Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Boston Bruins Game 4: Five Ways For Pens to Avoid Sweep
By Josh Sanchez
This post was contributed by Johnny Feulner of FanSided’s Pittsburgh Penguins website, Pens Labyrinth. Be sure to check out PensLabyrinth.com for more of Johnny’s work, along with Penguins news and rumors.
To everybody’s surprise, the high-powered Pittsburgh Penguins are down 3-0 to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. And while most of us didn’t see this coming — we all can’t count the Pens out either. After all, this is the Penguins we’re talking about. Although the ‘Burgh hasn’t lustered any sort of mojo thus far, one has to believe they’ll turn this series around somehow right?
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Chris Kunitz, James Neal, Jarome Iginla — ever heard of them?
With the way this series has started, some probably had forgotten about these players because none have really produced enough to talk about.
But that could all change tonight.
If the Pens want to push this series back to Pittsburgh after Friday, they’re going to have to maintain all focus on Game 4 and there’s five responsibilities they must uphold.
1. Play With Controlled Emotions
2. Stay Out Of The Penalty Box
3. Create Second-Chance Opportunities
4. Manage The Puck, Don’t Let It Manage you
5. Execute, Put Pucks On Net
Often times when Pittsburgh has fallen off their game it is because they have lost control of their adrenaline. If they learn to harness their emotions in time for tonight’s contest, the Pens should dictate the speed of the game.
When they stay out of the penalty box — that’s also a good indication that the Pens are showing their focus.
Which is a good point — stay out of the box!
The more opportunities you give the Bruins on the man-advantage, the more momentum they gain via scoring chances. When the Pens avoid the sin-bin, they’re usually the ones on the attack — pressuring the opposition.
Which makes second-chance shots crucial. In respect to Pittsburgh, Boston’s goaltender Tuukka Rask hasn’t allowed many of these, but the Pens must continue to press for that rebound goal.
Creating those second-chance opportunities comes from managing the puck well too. The Pens can’t be careless with the biscuit tonight. Steel city fans have seen their team turn the puck over more often than not, and its gotten obnoxious.
Should Pittsburgh eliminate the errant cross-ice passes, no-look backhand dishes and shots directly at Boston defenders — we’ll see a much more crisper game.
What’s going to be most important for Pittsburgh is that they must score.
Tomas Vokoun is going to give the Pens his all. If the star forwards for Pittsburgh finally wake up and realize they’re tough to beat when they’re up, the outcome of the contest is going to swing in their favor majority of the time.
The way Pittsburgh runs is through the scoreboard. When the Pens are putting goals in they come in bunches, so getting on the board early is also going to play a big part.
Everything is on the line tonight. The burgh has got to execute the way they know how.
Should Boston dispose of the disappointing Pens, count on a few major changes ahead for Pittsburgh this offseason.
Game 4 is tonight in Boston at 8 p.m.