The Penguins coaching staff certainly was outcoached in the series with the Canadiens and were plagued with a series of poor decisions.
Some of these poor decisions were consistently made throughout the year.
First-Defense was suspect throughout this series and throughout the year. Alex Goligoski was the worst defenseman on the ice for the Penguins in the playoffs and the entire season. Not once, in my recollection, was he a healthy scratch.
The defense fell short of the basic goals of shot blocking and clearing the front of the net.
We brought in Jay MCKee, a solid veteran shot blocker, in the offseason. The coaching staff used him sparingly. He would have been an asset during the playoffs and yet he was a healthy scratch, not only in the playoffs but throughout the season.
Second, the Penguins created very little traffic in front of the net throughout the entire year as well as in the playoffs. With the size of Staal and Ponikarovsky, the coaching staff should have used these players and others to create havoc in front of the net.
The same goes for crashing the net. T ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Scott Barner
Pittsburgh Penguins Coaching Staff Should Share the Blame in Playoff Loss
May 12th, 2010 by Scott Barner Leave a reply »
Advertisement