DK: Letang says 'clock ticking' and Core's in no mood to lose
I loved that Kris Letang took a least a little exception when I'd asked him, this after the Penguins' exemplary 4-3 edging of the Islanders Thursday night in this franchise's 58th home opener at PPG Paints Arena, how much he and the rest of the team's Core want to win.
As in, right freaking now.
As in, this fiery 2-0 start right in front of us.
As in, for as fun as it's been to see Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and all these other fresh faces for-real arrive, let's not pretend this hasn't been, first and foremost, about the grown-ups.
As in, Letang was nothing less than the peak performer from either side, Sidney Crosby put forth a goal and an assist, Evgeni Malkin added three assists to his two assists against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and all of this followed a fine pregame tribute to these three embarking on their professional-sports-record 20th year as teammates.
Maybe some would've expected this would be the highlight of their evening:
PENGUINS
Uh, nope.
"How much do we want to win?" Letang would echo back to my question. "I don't think you're gonna see anything other than that for the whole 20 years we've been here. I think we never showed, you know, just being casual. Every single year, that's what we want to accomplish. And there's a clock ticking right now, so we're aware of that and we want to make the best of it."
That clock's ticking, all right. Geno's 39 and in the final year of his contract, Sid and Letang are 38, and their younger-than-ever supporting cast, if being fair, isn't anywhere near what's needed for bona fide contention. And that's not months away, my friends. That's years.
At the same time, it couldn't be more obvious to me, between covering both these games, that none of the more tenured veterans on this roster -- including also injured Bryan Rust, a strikingly soaring Erik Karlsson, a strong-as-ever Rickard Rakell and a legit rejuvenated Tristan Jarry, who was terrific in making 34 saves here -- are in any mood to lose, much less concede the lottery status that'd been almost universally forecast across the continent.
Watch this:
That's Letang taking a reasonable risk on a rebound that Ilya Sorokin booted away.
But now watch the rest of the sequence:
It's one thing to backcheck. It's another to pile-drive poor Maxim Tsyplakovand pluck the puck.
That happened early in the third period, before Justin Brazeau broke a 3-3 tie. But, as was the case at the Garden, the Penguins never pressed pause, including the fourth and final of Letang's team-high hit total, this on longtime nemesis Casey Cizikas:
Notice all the ice Letang covered to precede this one, as well.
"It was kind of an up-and-down game," he'd reply when I asked about this physical play. "We had some good moments and bad moments, but individually, I just tried to bring a complete game whether it's with the puck or without the puck. As usual. I try to do my best."
As usual.
This, too, was the usual:
The NHL eventually changed the scoring, so that'd be Rakell's goal, but it's Malkin who does the pouncing after Sid does the dancing. That'd be the first of two power-play goals on the night for Dan Muse's let's-not-overthink-this top unit of the Core plus Rakell and Karlsson, which has been consistently dangerous so far.
Then there was Sid, with Mario Lemieux making a rare and welcome appearance in the house, scoring his own statue goal against the Islanders, down to one knee and immovable by Ryan Pulock, basically begging Malkin to bank it off him as if he were a fire hydrant:
As an aside: We do realize that Sid's statue will also be carved with an Islanders theme, right?
Cool. Just checking.
Anyway, the game still needed to be won, and the Geno/Brazeau connection that clicked at the Garden came through again ... by calling bank, I guess:
That's brilliant.
Meaning the pass, but I'll give it up for Brazeau's backhander that's now got him both of his goals -- plus an empty-netter -- so I brought up his clear confidence in beating first Igor Shesterkin and now an even sharper Sorokin:
"With both of them, they're obviously both fast, mobile goalies," he replied. "I just tried to use my size to beat him to a spot. I think I have the ability to move the puck so far in a move."
Good for him. Being 6-6, 232 has benefits.
But neither of his goals comes close to occurring without Geno, who's excelled well beyond his five points, pursuing, poking and prodding all over the rink in both games.
“It’s very special. Time is flying,” Geno'd say after this one. “I feel like 20 years ago, it’s one day. It’s amazing. Love to play with Sid and Tanger. Same team together 20 years. It’s special. People talk a lot about that. I try to do my best. Who knows? Maybe last year. I do my best and try to help the team to win. Sid, a special kid. Tanger, too. Lots of memories, lots of wins together. Keep going.”
It's almost as if he's feeling like he's got something to prove, though I can't imagine to whom.
I had to ask:
"No," he replied. "I mean, just have fun. I say before, if it's my last year, I just enjoy every moment. I have long run, but I don't want to, like, just play."
To clarify, anytime Geno refers to this being his last year, he's referring to his current contract. He's made plain multiple times he's undecided about his future past this season.
It's no accident that the Core's leading the way. They're still the team's most talented players, so they should be. But it's to their considerable credit they're doing so in a scenario were precious little's expected of these Penguins and, to throw this onto the pile, it's to Muse's credit that he's so new and still has generated such buy-in from those who've been here for decades.
I asked the new guy how much the veterans' early showing has meant to him.
"Both games, it’s been massive," Muse replied. "And I know there's been a lot of attention on the young guys, but you look at what the veterans have done as well in terms of production, on the defensive side, the situational usage – they've been out there for all of that. I mean, you look at the special teams here tonight playing a major factor there in the game. It was a lot of guys that were involved in that – Sid, Geno – in terms of their production there on the power play. I think that whole unit there with Raks and Karl and Letang, those were big moments in the game. ... You have the Big Three, but you also have a lot of other veteran players, too, guys that have been in the league that are making big contributions right now."
I asked Brunicke this, too. Loved the response.
"These guys, they're showing us how it's done," the kid came back, this while still clutching his souvenir puck from his first NHL goal. "We all know how much they've achieved and all that, but what we're seeing is right now. They're still doing it at a very high level."
THE ASYLUM
DK: Letang says 'clock ticking' and Core's in no mood to lose
I loved that Kris Letang took a least a little exception when I'd asked him, this after the Penguins' exemplary 4-3 edging of the Islanders Thursday night in this franchise's 58th home opener at PPG Paints Arena, how much he and the rest of the team's Core want to win.
As in, right freaking now.
As in, this fiery 2-0 start right in front of us.
As in, for as fun as it's been to see Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and all these other fresh faces for-real arrive, let's not pretend this hasn't been, first and foremost, about the grown-ups.
As in, Letang was nothing less than the peak performer from either side, Sidney Crosby put forth a goal and an assist, Evgeni Malkin added three assists to his two assists against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and all of this followed a fine pregame tribute to these three embarking on their professional-sports-record 20th year as teammates.
Maybe some would've expected this would be the highlight of their evening:
PENGUINS
Uh, nope.
"How much do we want to win?" Letang would echo back to my question. "I don't think you're gonna see anything other than that for the whole 20 years we've been here. I think we never showed, you know, just being casual. Every single year, that's what we want to accomplish. And there's a clock ticking right now, so we're aware of that and we want to make the best of it."
That clock's ticking, all right. Geno's 39 and in the final year of his contract, Sid and Letang are 38, and their younger-than-ever supporting cast, if being fair, isn't anywhere near what's needed for bona fide contention. And that's not months away, my friends. That's years.
At the same time, it couldn't be more obvious to me, between covering both these games, that none of the more tenured veterans on this roster -- including also injured Bryan Rust, a strikingly soaring Erik Karlsson, a strong-as-ever Rickard Rakell and a legit rejuvenated Tristan Jarry, who was terrific in making 34 saves here -- are in any mood to lose, much less concede the lottery status that'd been almost universally forecast across the continent.
Watch this:
That's Letang taking a reasonable risk on a rebound that Ilya Sorokin booted away.
But now watch the rest of the sequence:
It's one thing to backcheck. It's another to pile-drive poor Maxim Tsyplakov and pluck the puck.
That happened early in the third period, before Justin Brazeau broke a 3-3 tie. But, as was the case at the Garden, the Penguins never pressed pause, including the fourth and final of Letang's team-high hit total, this on longtime nemesis Casey Cizikas:
Notice all the ice Letang covered to precede this one, as well.
"It was kind of an up-and-down game," he'd reply when I asked about this physical play. "We had some good moments and bad moments, but individually, I just tried to bring a complete game whether it's with the puck or without the puck. As usual. I try to do my best."
As usual.
This, too, was the usual:
The NHL eventually changed the scoring, so that'd be Rakell's goal, but it's Malkin who does the pouncing after Sid does the dancing. That'd be the first of two power-play goals on the night for Dan Muse's let's-not-overthink-this top unit of the Core plus Rakell and Karlsson, which has been consistently dangerous so far.
Then there was Sid, with Mario Lemieux making a rare and welcome appearance in the house, scoring his own statue goal against the Islanders, down to one knee and immovable by Ryan Pulock, basically begging Malkin to bank it off him as if he were a fire hydrant:
As an aside: We do realize that Sid's statue will also be carved with an Islanders theme, right?
Cool. Just checking.
Anyway, the game still needed to be won, and the Geno/Brazeau connection that clicked at the Garden came through again ... by calling bank, I guess:
That's brilliant.
Meaning the pass, but I'll give it up for Brazeau's backhander that's now got him both of his goals -- plus an empty-netter -- so I brought up his clear confidence in beating first Igor Shesterkin and now an even sharper Sorokin:
"With both of them, they're obviously both fast, mobile goalies," he replied. "I just tried to use my size to beat him to a spot. I think I have the ability to move the puck so far in a move."
Good for him. Being 6-6, 232 has benefits.
But neither of his goals comes close to occurring without Geno, who's excelled well beyond his five points, pursuing, poking and prodding all over the rink in both games.
“It’s very special. Time is flying,” Geno'd say after this one. “I feel like 20 years ago, it’s one day. It’s amazing. Love to play with Sid and Tanger. Same team together 20 years. It’s special. People talk a lot about that. I try to do my best. Who knows? Maybe last year. I do my best and try to help the team to win. Sid, a special kid. Tanger, too. Lots of memories, lots of wins together. Keep going.”
It's almost as if he's feeling like he's got something to prove, though I can't imagine to whom.
I had to ask:
"No," he replied. "I mean, just have fun. I say before, if it's my last year, I just enjoy every moment. I have long run, but I don't want to, like, just play."
To clarify, anytime Geno refers to this being his last year, he's referring to his current contract. He's made plain multiple times he's undecided about his future past this season.
It's no accident that the Core's leading the way. They're still the team's most talented players, so they should be. But it's to their considerable credit they're doing so in a scenario were precious little's expected of these Penguins and, to throw this onto the pile, it's to Muse's credit that he's so new and still has generated such buy-in from those who've been here for decades.
I asked the new guy how much the veterans' early showing has meant to him.
"Both games, it’s been massive," Muse replied. "And I know there's been a lot of attention on the young guys, but you look at what the veterans have done as well in terms of production, on the defensive side, the situational usage – they've been out there for all of that. I mean, you look at the special teams here tonight playing a major factor there in the game. It was a lot of guys that were involved in that – Sid, Geno – in terms of their production there on the power play. I think that whole unit there with Raks and Karl and Letang, those were big moments in the game. ... You have the Big Three, but you also have a lot of other veteran players, too, guys that have been in the league that are making big contributions right now."
I asked Brunicke this, too. Loved the response.
"These guys, they're showing us how it's done," the kid came back, this while still clutching his souvenir puck from his first NHL goal. "We all know how much they've achieved and all that, but what we're seeing is right now. They're still doing it at a very high level."
Still winning, too. And wanting to win.
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