Overconfidence & Suprise: Carter Admits What Hampered Penguins

CALGARY, Alberta — The Pittsburgh Penguins have lost two games in a row. After the first period against the Calgary Flames Tuesday, the Penguins had been outshot, 58-22, over their last three periods and outscored, 7-0. First, the Edmonton Oilers, then the Calgary Flames unloaded a steady stream of shots and scoring chances.

In a region known for rodeos and prairies, the wide-open Penguins were bucked, but there was no barrel in which to hide.

They yielded 82 shots and 10 goals in two nights, giving their critics an arsenal for harsh criticism, although center Jeff Carter offered a measured and very human response.

“You definitely have to look at some things (from the last two games). If you look at our season to date, we were on a pretty good roll there,” Carter said. “Offensively, we had our way for the most part. Sometimes when that happens early, you kind of get in that mindset that everything will continue to go that way. And I think part of that … maybe we got caught in that a little bit here.”

Along with Stanley Cups, star players, and sellouts, perhaps expecting to score six goals is part of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ culture.

After all, they can score six on any given night.

But the Penguins’ ability to outscore opponents sometimes interferes with their ability to outplay them. Coach Mike Sullivan has used various Sullivan-isms to describe the phenomena, including “hope is not a strategy” and “we tried to outscore them.”

After bombarding the Arizona Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, LA Kings, and Columbus Blue Jackets with a total of 24 goals (six per game), Carter implied the Penguins thought they could flip that switch at any time, and the results would follow.

Overconfidence.

Defenseman Kris Letang’s postgame comments fell in line with the idea the Penguins were overconfident.

“I think we had a great start (Tuesday). But we knew (the Flames) were going to push hard. It should have been expected,” Letang said. “We should have played the simple game …”

Letang did not say the Penguins expected it. He said they should have expected it, and they should have played a simple game.

They did not.

Tuesday night, Sullivan noted the Penguins’ inconsistency and “volatility,” even from shift-to-shift. Call it an early-season adjustment. Untalented teams don’t score six goals four times in a week, nor do they get to roll unfettered through Stanley Cup contenders, as both Edmonton and Calgary are.

Contrary to the doom-and-gloomers, who seem to revel in the most dour proclamations, just as six goals isn’t the “real” Pittsburgh Penguins, neither is getting overwhelmed twice in Alberta. Consider the last couple of games a little wake-up call.

“We played two really good teams. I think if you look at our game in the last two nights … not our best. Not consistent games,” said Carter. “(We) ran up against top teams. And I think you’ve got to play 60 minutes. You can’t start good or have a good second period. It’s got to be a full 60, and we didn’t have that. That is pretty clear.”

And the Penguins know it.

“When you’re scoring six a night, it kind of gets you in that mode of, ‘You know, we can do it every night.’ And we have a team that could do it every night,” Carter said. “But I think at the start of the year, when we scored six goals, we were playing the right way. We were checking and creating our opportunities from our own end out, really, and then grinding teams down in the offensive zone.”

Simply put, the Penguins were expectant and a bit spoiled by their own success. Since they could score six, they assumed they would score six. They may have been surprised when opponents hung the big numbers on the scoreboard.

Carter’s simple and honest tone underscored the admission.

Carter’s locker-room comments to Pittsburgh Hockey Now also indicate the group realizes its mistake. The team has a day off in Vancouver Wednesday before facing the winless Vancouver Canucks Friday.

If the lesson is heeded, the Penguins could extend the misery in Vancouver. But if they don’t, it could inject a little unhappiness into their own room. The Penguins had their fun and paid for it with a hangover.

Now, they can get on with the task of finding the real Pittsburgh Penguins.