If you ask Sidney Crosby about what happened last night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, the Pittsburgh Penguins were a bit like Homer when he fell in the tar pit.
First, I’ll just reach in and pull my legs out...now I’ll pull my arms out with my face.
OK, so Crosby didn’t actually reference that episode, but he did say the Pens made it harder on themselves once the Bruins took the early lead.
“We got behind and tried to force things and ended up making it worse,” he said. “Definitely can’t be doing that and making mistakes.”
While it appeared the Penguins had no answers last night, Crosby doesn’t believe the Pens need to significantly alter their strategy as the series shifts to Boston for Games 3 and 4.
“I don’t think it’s anything to do with X’s and O’s,” he said. “We just didn’t execute. That’s really what it came down to, and unfortunately we didn’t give ourselves much of a chance to win that game. We understand that. But it’s over now and we’ve got to find a way to win Game 3.”
He added: “They’re a team who’s going to kind of wait for your mistakes, and I think we’ve made a little bit too many with the ones we’ve made. I think we can just be a little bit more patient in our game.”
Crosby’s remarks echo those of head coach Dan Bylsma, who said the Penguins “deviated from the game plan” once they fell behind on the scoreboard.
“We have to get back to the mindset that’s been successful for our team and how we played defending,” said Bylsma, “keeping the puck out of our net, and playing games which we’ve been very good at all year long through very good stretches of hockey and get back to that.”