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Struggling Penguins Profess ‘General Sense of Calm and Poise’
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- Struggling Penguins Profess ‘General Sense of Calm and Poise’
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
They say that overcoming adversity can make you stronger, but it sure does stink while you're going through it. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in that headspace, but they are pointing to a few forms of motivation that might get them out of their funk.
For one thing, their disastrous five-game homestand (0-2-3 with multiple blown third-period leads) is over. They flew out Wednesday for a two-game trip to Ottawa and Montreal .
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For another, this is the team's dad's trip. Having a contingent of fathers of players and staffers along on the road could help to boost psyches and keep players at their best. Who wants to allow another late-game letdown with the dads there watching?
One other thing the Penguins point to is what they describe as resilience and belief in themselves.
"Pretty well," defenseman Parker Wotherspoon said Wednesday after practice of the team's ability to handle ups and downs. "We've got a good leadership group. Things like this are going to happen. Whole seasons are usually up and down. We're just going to try to be more consistent.
"We're still a positive group."
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After practice Wednesday, the players were quick to exit the locker room at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. It didn't seem that they were trying to duck reporters' questions. It didn't seem that they were carrying the weight of the historically bad homestand and trying to skulk away. And while they had a flight to catch, time wasn't so tight that they had to hurry.
It probably had more to do with wanting to meet up with and hang out more with their dads, who attended the pre-practice film sessions and meetings with the team and were ready to head to the airport with their sons.
"It's been a difficult past week and a little bit of a tough stretch. I think the timing couldn't be better," Penguins coach Dan Muse said of the dad's trip.
Beyond the boost from the dads, the players insist they are built to be able to turn the page from letdowns over the past five games that seemed to be related more to mistakes and mindset than to talent or scheme. After all, the Penguins don't have to look back too far to remember when things were better. They took five of a possible six points during a three-game road stretch and were 4-1-1 before the homestand from hell.
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Even the youngest player on the team is predicting better days ahead, and soon.
"It's going to happen throughout the season," said 18-year-old forward Ben Kindel . "It's a long year. There's going to be ups and downs, so just sticking with it and trust the process.
"Nobody's panicking. There's a general sense of calm and poise. It's going to help make us stronger as a team, I think. We're going to get out of this little slump, and it will help us in the future."
That doesn't make the present any more palatable. As noted, it's highly unpleasant when you're in the muck.
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"Yeah, definitely, but it's a great feeling to go through with your teammates coming out of it," forward Connor Dewar said. "You feel better for it. By the time you get through it, you really learn something with the group, and you have something to look back on should you run into more adversity."
The Penguins can only hope any further bouts of adversity don't come in the form of anything as frustrating as the recent home stretch.
"Sometimes those homestands don't go the way you want, but I think we've got a good mindset going into Ottawa," Wotherspoon said. "It will be good, too, (having) our dads are on the trip, bring a good spark there."
The post Struggling Penguins Profess 'General Sense of Calm and Poise' appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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