Penguins Get Offensive

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).