Pens' Get First Win For Dan Bylsma; 2 Big Points With 5-4 Win Over Montreal

During his first practice with the team on Wednesday, new Penguins' coach Dan Bylmsa coached, instructed, and taught his new players the various tenets of the aggressive style of play he wanted to implement to the tune of nearly 2 full hours on the ice.

Yesterday before last night's big game at home against the Montreal Canadiens, Bylmsa denied that his new "style" essentially amounted to run-and-gun hockey. He described it more as controlled aggression, and several players indicated that his sytem wasn't markedly different from the one former coach Michel Therrein ran in his nearly 3 years at the helm in Pittsburgh, which makes sense since, as far as I know, Wilkes-Barre plays the same system as the big club for this reason.

After 2 huge points in a 5-4 victory against Montreal, one thing is for sure: whether run-and-gun or not, Bylmsa's imprint was all over the team.

The Penguins skated more aggressively and forechecked more aggressively last night. In my estimation, they also played more carelessly with the puck in an effort to get things moving more, especially in their own end.

Certainly, the team is still learning the nuances of everything their new bench boss wants them to do, but they won't be able to get away with playing the way they did last night against better teams.

There's no doubt that Montreal was ripe for the picking last night. They are slumping badly, having prevailed in only 3 of their last 16 or so games. They banished their star player, RW and former Penguin Alexei Kovalev, to street clothes for the last 2 games just to clear his head while trade rumors swirl around him like a hurricane. Clearly, they were a fragile bunch, and it showed the way they played on the ice.

All that said, while they weren't the best test for the Penguins, the 2 important points they earned last night carry the same value as 2 earned against any other club -- and they were especially timely in the standings.

Both the 7th and 8th place Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, respectively, lost last night, leaving the Penguins only 4 points back of each. The Penguins also stayed relatively close to the Canadiens by beating them. They are only 5 points back of Montreal, who currently sit in 6th spot. That's a heck of a lot better than sitting 9 points behind, like they would have been had the Canadiens beat them. The badly slumping Rangers, currently in 5th, are also only 1 point further ahead.

The Penguins got things going last night with a nice goal by RW Petr Sykora, his 22nd, who was just beginning to skate away from the goal when he was able to chip a shot over the shoulder of Montreal goaltender Cary Price to give the Boys of Winter a 1-0 lead.

The Pens' and Habs traded goals throughout the rest of the first and entire second periods, with Miroslav Satan scoring for Pittsburgh after deflecting a Ryan Whitney shot past Price. Montreal's 2nd goal occurred on a 5-on-3, which was the first 2-man-disadvantage goal the Penguins have given up all season.

That's a nice statistic, but when the opposing power play is the result of 2 lazy and/or dumb penalties, as they were in this instance when Sykora (hooking after pulling up a little short on the backcheck) and Max Talbot (slashing the stick of a Canadien player) committed infractions 90 seconds apart, it's hard to take.

Going into the 3rd period, it was anyone's game.

Center Evgeni Malkin got the final frame off to a heck of a start finishing a 3-on-2 by burying a quick pass from Crosby as he was falling down while going 100 MPH toward the goal. Less than 3 minutes later, Talbot picked a puck out of a scrum near the goal, pulled it back just a bit and fired it far side past Price as the goal was lifting up on him and he was jostling with other players in front. The goal never came off the moorings, however, so the goal stood.

Almost just as quickly, Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanec got the Canadiens back to a tie, but then Penguins' defenseman Sergei Gonchar ripped one from the point past Price to give the Penguins a 5-4 lead.

It was Gonchar's first goal of the season in his 3rd game back. Price never saw it through a screen.

That's the way the game ended.

In most of the 3rd period, the play was up and down the ice, and I didn't like the Penguins trading chances with Montreal like that. Anyone who says that wasn't run-and-gun hockey is kidding themselves.

And that's my concern with what Bylmsa is trying to do. At least early on. When players get rolling and get aggressive offensively, it's easy for them to lose track of -- or get lazy about -- what they are supposed to be doing in their own zone. Highly skilled players are especially susceptible to that because it's instinctive for them to want to play offense.

The Penguins took a lot of chances in this one, especially late. They gave the puck away several times in the 3rd period trying to make a play by tossing the puck right up the middle of their own defensive zone carelessly. Jordan Staal and Hal Gill were guilty of the most obvious transgressions, but there were others.

The Penguins simply need to be better defensively. There's a time to lock-down. Last night, they got away with some things, but that won't happen against better clubs.

This weekend will be an interesting test for Bylmsa and the players, going on the road to play the 2 pretty skilled offensive clubs in the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals in back-to-back afternoon games.

The Penguins are 1-7 in afternoon contests this season.

If they don't want to make that 1-9, they need to strike a balance between maintaining the offensive pressure they want to put on their opponents, while playing tighter -- and smarter -- in their own zone. You can't trade chances or play run-and-gun hockey with Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. Unless Fleury stands on his head, that could be a recipe for distaster, and the Penguins need those points.

NOTES:

The Penguins scratched Bill Thomas and Kris Letang last night. I and probably many others were surprised by Letang's benching. There were rumors going around on a Montreal radio station during the game last night that the Penguins had traded him to the Canadiens for Kovalev. That ended up not being the case, however, and the team has vehemently denied that any deal like that has occurred or is even being discussed.

More than anything, Letang is the type of player one would think Bylmsa would want in his system and on the ice. He's a skilled guy who can transition well, while generally (most of the time, with the recent Toronto game notwithstanding) playing fairly sound in his own zone.

Perhaps Bylmsa was just beginning a bit of a defensive rotation. I hope not. I think Letang needs to be in the lineup.