Really, what's to analyze?
Sometimes, it just doesn't take the hockey acumen of Scotty Bowman to slice up why a game swings one way or the other.
Press play and give this sequence a try:
Pretty academic, huh?
Those boys in black and gold look beyond gassed. And they were.
The Penguins' 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils on this summery Sunday afternoon inside a comparatively bleak PPG Paints Arena marked their fifth game in seven days, their second without Brandon Tanev, their fourth without Evgeni Malkin, their fifth without Teddy Blueger, their 15th without Jason Zucker and, in case anyone cares to keep score, their 21st without the new front office making a single meaningful move to help the current team.
Oh, yeah, I'm going there.
Inaction's no longer an option.
On the day Ron Hextall and Brian Burke were introduced as GM and president of hockey operations, respectively, both stated plainly and passionately that management's top priority would remain the same in 2021: Contend for the Stanley Cup.
"What we're looking to do is to make the Pittsburgh Penguins the best team we can be this year," Hextall told us Feb. 9. "We'll see where it goes. We'll see how good we are. We'll see how our players respond, and we'll address things as we go along. ... You've obviously always got to look at the future, but you have to look at the present. The focus right now is on making the Pittsburgh Penguins the best we can right now."
Let me make this clear: No, I'd rather not see any more draft picks shipped out for Patrick Marleau and other temporary trinkets. And I don't have to adopt any stance at all on shipping out prospects since that concept no longer applies. The franchise's future needs to be protected, and that process probably needed to start a couple years back. I'm 100% behind this and, to my understanding, so are Hextall and Burke.
So I'll safely presume that, when Hextall made that statement, echoed by Burke, they had something safer, smarter in mind.
But not, you know, nothing.
Which is all we've witnessed so far, aside from claiming Mark Friedman, the No. 1,765th defenseman on the depth chart, from the Flyers a month ago. No other outside acquisitions. Just a near-daily shuffling of the taxi squad and the Wilkes-Barre express.
It's time to change that. Well past time, actually.
Meaning, specifically, that every time Mark Jankowski comes over the boards is one shift too many.
Not to pick on one player in this singular setting, but this guy's been absolutely brutal almost all season and, if it takes scapegoating to stress the point, so be it. Since scoring and sizzling across all 200 feet in the opener in Philadelphia, he's achieved next to nothing: One goal, an empty-netter. Two assists. Minus-3 rating. Awful on the advanced analytics, too, with a 44.13% Corsi For percentage at five-on-five that's second-worst on the team.
But hey, at least he's lousy on faceoffs, mostly lost on the penalty-kill -- watch his stick positioning sometime -- and outright lazy.
The latter isn't an isolated assessment, by the way. I'm told the coaching staff has been disappointed in his effort to date. And I'm talking bitterly disappointed.
Me, I think he'd benefit from a meeting with the two Bobs from the cinematic classic 'Office Space:'
Waiver wires aren't made public, but I'd bet every sanitizer dispenser in this place that a player comes available every single day who's superior to Jankowski in every way. They're out there, they cost next to nothing in cap hit -- Dominik Simon cleared waivers for the Flames a few days ago at NHL minimum -- and they don't mortgage the future in the slightest.
Or, Hextall and Burke can weigh moving one of their long list of left-handed defensemen, idle or otherwise. There'd be a fair forward to be had, I'm sure, for Marcus Pettersson or even eternal healthy scratch Juuso Riikola. And either is easily replaced by bringing back Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
Where's the help?
Want to counter that this team isn't worth it? That it won't contend for the Cup regardless even with major moves, let alone something as small as claiming a Simon or two?
Fine. That's a fair argument.
In isolation.
But bear in mind the following, as well:
• These Penguins are already punching above their expected weight class at 19-11-2 and third in the East Division, by far the NHL's most competitive. Within that, they're a combined 8-4 against the two teams ahead of them, the Capitals and Islanders. Per Hextall's own criteria of "We'll see how good we are. We'll see how our players respond," I'd say they've responded quite well. And that goes double for the six-game winning streak that preceded this fresh round of injuries. The players and coaches, as a collective, have done their part to date.
• There's no such thing as a rebuild or even a modest reload for as long as Sidney Crosby's here. That's as it should be. Sid's earned that. And besides, there's a big difference between hanging onto picks/prospects and blowing it all up. Both can be done, even if it's more gradual this way.
• There's value in winning right now, too. There really is. Let's not pretend a pandemic didn't drain the finances of this team and all teams across professional sports. Let's further not pretend -- or take for granted -- that Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle invariably spend to the cap. Missing the playoffs or making another cameo appearance will damage the bottom line that much more, and no long-time fans should need to be reminded of the pain that can cause.
• Um ... what if they do well?
As in, the playoffs.
It's hardly unthinkable with how they've handled the Capitals and Islanders and, once a team gets out of its division and only four remain, anything's possible. Again, I'm not predicting it's probable. But there's no doubt it's possible.
So wake up. Get to work.
That's what Sid's doing. These past three games, all against the Devils, might've represented his best efforts of the season, and I do mean effort. He, Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel were everywhere, including producing the lone goal on this day:
That's slick. Seven connected dots. But they can't do it all, as the remainder of the game would show, and that's what's indirectly being asked. In the past seven games, Sid, Rust and Guentzel have scored 11 of the Penguins' 19 goals. Two others came from Malkin before he went down.
That won't work. Not in this division. Not with a race this tight.
I asked Mike Sullivan after this game how important it is to get contributions from everyone and, within that, if he's satisfied with what he's gotten from his bottom-six forwards.
"Well, it's critical, I think," he replied to the first part of my question. "You know, we're playing a lot of games here. We just went through a stretch where we played an awful lot of hockey. That's one of the challenges this year with the condensed schedule. And so, we've got to get contributions throughout our lineup if we're going to get results. We're getting consistent offensive production from Crosby's line, but it would help if we could get some more from the bottom lines. That's what we need."
I asked the captain, too, how important it'd be to have some help.
"It's always important, when you want to have success consistently," Sid replied. "I think today we generated some decent chances on every line and didn't capitalize. It was a close game and, obviously, in overtime, anything can happen. But yeah, if you want to win consistently, everybody's got to chip in."
Diplomatic as ever, right?
OK, I'll do the dirty work for him: Jankowski and Colton Sceviour each has two goals. Sam Lafferty's got none in 21 games. Anthony Angello's been OK on the fourth line, and Frederick Gaudreau looked at least encouraging on this day, but they won't comprise the cavalry even if -- and here's hoping -- Gaudreau can justify Jankowski being jettisoned sooner rather than later.
It'll say it once more: Now's the time. The NHL's trade deadline isn't until April 12, but that doesn't really apply here, anyway. That's for Jim Rutherford-level moves, and those are rightly in the past. These moves can happen whenever.
Look, only 24 of 56 games remain. Six of those are against the Sabres, beginning with two more here Wednesday and Thursday. If the Penguins can collect the points that are sitting there to be had -- as opposed to the three they left on the table from these three meetings with the Devils -- they'll be just fine. And maybe better than that.
Better than this:
My goodness. Flick of the wrist, then first one off. Every shift. Watch for it.
Yeah, put that clip on endless loop in every cubicle in the building. Could be inspirational in its own ironic way.