Experience Necessary
Seasoned Pens Prepare For Playoffs
By Bob Grove

The Penguins didn't stick around very long in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, but the memory of their five-game loss to the Ottawa Senators in the opening round one year ago is still with them - and has been all season.

"We were joking about it this year at different points, especially when we went up to Ottawa and played for the first time this year," said defenseman Brooks Orpik. "We were laughing about the first five, 10 minutes of the series. . . we couldn't even get out of our zone. Everything was going 100 miles an hour."

By the time the opening game was 90 seconds old, the Senators had outshot the Penguins, 5-0, and taken a 1-0 lead, and that lead grew to 2-0 six minutes into the first period of what turned out to be a 6-3 loss.

"As the series went along," Orpik said, "we settled down a little bit, but by the time we settled down it was too late."

One of the reasons for that, of course, was Pittsburgh's vast playoff inexperience: 14 of the 22 players who dressed for a game against the Senators last April had never before played in a Stanley Cup playoff game. Coach Michel Therrien downplayed that inexperience as a major point of concern, but the Penguins heard all about it in the days leading up to the series.

"Everyone told us about it last year," said defenseman Ryan Whitney, "but we didn't really understand until we saw how Ottawa played. We saw how great they played, and that's what it takes: to be physical, not turn the puck over, just play a solid, smart game with intensity. That's what it's all about. I think we're ready for it this year."

That's one of the Penguins' mantras this spring as they enter the post-season with a roster that includes only three players without Stanley Cup experience: Kris Letang, Tyler Kennedy and Jeff Taffe. Moreover, from the off-season through the trade deadline, general manager Ray Shero added veterans with more extensive playoff resumes, including Stanley Cup winners Petr Sykora (88 games) and Darryl Sydor (151) as well as Marian Hossa (55), Hal Gill (36) and Pascal Dupuis (20).

"We've picked up some good players with that experience," says goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who went 7-1 in his first eight starts after recovering from a high ankle sprain and will be critical to Pittsburgh's post-season success. "Maybe I'm a little more mature, too."

But just as importantly, says Orpik, there is a different feeling in the Pittsburgh dressing room this time around. After a sluggish start in which they won just eight of their first 21 games, the Penguins headed into the final two weeks of the regular season having played 21 games over .500 over the last four months.

"Last year, we got Ottawa and I think maybe we were a little overwhelmed just looking at them," Orpik said. "Maybe they had a psychological edge on us. There's more of a quiet confidence this year."

That confidence comes from excelling under roster duress, as Pittsburgh sat atop the Atlantic Division with seven games to play despite missing - at that point - Fleury for 35 games, Sidney Crosby for 27, Gary Roberts for 38, Mark Eaton for 40 and Adam Hall for 29 with injuries. Eaton (knee) and Hall (hernia) were not expected to return, while Roberts and Crosby were both aiming for late March returns along with defenseman Rob Scuderi, who had been partnered with Sergei Gonchar as the Penguins' top defensive pair before missing 11 games with a broken finger.

While the Penguins were expected in many quarters to slip quietly out of the playoff picture when Crosby went down with a high ankle sprain in mid-January, the opposite happened: Pittsburgh went 16-7-4 in its first 27 games without its captain.

"Obviously, we want those guys in the lineup," said Scuderi, "but I think it's a good thing that we've shown some resiliency, that we've won with some of our top guys out."

Therrien is convinced not only surviving but flourishing through the injuries has done wonders for the team's belief in itself, and it's one of the reasons he says this team is more well-rounded than the one that lost to Ottawa last season.

"With all the adversity we've faced this year, with all the injuries, I've been telling them all season eventually we will become a better team," he said. "It's good for the confidence. We're playing a much more mature game than we played last season - we're not such a high-risk team that we were last season - and we have more depth."

The Penguins have improved their defensive play this season, says Therrien, because "they are committed about the way we play." He stresses what he calls "puck management," or reducing turnovers and making high-percentage plays, and in response this Pittsburgh team had sliced its goals-against average from 2.93 to 2.67.

Playoff success, says Whitney, will be "about being smart with the puck. I think that's the biggest thing: not giving the puck away, not giving the other team easy scoring chances."

While the performance of Ty Conklin during Fleury's absence was a major factor in the team's defensive improvement, the scoring load fell into the good hands of Evgeni Malkin and Co. during Crosby's absence. Malkin scored 20 goals during Crosby's first 27 games out of the lineup while he and linemates Ryan Malone (32 points in 29 games) and Sykora (40 points in 35 games) found some very real chemistry.

The challenge for whoever the Penguins draw in the first round will be devising a way to defend that line and the Crosby line that will include Hossa and likely Pascal Dupuis. Therrien was not worried that Crosby and Hossa - whose playoff production has been an underwhelming 13 goals in 55 career games - seemed likely to get only a few games together before heading into the playoffs

"It's going to be exciting to see Sid and Hossa play together. Chemistry-wise, you need some games to get prepared," Therrien said, "but when you've got two players like this, the way those two guys see the game and with their speed, I believe it's not going to take too long."

Among the Penguins' possible first-round opponents, they had struggled against Philadelphia (2-4-0), Ottawa (1-2-1) and the New York Rangers (2-3-1) while splitting their four-game season series against Boston and Toronto and sweeping their four-game series with Washington and Florida.

"This year, you look 1 through 8 and every team can beat every team," said Orpik, mindful that the conference standings with two weeks left saw only 10 points separating the playoff qualifiers in the East. "I don't know that there is a good matchup for anybody this year. It should be fun to watch."

And potentially more fun to play for the Penguins now that they've got their playoff baptism out of the way.

"I think we totally understand it's a whole different game; you have to raise your level of play, your intensity level," says Whitney. "We know what to expect now, and that's what it takes for a team: you get that one year, and it may be tough, but you learn a lot."

Bob Grove is the studio host for the Penguins Radio Network and covers the Penguins and the NHL for the Pittsburgh Sports Report.