What the Blackhawks Stanley Cup Win Told Us About the Penguins

The Season Ends and the Penguins Were on the Outside
Looking in...AGAIN

Unless you live under a rock, you know that the Chicago Blackhawks are the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions.  Before I go any further, I don't want to hear any talk about how they are "fake champs" or there should be an asterisk next to their championship, because its all BS.  Sure it wasn't a full NHL season, but that doesn't take away from them being the best team the NHL produced the ENTIRE SEASON.  They won the President's Trophy (Best overall Regular Season Record in the NHL) and backed that up with a Stanley Cup Championship.  Not much to gripe about there.  The one thing I couldn't get over while watching the finals, was the fact that the Blackhawks looked at the Bruins dominating performance against the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals and certainly learned from it....for crying out loud they did the complete opposite!  Let me explain.

First, let me say that Tuuka Rask IS a great goaltender.  A lot of Penguins fans (myself included) said that the Penguins unbelievably poor offensive chances and poor shots on goal left Rask looking better than he really was/is.  I completely take that back after watching him not only in the Penguins series, but also in the Blackhawks series.  Against Chicago, Rask carried what turned into a very porous defense and kept them in several games that they had NO BUSINESS being in.  Rask lived up to the billing, and made the hockey world say "Tim Thomas who?!"

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a fancy team.  They have been since Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin started their league wide highlight reel.  They always look for that dazzling one on one move, that one extra pass, the no look / behind the back pass that sets the arena ablaze when it connects.  However, those teams rarely ever win the Stanley Cup.  Typically, its the team with talent and grit that finds a way to hoist Lord Stanley's sacred chalice.  The Blackhawks demonstrated that to a 'T'.  They had the skill, the grit, and the goaltending to keep them in many games and to win the entire series.  I'm not saying the Penguins didn't demonstrate grit and determination, but they aren't a team that is built around those traits...they are built around speed and skill.

The Blackhawks threw everything and the kitchen sink at Rask.  The Penguins in their series vs Boston tried to hit the perfect shot too often.  I realize there were games where the Pens threw a TON of shots at Rask, but at the same time, there were a lot of squandered opportunities when the Penguins shots missed the cage...not even making Rask make a save to keep it out of the back of the net.  The Blackhawks scored absolutely "dirty" goals.  Deflections, rebounds, tip ins...you name it...it wasn't pretty, but they were goals that were scored with a lot of shots, and a lot of traffic in and around the Bruins' goaltender. 

With all of this being said, what exactly did the Blackhawks victory tell us about the Penguins?  First, the Penguins lost to a really good hockey team.  Secondly, I feel that the Penguins were too slow to adjust (seems to be a growing trend under Dan Bylsma) and because of that were always one step behind...always playing catch up.  Lastly, as the Blackhawks did in the playoffs, was to show the ability to win the finesse, high flying game, and also win the close knit, gritty games.  Those are the teams that are fully prepared to win in the playoffs, and the Penguins just weren't that team this season.  The Penguins will have to sit on this failed season and the "what ifs" until October...hopefully when they return to the ice this team shows more versatility to adjust to their opponent and not always think they can dominate the play with their style.