Pens fall to Wild 4-3 as powerless play comes up empty on six chances

I think the Penguins are being to patient on the PP. Thats when you need to be aggresive and attack the net . They play catch for 2 mins "being “patient” just waiting for someone to magically get wide open for a tap in goal. Patients is fine to preach for an overall game plan. Over the course of 60 min you need to be patient. When you get 2 full minutes with more players on the ice than the other team though, you should not be patient. Thats when you have to be aggresive. The Pens will not make it out of the first round of the playoffs(cue the "PLAYOFFS!) if they dont improve this powerplay. In the beginning of the year they were winning games despite not scoring on the powerplay, now they aren’t winning those games. It is a serious problem, but the Penguins wont admit that there strategy on the PP is flawed.

On another note I expect Gonchar to get a heavy fine. Given the fact that he doesn’t have a history of dirty play I think he might avoid suspension. Even though I dont think its right, that seems to be the NHL’s way.

if the pens shot the puck as much as they passed on the power play, maybe they would have more scoring chances and get a chance to do something on the power play….obviously if you are wasting 80% of the powerplay passing the puck and/or chasing it back into the defensive zone you aren’t gonna score that much….and I’m pretty sure that most if not all of us are screaming at the TV saying SHOOT SHOOT!!!!

The Penguin power play reminds me of the Merry-Go-Round at Kennywood. They carry the puck as far around the outside as they can then try to shoot through the bobbing horses and immovable booths.
That a Penguin with the puck should move in to evade some horses isn’t even a thought. This power play shooting is reminiscent of the Zubov days.
Looking at just a couple of the PPs from last year’s playoffs, the Pens cycled but went to the net to shoot many times, and were rewarded.
This attitude (real or blogged) that the Pens are just being patient is absurd. Other teams will let the Pens be as patient as they want. Shots from the South Side rarely go in and every team now seems to know it.
In the past years, a favorite chide on the Steelers was they were too predictable. The same could be said for the Pens lately. They don’t seem to be making adjustments between periods. They just aren’t playing the way they played at the beginning of the season. And since the injured returned there’s been a noticeable change in that play. Whether some minds are on the Olympics or not, coaching better get on top of it. I could swear I’m watching an E.J. (Johnson) coached team. There’s a lot of time left in the season and the Pens should be professional enough to step back and correct the problems. Hopefully this isn’t a contagion from the Steelers “hangover.”
At times it seems as though this current group thinks they have the scoring and defensive prowess of the ’91 to ’93 teams. We may never see another club that good given the changes in hockey.
A note on the FSN broadcasters:
I prefer to watch the games on FSN but sadly must listen to those announcers. There is too much of a delay to turn the sound down and listen to Mike. It’s frustrating to watch the action and have to listen to the incessant ramblings about someone’s uncle in Saskatoon catching fish or how much Bob can eat in one sitting. There’s a time for that but not during the action. It seems that the play on the ice has become secondary to personal commentary by these announcers. Equally disgusting is to see a penalty and not hear the announcer tell us what the call was because one or the other was discussing some other subject. For goodness sake, at least pause in your feckless meandering and let us know what the penalty was then you can continue your paid lecture on hockey history while we try to watch the game unless your attention span is so short you forget what you’re talking about if you stop for a moment! To think people at KDKA got rid of Bob Prince for the same reason! And look who they eventually got to replace him!