Faceoff Factor

Good Signs For The Pens

Mike Adams | Pittsburgh Penguins

May 8, 10:56 AM | Hype this story!

In a playoff series between two evenly matched teams, the difference can often be the intangibles. There are the lucky bounces you can’t control, like Kris Letang’s overtime winner in Game 3. There is also the psychological side, which you can control. And right now, it appears as though the Penguins just might have a huge edge in this critical area.

To wit, just check out the comments coming out of the two locker rooms yesterday. First, let’s check out what the Penguins have to say.

Sidney Crosby (Post Gazette)

“I feel like we’ve outchanced them over the three games,” Crosby said.

“It doesn’t matter — we’re still down, 2-1 — but I think the belief in what we need to do is there.

“We see some good results. Not in the first two games, as far as wins, but [scoring] chances and things like that.

“We’re confident that if we play this way, we give ourselves a great chance to win.”

Sergei Gonchar (Tribune Review)

“We’re playing very well offensively, especially (Wednesday night), we were creating so many chances,” defenseman Sergei Gonchar said. “We have a good chance if we’re gonna continue to play the same way.”

Dan Bylsma (Tribune Review)

“We need to make sure we get right back to the offensive zone and get that many shots, that many chances at this goalie. We have to be real persistent in getting our opportunities and getting to the net.”

Sense a recurring theme here? The Penguins are still confident. They believe in what they are doing. They are not worried about anything other than that. It’s all about them.

Now, lets take a trip over to Capital-land. Things sound mighty different over there.

George McPhee (Washington Post)

“I was disappointed with the officiating last night,” said McPhee, who made the comments knowing he could face a stiff fine from the league for commenting about the officials. “One team gets seven power plays and the other team gets two; it’s hard to win that game. Your defense is tired, your role players are tired from killing penalties all night, and your top players don’t get on the ice as much as they’d like to.”

Bruce Boudreau (Trib)

“What gives is we talked to the (NHL) supervisor last series about protecting the goalie,” Boudreau said. “(The N.Y. Rangers’ Sean) Avery punched Varlamov in the face, and we talked after Game 2 about (Penguins forward Chris) Kunitz cross-checking Varlie in the face. Yesterday, (center Evgeni) Malkin runs into the goalie, just comes into the corner and just barrels right through him. There’s no protection for the goalies, and I thought that was a big point and we have to reiterate that. And you retaliate for something like that – and it was a flick of the stick; it wasn’t a slash – and we get called for it. I’m hoping the 17-9 could very well or, at least, should be equal at this stage.”

Boudreau again

“I thought it was sticky,” Boudreau said. “I say this because there’s a couple arenas in the league that we walk across and it’s very … you’ve really got to be aware that you don’t fall. When we walked across the ice, it was easy to walk across. I commented, ‘This ice is going to be slow tonight.’ Although it wasn’t slow for them, it seemed slower to us.”

And again (Washington Post)

“Pretty classless act on CBC’s part,” Bruce Boudreau said. “I mean, we give them access to everything, and for them to do that is really unprofessional. And they’ve been in this game the longest. It’s not right, and whoever was in charge of that should be reprimanded very, very harshly.”

Alex Ovechkin (Post)

“They have only two penalties,” he said. “It’s kind of a joke, I think.”

Sense a theme here? They’re worried about the officiating. And the ice. And CBC.

And that’s the intangible difference I see right now. It sounds like the Penguins are worried about the things they can control, while the Caps are worried about things they have absolutely no control over. Does it mean the Pens will win the series? No, certainly not. But is it a good omen for them? Absolutely. Because, as we’ve seen time after time in the playoffs, what goes on between the ears is every bit as important as talent when the latter is fairly evenly matched.