It ain’t supposed to happen. Not in today’s National Hockey League. One dominated by gargantuan goalies in oversized pads who take away the bottom half of the net simply by dropping to their knees.
Our Pittsburgh Penguins have been positively offensive. I’m not referring to on-ice behavior (fourth fewest penalty minutes in the league). I’m talkin’ production.
Indeed, the Pens’ 6-2 shelling of Metro Division rival Philadelphia on Sunday marked the fourth game in a row the black and gold has scored five goals or more. Throw in a six-goal outbreak against Washington on March 20 and a seven-goal assault on Detroit six days later?
That makes 37 goals in their past eight games, including the shutout loss inflicted by New Jersey following a four-day layoff. An incendiary average of 4.6 goals per game.
Given the Pens’ history of offensive excellence, I decided to scour the record books for similar outbursts. The star-crossed 1974-75 squad tallied 54 goals over a nine-game stretch in March of ’75, including a 12-goal explosion against the then-expansion Capitals.
Paced by a streaking Mario Lemieux, the locals piled up 50 goals over their final eight games in ’92-93. Loaded with Hall-of-Fame talent, the previous year’s Cup winners struck for 55 goals during eight games in December ’91—achieving double-figure output twice. In ’88-89 the Lemieux-led Pens opened the season with a 49-goal rampage in their first eight games.
While our current hot-streak doesn’t quite stack up to these epic eruptions, it was a decidedly different game back then. Wide open. Far less back pressure. Five-foot-eight-inch goalies clad in skinny brown pads stuffed with horse hair playing a stand-up style.
Nor does it diminish what our present-day Pens have accomplished. Especially with superstar Evgeni Malkin on the shelf.
Everybody’s chipping in. Phil Kessel leads the charge with five goals during the eight-game span. Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Eric Fehr, Patric Hornqvist, Carl Hagelin and Tom Kuhnhackl have three each. Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, and Kris Letang two apiece. Seven other players—including rookies Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary and Oskar Sundqvist—have tallied a goal.
Talk about balance.
It’s a far cry from the not-too-distant past when the club relied heavily—too heavily—on stars like Crosby and Malkin to do all the scoring.
Talk about a turnaround.
In 28 games under former coach Mike Johnston this season, the Pens notched a paltry 68 goals—an output of 2.43 goals per game. They ranked 27th out of 30 teams in production.
Since Mike Sullivan took over? Our boys have turned from languid to lethal. They’ve lit the lamp 167 times in 51 games (3.27 goals per game) and zoomed all the way up to third on the NHL scoring ladder.
A big reason why the Pens figure to be a dangerous foe in the upcoming playoffs.
Murray Named Third Star of the Week
Penguins rookie Matt Murray was named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week, the team announced today.
The rangy 21-year-old goalie posted a 1.95 goals-against average and three wins, including a shutout victory over the Islanders on Saturday while filing in for injured starter Marc-Andre Fleury. Murray’s 24-save effort helped the black and gold clinch their 10th consecutive playoff berth.
For the season, No. 30 owns a sparkling 7-2-1 record. The native of Thunder Bay, Ontario leads the Pens in goals against average (1.88) and save percentage (.933).
Go pens make it 7 tonight.
Hi Rick,
Balance…That to me is the biggest difference of this year’s version of the Pens and previous years.To be brutally frank,the reason we are 11 and 1 in the past 12 games is the great play of and the timely goal scoring from the second,third and fourth lines and 3rd,4th.5th,6th and 7 th d men. Not that Letang and Crosby have not been spectacular in their play,but when Crosby and Letang’s combined annual salary approaches 20 million in actual paid dollars to the respective players,you kind expect these results at this time of year from your star players.But most of the others,Fehr and Cole earn appx. 2 million annual salary,Bonino 1.9 million,Tommy K. and Bryan Rust, Connor Sheary,Oscar S., all around 600k,Matt Cullen at 700 k, Matt Murray,Derrick Pouliot and Brian D. around 800k,…There are a lot of different people scoring and contributing big minutes for the Pen’s who do not make big money,but whose contribution are critical for the Pen’s continued success.Without them,we would not be playing in the play-offs next week.
Yes Kunitz, Hagelin, Daley, Hornqvist are all making appx. 4 million annually. Kessel is at 6.8 million annually as well and they have all played spectacular hockey for the Pens this past 3 month’s,however it is the play of the “underdogs” mentioned above who have really made the difference to me.
Question Rick? What do you do when Geno comes back and where do you play him? For me, and I am no Mike Sullivan ,I would play the following.
Line 1.. Crosby, with Hornqvist and Sheary. Line 2.. Bonino with Hagelin and Kessel,( Do not disturb a good thing). Line 3.. Cullen with Fehr and Kuhnhackl,(Do not disturb another good thing)
Line 4. Malkin.. Bennett and Kunitz ( Geno and Chris played well together before). Put Bryan Rust in for Bennett from time to time or move Bennett up to Sid’s line and take out Sheary if his play dictates it.
Roll all four lines equally. Line numbers do not mean a thing come play off time. Chicago did it this way for years. So did the King’s.
Plus alternate MAF and Matt Murray when MAF returns.This kid’s earned it. He is just like a young Ken Dryden when he came into the league. Kool demeanor. Nothing bother’s him.He is the real deal.This is not a knock on MAF. Murray is just that good !
Your thoughts Rick ?
Boy, Jim. You asked the million-dollar question. What to do when Malkin comes back?
I like your solutions. I, too, think you leave the Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel line intact. At least initially. To digress, Mike Necciai, an excellent and insightful writer from another blog, suggested very early in the season that Kessel be given his own line. I remember thinking at the time that it was counterintuitive.
Turns out, Mike was right. The more Kessel has the puck and gets to create, the better he is. As a general rule, that’s not going to happen if he skates beside Geno, who also commands the puck.
I also like the Cullen-Kuhnhackl-Fehr trio. Sheary with Crosby (and Hornqvist) could be intriguing. I love Sheary’s tenacity and ability to make plays off the wall. The kid’s got great instincts, too.
That leaves Kunitz and Rust for Malkin (Bennett’s my odd man out—sorry Beau). The only rub…Rust needs the puck, too.
Maybe you stick with the traditional Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist unit and give Geno the kids…Sheary and Rust. Might create a ton of chances…but give up a ton, too.
I guess I don’t really have an answer. But it’ll be interesting to see what Sullivan comes up with. At this stage, I have complete faith in his judgment.
Regarding the goaltending, I think very highly of Murray, too. He doesn’t have Fleury’s flexibility and athleticism—nobody does. But he’s very cool and composed. (Nice comparison to Dryden.) On rare occasions when things don’t go well (the first period of the recent Buffalo game) he doesn’t get rattled. And he’s good at absorbing the puck and not allowing rebounds. A Fleury shortcoming from way back.
All a moot point, I’m afraid. If Fleury’s healthy, I’m sure the Pens will ride him. I don’t think we’ll see Murray unless Flower gets hurt or struggles the way he did back in ’13.