The past few days haven’t been pretty for Penguins’ fans. The Pens dropped the opener 3-0, the first time all season they failed to score a goal. They followed that up with a train-wreck performance Monday night in which the Bruins scored three goals in the first period before Tomas Vokoun was pulled in favor of Marc-Andre Fleury, who quickly allowed a fourth goal in the first period. The final ended up being 6-1, which put the Bruins up 2-0.
There’s no way to sugar coat this, so let’s just call it is. Tonight’s game is a MUST win for the Pens. Never in the Stanley Cup Playoffs has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit, so if the Penguins plan on coming back, it has to start tonight.
What do they need to do to win tonight?
First, OFFENSE. This is the league’s highest scoring team and they have been held to one goal in the past 120 minutes. With so much talent on this club, that is simply unacceptable. Sure, in game one, the bounces weren’t going the Penguins way and Tuukka Rask played the game of his life. But, in game two Rask didn’t play a great game. He didn’t have to. The Penguins only mustered up 27 shots. They need to come out firing like they did to start game one. If they play that way in game three, bounces will start to go their way, and they will finally score more than one goal.
Second, DISCIPLINE. This has been the Achilles’ heel of this club dating back to the playoff series against the Flyers last season. If a team can get under the Pens’ skin, they will stop playing their game and start to panic. So far, the Pens have 20 in the first two games, compared to the Bruins three. The defense needs to be more disciplined too. Kris Letang has been all over the ice, and not in a good way. If the defense wants to give whichever goaltender a chance, they have to play better in front of him.
Third, SIDNEY CROSBY. Crosby has reflected his team’s effort in the first two games. He has simply been awful. He has been dominated in the draw and hasn’t generated much offense. He only had two shots on goal in game two. It is time for Crosby to do what the best player in the league should do. Step up when his team needs him the most. He needs to put the team on his back tonight.
The team has faith that they can win this series and they know it starts with tonight. Forward Jarome Iginla talked with reporters after game two. He told them, “It’s a hole that we’ve dug ourselves, but we believe we can get out of this. We have to focus on things and winning that first game in Boston. That’s a huge one.”
