Kennedy's struggles continue
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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Tyler Kennedy scored four goals in the Penguins' first six games, and there were rumblings -- outside the organization, anyway -- that perhaps he was miscast as a third-liner, that he might have more of an impact as a top-six winger.
You don't hear much of that talk anymore.
That's partly because Kennedy and his linemates, Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke, have been the team's most consistently effective unit this season, and the risks of separating them seem greater than any potential rewards.
But it's also because Kennedy hasn't scored a goal in his past eight games and has just one in his past 12 as the Penguins prepare to take on Buffalo at 7:08 p.m. today at HSBC Arena.
- Matchup: Penguins vs. Sabres, 7:08 p.m. today, HSBC Arena, Buffalo, N.Y.
- TV/Radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WXDX-FM (105.9).
- Galtenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Ryan Miller for Sabres.
- Penguins: Have won five of past six road games. ... Fleury is 9-1-1 in past 11 starts. ... Lead NHL with 993 hits.
- Sabres: Were 11-5-2 at home before facing Toronto last night. ... High-scoring LW Tomas Vanek had just one goal in nine games before playing Maple Leafs. ... Own 3-4 record in second game when playing on consecutive days.
- Hidden stat: Sabres have had four four-game winning streaks this season, but none that reached five.
Even on a team that doesn't have a prolific goal-scorer on the wing, that's not a terribly impressive pace.
Not that Kennedy, or any of his co-workers, seems to be terribly concerned about it.
Kennedy joked that, "you don't want to heat up right now," but, turning serious, said he believes the goals will start to come if he doesn't stray from the fundamentals of his game.
"There's nothing I can do but to keep doing what I'm doing," he said. "I'm just trying to work hard and shoot as much as I can."
Assistant coach Tony Granato, who oversees the Penguins' forwards, scored 248 goals in the NHL and realized along the way that slumps and hot streaks are inevitable.
"No matter who you are, you're going to go through parts of the season where it goes in for you, where things bounces your way," he said. "But he's working his rear end off, playing sound defensively, getting his opportunities."
Kennedy's strong start was short-circuited 11 games into the season, when he suffered a groin injury that forced him to sit out 14 of the next 15 games.
He downplayed the impact of that injury on his goal-scoring drought, noting that he got one in his first game back -- "[The injury] probably didn't help, but I don't know that it threw me out of my rhythm" -- but Granato believes it had to affect Kennedy.
"You get a little bit of an injury, and it sets you back," he said. "And that injury was different because it kept him off the ice for a little while.
"It's not that you're starting over, but to get the feel and to get rolling again, sometimes it takes a little bit of time."
Kennedy, who is sporting a clunky-looking brace on his left knee, said he is trying to avoid focusing on his dry spell because that probably would do nothing but perpetuate it.
"I want to get scoring, but it's not really affecting me," he said. "I'm not thinking about it. The more you think about it, the more you don't score."
Staal, however, said he thinks Kennedy is pushing harder than usual to get a goal, even if he's not aware of it.
"He's pressing right now," Staal said. "He's a guy who plays 100 miles an hour, and when he's pressing, too, it's tough for him to keep his mind on the right things. Once he gets that first one he'll settle down."
When asked if there's anything his linemates can do to help break his slump, Kennedy smiled and said, "Give me a tap-in."
Staal, though, suggested he and Cooke inadvertently might be contributing to Kennedy's dry spell by overloading him with information.
"[Cooke] and I have been talking too much to him," he said. "We have to just kind of let him play. I think he's thinking a little too much out there, trying to do the right things, instead of just keeping it simple and trying to get open. We can do a better job of that."
Things had better work out with this set of linemates, because there's no reason to believe Kennedy (or Cooke or Staal, for that matter) will be getting new ones.
"I think they're going really good as a line, playing really solid defensively," Granato said. "They're doing their job, playing their role."
That includes scoring an occasional goal, which Granato is convinced Kennedy will resume doing soon enough.
"The production will come from him," he said, "as soon as he gets one."
First Published December 19, 2009 12:00 am
