Penguins/NHL
The mindset of head coach Dan Bylsma and some of his players seems to be that the Penguins ran into a hot goaltender and that was one of the main reasons the Penguins were swept. It really wasn’t but that’s what some Penguins believe.
Bylsma in his post-game press conference called Rask the “difference” in the series and via Ken Laird, James Neal says the Penguins ran into a hot goaltender and they didn’t need to do anything different.
Some of Neal’s comments:
“I don’t know if you watched the game or not, the chances are right there to put it in the back of the net, so I don’t think we should have done anything different. When you run into a hot goalie in the playoffs, You’re asking if we’ve got to do something different, yeah, obviously, we have to put it in the back of the net”
More Neal: “Wasn’t a lack of chances. Point blank chances where their goalie came up big. You see that right at end of the game, tops it off with a glove save.”
Yes the Penguins are in denial.
Rask was great and showed excellent ability in squaring up to shooters, among the best in the league from a positional standpoint, but the Penguins didn’t make it as hard on him as they could have with the Penguins rarely providing consistent traffic in front.
