Orpik Questions Teammates' Committment As Pens Lose 4th Straight, 3-1, To Lightning

Pittsburgh Penguins' defenseman Brooks Orpik has always been one of the most truthful, candid players in the locker room.

Orpik has never been afraid to speak his mind and frequently offers insights that most other players either can't offer or simply choose not to.

So, after his team's 3-1 defeat yesterday afternoon to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum -- Pittsburgh's 4th defeat in a row and 5th loss in their last six games -- Orpik didn't pull any punches in assessing the cause of the Penguins' failures the last several weeks.

"It's kind of like we're just showing up and assuming ... right now, we think we're good enough to show up and beat whoever we play, and we're not."

Orpik continued:

"Besides families, hockey has to be your top priority ... I think everyone has to maybe re-evaluate where their priorities are right now."

The Penguins should listen to Orpik, because they just aren't playing with enough urgency.

Urgency can be measured in many ways, but one good barometer -- in my opinion -- most of the time is shots on goal.

A Dan Bylmsa team is a team that controls play in the offensive zone and launches 35 shots on goal.

Pittsburgh only put up 26 last night against Lightning goaltender Mike Smith; meanwhile, they allowed the Lightning to throw 37 at goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, continuing a trend in recent contests where the Penguins haven't -- for whatever reason -- "got to their game".

Fleury did everything he could to keep Pittsburgh in the game yesterday, including stopping a penalty shot by Vincent Lecavalier in the third period, but he was one of the few Penguins who showed up in a mostly uninspiring team performance.

As more evidence, look at Tampa's goal scorers yesterday. The Pens' allowed guys like Steve Downie and Zenon Konopka -- who leads the league in penalty minutes for heaven's sake -- to tally markers.

Add a goal by Martin St. Louis to open the scoring and it was more than enough to offset the 13th goal of the season by Pens' RW Bill Guerin in the first period.

St. Louis' goal, by the way, was the 13th time in the last 17 games that Pittsburgh has given up the game's first goal.

Think that's another sign that urgency at the drop of the puck isn't there?

Clearly, the Penguins aren't doing the little things out there which are necessary to win right now. Combine that with struggles of several individual players -- including Evegni Malkin who, for instance, has only one POINT in the Penguins' last 7 road games -- and it's easy to see why Pittsbugh is suddenly facing a 6-point deficit to New Jersey in the Atlantic Division standings.

I said earlier in the week after the Penguins came from ahead to blow a 3-0 lead against the Buffalo Sabres that it was good the team could get right back on the horse and play the next night against the New Jersey Devils.

Today, when the Penguins have the same opportunity, playing on the 2nd day of a back-to-back, this time against the Florida Panthers (5:00 PM EST), I'm not so sure.

While Pittsburgh is 3-0 against Florida this year, all of their victories have been by 3-2 scores and two of them were the result of comebacks from 2-0 down.

The way the Penguins are playing right now, it's hard to expect the same result.

But I guess that's why they play the games.

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!


NOTES: Defenseman Sergei Gonchar missed the game yesterday after taking a shot off his foot in Wednesday's game against New Jersey. Gonchar didn't even make it through the Penguins' practice on Friday before the team left for Florida, so it's no surprise he didn't suit up, even if he did make the trip. Defenseman Jay McKee -- a healthy scratch on Wednesday -- was re-inserted back in the lineup in Sarge's place. Whie the team seems to have not given up hope Gonchar might play against the Panthers' today, I'd be surprised if he was in the lineup.