The Penguins fail to show up against the Canucks - lose 5-0
The Penguins ended their three games trip to Western Canada in ignominy. After a fairly low-key performance against the Edmonton Oilers and a dominant one against the Calgary Flames, both of which resulted in wins, the Penguins crashed to earth last night. The Penguins were back stopped by Marc-Andre Fleury in the first two games in which he set a new record for the number of shut-outs by a Penguins goaltender in a season at 8. This breaks the previous record set by Tom Barrasso. Last night Tom Greiss was in net and the team just didn't turn up.
Some people have said that playing 3 games in 4 nights on a long trip to the West of Canada means that you'll have one game like this but that is a poor excuse. They're professional athlete's, they should be able to play the games they're expected to play in. Anything less means they're not giving 100% effort. Throughout the trip there has been one huge issue that I have had with Johnston and that is the scratching of Beau Bennett.
Bennett has missed a lot of games in the past few seasons and it is a shame as he is a great talent who, when he has played, has shown some great promise and been a great complimentary player to go with Malkin on the second line which is where he was projected to be when drafted. Johnston was quoted as to say that he is being scratched so he can work on his "compete level". I'm sorry, how is scratching going to make him a better player when the thing you believe he needs to work is best replicated in a game situation? Not to mention that benching him but allow Adams and Sill to play so many games flies in the face of common sense.
The Penguins could have done with someone like Bennett last night. A back-to-back game which would have been the perfect opportunity to rest someone on the bottom line and give Bennett a chance to try and prove the ludicrous theory put out there. The players that did play just quit last night, which is worrying to see. Our PP is also still causing us worry despite Tocchet stating that he would be fixing it in the past. His job is redundant, give it to someone who can actually coach a PP.
The Penguins play the Wings next. Lets hope for a better performance that this one.
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