Going into this season, the Penguins were the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. This was the case because of such a high-flying offense that has the two best players in the world headlining the group. You know that you are going to get production out of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin which is almost as certain as knowing you are going to have to do your taxes. But in order for the team as a whole to achieve what they want to do; there are going to have to be more than just those two contributing.
James Neal proved last year that he can certainly put the puck in the next by scoring 40 goals. It doesn’t hurt that he played alongside Malkin, but either way you have to be able to pick a spot and shoot it there. Neal has one of the best shots in the league with tons of power and plenty of accuracy. So far this season he has four goals in five games which is a solid pace. He is certainly putting in his fair share on the both ends of the ice.
After being held scoreless in the first two games of the season, Crosby scored three goals in the following two games. Like I said before, he is not someone who you have to worry about not putting the puck in the net, or assisting on goals. So far this season, Crosby has two assists.
Malkin is coming off a career year in which he was the league MVP, and he scored 50 goals and added 59 assists. So far this year he hasn’t been filling the net so much, but he has certainly been doing his part in assisting on people doing so. Through five games this season Malkin has just one goal, but has five assists.
But other than these three guys, nobody on the Penguins has stepped up and showed that they can consistently score. Of the Penguins 15 total goals on the season; Crosby, Malkin, and Neal have combined for eight of them. The other goals scorers were Paul Martin, Chris Kunitz who scored and empty netter, Tyler Kennedy, Matt Niskanen, and Kris Letang who also put it in an empty net. That right there shows that the offense isn’t living up to the hype that everyone was giving it.
The lack of secondary scoring could possibly be something that holds them back come playoff time. Somebody whether it be Kennedy in his new second line role, Kunitz playing along-side Crosby, Pascal Dupuis, who had a 20 goal year in 2011-2012, maybe Brandon Sutter; but somebody has to aid the offense in the goal scoring department. Crosby, Malkin, and Neal can’t carry the load and lead the team for all 48 games, but then again they have that star ability so maybe they can, I’d just rather not leave it up to them and get them some help. All that I’m saying is that they need more consistent production from somebody in order to prove that they are the best offense in hockey.
I know that we are only five games into the season and it isn’t time to panic just yet, but if production from the those secondary guys doesn’t pick up, you have to think that General Manager Ray Shero will have to make a move at some point. Shero knows when his team has a weakness in a certain area and he’s not afraid to address it. Just this offseason he tried to give Crosby the perennial winger that he has always lacked by trying to sign Zach Parise to a long-term deal. It’ll be nice to see what’s going with the Penguins come the trading deadline April 3, if Shero doesn’t make a move sooner for all we know.
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