan Bylsma, not the greatest coach of all time - Scottie Bowman, could preach it.. the players have to do it themselves.
Game 2 against Boston was over before it began. The team that took the ice from the drop of the puck was a team that played like individual performers trying to pad the stat sheet and they found themselves down a goal within the first 2 minutes and the game was over shortly after when they were down 2 goals to Boston. The Pens know how to beat a Trapping Team. They had beaten the Boston Bruins in the previous 6 Regular Season meetings before these playoffs, however something always happens in the Playoffs when the Pittsburgh Penguins play the trap that forces them to play like individual primadonnas.
This isn't anything new.
The problem with this team isn't hunger. there's plenty of hunger. Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla are hungry for a Cup they've not had a chance at in years.. Douglas Murray wants to know what the Stanley Cup Finals look like after spending his career with the perennial playoff choking San Jose Sharks. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have to be hungry. It's not hunger, it's team discipline. Dan Bylsma and Tony Granato can write it up as many times as they want, but the players need to perform it and this is a team right now that isn't just NOT playing Dan Bylsma system, but it's a team that isn't playing like a team. Players are constantly out of position, making dumb individual decisions with the puck, playing poorly away from the puck and are simply trying to play the individual hero. They need to be a team.
In 2008 and 2009 when the Pittsburgh Penguins went to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Pens were young, hungry and a team. Years later, some of those players have accomplished a lot of individual accomplishments and awards. The roster was radically changed by Ray Shero performing his best Redskins and Dodgers trick by acquiring all of the best Trade Deadline talent to stack his teams with individual talent with complete disregard to cohesion, chemistry and "team" play. . The Chicago Blackhawks are up 2-0 against the Los Angeles Kings with a team that has been the same team all season long and are playing like one. It takes a team to beat the Detroit Redwings and that's what the Blackhawks did.
How do the Pens get back into this series?
1. This game has got to be played between the blue lines. You aren't going to beat the Boston Bruins trap or a Claude Julien trap by dumping and chasing. They have 2 guys back and low, ready to to move that puck out before the pens can send a forechecker to deliver a useless hit on a puckless player. Play in the neutral zone and force turnovers and create scoring chances and Offensive Zone possession by doing to the Boston Bruins what they are trying to do to you. This can be accomplished with Bylsma's pinch system.
2. Win Faceoffs. Sidney Crosby has been an embarrassment in the Faceoff circle in this series. It's tough enough to gain Offensive Zone possession against a Trap system, but when you lose 60% of your draws, you're barely possessing the puck from the get go. The Bruins are the team that always start off with the puck and the Pens are the team that is always on the defensive. This is why it's so important for the Pens to play a patient Neutral Zone game. If they can't win draws in Boston's zone or in the neutral zone, they need to force the puck from the Bruins.
3. Start Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun didn't have his finest game but 2 of those goals that Fleury gave up were ridiculously soft, especially the 6th goal of the game. Tomas Vokoun as he has the entire playoffs, gives the Pittsburgh Penguins the best chance to win. After Fleury's "relief appearance", there can't be much confidence from the Forwards and defensemen in him to stand on his head and be the rock that Tuukka Rask has been. A team that doesn't have confidence in their goalie is a team not playing inspiring and confident hockey. That is a team that loses. Look at the Ottawa Senators play in front of Craig Anderson who was terrible. That was a team that was terrified to give up a goal because it created a sieve. That's Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Pens can still win this series but they are going to have to play disciplined hockey to do so, not desperate hockey. Desperate hockey creates built in pressure and a lot of pressing and against Boston, the Pens need to be cool, clam and patient. Each of those things requires self discipline, which this team hasn't showed in this series yet and is the same problem the Pittsburgh Penguins over the years dating back to the 1990's have had against Trap System teams. Boston wants Pittsburgh to press, but if the Pens play patiently in the Neutral Zone, it will not only frustrate the Bruins, but it will take the Bruins off of their game and put the puck on the Pens sticks more than it has been.