Kovacevic: Penguins' fix? Try one simple thing

And to think, this was from the guy carrying the entirety of the franchise's confidence ...



My goodness. That was a real thing.

Evgeni Malkin had just skated pretty much the circumference of the Consol Energy Center ice surface, he dashed and darted through the Carolina defense, had Cam Ward down and dead to rights in his crease from a few feet away, no one in his vicinity ... and shot wide.

Nothing else to it. He stood at the Point and missed the Ohio.

Hurricanes 2, Penguins 1.

Yeah, there's that score again. This Saturday night brought nothing new, not in that regard, nor in so many others. That's four regulation losses in a row, all under the new coach, Mike Sullivan. That's nine losses in the past 11 games. That's six games in a row with 32 or more shots, and a whoop-dee-doo total of 10 goals to show for it. That's falling to the point of teetering a game above .500 at 15-14-3.



And lest we let anyone off the hook individually, that's seven games in a row without a goal for Sidney Crosby, eight for Phil Kessel, seven for Chris Kunitz, eight for David Perron, five for Patric Hornqvist, 16 for Nick Bonino, four for Eric Fehr after 15 games of nothing before his last one, and 26 games of absolutely nothing of any kind for Sergei Plotnikov.

No, really, who's evaluating this player to be NHL-caliber?

What's more, who's looking at all of the above failures and deciding it's a swell idea to ship out Daniel Sprong, even if his only NHL-ready trait was, you know, scoring goals?

What a mess. Top to bottom. Except, of course, for No. 71, who yet again did it all:



Everyone's going to want to point a finger, at least on the outside. That's natural. This team is bad, and it's boring, bordering on unwatchable. The hyper-passionate hockey fan base in these parts couldn't possibly be expected to sit idly while this goes on, nor should it. One of the most common factors with successful professional sports teams is a demanding public. It prevents complacency. It pushes for excellence.

At the same time, I'll offer on this occasion a single word of advice for all concerned, including the Penguins themselves: Relax.

No, really, try some yoga or deep breaths or Enya music or whatever it takes.

OK, now weigh this as rationally as one can after watching Carolina quash your club on home ice: The new coach has had all of two full practices with his team.

Two!

I asked Eddie Johnston, the Penguins' patriarch who has served in every role imaginable in the NHL, how much a coach could conceivably teach a team in two practices.

"Oh, my God, are you kidding?" E.J. came back. "I mean, almost nothing. And especially when they're in the middle of a season and have been doing things a certain way for months or years. You can't change anything. You're just going out there and hoping to put in some good habits. That's it."

Sullivan himself offered a terrific answer to my same question shortly before faceoff, and I can't recommend strongly enough giving this a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dNWiRXtMeY

 

Impressive, huh?

The man does more than strike a pose. He oozes authority. And poise. And hockey knowledge. He walks and talks and conducts himself like a coach who knows exactly what he wants, exactly how he wants it done, and exactly who can and can't deliver it.

The more I see him, the more I'm convinced the Penguins couldn't have made a better hire and, if afforded the benefit of hindsight, should have made this hire this summer upon first getting to know him. He's miles above Mike Johnston in every capacity, and it's only a matter of time before he shows that.

But time, of course, is the one thing he hasn't had yet.

This team, to repeat, is a multifaceted, multilayered mess.

Jim Rutherford didn't do nearly enough to fortify the defense. It's too small, too soft and not nearly skilled enough to make up for either. That can't be addressed quickly, certainly not just by leaving Rob Scuderi at the curb.

Johnston left behind a thought process that emphasized "shot volume" -- one of his favorite terms -- over shot quality, which is why you see the Penguins still taking all these stupid Tyler Kennedy-caliber shots from the perimeter and running up big shot totals to no avail. That can't be addressed quickly, because strategic change requires actual practice time.

Crosby and the rest of the non-Malkin forwards paid to score are suffering through glaring, awful crises of confidence. They get good chances or good looks and then, like a nervous child on the JV basketball team, either pass to someone else or take a mindless shot right into the swirling commode on Ward's chest:



That's how scoring chances die when a group is lacking confidence.

It can even spread to the only player actually displaying some:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6WgXz6K4BE

So tell me, please, what Sullivan's fast-drying-glue fix should be here.

Should he shout at them and make them feel even worse?

Or juggle lines and make people who already look lost look even more lost?

Or pound his fist for wholesale roster change in his first week?

The view here: The smartest thing Sullivan can do is what he's already done: Try to get everyone to simmer down, smile a little and just play hockey. Enjoy hockey.

I can't word that any better than he did in that video up there, but Sullivan sounded almost as wise after the game.

First, according to players in the locker room, he offered everyone an uptempo, positive outlook about their effort on this night, and that was fair. They're nervous and disorganized, but skating hard wasn't their issue.

"I can't speak to what happened before I came," Matt Murray said after his NHL debut saw 24 saves following a spotty start. "But you can tell right away a lot of guys are pressing. There's a lot of skill in here, and we're going to score. But everyone's just got to be themselves."

Second, Sullivan reiterated his pregame sentiment about keeping chins up.

"I don't think we got rewarded for our effort tonight, but I see signs of improvement in a lot of areas," he said. "I thought we limited Carolina's chances. I thought our power play was better. There was much more motion, much more proactive puck movement. We did things with a purpose. And we scored. For me, there are a lot of positives to take from this."

He paused, though it was clear he hadn't completed his thought.

"My experience going through these types of circumstances has been that sometimes, you're ... you're sludging uphill. But when you continue to try to improve your game and play the right way, it starts to turn. You might not get the result right away, but it does turn."

Monday, the Penguins play the Blue Jackets at Consol. After that, they'll have four days off for the NHL-mandated Christmas break. After that, they'll fly to St. Paul and Winnipeg for back-to-back games next weekend.

In all that time, Sullivan's only practice will be Sunday at noon, right on the heels of all this.

Expect him to whistle while he works. And, to borrow his term, to do so "with a purpose."