Penguins Update: Speed Kills, But is it the Be-All and End-All?
It’s the lifeblood of the Penguins’ game. Speed. Coach Mike Sullivan wants forwards who can get on the opposition and wear ‘em down with a hard forecheck.
On the back-end, he likes defensemen who can skate and move the puck to the forwards quickly and efficiently.
It’s an approach that’s paid off handsomely for the black and gold during the regular season, not to mention when we won our back-to-back Cups.
On the down side, those returns have greatly diminished in recent postseasons. We’ve endured four-straight early playoff exits…the past three in the opening round.
In each instance we lost to a heavier, more structured team.
As new PenguinPoop commenter Lightning so aptly noted, the Pens’ speed and energy provides a definite advantage during the long grind of the regular season, when intensity levels vary greatly from game to game.
However, in the postseason, when the intensity gets ramped up along with hitting and physical play, the Pens’ advantage seems to be greatly diminished. There’s generally less room to make plays and you have to fight harder for prime real estate between the circles.