Shoot-Outs
A confession. During the regular season, I like four-on-four overtime. I’m not a huge fan of the shootout, but I’ll deal with it (if it’s good enough for the Olympics, I’ll cope in the NHL regular season). As a fan who grew up watching an offensive juggernaut, I like to watch teams play to win (instead of not to lose), and when teams go all out for the win in overtime, well, I appreciate that aspect of the game.

However, looking at the Pens’ record right now, I might venture to say that it might be shootout losses that cause the team to miss the playoffs this year (granted, there would be a myriad of other reasons why the team might miss the playoffs as well). Seriously, how many more points would the Pens have if they had won those games (particularly against division rivals) that ended in a shootout?

My brother said last year that he didn’t understand how the Pens were so bad in shootouts—Fleury was a goaltender who could stop the puck, and well, we had players who should be able to put the puck in the net.

Anyhow, I’m not sure that I know of any quick fix. Shootouts may continue to be a problem for the Pens, a problem that doesn’t appear to make logical sense. (The nerves of young players might make some sense, but not enough to me.) What really needs to happen is that the Pens don’t get to the point where they have to go to shootouts; they learn how to win games in regulation and overtime so they don’t have to bemoan those missed points from shootout losses.

But, of course, for the team to get that point, well, what’s that saying I’m going to have to keep repeating?

Oh, yes. Patience is a virtue.


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