Can Dan Muse save the Penguins? A daunting to-do list for Game 3 vs. Flyers

PHILADELPHIA — You’re Dan Muse. You aren’t presupposed to be right here, and neither is your staff.

You had been introduced right here to develop younger expertise, to not determine your manner out of a jam in a playoff sequence lower than one 12 months on the job. Your detractors known as you a “bridge coach” if you had been employed. But you are most likely a Lindy Ruff miracle season away from successful the Jack Adams Award in his first 12 months behind the bench. Almost each button you have pushed all season has labored. The Pittsburgh Penguins have largely reached the playoffs due to you, your constructive power, your recent concepts and your skill to construct an identification primarily based on the roster you got.

You’ve completed a spectacular job, however the first two video games of your NHL postseason head teaching profession have not gone so nicely.

So, now what?

Every time the Penguins have met adversity this season, Muse has answered the bell. They entered the season with nearly zero expectations of success from outdoors the locker room and responded by going 41-25-16 and ending second in the Eastern Conference’s Metropolitan Division.

From Dec. 7 to Dec. 20, they misplaced eight video games in a row, many in embarrassing style. They bounced again by enjoying their finest hockey of the season in January and solidifying themselves as authentic playoff contenders.

They confronted two Sidney Crosby accidents, Evgeni Malkin’s five-game suspension and a March schedule that was the busiest in NHL historical past. Through all of it, Muse and his Penguins performed nicely sufficient to clinch a playoff spot per week earlier than the finish of the season.

The previous six months are proof that Muse’s skill to search out solutions in the face of adversity is a real power.

Now, the adversity is herelarger than ever.

The Penguins aren’t simply down 2-0 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff sequence; they had been (*3*) for 120 minutes on house ice by a staff with inferior expertise. That’s no knock on the Philadelphia Flyers, who’re clearly higher than we thought. They’re younger however quick, bodily and able to enjoying a disciplined fashion the Penguins can solely dream of. Still, 20 p.c of Muse’s roster will likely be in the Hall of Fame sometime, and that does not embrace the staff’s main aim scorer, Anthony Mantha, or Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Egor Chinakhov and a handful of different proficient gamers.

Those first two video games had been dangerous. No manner round it. Now, Muse has his work reduce out for himself. If the Penguins lose Game 3 On Wednesday in Philadelphia, this sequence is over. So, the coach has mere hours to repair it.

First and foremost, he has to handle his staff’s lack of ability to deal with the Flyers’ entice sport. The Penguins have refused to dump and chase, aside from their fourth line, which has been their finest on this sequence. If he cannot persuade his staff that this technique is the strategy to win, the Penguins could have no probability. That does not imply they should use the tactic completely, however they’re in hassle if they do not present a willingness to vary types to attempt to break the entice only a bit. Philadelphia is daring them to aim to stickhandle by way of their defensive maze, and the Penguins are taking the bait nearly each time. That has to vary.

Then, there’s the energy play. It’s not solely 0-for-7 on this sequence, it is a pathetic 0-for-7. The Penguins’ energy play in Game 2 was certainly one of the worst in staff playoff historical past. It not solely failed to attain however registered solely two pictures in 5 alternatives.

That alone is dangerous sufficient, however there’s extra.

That energy play additionally sapped all of the power out of the constructing — and that was earlier than it allowed certainly one of the most embarrassing shorthanded objectives in franchise historical past. Tommy Novak and Kris Letang curiously fell to the ice as an alternative of creating easy defensive performs, and the sequence culminated in the shorthanded aim by Garnet Hathaway, who scored simply eleven in the total common season.

The energy play is damaged and in want of a personnel change. The unit of Crosby, Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Rakell and Rust have to be damaged up. It’s not working. It’s so sluggish and weak to counterattack. Remember: This group is up towards Flyers coach Rick Tochett and assistant coach Todd Reirden, each of whom are former Penguins assistants. Nobody is aware of Crosby and Malkin’s tendencies higher than Tocchet, who coached the Penguins’ energy play at their apex.

Next on the list, Muse wants to determine his blue line. The defensive pairing of Letang and Sam Girard is a multitude. Letang’s Game 2 was cringeworthy. He’s been on the ice for 5 of the Flyers’ six objectives and appears like a weak hyperlink. Reirden as soon as was the Letang whisperer. His time in Pittsburgh resulted in a few of Letang’s best performances. Philadelphia’s employees is aware of Letang so nicely — and is aware of how one can assault him. Muse has to unravel his protection’s sudden lack of ability to create offense whereas coping with Philadelphia’s speedy forwards.

The head coach has made one appropriate determination: going with Stuart Skinner as his No. 1 goaltender. If not for Skinner, the first two video games would have been significantly extra lopsided. The Penguins have allowed six breakaways in the first two video games of this sequence, together with a two-on-none and one other that resulted in a penalty shot. Skinner did not let any of these flip into objectives, but when they proceed, it is solely a matter of time till the floodgates open and the Penguins discover themselves on a golf course.

Muse has gotten Pittsburgh this far with a mixture of constructive power and spectacular decision-making. To have any probability at advancing to the second spherical, he’ll want these in droves.

Here’s the to-do list:

• Figure out the energy play, together with potential personnel modifications
• Consider enjoying Justin Brazeau
• Solve the impartial zone
• Prevent fixed odd-man rushes
• Decide if Game 2 third-period line modifications will stick
• Jump begin Crosby
• Get Malkin to restrict turnovers
• Wake up Mantha
• Prepare for the storm coming in Game 3’s first 10 minutes

It’s fairly a list, and Muse is sort of a coach. But for the first time this season, he is likely to be dealing with a mountain he cannot climb.