Penguins broadcaster Bourque unloads Enough is enough

Posted by seestyle on August 4th, 2022

Phil Bourque is the color commentator on thePenguins' radio broadcast. He's also a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the team and he's not happy with the way they're playing right now.

Bourque, after Pittsburgh lost 2- Lorenzo Carter Jersey 1 to the Blue Jackets on a late shorthanded goal by Brandon Dubinsky, took them to task for Thursday'sand an overall lack of effectivene s over the last month or so.

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Some background: The Penguins are now fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They're also7-11-4 against divisional opponents, which is a problem, given that they're highly likely to face one of those in the first-round of the postseason.

The power play is a problem (scorele s in nine games and its last 19 opportunities), as is as lack of point production from Sidney Crosby (six points in nine Februarygames)and Evgeni Malkin (three in eight February games).

So, here's Bourque,:

Usually by the time I get down here from the broadcast booth, Ive kind of gathered my thoughts, gathered my emotions. Not so much tonight. I think as a Penguin fan, I think you should be ticked off tonight, because your goaltender laid it all on the line. Thats Mark Bavaro Jersey one of the best goaltending performances Ive seen in years. He was taking my breath away.

To lose the game like that, it should bother you. It should bother you a lot as a player. I dont know if anything was said in that room, but it bothers me. I take a lot of pride in working for this organization and what this organization stands for. And what I witne sed out there tonight, it was not Penguin hockey. You had a goaltender that absolutely laid every ounce of energy he had on the line, and you lose the game like that, on a shorthanded goal where he makes the save and you just dont cover up Brandon Dubinsky? That should really stick in your craw to the point where things should change after this game tonight.

Because I think enough is enough. Enough has gone on here, and everybodys kind of being patient: OK, were gonna be fine. OK, weve got Malkin, weve got Crosby, we have Letang. It should get to the point of unacceptable, whats going on the ice. Its not about working hard.

Dont get me wrong, you did some good things against Washington, but the way that you unraveled after , you end up shooting yourself in the foot. And you come back, and you dont have a great start here against a team thats clearly out of the playoffs, its frightening. In their room, theyre thinking Were going down with the ship. were going down swining. were going down and were gonna empty the tank every night. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers, they come rolling in here. and they snatch two points from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I dont know what the comments are from Kareem Martin Jersey the players, but you should feel like this is rock bottom. Just because of the way Marc-Andre Fleury played. Sids trying to fire himself up, hes trying to fire the troops up , but I dont know. In my estimation, I see too much talent and too much character on the ice and in the room for this to go on any longer than tonight.

(GM Jim Rutherford is) a guy thats more likely to pull the trigger Riley Dixon Jersey in the next few days than wait for March 2. On top of that, if you dont have that fear of being traded, you might want to start having the fear of not making the playoffs. You might think youre all nice and cozy where you are right now, but gue s what: All of a sudden, when you pick up the paper tomorrow or you go online and look at pittsburghpenguins.com or NHL.com, the Penguins are going to be in the wild-card position. Theyre No. 7 right now. And gue s what: The Boston Bruins arent that far behind, and the Florida Panthers are not that far behind. And if you continue to slide like this, I dont think you want to go into the last 15 games of the regular season going holy moley, we are two points from being out of a wild-card position. And the way things are going right now, that reality should be staring you in the face right now.

Not with that talent and what ownership has done to build a team to win now. And thats Phil McConkey Jersey the thing: I know theres a little bit of a sense (where) everyone is looking at the Metropolitan Division. Now were four games below .500 in the Metropolitan, and the teams we beat are the teams that are not in the playoffs for the most part. Youre not beating the Rangers, youre not beating the Caps, youre not even beating the Flyers for that (matter).

Theres kind of been this Dont worry. Well be fine. Dont look at the stats. Dont look at the numbers so much. Thats kind of what youre hearing. You know what, at this point, you better look at the numbers, because its a reality. Its not a small sample size anymore. Its a reality that right now, this team is not good enough, and there should be some real, real healthy fear of whats going on right now.

There's a lot to unpack here, and we'll have that opportunity over the next however many days, but it's impo sible not to agree with Bourque. The Penguins are a top-heavy team, even in a best-case scenario. They don't need puck po se sion from their top two lines they need points. And that's not coming right now.Things devolve from there, because the bottom six isn't capable of carrying the load.

Throw in the fact that they look off in a way that belies underlying numbers, and frustration on the part of guys like Bourque is beyond understandable. Things can turn around quickly talent has a way of winning out, and the Penguins, shallow as they may be, certainly have enough to make the playoffs but the last month has been undeniably ugly Markus Golden Jersey .

It should be something of a wakeup call, though; again, their succe s is predicated on points from Crosby, Malkin and the power play. If any three of thosego in the tank, things are going to get dodgy. If all three do, things are going to get worse. It's what happened during playoff lo ses to the Rangers and Bruins, and it's what happened this month.