GTOPG: Is Peter Laviolette a liar? Penguins lose to Flyers 6-4

By GTOG Staff (follow Artistry and Finesse on Twitter)

[Make sure to listen to our podcast recapping Pens-Flyers]

With 1:07 remaining and the Flyers up 6-3 on the Pens, the following players were on the ice for each team:

Penguins
Arron Asham (61 GP, 8 fighting majors, 76 PIMs)
Joe Vitale (65 GP, 3 fighting majors, 51 PIMs)
Craig Adams (79 GP, 2 fighting majors, 34 PIMs)
Matt Niskanen (74 GP, 1 fighting major, 47 PIMs)
Deryk Engelland (76 GP, 8 fighting majors, 56 PIMs)

Flyers
Danny Briere (70 GP, 1 fighting major, 69 PIMs)
Wayne Simmonds (79 GP, 10 fighting majors, 110 PIMs)
Brayden Schenn (51 GP, 2 fighting majors, 32 PIMs)
Pavel Kubina (66 GP, 2 fighting majors, 70 PIMs)
Marc-Andre Bourdon (42 GP, 2 fighting majors, 50 PIMs)

Totals
Penguins: 355 GP, 22 fighting majors, 264 PIMs
Flyers: 308 GP, 17 fighting majors, 331 PIMs

As Danny Briere skated the puck through the neutral zone with his head down, Joe Vitale delivered a check that will be studied in checking schools until the end of time.  Then, all hell broke loose.



We understand emotion -- we modernized emotion with the Raw Emotion Podcast -- but what we don't understand is a complete lack of reason.  After the game, Laviolette said he was upset that the Pens put out their fourth line in the final two minutes of a three-goal game.

"It was a gutless move by their coach," Laviolette said. "[Pittsburgh's enforcers] hadn't been out on the ice in 12 minutes. It's gutless."

This makes so little sense for so many reasons.  Find out why after the jump...

First, as the numbers above show, you can't think of the Pens 4th line in the same way that you thought about 4th lines 15 years ago.  This isn't Francois Leroux and Steve McKenna.  It's Sgt. Craig Adams and Pfc. Joe Vitale.  These are actual hockey players who play "Grind Bitches Down" but can hardly be classified as goons or thugs.  If you think that they are goons or thugs then your opinion is based on ignorance cultivated by not having watched enough Penguins games this year.  Engelland is a great fighter, but he's only fought 8 times this year and we can't remember him ever getting into a pre-staged battle.  Asham is arguably the only one who fits the stereotypical description of a 4th liner, but watch the replay and you'll see: Asham didn't start anything.  The Flyers tried to jump Vitale, and Asham responded the way any player would, whether that player is a 1st or 4th liner.  Asham isn't an instigator.  He's a finisher.

Second, as Laviolette pointed out, THEY HADN'T BEEN ON THE ICE IN 12 MINUTES, and there was a perfectly good hockey reason for that.  The Pens were losing by two goals for much of the 3rd period and were trying to come back ... is there a better chance of that happening with Crosby on the ice or Craig Adams?  Once it became a three-goal game, Bylsma could afford to save Sid and Geno's energy for games down the road.

Is Laviolette suggesting that Bylsma should have continued playing Sid and Geno 25 minutes in what had become an unwinnable game so as not to hurt Pete's feelings?  So as to suggest to Brayden Schenn that, by all means, you should feel free to continue to crosscheck an unsuspecting Sidney Crosby in the back over the next two weeks at your convenience?  Would Laviolette like to submit a list of Penguins that would have been acceptable to him at that time?  Save the false outrage for when someone puts out an Eric Godard against Claude Giroux.

Game changer.

Third, and maybe most importantly, the Pens didn't start the fight.  Joe Vitale delivered a textbook check on Danny Briere (Why was Briere on the ice in the last 2 minutes of a three goal game? Isn't he a goal-scorer?  Was Laviolette running up the score?  Should Bylsma have smashed a stick into the Flyers' bench?).  The Flyers got worked up about it, and 5 guys flew at Vitale.  Are Engelland and Asham supposed to disengage so as not to give the impression that they were on at the end of the game to fight?

That Laviolette doesn't grasp these basic ideas raises the following question:  Is he a liar or just a bad coach?

Unfortunately, we know he's not a bad coach because the Flyers generate unlimited scoring chances against the Penguins and are much better (usually) at avoiding Meltdown-Mode under Laviolette than they were under the completely over-matched John Stevens.  Therefore, he's lying, and he knows it.  He should save his outrage for his wife and yell at her for forgetting to water his hair plugs.

- In case you missed last night's podcast, we discussed the similarities between how this Penguins team is finishing out the regular season and the 2010 Pens, who thought they could flip a switch in the playoffs and light up Montreal, only to find that they lost to Montreal. That team, if you'll recall, and we know you don't want to, also had a healthy Sid, Geno, and Staal, a suspect defense, and a shaky-looking Marc-Andre Fleury. Yes, there are significant differences between then and now.  This team has James Neal and a bionic Pascal Dupuis.  That team had Alexei Ponikarovsky.  This team has Paul Martin out of position.  That team had Sergei Gonchar in position, but unwilling to take advantage of it.  This team has Tyler Kennedy making $2 million.  That team had Tyler Kennedy making what Tyler Kennedy deserves.  That team had Chris Bourque.... Listen, we understand there are differences.  But the similarities concern us.  And if you're not concerned, you should be.

- In addition to the Pens' insistence to playing only "stick on puck" defense, their refusal to put a body on anybody and the faltering Fleury, the team has been infected by its own skill up front. A theme over the last 5 games has been top 6 forwards making blind drop passes high in the offensive zone on virtually every shift, resulting in dozens of turnovers.  Classic case of what happens when you just can't believe the other team is as good as you, which is clearly what this Penguins team believes.  They seem aggravated that they lost to the Flyers.  Not angry.  Aggravated.  One step above annoyed.  Big difference.  An angry team is dangerous.  But if you aggravate a team, maybe you get them thinking, who needs the aggravation?

[Make sure to listen to our podcast recapping Pens-Flyers]