Messaged delivered to the Montreal Canadiens – the Pittsburgh Penguins are not the Washington Capitals.  Everything about game 1 last night at the old Igloo was a contrast to how the Canadiens had succeeded to down the “best” team in the NHL.  At least the “best” team based on record anyway.

In their previous series the Canaidens blocked shots, shut down the power play and Jaroslav Halak stoned the Caps to rebound from a deficit of three games to one and win the series.  Last night however the Penguins were methodical in their shot selection, picked the canadiens apart on the power play and chased Halak from the net.  Although it did not start out that way.

PK Subban (1) scored not even five minutes into the game to give Montreal a 1-0 lead and Canadiens fans were over joyed.  But the Penguins took control by picked apart the Habs defense, drawing penalties and converting on the chances they were given on the power play.  Gonchar (1), Staal (2) and Letang (3) each scored with the man advantage in the first and second period to put the Penguins up 3-1.

Michael Cammalleri (6) cut the deficit to one late in the second but Craig Adams (2) extended the score to 4-2 even later in the same period taking a pass from Pascal Dupuis across the front of the net and beating Halak.  Alex Goligoski (2) added yet another power play goal early in the third to make it 5-2 and chase Halak from net in favor of Carey Price.  Price made several saves and the Penguins missed golden opportunities to stretch the lead even further before Brian Gionta (3) scored for Montreal on the power play to make it a 5-3 contest.

Late it was Billy Guerin (3) putting in an empty net goal to end it all at 6-3.

The game was a wake-up call for the Canadiens who basically had their way with a high powered Capitals lineup previously.  But the game should not be taken in and of itself that this series will be a cake walk for the Penguins either.  Montreal did not succeed in shutting down the Pens in game 1 but game 2 will tell whether or not Montreal learns from the experience and adjusts.

Marc-Andre Fleury was able to hold down the fort with several great saves at times against the Canadiens and had any of those found the net this game could have been a lot different.  In fact Montreal out shot the Penguins 31-24 on the night and netted 12 shots in both the second and third periods; way too many.  Pittsburgh will have to hone its defense to prevent that from happening again.  But they may have to do so without Jordan Staal who is as far as I am concerned the premier shut down center in the NHL.  Staal was injured in a collision with Montreal’s PK Subban.  Staal hobbled to the bench and later left the arena on crutches.  As of this morning the injury was still undisclosed as nothing other than a lower body injury.

Notes:

Where was the Penguins power play during the regular season?  Last night was just another dominating perfromance for a unit that couldn’t seem to hit the broad side of the barn during the regular season.  The power play went 4 for 4 in game one against Montreal.

Three of Pittsburgh’s four power play goals were scored by their blue liners.

Jaroslav Halak faced only five shots when the Canadiens were down a man.  He stopped only one.  Marc-Andre Fleury also faced five shots on the penalty kill.  He stopped four.

Jordan Staal logged 8:49 of playing time before being injured with one goal and was a -1.

The Penguins scored six goals.  Each goal was scored by a different player.  Crosby and Malkin had none of them but had two assists and one assist respectively.

Senators goaltenders got beat on last night in Ottawa as the Penguins racked up seven goals, four against Elliott and three more against Leclaire.  Elliott was yanked after the score ran up to 4-0 and the sad part for him is that it could have been much worse had he not played as well as he did in the first period while keeping Ottawa in the game.  But even he could not hold back the Penguins attack as once again His Sidness racked up 4 points (2 G, 2 A, +3).  Cris Kunitz and Sarge added 3 points each and Evgeni Malkin added a goal in what could have been a rout had the Penguins not taken their foot off the gas and allowed four Ottawa goals.

They were almost pitty goals and it reminds me of the scene from the Princess Bride where the Fezzik (played by Andre the Giant) is fighting the Man in Black.  Outmatched and frustrated but not totally defeated the Man in Black/Westley/the Dread Pirate Roberts complains, “Look, are you just fiddling around with me or what?”  To which Fezzik responds, “I just want you to feel you’re doing well.”

Fezzik eventually loses because he fiddles around too much but last night the Penguins had an aswer for everything the Sens threw at them getting goals from E. Malkin (PPG, 11:50 – 1st) , S. Crosby (03:47 – 2nd) , M. Cooke (03:59 – 2nd) , S. Crosby (06:12 – 2nd) , M. Talbot (SHG, 12:38 – 2nd) , C. Kunitz (18:11 – 2nd) and J. Staal (PPG, 12:27 – 3rd)

Pittsburgh however needs to learn how to get a little more of a killer instinct as they got sloppy and allowed the Senators two five on three advantages which resulted in goals.

But in the end the final score still read Pittsburgh 7 and Ottawa just 4 with the Pens holding a 3-1 series lead.  Can’t argue too much with that.

Tomorrow I’ll have comments on the crucifixion and six game suspension of Big Ben as the NFL seems determined to make itself into a laughing stock of stupidity and idiots here in Pittsburgh, who are in a minority but really believe they are a majority with all their hearts, are still saying that the punishment is not enough.

Jordan Staal has shown signs of inconsistent promise on the ice this year. He had a hat trick against the Red Wings and then a short spurt of productivity but really has not been a regular on the scoring sheet. Now he has a new 4 year contract for millions and maybe that was all that was holding Jordan back. Since that contract was announced Jordan Staal has goals in three consecutive games including a short handed marker, something he did with frequency his rookie year but not so much of since.

Let’s hope that Jordan can keep up the production and make me truly believe he is worthy of the $16 million contract he has been rewarded with. Because really the way that he has played I believe only warranted about a $12 million commitment ($3 million per year) at most. I would love to be proven wrong though.

It is funny to listen to some pundits who think they know so much. If I hear one more of these folks talking about how this team lacks “chemistry” and that is why they are not winning games right now I have a question. Where were you complaining about “chemistry” when the team was 5-4-2 in October or 9-2-1 in November with basically the same lineup minus their best face off man in Zigomanis and the spark plug that is Tyler Kennedy?

Lack of “chemistry”? Don’t make me laugh! That is a cop out excuse and everyone making it knows it. “Chemistry” is like that catch all category of everything you cannot explain but try to explain.

No, the problem with the Penguins is clear and has been clear all year – they lack the desire to play a team game for 60 full minutes every night. Last night against Boston was another prime example of this. You had players like Orpik, Dupuis, Jeffrey and Wallace grinding out every shift. You had people like Malkin also playing hard, but playing what amounted to a singular style without a focus on where his teammates are and what they could do for him. You had defensemen watch pucks dangle in front of them, just feet away, but that they would not dare do fight for because they knew there was no one rotating over to cover up for them.

I don’t think the problems could have been any more clear than they were last night or any other night during their December slump. The team doesn’t need a trade, it needs those players on the ice to play hockey and play it with a focus on playing as a team.

What Therrien needs to do, and I have already said this, is to sit some of the players who are not playing hard for 60 minutes. Satan comes to mind. So does Staal. Maybe it is wrong to say that players like Satan and Staal are not playing hard for 60 full minutes. Perhaps it is more correct to say that they are playing hard, but not playing smart enough to make that hard work pay off. They are not thinking five seconds ahead and finding that open ice where someone can feed them the puck. They are not making smart decisions with their passes.

Other players are dumping pucks without a purpose into the offensive zone. They are putting pucks where no one from the Penguins has a chance to get to them. Other players are not even trying to get into the corners and hunt for pucks and going back on their heals.

It’s not that hard. It’s just hockey. And it is something, I remind you all, that these guys are paid good money to do because they are some of the best in the world. It is high time they start acting like it.