At forward, the Pittsburgh Penguins have arguably the best combination of top-end talent and depth of any team still active in the NHL playoffs. The reverse is true on defence, where Pittsburgh’s collection of talent is probably the worst of any surviving team.
In Friday’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, both that strength and that weakness were on display.
The Lightning seemed to be trying to take advantage of Pittsburgh’s back end, and in the early going they had success in that department. The constant pressure on the Pens’ blue line led directly to Tampa Bay’s first goal. It also led to an unfortunate collision between Bolts winger Ryan Callahan and Pittsburgh No. 2 defenceman Trevor Daley, one which took Daley out of the game:
Daley entered the night averaging 22:59 per game and playing in all situations for the Pens. His arrival midway through the year was one of the events that helped spur Pittsburgh to a brilliant run in the second half of 2015-16. It’s possible to read too much into the absence of one player—recall that Pittsburgh won a game in the last r ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
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