Disturbing Trend Needs To Be Reversed
Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins
Apr 21, 12:18 PM | Hype this story!
The Penguins opened this series against the Philadelphia Flyers playing prototypical Dan Bylsma hockey.
They were aggressive yet responsible, physical but in position, smart with the puck yet able to take some risks.
The last two games have been anything but.
Sure, the Penguins pulled out a dramatic OT win in Pittsburgh before getting drubbed on Sunday afternoon in game 3, but even that victory was a far cry from what we’ve seen the Penguins do under Dan Bylsma in the regular season.
The Flyers were three minutes away from making the series even and stealing home ice advantage.
Give them some credit, they’ve stifled the Penguins speed and have slowed the game down considerably. Even though the time on attack statistics have been by and large in the Penguins favor, the Flyers have re-invented their strategy for this series.
However, some of the credit for this series being 2-1 instead of 3-0 lies with the Penguins. They’ve given the Flyers too many chances to get back into the swing of things.
When you look at the stat sheet from game one, there’s two major items that stick out. These numbers proved the Penguins played Bylsma-style hockey. The Flyers were guilty of 6 giveaways to the Penguins 1, and the Flyers generated 0 takeaways to the Penguins 7.
That’s the aggressive nature of the Penguins at its finest. We saw it enacted live last Wednesday. But the trend doesn’t remain positive; it begins spiraling downward with the OT victory in game 2.
In game 2, the Flyers committed 2 giveaways and only generated 1 takeaway. Conversely, the Penguins committed a grotesquely high 10 giveaways, while only taking the puck off of Flyers sticks 3 times.
Sunday, the ailment wasn’t remedied at all. The Penguins committed 10 more giveaways to the Flyers 11, but only generated 6 takeaways while the Flyers generated 9. Malkin, as per usual, was a +2 in the GV/TK statistic, while Kris Letang struggled yet again, giving the puck away 4 times.
The key for the Penguins is simple: protect the puck. We all know the Penguins are at their best when they’re coming with speed and disrupting what the other team is doing.
It wasn’t just the GV/TK statistic that was alarming on Sunday, it was the the entire makeup of the game. The Penguins were out-hit for the first time in the series 29-18. That 18 did not include any hits by team leader Brooks Orpik., who had 19 through the first two games of the series.
All that aside, there was a time Sunday when, despite the rough start, the game was tied. Even though the Penguins seemed out of it, they were in the game. The Penguins have gotten their bad game out of the way, it’s time for them to get back to basics and wreak havoc in both ends of the ice.
Otherwise? Well, the results speak for themselves.
Comments
Pens1967
Apr 21, 12:54 PM
I know Therrien’s gone, but the Pens might do well to take a look at the tape from their dominating win in Philly playing the 1-2-2(?) trap. The Flyers were completely thrown off kilter and had major problems getting into the offensive zone. The Pens generated some pretty good chances off the turnover, too.
Jonathan Farzalo
Apr 21, 01:33 PM
I have often wondered why more teams don’t change up their “system” against certain teams or during a 7 game series, to throw off the other team. I don’t pretend to be a coach, not by a long shot, but I do wonder if that is something you could accomplish or not; having 2 different systems in place, depending on the situation or game or team, play one or the other. You sort of see it when teams have the lead, they tend to be more defensive than offensive…i dunno
Nathan
Apr 21, 02:48 PM
Off-topic, but;
I also see a disturbing trend that needs TO BE reversed. This omitting of “to be” in sentences.
I thought this was just internet-speak like ‘LOL’ and whatnot, but I’ve seen this practice extend into published articles.
Did I miss something? Or is this internet laziness already weeding its way into professional and published writing? I feel like I missed a memo when I see this type of grammar put to use.
Nathan
Apr 21, 02:53 PM
...Anybody know where that all started?
Nate 2
Apr 21, 03:12 PM
Nathan,
I agree with you. Sadly, the majority of this country doesn’t care much about grammar or education anymore. I tell myself that most of these people are young teenagers and it makes me feel a little better.
Jesse Marshall
Apr 21, 03:18 PM
The abbreviation of a longer article title has been extremely popular in the last decade. It’s become common practice, actually.
FYI – No one that writes for this site is a young teenager. Matt has his journalism degree and I have my English degree. If you’d like to debate the semantics of omitting certain words and abbreviating article titles, you can e-mail me and we can go from there.
Matt Bodenschatz
Apr 21, 03:37 PM
@Jon, having two systems is nice in theory, but I just wonder how effective the less-used system would be if dusted off after not being used for, say a month or two.
Teams eat, sleep and breathe their system, which is how they become so successful executing it. With two, there is less time dedicated to a specific system, which means neither system would be as effective. Ultimately, I think a team must live and die by its system, as I think the alternative is, quite simply, to just die…
@Nathan and Nate2, I see where you’re coming from, but in a headline, I think it’s a non-issue. Languages develop over time, and what we are seeing with the advancement of the Internet is the evolution of our language, like it or not.
Jonathan Farzalo
Apr 21, 03:39 PM
Does a title count as a sentence?
Matt
Apr 21, 05:00 PM
Nathan/Nate2: You’re right, grammatically speaking. But this grammatical error is as common in the Yinzer’s native tongue as “dahntahn,” “Gian’Iggle,” or “n’at.” As a Pittsburgher reading an article about Pittsburgh sports, I find it perfectly acceptable for the author to revert to Pittsburghese. My friends and I commonly speak in this fashion while watching the Stillers or Pens as a way to show our support. Now, when I’m at work or writing an essay, I wouldn’t use Yinzer terms, but in this case I’d let it slide.
I have noticed that the Flyers have been consistently gaining momentum through Games 2 and 3, and it is worrisome. However, I have faith our boys will pull it together and find a way to win tonight to set up a series-ending whipping on Thursday. Maybe Petr Sykora will even score a goal, stranger things have happened…
Jesse Marshall
Apr 21, 05:21 PM
Perhaps you should visit today’s PG to find more examples of sports writers abbreviating the title of an article.
You can send Ron Cook an e-mail discussing his article titled “Sykora Best Option As Malkin’s Linemate” and ask him why he didn’t include “is the” in the title.
Jesse Marshall
Apr 21, 05:24 PM
As an aside, we here at FF will be sure to type out the exact title of every article we write for the rest of this website’s history as to avoid being misconstrued as a teenager or yinzer.
Brad
Apr 21, 05:33 PM
A few more disturbing trends that need reversed:
Out of the 198 minutes 29 seconds total time played in the series the Pens have had the lead for only 60 minutes (game 1).
5 goals for Philly on 28 shots in game 3.
No traffic in front of the Philly net.
The power play
Good point by Jonathan Farzalo. Detroit does that all the time, sometimes even from shift to shift.
Nathan
Apr 21, 05:48 PM
I was simply inquiring about the origins of a trend I’ve seen gain steam.
Thanks for the change anyway though Jesse, but, now I’m not positive on this, but should there be a “That” in between ‘Trend’ and ‘Needs’?
:)
Matt Bodenschatz
Apr 21, 06:02 PM
@Nathan, now there is a word that is, undoubtedly, 100 percent option in such a “sentence.”
“That,” for the most part, is a meaningless word that just ends up cluttering a sentence and making it longer than necessary.
Jesse’s original headline never was indented to be a sentence, as headlines are designed to read quickly by omitting words that can be left out, while leaving the meaning in tact. So his omission of “to be” actually was fine for a headline, and, to be honest, has become fine in typical, everyday conversation.
But let’s focus on hockey :)
Nathan
Apr 21, 06:12 PM
I agree concerning headlines vs. sentences.
I got a laugh from all this.
Yes, hockey, I feel like Sykora is getting close to rounding back into form. He is doing the little things (as much as a guy like him does (as he did in last year’s playoffs)), and last game he was rewarded with scoring chances.
He is a streaky goal-scorer, and his game will come back, we just need to be patient, and he’ll reward us again. Hopefully tonight he starts burrying ‘em.
Nate 2
Apr 21, 06:33 PM
I would like to make a clarification. I did not mean to direct my post at the writers of this forum. There is actually nothing wrong with the title used. When I made the “teenagers” comment, I was referring to the bad grammar I see all over the internet. It had nothing to do with the writers of this forum. I was simply telling Nathan that it is frustrating to see the grammar used on the internet. I think everyone here does an outstanding job (otherwise, I wouldn’t be on this site in the first place).
Pens1967
Apr 21, 06:37 PM
Matt is exactly right about natives of the Pgh area not including the verb “to be” between the word “need” and the following verb. I never really thought much about this grammatical quirk until I read an article about “Pittsburghese”. It’s a real tell, but no one around here notices it because everyone talks and writes that way. I didn’t realize I was making that error until I moved to Philadelphia and everyone there used “to be”. :)
Nathan
Apr 21, 06:56 PM
Oh, so this is something Pittsburgh’ers actually say in conversation, good to know, I thought it was fully an internet-shortcut type thing.
So I wonder if most conclude that it had its start in speech as opposed to the internet?
Thanks Matt and PENS1967.
DaBich
Apr 21, 07:11 PM
Shite, what the heck is all dis crap about to be or not to be…is Shakespeare alive and well in DaBurgh now?
Pens1967
Apr 21, 07:48 PM
No, this is a grammatical quirk unique to this area. It’s been around long before the internet was even a far out idea.
And, Matt, can you try and work “red up” in one of the subsequent stories? :0
DaBich
Apr 22, 05:57 AM
LOL Pens!
NYPensFan
Apr 22, 12:29 PM
Don’t you mean “could’ja try”?
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