ANALYSIS: Penguins At The Quarter Pole

With the Penguins 2009/2010 season officially 25% in the books, it's a good time to take a look at where the flightless birds are right now, and where they are going for the next 6 or so weeks. At the end of my quarter-pole analysis, I'll list 3 players who I think have overachieved so far this season, as well as 3 who I feel have underachieved at this point.

Pittsburgh is currently tied for first in the Atlantic Division with 28 points and a 14-7 record. They've lost more than 3 times as many regulation games under head coach Dan Bylsma in just about the same number of games this season as they did during the close of the regular season last year after he took over as coach. Of course, all that does is emphasize how outstanding Blysma did last year down the stretch of the 82-game slate, losing just a couple times in about 23 or 24 games.

Still, the Penguins have little to complain about. No team in the league has more wins than they do, and only 3 have more points, despite their recent rash of injuries (more on that in a bit).

The Penguins have scored 66 goals, and given up 58. Again, only 3 teams have scored more. However, about 16 teams have let up fewer goals, which puts Pittsburgh in the middle of the league pack from a goals against standpoint. Obviously, they could stand to tighten things up somewhat defensively.

Their penalty killing sits a respectable 11th overall in the league, at a 82.1% kill rate.

Do I even have to talk about the power play? Ugh.

Okay. The Pens' man advantage is clicking (failing?) at an embarrassing 13.3%, good for 29th out of 30 teams league-wide.

I'd like to chalk up their failures on the PP to the rash of injuries they have sustained, but they've been subpar on the power play all season long -- even when they were 9-1 and 11-2 on the year.

Imagine how lethal Pittsburgh would be if they actually got the power play going?

Pens' assistant coach Tony Granato, who controls the power play, needs to get the guys back to basics. Have Gonchar and Malkin drill the puck to the goal, create screens, and have guys like Guerin, Kunitz, Staal and others look for garbage.

Okay. The injuries. Some would say that has been the main storyline for the first quarter of the Penguins' season, and it would be hard to argue with that. They've lost multiple key players in the last month, at times even losing one player per game. Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, Brooks Orpik, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski have all missed time with injuries.

Of course, that doesn't include Max Talbot, who has yet to play this year -- but is a good candidate to get back in the lineup tomorrow night against Ottawa -- because of off-season shoulder surgery.

Just look at those names. Almost every one was a key contributor to the Penguins' Stanley Cup Championship last season.

With all due respect, we're not talking about losing Eric Godard and Craig Adams to injury here.

The good news is that none of the injuries these guys sustained are truly long term injuries. Malkin has already returned. As I mentioned, Talbot is next. Within another game or two, Gonchar should return. Orpik and Letang will probably join him on the blueline right around the same time. Kennedy is looking at mid-to-late next week, probably. Goligoski is probably the only guy that will be out into early December.

In truth, because some of those guys (Malkin, Gonchar, Orpik) will likely see Olympic action in February and March, the time they've missed may end up helping the Pens in the long run.

Looking forward into the next quarter of the season, the Penguins first have to worry about getting -- and staying -- healthy. Once they do that, they can focus on "getting to their game" as HCDB likes to say. That involves skating quickly north-south, being aggressive on the forecheck, pinching in at the points along the wall when necessary, and firing 35 shots per game on the net.

The other thing they have to do going forward -- as mentioned above -- is fix their power play. That would help against any opponent, but certainly against some of the marquee teams they'll be facing in the next 20 or so games -- like Colorado and Chicago, for example. Pittsburgh also has a few contests against their arch-rival Flyers in the next stretch, and they'll need their special teams going for those games as well.

THREE OVERACHIEVERS SO FAR:

1) RW Tyler Kennedy: TK has quickly developed into an even more important player for Pittsburgh than he already was. He had 8 points in 12 games before missing the last 3 or so weeks with a lower body injury, and was really adding a scoring punch to the 3rd line, with potential to have an even greater impact if he gets a spot on one of the top lines -- something not out of the question now that Bylsma has switched his line combinations.

2) F Mike Rupp: Rupp scored 3 goals all of last season with New Jersey, and already has 4 with Pittsburgh this year, including one of the best, highlight-reel tallies scored by a Penguin player this season. He's shown good hands, decent skating ability, and the aggressiveness he was advertised to bring to the table. He's been an excellent fit in Bylsma's system on the 4th line thusfar.

3) D Alex Goligoski: It's hard to label GoGo as an overachiever, because everyone knows how much talent he has, but before leaving the lineup recently due to injury, I think it's fair to say he was exceeding everyone's already-growing expectations. He has 14 points in 20 games and sits 5th overall in the league in plus/minus at +11. He leads all blueliners leaguewide in goals with 6.

THREE UNDERACHIEVERS SO FAR

1) D Kris Letang: Letang is more of a two-way player than most give him credit for. Still, his great talent should be translating to more than just 1 goal and 7 points in 17 games. He continues to not shoot the puck enough. The Pens need him to rip it more often, especially because he's a right-handed shot.

2) D Brooks Orpik: I've heard some criticism of Orpik in Penguin nation, and while some of what I've heard is probably more than Orpik deserves, I agree that he's not on top of his game right now. He's hitting with the same frequency and ferocity as usual, but is minus 6 -- a stark contrast to the +4 rating his usual partner, Gonchar, has put up. Like the team as a whole, he needs to tighten up defensively a little.

3) F Chris Bourque: This was a tough call between Bourque and Jordan Staal, who had a chance to step up his game in Malkin's absence but didn't notably do so, but I'll give Gronk the benefit of another quarter and go with Bourque here. Bourque was a waiver wire pick up who has played in 13 games for Pittsburgh so far, but doesn't really have a whole lot to show for it. He's a guy who has scored a little in the taste of NHL action he got while in the Washington Capitals organization, but hasn't found a way to make an impact on the scoresheet for the Penguins yet. He has been skating well and going up and down the wing, but he's not an especially physical forechecker, and hasn't proven to add a great deal if he's not putting at least a few points on the board. A guy the Penguins signed coming off a training camp tryout, -- and a guy who's been playing well in Wilkes Barre all season -- W Ryan Bayda, probably would have been a better fit than Bourque. When Kennedy gets back, I'd expect Bourque to be waived. If he clears, he'll see action with the Baby Penguins.

That's my view at the quarter pole. Hopefully the Pens' can keep their latest winning run going at the start of a 3-game road trip beginning in Canada's Capital tomorrow night.

Let's Go Pens!