Center Sidney Crosby was pushed to the ice after crashing towards the net for a rebound.

The Penguins rumbled to a 2-0 start in this truncated season, defeating the rival Flyers and rival Rangers in their respective buildings in consecutive days. Since, the Penguins have stumbled with three losses in their last four games. Superstars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and James Neal have been careless with the puck, as they have turned the puck over habitually. The team has failed to get sufficient production from the top six defensemen. Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin, and Matt Niskenen have essentially been logging all the minutes on the ice. Coach Bylsma juggled his top six with Simon Despres and Ben Lovejoy, who both have made mistakes.

The worst of all: the immensely talented Power Play unit has struggled of late. Tuesday night against the Islanders, the previously lethal Penguins’ 5-to-4 man advantage recorded a mere three shots in nine minutes on the Power Play. In this truncated season where teams had just a week to prepare for the season, teams need to keep it simple offensively. The Penguins have been forcing plays with their skill. After the Penguins’ scrimmage on Wednesday night before the season opener on Saturday, Bylsma said the following to his coaching staff while watching film of the scrimmage, “If this scrimmage has taught us anything, it’s that if you think you’re gonna make passes like you did in game 75 last year… you’re not.” They need to revert to the style of hockey they began to play when Dan Byslma became the coach of the team deep into the 2008-2009 campaign: dump the puck in and grind the opponent down. Byslma has the right approach, but his message clearly has not been adequately transferred to his team.

The 4-1 loss to the Islanders brought about more questions. During Dan Bylsma’s post-game press conference, he was asked if his team displayed full effort. Byslma nodded in agreement that his team lacked energy on the ice, and proceeded to say it was not where it needs to be or where it typically is.

It is not time to panic, but the Penguins need to fix a lot of issues if they want to be a serious contender for the Stanley Cup this season.

Penguins Seek to Avenge Their Postseason Loss to the Flyers Last April

It had  been three years since the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted the Stanley Cup. The NHL’s point leader Evgeni Malkin was on fire. Malkin’s line-mate James Neal was a 40 goal-scorer. Captain Sidney Crosby was a few games removed from his second return to the team after a neck tissue injury was finally diagnosed and healed. Center Jordan Staal was likely in his final year with the team. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was playing as well as any goalie in the National Hockey League and was nearly voted team MVP despite Evgeni Malkin’s 50 goal year. The Penguins were the Stanley Cup favorites. With league MVP Evgeni Malkin, 40 goal-scorer James Neal, a hot Marc-Andre Fleury, and the return of hockey’s greatest player, nothing could prevent the Penguins from accomplishing their dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

The Philadelphia Flyers turned Pittsburgh’s dream into a nightmare, eliminating the Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in six games. The Flyers abused Pittsburgh’s defense and seemingly scored goals with ease. A superb Fleury in the regular season was a humiliation in the series loss to the Flyers. Claude Giroux sent the face of the Pittsburgh Penguins plunging onto the ice with a vehement check seconds before scoring the first goal in Game 6. The series was a mortification to the Pittsburgh Penguins and the city of Pittsburgh.

Saturday, January 19, when the NHL returns, Sidney Crosby and the Penguins will have an opportunity to avenge their playoff loss to the Flyers. The two teams will open their respective seasons against each other for the seventh time. Captain Sidney Crosby is as determined as he has ever been in his career. Reigning league MVP Evgeni Malkin is already in game-mode after several months of play in Russia’s KHL league during the lockout. James Neal is ready to affirm, again, why he is The Real Deal. A perturbed defensive group will use their scorn for motivation. Marc-Andre Fleury seeks to prove he is better than his performance suggested in last season’s series loss to the Flyers.

It’s Flyers-Penguins. It’s Giroux-Crosby. It’s Laviolette-Bylsma. Hockey is back, and the Penguins have a glorious opportunity in front of them. They must seize the moment.

Sutter dawns his #16 jersey as a Penguin for the first time, as he meets the Pittsburgh media inside the team’s locker room.

The Pittsburgh Model. The Pittsburgh Penguins were a struggling franchise in the early 2000s, as legend Mario Lemieux transitioned from player to also handling duties as the owner. Lemieux saved the team and took advantage of the high draft picks his team was given for having poor seasons. The Penguins selected center Evgeni Malkin, center Sidney Crosby, and center Jordan Staal in three years, thus creating what is known around the league as ‘The Pittsburgh Model’.

On June 22, 2012, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman took the podium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to announce the Carolina Hurricanes’ eighth overall selection in the draft. “We have a trade to announce. And for those of you in the building, you’ll be particularly interested.” The fans at the Consol Energy Center were shocked and curious, as they jerk their heads to stick their eyes on the Commissioner. “Pittsburgh trades Jordan Staal…” the crowed erupts with excitement and shock… “… to Carolina in exchange for Carolina’s own first round draft pick in this 2012 draft, and Brandon Sutter, and Brian Domoulin.”

Since the 2006-07 season, the Penguins have relied on their trio of centers to dominate the NHL. The three young stars led the team to the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. They led the team to the Cup Finals again in 2009, this time winning the series in seven games. Crosby became the youngest captain to hoist the Stanley Cup. Malkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player. Staal scored a momentous goal in Game 6 to send the series to Detroit for a Game 7.

Once the 2012-13 season finally begins, the Penguins will take the ice for the first time without their three stars in black and gold. Crosby and Malkin are expected to continue their scoring dominance. However, centering the team’s third line will be Brandon Sutter. How will Sutter do?

Jordan Staal did not have to score a lot of goals for the Penguins with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin centering the top two lines and dominating the power play together. Brandon Sutter is obviously not quite as talented offensively as Staal, but he is a talented center himself – a former first round pick in 2007. Offensive production will be as stellar as usual for the prolific Penguins’ attack, with Sutter producing at the highest rate of his career.

The offense is always exceptional in Pittsburgh, but with an already struggling defensive core, many are wondering how the loss of Jordan Staal will affect an already bad penalty killing unit?

I wondered this myself, but then I remembered something I saw during Game 5 of the Flyers/Penguins playoff series from this past season. I was at the game live with a friend. Just like most of the series, the two teams were penalized pretty frequently, so I got to see a lot of both teams’ special teams units. Surprisingly, Jordan Staal was not on the ice often. He was used to win the face-off, then he would quickly skate off the ice, and Craig Adams would take his place to actually kill the penalty.  If Brandon Sutter desires to be a fan-favorite in Pittsburgh, he must be efficient in the face-offs circle. Sutter won 51% of his draws with the Hurricanes last year – a rate not quite effective enough for Sutter to succeed replacing Jordan Staal as a penalty killer. However, with help from Coach Bylsma and Captain Sidney Crosby, I believe Sutter will improve in face-offs.

Replacing a star like Jordan Staal is not easy, but having great players around Sutter will make it easier. If Sutter fails to score goals, it may prevent Bylsma and his coaching staff from putting Crosby and Malkin together for their usual few minutes per game. If Sutter can score more goals than Staal did, Penguins’ fans may see Crosby and Malkin on the ice together even more.