Switch to forward gets Engelland into lineup
PITTSBURGH — Playing forward may not be defenseman Deryk Engelland’s preference, but he’s smart enough to know a temporary switch will get him in the lineup.
Engelland played up front the other night in Philadelphia, an experiment that may extend beyond that trial.
The Penguins are loaded on defense, a surplus that has kept Engelland sitting through the early part of this season.
They could use some help at the bottom of the depth chart at forward. They can also use some muscle when they’re playing tough games, like against the Flyers in Philadelphia.
Those circumstances combined to make Engelland an ideal fit at forward. He wasn’t going to bump any of the established defensemen out of the lineup, but he could contribute at forward.
On the fourth line, the Penguins aren’t looking for anything spectacular. They want a checking line that thinks defense first. That should be easy enough for Engelland, given that he’s a defenseman by trade.
So all he has to do is play a responsible game, and he’ll get some ice time.
This plan could work well against other teams where the game is expected to be rough. Engelland is a willing and accomplished fighter. He made his reputation two seasons ago, and that has limited the number of opponents anxious to confront him.
By putting him at forward, the Penguins get some insurance against physical play, and Engelland gets a chance to crack the lineup.
Seems like a win-win situation for all concerned.
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Odd to see the Flyers struggling like they have been.
They’re off to a 1-7 start, locked in the basement of the new Metropolitan Division. This comes after the Flyers missed the playoffs last season.
Coach Peter Laviolette was fired after just three games, replaced by assistant Craig Berube. So, the Flyers have already played that card.
They’re used to a higher standard in Philadelphia. The Penguins are used to seeing more from the Flyers, too.
Since the two teams came into the league in the 1967 expansion, the Flyers have been the Penguins’ biggest rival.
It’s been heated over the years. For a long time, the Flyers held a substantial edge. The Penguins went more than a decade without winning a game in Philadelphia. Things have turned in recent years, the Flyers’ playoff series win two years ago notwithstanding.
The Flyers seem to have lost their way. There’s still plenty of time in this long season to turn things around, but that doesn’t seem imminent in Philadelphia.
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The game in Philadelphia interrupted a stretch of games against Western Conference opponents.
It’s good to see teams from the west back on the schedule after last season’s shortened schedule wiped out interconference games.
The idea behind the new schedule policy was to allow fans to see every opponent. Before, teams would sometimes go two years without visiting some cities.
That was probably a bigger issue in other cities than it was in Pittsburgh. A lot of fans in Western Conference cities were disappointed they didn’t get to see the Penguins with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
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A fond farewell to longtime KDKA radio sportscaster Marvin “Goose” Goslin, who died suddenly last weekend at 64.
Goslin was one of the few media people who had a passion for hockey before Mario Lemieux arrived in town and made the Penguins fashionable.
The eccentric Goslin would schedule mid-winter vacations to places like Chicoutimi and Cornwall so he could catch a cluster of junior hockey games. He even published and marketed an NHL draft guide for a few years.
He failed to become the hockey version of Mel Kiper, though. He contented himself with hosting the pregame shows in the years the Penguins broadcasts were on KDKA.
Goslin was an accomplished singer and frequently performed the National Anthems before games. He handled that task with great enthusiasm, even learning the French words to “O Canada” for the nights when the Montreal Canadiens visited.
He was a character who enlivened the hockey scene in his 20-plus years of reporting for KQV and KDKA.
Condolences to his family and friends.
John Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com.