The 8 most disappointing post-season performances
When playoffs roll around, things get different for goal scorers. They’re not stumbling into a team that just played in a city 500 miles away the night before and hasn’t thought about them until the puck dropped, they’re facing a team that’s game-planned to shut down their specific strengths.
That means they see extra strategic attention, extra physical attention, some line matching...in sum, it gets harder. Not everyone responds well.
In 2013-14, just like every year, some teams were let down by the performance of their skill guys that they expect to overcome those hardships. Below are the players who suffered the most.
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Brad Marchand - Boston Bruins
To be clear, the players on this list weren’t outright awful, they just have expectations, and were generally put in a position to succeed. That’s Marchand in a nutshell.
The skinny: 12 games played on a line with Patrice Bergeron, getting 17:37 minutes per game and...no goals? Just five points? As a guy coming off a 25 goal, 53 point year? Not good.
Some of his playoff misses were just remarkable too. They were almost harder to miss than bury.
David Krejci - Boston Bruins
The man whose post-season prowess had become the stuff of legends did some real damage to that reputation this postseason.
The skinny: Fresh off a season in which he was a point shy of 70, he tallied...zero goals and four points in 12 post-season games in almost 21 minutes of nightly ice. He had 26 points in 22 post-season games the year before.
Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins
You knew this was coming. I don’t care if his possession numbers were sparkly, or he was keyed on and shut down, you expect more from Sid. Not much debate here.
The skinny: One goal in 13 games in 21:18 a night. No points in the last three games when the Pens had the chance to bury the Rangers. Flat-out disappointing.
Mike Richards - Los Angeles Kings
I wrote about the curious decline of Mike Richards a few weeks ago, and not much has changed.
The skinny: In 13 playoff games so far, he’s fallen to the fourth line, finds himself getting 15:33 a night, and sports a proud minus five to go with his piddly three points.
Matt Moulson - Minnesota Wild
It’s not that Moulson was terrible, per se, but when you pick up a three-time 30-goal guy at the deadline for that extra offensive punch, and he scores once in 10 games, you’re not exactly thrilled by his output.
The skinny: He ended up tallying three points and only playing 15 minutes a night.
Rick Nash - New York Rangers
Here’s a guy who won Olympic gold with Canada, he’s been on a zillion all-star teams, and has a deserved reputation as a star. But he’s been offensive dog meat for the Rangers in the postseason.
The skinny: Through 14 contests he hasn’t scored, and that’s being on the powerplay and seeing 17:15 a night with good linemates. His five assists aren’t exactly breathtaking either.
Sean Couturier - Philadelphia Flyers
I’m a big fan of Couturier as a player, but DID YOU KNOW he produced slightly less than “some” offense in his seven playoff games this year? Less than “some” is “none,” by the way.
The skinny: In 19:35 a night - that’s a ton of ice time for a forward - he tallied zero and zero for zero. Thanks for comin’ out.
And finally,
James Neal - Pittsburgh Penguins
A little known secret is that Pittsburgh has other players than Crosby, and they weren’t exactly running around lighting the world on fire while he flailed.
The skinny: Neal played 18:26 a night, including PP time with some pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good hockey players, and tallied two and two for four in 13 games. This from a guy who has scored 0.50 goals per game over the past few seasons, and has been about a point-per-game guy over that time. Not good enough.