PHILADELPHIA -- Derick Brassard scored Sunday afternoon on one of the prettiest peanut butter finishes you'll find in the NHL.
Peanut butter?
Yeah, because it sticks to the roof, baby!
Thanks. I'll be here all week.
And yet, even with that power-play goal in the Penguins' 5-1 flattening of the Flyers in Game 3, even with a sound overall performance, Brassard's contribution was ... no better or worse than that of Riley Sheahan.
Oh, come on, that's a totally fair topic. Just wait.
Sheahan was the center Brassard bumped down the depth chart upon the blockbuster three-team trade that brought him here, accompanied by expectations, fair or otherwise, that he'd be The Missing Piece. And that's in caps for the same reason it was in Shel Silverstein's classic children's book, in which an incomplete circle rolls around looking to become whole until eventually, gleefully finding the perfect partner:
That slice was supposed to be Brassard. Gleefully and all.
Well, it wasn't. At least not right away. He scored once in his first 10 games, didn't mesh much at all with Phil Kessel per the script and, even after going on a six-game points streak, he missed the regular season's final two weeks to a groin injury.
As Brassard would tell me after Game 3, "It didn't happen for me right away and, then, just when I was feeling good, I had to sit down. It hasn't been perfect."
Nope.
And that, combined with Sheahan's continued effectiveness, combined with Kessel fighting through his own injury, combined with Sheahan and Kessel having been a good thing there for a little while, combined with the penalty-killers' struggles since Ian Cole was sent out for Brassard, combined with some presumed intangible sense that some general momentum was lost ... all of that's created, from what I gather, a popular public perception that maybe the trade shouldn't have been made.
Could. Not. Disagree. More.
Jim Rutherford's motivation for making the trade, as he worded it on that February afternoon, was "to build up our center depth." And that context included not just the third or fourth lines, which would now be populated by Brassard and Sheahan, in that order, but also the first and second.
That's the part that often goes unmentioned, it seems, probably because it involves the unmentionable scenario of Sidney Crosby and/or Evgeni Malkin getting hurt. But believe me, that's what was on Rutherford's mind for months, and I know because he told me so. Repeatedly. What he loved most about Matt Cullen and Nick Bonino wasn't what they did on the third or fourth lines, but what they'd do on the first and second when needed. The man can't stand the notion of losing either superstar, but he also couldn't stand the guilt he'd feel if such a scenario sunk the Penguins without his best effort.
That's why the trade was made.
That's why it was the right move then and now.
That's why Sullivan went out of his way to praise his GM after Game 3 with this: "We think it's a critical part of our overall team identity. We want to be a team that's strong down the middle. And so, Jim went out and made a couple of real key moves this year to strengthen our team down the middle. He made a subtle move with Riley early in the year, and then we picked up Derick right around the deadline. Those two moves, I think, really solidified our strength."
And even those weren't enough, as Josh Jooris was added right at the deadline.
"Having Riley and Derick ... it's different when you're behind elite players in Crosby and Malkin. And they're different players, too, but they're critically important to play the game how we want to play it."
He means strategically, too. The Penguins see themselves — and rightly so — as being superior to anyone in the East, maybe anyone in the NHL, at center. Sullivan feels passionately about that, as it allows him and his staff to build, say, scripted breakouts up the middle that he might otherwise eschew. Or ambitious zone entries. Or less defined defensive roles, in the sense that any forward can cover back.
Ask the Blue Jackets, who are virtually bereft at the position, why they fear facing the Penguins.
It took a while to reach this point, but it was worth it.
• Man, Sheahan's been outstanding.
I tried to ask him about exactly that after Game 3, using that same adjective, and he came back with a shrug and began talking about the team: "We have a really good group here, and it's the playoffs with some great atmospheres, so I really enjoy that. I'm enjoying it."
OK, if he won't, I will: Sheahan has been, within the context of his role, one of the Penguins' two or three best players in this series. He's been by far their best penalty-killer and, thus, their main hope of salvaging that facet. He's won 53.9 percent of his faceoffs, second only to Brassard's outrageous 56.8, and most of his have come in the defensive zone. He's been all over the rink, all 200 feet, all out, all the time.
Anyone remember Scott Wilson?
Serviceable guy, swell dude. But Rutherford sending him out for Sheahan should be getting him tried at The Hague.
• This won't earn any up-cups, but the officiating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, overall, has been far better than I'd expected. And by that, I mean, stick fouls are still stick fouls. Back in the preseason, when the new enforcement standard for slashing and hooking was instituted, I'd have bet my Wes McCauley Fan Club card that it wouldn't make it through October, much less into the first round.
“I think the amount of penalties have been called so far is an indication of how the referees are calling the games,” Sullivan said. “They’re calling it like they see it.”
No doubt he's being sincere, but still ...
... the above reaction to an explanation from referee Chris Rooney in Game 3 might be his finest few seconds.
• Loving Sullivan's new lines, especially what he's done — so, so predictably — with the first one:
• Not-so-hidden key to Game 4: The Penguins have blocked 41 total shots in their two wins, a paltry four in the lone loss. As Sullivan put it, “It’s a commitment on the players’ part to do the little things that add up to big things."
• Some Philadelphia fans put photos of Crosby inside urinals at Wells Fargo Center before Game 3. We didn't mention it in our coverage because, honestly, the news value is negligible. It's a self-perpetuating story, meaning a story only because someone made it one.
That said, when our Matt Sunday reported last week that a fan at PPG Paints Arena shouted a racial insult at the Capitals' Devante Smith-Pelley, an African-American, I praised the Penguins' rapid response in working aggressively to pursue the offender.
I'll do the same if the Flyers and Wells Fargo Center officials work just as hard to keep garbage like the urinal thing from happening again. But based on my experiences there, and seeing the vulgarity of the signs and images allowed through those doors, I'm not holding my breath.
• Asked if he had a reaction, Crosby coolly replied: "No. That’s not the first building that’s happened in. I don’t know if they stole that idea from someone else, but that’s not the first time that has happened."
He probably should have reacted like this:
• I picked the Penguins in 5 1/2, and I'll stubbornly stand by that fractionated waffling, if only because the penalty-killing needs to show more than one cool change to be convincing. More Jamie Oleksiak when short-handed, please. Especially if Dave Hakstol smartens up and gets Wayne Simmonds back on his top power play.
• Man, can John Tortorella hand-pick a first-round opponent or what?
• With the Maple Leafs, Devils, Avalanche and Wild winning, the only series at 3-0 are Golden Knights over Kings and Sharks over Ducks, and both of the Southern California franchises are in need of major speed transfusions.
Bottom line: It isn't easy. Not in any round.
