Let's Face It - 3/13/2009

Jonathan Farzalo | Pittsburgh Penguins

Mar 13, 02:12 PM | Hype this story!

Let’s Face It...Evgeni Malkin needs to work on his faceoff ability; he’s winning approximately 43% of his draws. True, Staal (48%) and Crosby (51%) aren’t kings at the dot, (aka Mike Zigomanis 63%) but in comparison they are much more reliable.

Let’s Face It...With the game on the line Petr Sykora is the man to stick on the ice, he leads the team with 8 game-winners. The next closest is 3, which 5 players are tied for.

Let’s Face It...FSN Pittsburgh is hilariously sad at times. During the Penguins game versus the Florida Panthers, the first game since Miro Satan was waived, during the commercial break they played the “Hi I’m Miroslav Satan and your watching FSN.” What timing…great job boys! Then during the next Pens/Cats game, the screen goes black, then fuzzy, then they come back with only audio for a few minutes. This of course is after the whole Billy Guerin/Sidney Crosby (Billy and The Kid) thing…see what they did there? This is almost as atrocious as “Gene Gene The Scoring Machine”….I said almost.

Let’s Face It...Gary Roberts will be missed in the NHL. He didn’t spend much time in Pittsburgh but the time he did was spent leading the young guys on and off the ice.

Let’s Face It...Fans of the Washington Capitals apparently did not talk with fans of the Philadelphia Flyers about what happens when you make Sidney Crosby mad, otherwise they would have known the numbers he puts up against teams that take extra jabs at him. On second thought, the Flyers fans continue to give it to him, even worse now, so perhaps they can’t read the numbers either…shhh, nobody tell them.

Let’s Face It...The NHL, NBC, and Versus all missed a great opportunity on Sunday. There is absolutely no reason someone doesn’t pick up the rights to nationally televise the game of Pittsburgh vs Washington, especially after the back-and-forth that ensued the last meeting. People wonder why more people don’t get on board with the sport….it’s because of decisions like this, bad move.

Let’s Face It...The Penguins won 7 straight recently, and are playing amazing hockey. Imagine where they would be in the standings if they had been playing this well, or even CLOSE to it during December and January. Taking a look at games they lost to inferior teams, they would have an additional 16 points, a total of 95 points, for a lead in the Atlantic Division, and 2 points out of top spot in the Eastern Conference. Sure, that’s assuming they were playing this way, but isn’t that what people do with sports….speculate.

Let’s Face It...Sidney Crosby is and will continue to benefit from playing with Bill Guerin. That’s right, you read that correctly. Guerin will open up the ice for Sid, can make and take a pass, can play the boards, and has a veteran presence out on the ice (can slow the game down and have patience with the puck), something the wingers on the top line have not been able to do, aside from that one guy who was with us in the playoffs last year.

Let’s Face It...Mike Yeo is related to Ray Shero or Mario Lemieux. No? Then he has dirty pictures of them. No? Then someone tell me how he is still coaching one of the most overly talented yet unsuccessful powerplays in the league.

Comments

  1. Nathan

    Mar 13, 02:15 PM

    I think the first thing Malkin needs to do is start taking every faceoff seriously, he always seems very non-chalant, except for a few offensive zone faceoffs.

    I like that they’ve been keeping him at about 5-7 draws a night, but we need to be able to rely on him for a defensive-zone faceoff.

  2. Killa

    Mar 13, 02:26 PM

    this site needs to get it right quickly…YEO IS NOT RUNNING THE POWERPLAY. HE HASNT BEEN SINCE MICHELLE (for the people who can understand how to say is name correctly in pittsburgh) WAS FIRED. And how about yuo count up how many opportunities Sykora fumbles, i agree he can be clutch, but maybe he wouldnt have to be if he could hit the puck for the other 58 minutes of a game.

  3. Chuck

    Mar 13, 02:36 PM

    Killa,

    According to most reports from the team Yeo is still running the PP. Fitz is running the PK.

  4. Matt Bodenschatz

    Mar 13, 02:42 PM

    @Chuck, I’ve heard both sides of it. I’m not really sure who is running the power play right now. Regardless, it isn’t working.

    @Killa, funny you should mention Therrien’s first name and how to pronounce it. He, himself, actually to the Pittsburgh media at one point to call him Michael, not Michel.

  5. Jonathan Farzalo

    Mar 13, 02:55 PM

    According to all sources I can exhaust the PP is being run by Yeo.

    As for Sykora, his “fumbles” as you call them have occured more and more as of late, I will grant you that, perhaps why he finally decided to rest his injury…just a guess. Either way, he fumbles, Malkin gives it away, Crosby tries fancy plays that don’t work out….regardless of their problems, they are all clutch…I was simply pointing out the Sykora is leading the team in game winners…by 5.

  6. Jonathan Farzalo

    Mar 13, 03:15 PM

    @ Nathan….very true, he does act as though it’s ‘no big deal’ a lot of the time.

  7. FSN IS SAD

    Mar 13, 03:41 PM

    i remember one fine afternoon during a pens caps game i tune in after pregame to find FSN has changed to SUN SPORTS and i get to view some women's basketball game. Tenn. vs who cares i cant remember.

    womens sports suck

    [edited for content]

  8. Ben Schmidt

    Mar 13, 03:48 PM

    Killa: Yeo is still in charge of the power play. Here’s the quote directly from Bylsma from when he was named Interim Head Coach:
    “[Mike Yeo will] continue to do that power play. He will be moved to the defenseman, as you saw (Monday).”
    http://penguins.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=409682

    Yeo is no longer in charge of the forwards, but he is in charge of the power play.

  9. OH SNAP!!!!

    Mar 13, 03:54 PM

    Killa got served!

    [edited for content]

  10. Matt Bodenschatz

    Mar 13, 04:19 PM

    Please keep the posts clean.

  11. Jonathan Farzalo

    Mar 13, 05:25 PM

    Would never imagined such conversation about WHO was in charge of the PP, instead of simply how SAD it has been. The fact that they can NOT convert has lost them games (even before they got hot recently) and will continue to cost them points down the stretch…

    ...the other side of the coin is that if they HAD been very productive on the PP all year perhaps they gather an additional 10 points through the year and are in the playoff picture throughout the season and Shero doesn’t make the coaching change and we are lulled to death with the system FHCMT was putting out there…just saying.

  12. TheOneAndOnlySurge

    Mar 13, 10:24 PM

    Regardless of who the coaches are, the PP needs to produce on good teams. If the PP is not producing then serious thought needs to be put into the need to replace those coaches. Regardless of the finish this season (aside from winning the cup), if the PP doesn’t get much better I could easily see all new coaches in Pittsburg next year. Ofcourse with the exception of Meloche who is pretty much doing everything he can on his end.

  13. Zack Dawson

    Mar 14, 11:09 AM

    @ Surge, I imagine the coaching situation will be looked at heavily during the offseason even with a championship. But you’re right, it’s incredible that the coaches don’t have a clue how to make a powerplay with two of the best players in the world and perhaps the best PP quarterback in the game work.

    But it has to be fixed very soon. Without a power play that can convert chances, this team will not get very far. If the power play can’t find a way to score with any consistency, the Pens will be watching the Finals this year at home.

  14. Jonathan Farzalo

    Mar 15, 06:32 PM

    Look at that, Sykora with ANOTHER Game Winner, this one against Boston, as I said, Let’s Face it!

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