PHN+ Summary: Pittsburgh Hockey Now spoke with Sidney Crosby Thursday in Tampa regarding the team\u2019s surge toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his agent\u2019s comments last summer, and what makes this year\u2019s Penguins different. Also, coach Dan Muse is playing coy with his goaltending situation.<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Sidney Crosby\u2019s agent, Pat Brisson sent shockwaves through the hockey world last summer when he stated plainly that he would like to see Crosby playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year. Ordinarily, that would be a matter of fact, but given the Penguins\u2019 rapidly changing dynamics, it was universally viewed as a shot across the bow of Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas<\/a>, who spent the first half of the off-season preparing fans for a rebuild with Crosby as a shepherd for a bevy of young players.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n By December, the Penguins had inserted 12 rookies into the lineup, but only 18-year-old center Ben Kindel and rookie goalie Arturs Silovs stuck.<\/p>\n The rookies arrived and vanished this season. Harrison Brunicke, Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Owen Pickering, Filip Hallander (injured. Blood clot), Avery Hayes, Sergei Murashov, Tristan Broz, and Sam Poulin suited up and were sent down.<\/p>\n Last summer, the Penguins were on the cusp of a rebuild, but Dubas also signed a bucket full of second chance players. Anthony Mantha, 32, was recovering from torn ACL surgery. Justin Brazeau, 28, who had not yet been given much of a chance beyond fourth-line duty in Boston and Minnesota. Parker Wotherspoon, 28, was served a healthy diet of press box nachos in Boston before coming to the Penguins via free agency.<\/p>\n The veterans supplanted the rookies, and the Penguins won games. Then a few more.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n And now, they are simultaneously on the precipice of the great beyond without Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, and on the verge of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n Dubas has avoided any mention of placating Crosby, and Crosby dutifully walked back his agents comments in the days following them, but common sense alone posits that a rebuilding Penguins chasing first overall pick Gavin McKenna would be far less attractive to a 38-year-old superstar than a scrappy bunch of rag-tag veterans jelling around their captain and a shared purpose to plant themselves solidly in the NHL.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, this is why you play. I said the other day, you know what\u2013we\u2019d love to have clinched already, for sure. But this is\u2014these games, these big games, and everything meaning as much as it does\u2014that\u2019s what makes it exciting as a player, and we\u2019ve obviously worked really hard to get to this point,\u201d Crosby said. \u201cYou know, whether it be injuries or different guys stepping up throughout the season. It\u2019s been a collective effort to get us in this position. So we\u2019ve got to make the most of it.<\/p>\n And even though Crosby steadfastly refused to entertain talk of being traded last summer, a playoff chase is just a wee bit better for his morale than a figurative plate of raw broccoli that is a rebuild.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n As part of our conversation before he had to catch the 12:15 bus back to the hotel, we asked a simple question.<\/p>\n Q: Is there one thing that you can put your finger on that has been the reason for success this year? I mean, all of us, you know, in the media, sort of picked you guys not to do so well. Is there one thing\u2013what has been the recipe for success?<\/p>\n A: \u201cI think it is just our efforts. Our compete (level) every single night, regardless of the schedule, of who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out. I think it\u2019s just been the way we work, and regardless of the score, whether we\u2019re down in games or games that could have gone the other way, every night we show up and work, and it\u2019s a good way to start.\u201d<\/p>\n No. 1 Goalie<\/p>\n There is a psychological game taking place with the Penguins\u2019 goaltending. Stuart Skinner will start Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he will have started four of the last five games\u2013which is the biggest break from Muse\u2019s goalie rotations this season.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n However, Muse still won\u2019t admit to tabbing Skinner the top goalie or even that he would like to have a No. 1 goalie in place by the playoffs (if and when). PHN asked Thursday, and we got the stock answer, again.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, we\u2019ve said the same thing all year. We continue to evaluate and reevaluate and make decisions every day, and that answer stays the same,\u201d said Muse. \u201cAnd so I think both guys have done a really good job for us. Both guys have won big games for us. They\u2019ve been a part of big wins. And so, yeah, I\u2019ve got a lot of confidence in both of our goalies, and we\u2019ll continue to take it a game at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n Bt that\u2019s not the story. In the battle of words vs. actions, follow the actions.<\/p>\n Both Skinner and Arturs Silovs had rough games last week. Since, Skinner has been playing. Silovs has been watching.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a stats person, there is almost no difference between the pair. Their save percentage with the Penguins is within 0.03. Silovs has a better GSAA (goals saved above average), but the eyes say Skinner has performed quite well, even in a 6-5 OT loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not often you give up six and feel you played well,\u201d Skinner said.<\/p>\n But the reality is that Muse sees what we see. Silovs has been shaky and his issues are persistent. Silovs seems to excel with tight saves, but struggles with long-range shots, and that issue hasn\u2019t really improved this season. Silovs\u2019s rebound control has improved, but there are stretches in which he sprays the puck, which puts the Penguins\u2019 defensemen at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n Skinner may have limitations, but he\u2019s also more consistent. And there is the intangible factor. The team LOVES Skinner, and Skinner has been through the biggest pressure situations the game can offer. In a short time, there is a genuine relationship between Skinner and the team.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Skinner has been through Stanley Cup Finals, being dragged in his hometown, and he\u2019s still standing. And still smiling.<\/p>\n And Skinner is also the starting goalie, whether Muse will admit it or not.<\/p>\n The post Crosby on Playoffs, What Makes Penguins Different; Muse Coy on Goalie (+)<\/a> appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHN+ Summary: Pittsburgh Hockey Now spoke with Sidney Crosby Thursday in Tampa regarding the team\u2019s surge toward the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5113],"tags":[10448,8659,16597,154,29,5833,1495,2522,1609,5,3712,1499,134,161,4,108,12934,118,1469,6830,100,5216,101,24041,102,768,104,157,92,2171,4429],"class_list":{"0":"post-537604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-penguins","8":"tag-anthony-mantha","9":"tag-arturs-silovs","10":"tag-avery-hayes","11":"tag-boston","12":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","13":"tag-dan-muse","14":"tag-evgeni-malkin","15":"tag-filip-hallander","16":"tag-harrison-brunicke","17":"tag-hockey","18":"tag-justin-brazeau","19":"tag-kris-letang","20":"tag-kyle-dubas","21":"tag-minnesota","22":"tag-nhl","23":"tag-owen-pickering","24":"tag-parker-wotherspoon","25":"tag-penguins","26":"tag-pittsburgh","27":"tag-pittsburgh-hockey","28":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","29":"tag-pittsburghpenguins","30":"tag-rutger-mcgroarty","31":"tag-sam-poulin","32":"tag-sergei-murashov","33":"tag-sidney-crosby","34":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","35":"tag-stuart-skinner","36":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","37":"tag-the-penguins","38":"tag-ville-koivunen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}