The Penguins went into the season preaching a message of patience with their promising young players.
Their patience has just expired.
The new message: Grow up!
With top guns Mario Lemieux, Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev nursing long-term injuries, the team's younger players must respond. Potential doesn't cut it anymore.
"In our business, you're always looking for your break," said veteran winger Stephane Richer. "This is their chance."
Are they up to it?
"Well, we're going to find out quickly," coach Rick Kehoe said. "We have confidence in those guys. Now, they have to show us they can do the job."
It's likely that Aleksey Morozov, Milan Kraft, Jan Hrdina, Toby Petersen, Kris Beech and Billy Tibbetts - all of whom have skills - will see their ice time shoot up like a red-hot thermometer.
Tibbetts was expected to be recalled from the minors Monday. The other five have combined for just six goals.
It's time to produce.
"We're going to be put in a lot of situations," Petersen said. "I think it's just a great opportunity. It's unfortunate the way we're getting it. You never want to get the opportunity this way, but that's the game. Guys get injured all the time. We just have to make the most of it."
Morozov, Hrdina and defenseman Michal Rozsival practiced with the first-team power play yesterday. That was a sign of how suddenly things have changed - and how much new responsibility is on the young players' shoulders.
Defenseman Andrew Ference found himself in a similar position going into last year's playoffs at the ripe, old age of 21. Ference looks at the young forwards on the team and sees a little bit of himself.
"It's not 'just along for the ride' anymore," Ference said. "First 10 games, there you go. You learn the ropes, and now it's time to perform on an NHL level. The honeymoon is pretty short-lived when you're in the NHL, and it's even more true when you have to step in for guys who are hurt.
"It's a quick lesson, and you're going to find out the character now."
Morozov, 24, has been longing for a real opportunity on the top two lines. Cast mostly as third-liner, he has five goals in his past 76 regular-season games.
"A guy like Aleksey, in all honesty, it's the good break that he's been waiting for all his career," defenseman Ian Moran said. "We're going to need him to really step up and play offensively and really contribute and be a go-to guy."
Morozov is looking forward the increased playing time, but he isn't making any guarantees other than that he'll do his best.
"It's not easy to put the puck in the net in this league," he said. "The players are the best in the world, and the goalies are the best."
The younger players must remember to play within their limits and not try to duplicate the artistry of Lemieux, Kovalev and Straka.
"No one's going to be them," Beech said.
Added Petersen: "If we're trying to be someone we're not, we're not going to have much success. We have to stick to our strengths and what we're good at."
It's hard to find positives in all this, but Moran might have hit on one when he said, "Down the road, at the end of the year, we're going to have guys who are used to playing at critical times and in critical games."
The Penguins can only hope they'll have some critical games left to play when April rolls around. The young fellas will have something to say about that.
