Faceoff Factor

Perfectly Flawed

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Apr 30, 10:42 AM | Hype this story!

If it wasn’t for the final score that saw the Pittsburgh Penguins take a 3-0 series lead, much talk would be focused on the team’s lack of discipline.

And if it wasn’t for the Penguins’ perfect 7-0 record thus far in the playoffs, people certainly would be discussing the team’s penalty troubles.

Taking nine penalties in a playoff game is bad. Doing so in a close game against a dangerous team such as the New York Rangers is worse. Bunching them together to set up multiple two-man advantages for the opponent is even worse yet.

The Penguins were guilty of all three last night, and if it wasn’t for the stellar play of Marc-Andre Fleury — the game’s second star — and the hard work of penalty killers such as Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill, Jordan Staal and Ryan Malone, this one could have become ugly in a matter of minutes.

“We won because of the penalty killing,” winger Georges Laraque said in this morning’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Isn’t that the truth.

In the second period, the Penguins took three penalties in a span of three minutes, giving the Rangers two separate two-man advantages during that time.

The Penguins prevailed, blanking the Rangers during their five power play opportunities.

Ironically, it was one Ranger skater — Ryan Hollweg — whose penalty changed the entire outlook of the game.

At 15:56 of the second period, the game was tied at three and the Rangers were buzzing like bees around a hive. It was one of those moments where the the Penguins were running around just trying to keep up, and it was obvious a big hit, a power play or a goal-for was needed in order to stop the bleeding.

The Penguins got all three, as Hollweg helped them out with an incredibly selfish hit on Petr Sykora that put him in the box for two minutes for boarding. Sure enough, the Penguins capitalized with a Evgeni Malkin goal.

The sequence of a big hit, a power play and a goal changed the momentum and the outcome.

But that is not to excuse for the penalty trouble the Penguins were in much of the night.

Few, if any, of the penalties were horrible, but during the playoffs, every penalty is a bad penalty.

If the Penguins hope to advance quickly by winning their eighth consecutive game in the playoffs and sweeping their second series, they must reduce the number of times they skate with a man (or two) down.

Maybe more importantly, if the Penguins look to take their act to the Stanley Cup Finals and take home the grand prize, their game must become much more disciplined.

Their penalty killing units may be clicking at an abnormally high rate right now — 92.6 percent, first among all 16 playoff teams — but it would be unrealistic to expect their efficiency to remain so high.

If the penalty parade doesn’t change, the Penguins’ dominance likely will.