Paul Martin and the Red Wings’ Justin Abdelkader scrap late in the first period Sunday. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
The NHL’s officiating is an abomination. Wes McCauley, amazingly, is even worse.
There. We done with that topic now?
No?
Well, I am. Because here’s the real rub from the Penguins’ embarrassing-on-all-levels 5-1 loss to the Red Wings today at Consol Energy Center: It’s the height of ignorance — and arrogance, for that matter — to think that they or anyone outside league HQ can do a blessed thing about it.
Seriously, what, if anything, are these guys thinking?
What was Chris Kunitz thinking?
The Penguins laughably went to a local paper over the weekend to explain that an iron deficiency has hampered his performance since Sochi. Presumably because it only takes a regular dosage of One A Day to avoid missing gaping nets. But the shield-free fact is that the coaching staff has been outright dismayed by Kunitz’s performance since November, and the behind-the-scenes criticism is that he failed to adjust his conditioning regimen to being 35 years old. Nothing else comes up.
Maybe Geritol is in order, instead.
Or whatever medicine might prevent an otherwise intelligent player from being the third man in an altercation to put his team short-handed, then flipping the puck in McCauley’s direction at the end of the first period in a flagrant attempt to send some playground-style message. Call McCauley overly sensitive. That’s fair. But the additional minor and 10-minute misconduct that followed handed the NHL’s No. 1 power play a third goal and the game.
The diagnosis for that is dumb.
Same applies for Steve Downie, accidentally or otherwise, tackling an official during a scrum.
Same applies for Brandon Sutter petulantly chasing Red Wings around the ice until leaving the refs no choice but to send him off for tripping.
Same applies for Kris Letang barking at McCauley with such vitriol that he rang up the rare trifecta of an unsportsmanlike conduct minor, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.
Same applies for Sidney Crosby blasting the puck down the ice after the officials made another miserable call in waving off a Christian Ehrhoff goal.
I’ll repeat: The officiating is the root cause, and it’s rancid.
But I’ll repeat even more emphatically: There’s nothing to be done about it. And if these Penguins are going to achieve anything more than a first-round playoff exit full of fist-shaking, righteous indignation, they need to be so much better at applying those emotions to the task at hand.
The players, to their credit, discussed this in the locker room after the game, from what I was able to gather. And Crosby, the captain, was front and center. That’s a positive.
If only Mike Johnston had stepped forward a fraction as much.
He began his press conference well enough, asked about his team’s poise: “Well, it’s uncharacteristic of guys like Kunitz and Letang to do that, so I’m not sure of the history with the officials or what’s gone on before. But certainly, I thought our guys got on edge way too quickly in the game. And certainly, penalties and 10-minute misconducts, that killed us today. Really, it was discipline throughout the team.”
It was all downhill from there, though, with this follow-up I asked:
Johnston later answered another reporter’s follow-up with a similar shrug.
OK, Coach, if it’s evidence you seek, better sit down for this …
The numbers don’t lie. The Penguins’ 64 penalty minutes today pushed them well past Winnipeg for No. 1 in the NHL. And this from a team that’s instigated zero fights this year, so it’s not as if this is about intimidation. The Penguins are tied for fourth with 32 majors. And as for those 10-minute misconducts to which Johnston curiously claimed no knowledge, they’re No. 1 with 19, a whopping eight more than the second-ranked Jets, as well as No. 1 in unsportsmanlike conduct minors with 13, four more than the second-ranked Ducks.
So, no, it’s not some single-game issue to be dismissed lightly. The Penguins are the league’s least disciplined team by a massive margin, no matter how one measures it.
And make no mistake: This is on the head coach. Blame Crosby and the leadership, blame the old core that’s sung this song far too often, or just do as Johnston has done the past couple days and roll Downie and his NHL-high 199 penalty minutes under the team bus. But ultimately the man behind the bench is responsible for discipline. Always.
This, if you ask me, is Johnston’s greatest challenge. Which might be why he looked as much on the edge after the game as his players did during it.
The Penguins have the talent, the depth and enough of a style fit among their roster to work with the coach’s system. I believe that now as much as ever. They’ve also got the right system. And, I dare say after this weekend, they’ve got the competitive spirit, too. Need anyone be reminded, we’re a week removed from three of their most inspiring performances of the season out in California.
But this wasn’t a fluke, either, in the context of completely losing it. Fact is, these players still tend to pout and whine and fling their toys all over the crib anytime things don’t go the way they wish. I know it, you know it, the league’s other 29 teams know it, and you’d better believe the referees and league office know it. What’s more, all of those entities react accordingly.
This must change. As Crosby put it, “We’ve got to correct it. This can’t happen again.”
And it’s got to be Johnston who ensures it.
Yes, the players can take ownership, to an extent. My goodness, if this group did nothing more than emulate Patric Hornqvist, who competed twice as passionately this weekend as any of them yet never lost his cool, about 72 percent of all their problems would be solved. Of course, that will be hugely complicated if Hornqvist, who left this game with an injury that Johnston said “looked bad,” is out for any appreciable period.
The same praise can be offered for the poise of Ehrhoff, Nick Spaling, Blake Comeau, David Perron, Maxim Lapierre, Ian Cole, Ben Lovejoy and … well, looking at that pattern, maybe they just haven’t been around long enough to be fully afflicted.
I agree that the primary focus for the Pens is maintaining their composure no matter what the cause. I also think that the NHL's primary focus should be on improving its officiating. Then again, it's the best sport and the worst league for a reason, so I won't hold my breath.
That is the source of my frustration. The garage league just does not seem to care whether or not the officiating is both fair and consistent.
What was sickening was how Pierre don't call me Regis McGuire was openly gushing over how good a referee Wes McCauley was despite the awfulness of the calls or non-calls.
While everyone points at Bettman, the owners employ him. It is the owners that need to take off the blinders and realize that the quality of officiating is ruining their game, that the continued downward trend of goal scoring league-wide is ruining the game, and implore Bettman to make changes to fix both areas. But it starts with the owners.....
You are absolutely correct. The issue is the owners.
Why I direct criticism at the spineless one (Bettman) is that, as my nickname for him denotes, he is too weak to confront the owners as to foolishness of allowing such a great sport to take black eye after black eye. When you have such inconsistent handing out of discipline from Todd Bertuzzi to the Thuglanders mugging of Max Talbot and Eric Tangradi to Zac Rinaldo as well as the penalties handed to players just because of who they are--Sid and Matt Cooke come to mind, it is the commish who has to step and explain to his boy Ed Snider and the rest of the owners that consistency and fairness both officiating and supplemental discipline must become the hallmark of the league, not sources of criticism.
Huh? A little quick with the trigger don't you think?
This isn't Johnston's fault. It's his responsibility to correct it.
This has been going on for years. It didn't start this year with Johnston at the helm.
This team has always had a bit of petulance in it. It boiled over during the dramatic made for TV mini-series, Pens vs Flyers 2012 ECQF; a complete and utter lack of composure and focus, the likes of which I have never seen in professional sports.
This is by far Johnston's and the Pens greatest challenge but to lay all of it at his feet for not correcting it in a year seems inappropriate.
I have no vested interest in Johnston, but to act like this problem is recent and blame him for something this organization should have been addressing for at least 3 years now would be disingenuous.
Players take their cue from their leader...look no further than 87 and 71. 87 earned a reputation as a whiner and a hot head at age 18. We all rolled our eyes but those Flyers fans have a point. The kid is still just that. And 71 is a pouter and a sneaky tetaliator. When your leaders act like that its only a matter of time bbefore the team devolves to it.
DK is right. It is up to Johnson to get the discipline right. Unfortunately I dont see him any more the disciplinarian than Bylsma was.
If Johnston wants to get things going the right direction he has to start with the two headed monster and work from there.
I actually think that your calling Malkin out on this THIS year, is untrue. I think that he has done a very good job, improving over the course of the year, in fact, of keeping his composure.
Of course, he IS European, which always means that he's 'sneaky' (witness when he ducked under a check from Whiny Lecavalier a couple years ago in Tampa, went on to score a hat trick, and had Lecavalier chasing him all over the ice...and all the idiot commentors on NBCSucks could talk about afterwards was how Lecavalier was a 'stand-up' 'honest' (read that as 'Canadian') hockey player, meaning, obviously, that Malkin (he is a pouty, sneaky Russian after all) was NOT).
I call BS on that description of Malkin. Has he lost his cool in the past? Yes. Has he been very controlled and smart most of this year, while being hacked, held, and tackled?
Also...yes!
Sky that could be very true of this season. I havent seen near the amount of hockey that I usually do thanks to my 2 year old. Not complaining about that by any means just sayin.
And hate to say this, but there's a subtlety in the column. Initiate first, take your lumps and get your share of calls later. Initiate second in retaliation and spend the game complaining about other team's play and the refs' calls and you look like whiners and will get double the penalties as your opponent.
All our opponents in East know this -- Flyers, Caps, Bruins, Isles, Rangers. Doesn't bode well and needs to change or will be quick exit.
I just posed this question to DK on Twitter... Is it at all possible they r frustrated beyond belief with their injury woes and that's what brought about all this anger and chippiness? At the start of the Bruins game, they were the healthiest they had been since the beginning of the year... Only to have Sid get scratched late and Geno get hurt within the 1st minute... This has been the most snake bitten team IN ANY SPORT over the past half decade and I know it pisses me off so I would assume it would affect them mentally, at least somewhat
completely on point - but is HCMJ up to this task? Seems over matched to me - had a deer in the headlights look today - need a guy like Babcock or Sutter or Quenneville
Johnston's response to your question about penalties = Wow! You have to admit there is a problem before it can be fixed. I guess this team is still in the denial stage.
on point as usual Dk. Good thing i was at work. this was a high blood pressure game. As long as the feel entitled they will not get in the same zip code as the cup. They should feel BLESSED not ENTITLED
As for Kunitz, I am agreement with you and have said multiple times, why is he getting Mike Bossy like ice time in PP's and key situations? He has whiffed on glorious scoring opportunities over the past few games. What a perfect time to make him an Iron Clad scratch for the next game.
As for the refs, yeah. I mean, it is obvious to me that they have a bias against the Pens, and then the Pens don't help themselves. It is ridiculous and immature as how to the Pens act and how the refs then react. But regardless of who's right, it ain't helping the Pens and they got to stop this.
Steve Downie is a talented hockey player. And if HALF of his penalty minutes were based on him using it to physically abuse the other teams best players, then it is easy to live with. But they are mostly bad penalties and do not serve any message and certainly don't make the Pens any "tougher to play against".
Same core. Another coaching staff. Another group of supporting players. I don't think Sid is a good captain. Sorry, I said it.
And another game where the Pens are playing recklessly late in the season against a good team and needs its goalie to maybe make a save or 2 to help get their legs and nope. Nothing.
You nailed this one. I think back to the first Philly debacle where they completely lost their cool, only to follow up the most recent Philly game when they didn't blow a gasket under almost the same exact circumstances. The Caps games have been eerily similar. For this team to have any chance of winning a playoff series, the same team needs to show up every night. It starts with the coach. It ends with the coach. Too much talent to act like this. Ugh.
I loved Tocchet as a player, but wasn't this exactly why he was hired? The rumbling were that this team lacked discipline last year, and Tocchet is hired to play bad cop to Johnston's good cop. I've seen nothing to indicate anything has changed in that regard. I'll never complain about increased toughness, but increased stupidity like today shows how little self discipline this team has. The only change to the positive has been Geno, and I'm not sure you can credit the coaching staff for that one.
I do agree it's not just Downie. He plays his heart out every shift. Gives everything for the team. And the coach throws him well under the bus. Johnston has no class or leadership.
I also can't believe MJs response to DKs question either... U can tell he's frustrated but the first step to quitting is admitting... Not lying to yourself... If hornqvist is out for any extended period of time, I'm conducting a man hunt for the person who has used voo doo to prevent us from having a healthy line up for these past 5 or 6 years....
At least the ref made a call on the ice. Never mind that it was called a good goal by the red right in front of the play and then mysteriously reversed.
It was a hand pass. In the end, it shouldn't have counted.
I'll tell you what happened though. They saw they missed the hand pass on the big board replay, but knowing they can't pretend they saw it live (or else ONE of them would have whistled the play dead) they made up a bogus goalie interference call.
So once again you can blame the organization. Why are they even showing the replay until the call is final? The no-goal call was correct, but might never have happened without the refs seeing the replay. Incompetent PR-based, substanceless organization.
I did see one thing I liked in today's game...when Kunitz and letang were serving dumb misconducts there was a power play with 87,72,39,10, and 7 on the ice...if only that would happen in normal situations
I don't know, he can preach or beg or whatever all he wants. He can't scratch everyone. The players are the ones losing their cool. The call on Kunitz for flipping a puck in the direction of the ref was so weak its laughable. The players become unglued during the games. If Letang and Crosby and the team leaders can't handle themselves in the heat of it, how can you really blame the coach?
In threat of being flamed into a smoking pile if ashes ........ Is this team really coachable? Going back as far as #66 the superstars seem to pretty much do their own thing. Even Scotty Bowman was run out of town.
March 15, 2015
Column: Petulant Penguins show ugliest face
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Penguins
Paul Martin and the Red Wings’ Justin Abdelkader scrap late in the first period Sunday. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
The NHL’s officiating is an abomination. Wes McCauley, amazingly, is even worse.
There. We done with that topic now?
No?
Well, I am. Because here’s the real rub from the Penguins’ embarrassing-on-all-levels 5-1 loss to the Red Wings today at Consol Energy Center: It’s the height of ignorance — and arrogance, for that matter — to think that they or anyone outside league HQ can do a blessed thing about it.
Seriously, what, if anything, are these guys thinking?
What was Chris Kunitz thinking?
The Penguins laughably went to a local paper over the weekend to explain that an iron deficiency has hampered his performance since Sochi. Presumably because it only takes a regular dosage of One A Day to avoid missing gaping nets. But the shield-free fact is that the coaching staff has been outright dismayed by Kunitz’s performance since November, and the behind-the-scenes criticism is that he failed to adjust his conditioning regimen to being 35 years old. Nothing else comes up.
Maybe Geritol is in order, instead.
Or whatever medicine might prevent an otherwise intelligent player from being the third man in an altercation to put his team short-handed, then flipping the puck in McCauley’s direction at the end of the first period in a flagrant attempt to send some playground-style message. Call McCauley overly sensitive. That’s fair. But the additional minor and 10-minute misconduct that followed handed the NHL’s No. 1 power play a third goal and the game.
The diagnosis for that is dumb.
Same applies for Steve Downie, accidentally or otherwise, tackling an official during a scrum.
Same applies for Brandon Sutter petulantly chasing Red Wings around the ice until leaving the refs no choice but to send him off for tripping.
Same applies for Kris Letang barking at McCauley with such vitriol that he rang up the rare trifecta of an unsportsmanlike conduct minor, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.
Same applies for Sidney Crosby blasting the puck down the ice after the officials made another miserable call in waving off a Christian Ehrhoff goal.
I’ll repeat: The officiating is the root cause, and it’s rancid.
But I’ll repeat even more emphatically: There’s nothing to be done about it. And if these Penguins are going to achieve anything more than a first-round playoff exit full of fist-shaking, righteous indignation, they need to be so much better at applying those emotions to the task at hand.
The players, to their credit, discussed this in the locker room after the game, from what I was able to gather. And Crosby, the captain, was front and center. That’s a positive.
If only Mike Johnston had stepped forward a fraction as much.
He began his press conference well enough, asked about his team’s poise: “Well, it’s uncharacteristic of guys like Kunitz and Letang to do that, so I’m not sure of the history with the officials or what’s gone on before. But certainly, I thought our guys got on edge way too quickly in the game. And certainly, penalties and 10-minute misconducts, that killed us today. Really, it was discipline throughout the team.”
It was all downhill from there, though, with this follow-up I asked:
Johnston later answered another reporter’s follow-up with a similar shrug.
OK, Coach, if it’s evidence you seek, better sit down for this …
The numbers don’t lie. The Penguins’ 64 penalty minutes today pushed them well past Winnipeg for No. 1 in the NHL. And this from a team that’s instigated zero fights this year, so it’s not as if this is about intimidation. The Penguins are tied for fourth with 32 majors. And as for those 10-minute misconducts to which Johnston curiously claimed no knowledge, they’re No. 1 with 19, a whopping eight more than the second-ranked Jets, as well as No. 1 in unsportsmanlike conduct minors with 13, four more than the second-ranked Ducks.
So, no, it’s not some single-game issue to be dismissed lightly. The Penguins are the league’s least disciplined team by a massive margin, no matter how one measures it.
And make no mistake: This is on the head coach. Blame Crosby and the leadership, blame the old core that’s sung this song far too often, or just do as Johnston has done the past couple days and roll Downie and his NHL-high 199 penalty minutes under the team bus. But ultimately the man behind the bench is responsible for discipline. Always.
This, if you ask me, is Johnston’s greatest challenge. Which might be why he looked as much on the edge after the game as his players did during it.
The Penguins have the talent, the depth and enough of a style fit among their roster to work with the coach’s system. I believe that now as much as ever. They’ve also got the right system. And, I dare say after this weekend, they’ve got the competitive spirit, too. Need anyone be reminded, we’re a week removed from three of their most inspiring performances of the season out in California.
But this wasn’t a fluke, either, in the context of completely losing it. Fact is, these players still tend to pout and whine and fling their toys all over the crib anytime things don’t go the way they wish. I know it, you know it, the league’s other 29 teams know it, and you’d better believe the referees and league office know it. What’s more, all of those entities react accordingly.
This must change. As Crosby put it, “We’ve got to correct it. This can’t happen again.”
And it’s got to be Johnston who ensures it.
Yes, the players can take ownership, to an extent. My goodness, if this group did nothing more than emulate Patric Hornqvist, who competed twice as passionately this weekend as any of them yet never lost his cool, about 72 percent of all their problems would be solved. Of course, that will be hugely complicated if Hornqvist, who left this game with an injury that Johnston said “looked bad,” is out for any appreciable period.
The same praise can be offered for the poise of Ehrhoff, Nick Spaling, Blake Comeau, David Perron, Maxim Lapierre, Ian Cole, Ben Lovejoy and … well, looking at that pattern, maybe they just haven’t been around long enough to be fully afflicted.
Any good vitamins to prevent that?