It’s safe to say last night’s 3-1 victory at KeyBank Center in Buffalo was a bit of a mixed bag for our Penguins.
On the good news side of the ledger, our guys moved into second place in the Metro Division and clinched their eleventh-straight playoff berth.
The bad news? Jake Guentzel, hotter than a proverbial Fourth of July firecracker, suffered a concussion when he was flattened in the first period on a blindside check by mammoth Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Well away from the puck.
Nor did linemate Sidney Crosby escape unscathed. The black-and-gold captain was waylaid by Buffalo forward Evander Kane just as he prepared to score into an empty net, costing him a goal and a tooth.
The injury to Guentzel? Particularly galling. Including the Pens’ previous victory over the Sabres on March 5, the scrappy rookie had collected four goals and six assists over a nine-game span, while displaying near telepathic chemistry with Crosby and Conor Sheary.
“We’re hopeful it won’t be an extended period of time,” coach Mike Sullivan said, commenting on Jake’s anticipated absence. “But we’ll wait and see.”
Displaying their trademark R & R (resilience and resolve) the Pens closed ranks and kept pluggin’. Sparked, no doubt, by a sensational power-play goal by Crosby mere seconds before the first-period horn.
In one of those seminal moments that have defined his career, Sid took a drop pass from Justin Schultz deep in his zone and raced through the neutral zone. Accelerating as he crossed the Buffalo blue line, Crosby spied an opening and split four defenders with an extra burst of speed.
Coiled in a panther-like crouch, No. 87 fended off defenseman Zach Bogosian with his left arm while shoveling the puck on net one-handed. The rubber sailed over goalie Robin Lehner’s outstretched glove.
The Sabres were stunned. So were Sid’s teammates.
“That’s a play that everyone messes around doing in practice, and he does it in games,” Nick Bonino said. “The sea parted for him there, only 15 seconds left, he turned it on and that’s a huge goal at the end of a period.”
Speaking of turning it on. “Bones” struck for his sixth goal in the past eight games at 14:31 of the third period on a busted play to break a tense 1-1 tie.
Making like injured teammate Kris Letang, Ian Cole grabbed a short pass from Tom Kuhnhackl and flew into the Sabres’ end. Cole tried to feed Patric Hornqvist cruising down the right side, but the puck hit the stick of defenseman Brady Austin and bounded back to the left faceoff dot.
Alertly trailing the play in Franco Harris, Immaculate Reception fashion, Bonino scooped up the loose change and rifled it over Lehner’s shoulder for his 15th goal of the season.
Sheary was next in line for a little puck luck. Stoned by Lehner on an early breakaway, the sparkplug winger pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone, sped past veteran Josh Georges, and unleashed a shot from a sharp angle. The rubber kicked off Lehner’s pads and onto the stick blade of onrushing backchecker Zemgus Girgensons, who inadvertently steered it home.
Crosby’s dental misfortunes aside, the Pens closed out the win without further injury or incident.
Puckpourri
Pens goalie Matt Murray returned to form last night, stopping 29 of 30 shots to earn his 28th win of the season. Buffalo’s Sam Reinhart foiled his shutout bid on a sharp-angle shot at 2:09 of the third period.
Frank Corrado made his black-and-gold debut last night. Acquired at the trade deadline, the 23-year-old defenseman skated 14 shifts (9:01 TOI), registered a hit and finished a minus-1. Corrado replaced Derrick Pouliot, who returned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Injured right wing Bryan Rust has resumed skating. No word on when he’ll return.
In addition to Guentzel, Tom Sestito joined the long list of wounded Pens. The heavyweight forward sat out last night with an upper-body injury. His spot was filled by Oskar Sundqvist.
The Pens outshot the Sabres, 35-30. Buffalo won 58 percent of the faceoffs.
Hey Rick
FYI Watching Pens and SENS game on HNIC.
They just announced that Ian Cole has played the most minutes this season of all Pens players.
Due to injuries.
Ian Cole…Who would have thought?
Hey Jim,
I was adding my latest feature to PP, and I saw a preview of your post. It cut off after “They just announced that Ian Cole…”
Dear Lord, I thought you were going to tell me he was injured … 🙁
Thank goodness that wasn’t the case … 🙂
Rick
Hey everyone,
An update from the NHL web site;
“NEW YORK – Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has been suspended for three games, without pay, for interference against Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel during NHL Game No. 1076 in Buffalo on Tuesday, March 21, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.
The incident occurred at 8:46 of the first period. Ristolainen was assessed a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Ristolainen will forfeit $90,000.00. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.”
Hey Coach
That is a step in the right direction.
90 k is large speeding ticket, no matter who u are.
Hope others take notice.
Agreed Jim
Hey all.
Great thing about hockey is when you think you just
got everything figured out…surprise !!
Toronto beat Columbus tonight 5 to 2 .When I was predicting what was going to happen come the end of regular season I had CBJ beating Toronto… very nice surprise for us.So we are firmly ..haha..number 2 at 101 points and CBJ are 100.
And their next opponent is Washington. We have Ottawa.
Plus NYI beat NYR and then NYR goes out to face LA and the California bunch.Plus they have played 92 more games than us.
Nice surprise indeed.
Sorry typo
2 more games
Hey Rick, Mike, Jim, et al,
I agree with you Rick that the Ristolainen didn’t add a shoulder or elbow into the hit, but since the puck never got to Guentzel and Ristolainen saw that it was never going to reach Guentzel and still hit him the hit was dirty and deserves a suspension. Add to the fact that as you noted Rick, Ristolainen did appear to speed up at the point of impact. He clearly was looking to physically punish a player who was not in possession of the puck and therefore in all fairness deserves a severe suspension, regardless of whether or not it is a first offense. The hit was illegal (no puck possesion), premeditated (hit was lined up and with plenty of time to avoid contact), and delivered with malice (hop step at impact).
Kane’s stick swinging hit on Crosby; the puck was bouncing and Crosby didn’t look like he was going to score from the slow motion view. At some point I may have to look up the rules. I have to wonder if Crosby should have been awarded that goal. I am wonering about the wording, does it say the ref can decide if he feels the player is going to score (puck not bouncing/player able to handle the pass)? Regardless the Pens should have really tried to score a 4th goal. Kane’s attack was dirty and deserved getting his face rubbed in it.
One last discussion about Buf and their dirty play; let’s not forget the stick swinging that sent Kuhnhackl off the ice bleeding. Even though the Sabres got away with that one, the team has serious problems, even if one assumes that all three seriously dangerous plays were careless rather than intentional attempts to injure it demonstrates a problem within the culture of Buffalo that must be addressed. There should be serious consequences against Ristolainen but also Bylsma and the organization itself. Players are a reflection their coach and organiztion. Even if the players are just careless the Coach and Org need to be held accountable for not training their players to be less dangerous.
The last thing I am going to say is, I am so sorry I watched the game.
Go ahead and ask me why.
Oh so you want to know why, because the 21 shot against performance the previous game appears to have been an anomaly. Only in the second period did the team look good. Yes offensively the Pens were swarming in the first period but so were the Sabres. If it wasn’t for Murray the Pens lose that game.
Okay I am descending my soap box.
Hey Other Rick,
You brought up a really good point. I was so intent on watching Ristolainen’s actions leading up to the hit, I forgot that Guentzel never had the puck.
I went back and watched the video one more time. Crosby was alongside the faceoff circle when he passed the puck up the boards, with Guentzel obviously the intended recipient. But Girgensons skated in to break up the pass, just as Jake reached the Pens’ blue line and was flattened by Ristolainen.
Going by the game clock, it took less than a second for the latter part of the sequence to play out.
Had Girgensons not disrupted the pass, the puck and Ristolainen would’ve arrived simultaneously. I’m sure that’s what the big defenseman was anticipating when he initiated the hit. He was probably so fixed on Guentzel, that he didn’t notice the pass being picked off.
I’m not defending Ristolainen. And I’m certainly not happy that Guentzel was hurt. Heaven forbid, seriously.
But, again, the reaction time on some of these hits is virtually nil.
Rick
PS–I wasn’t pleased with Kane’s high stick on Crosby, either. To me, that was a sneaky/dirty play. I was, however, extremely impressed with Sid’s response. He brushed it off like nothing happened (I would’ve been having a meltdown).
We forget…he suffered a serious facial/mouth injury a few years back (resulting in lots of oral surgery) when he was hit by a Brooks Orpik slap shot.
Talk about mentally tough.
I have not rewatched the play, however, in real time, I knew the puck wasn’t getting long before the play was broken up and so it appeared to me that Ristolainen. It looked like started to turn his back to the play in an attempt to make his interference look accidental. I don’t think that he thought it through and wanted to knock Guentzel out of the game.
However, Guentzel was flying as was the entire line. So, I do think that Ristolainen with premeditation saw the opportunity to hit Guentzel and try to physically shake him up to slow him down. I do think there was an attempt to intimidate and that attempt went too far. So I do think Ristolainen deserves a severe suspension. He knew, barring a miracle, the puck was never getting through to Guentzel and still hit him.
Hey Other Rick,
I have no doubt Ristolainen was trying to send a physical message. If I’m a 6’4″ 219-pound defenseman, that’s what I’d try to do against the Pens. And, as you pointed out, with Guentzel going great guns, I’d try to target him.
I watched the video one more time. By the time Girgensons had disrupted Crosby’s pass, Ristolainen had already committed to the hit. As you noted, he’d turned his back to Guentzel in an odd, butt-first fashion. Kind of like he was setting up for a hip check, but not exactly.
Even though he was backing in and his head was turned slightly, Ristolainen’s focus (and vision) clearly were locked onto Guentzel. No question he intended to hit Jake, hard.
He didn’t seem to care whether Guentzel saw him coming or not. Which I guess, when I take a moment to ponder it, does make it a dirty hit.
Rick
Hey Rick
This is going to have to be one we disagree on. I have watched the replay a couple of times now and what I saw boarders on charging as well. Watching the replay on NHL.com it frst appears as a legal hit because the video is streaming faster than even real time on my computer. As the video progresses and I watch the hit several more ti mes and from different angles and starting at different points in the action it appear to me that Ristolainen watches the puck get intercepted then takes two strides before gliding into Guentzel.
From what I saw this was a deliberate hit outside the rules of hockey. Ristolainen had seen the puck would never reach Guentzel and instead of pulling up or even going in to support the counter-attack he deliberately took two more strides to deliver a hit on a player who had his head down. One more stride and although he was skating backwards, by definition, would have been charging as well as interference.
I stand by what I first said, Ristolainen deserves a severe suspension for the hit and with 3 plays well outside the rules of hockey taken by the Sabres the Coach and Team show at the very least an unsportsmanlike disregard for opposing player safety and should share somehow in the consequences handed down.
Hi Rick,
I hated seeing Sid take that stick to the mouth – a cheap shot if there ever was one. But like you, I was really impressed with the way Sid handled it. And as I recall, that penalty occurred with less than a minute and a half remaining. I thought it was a courageous statement when he took a shift on that final power play. (Of course I’m sure he’d have loved to score a goal and, as Other Rick said, rub Kane’s face in it.)
I sure hope Jake’s ok – what a vicious hit.
Jayelene
Hello Jayelene,
I, too, thought Sid showed a lot of heart when he took the ice on the power play at the end of the game. He nearly scored, too.
I was watching him as the camera followed him after the final buzzer. And he was just as cool and stoic as could be. He stood by the door to the bench and gave guys a little pat as they went by.
Knock out a couple of my teeth, and I would’ve been totally distraught. Not Sid.
Sure hope Guentzel’s concussion isn’t too serious, and that he’s not out for too long. Especially with Malkin out, he and Sid and Sheary had emerged as our driving force.
Rick
Keep it up Coach !! That is why this site exists. Needs knowledgeable and passionate people to really make it work. Please do not put the soap box away just yet. 🙂
Goodnight.
PS: In my previous post I did a reference to the most recent information concerning high speed head shots and the long term affects to the body.
It really is sobering when you realize the force of someone on skates being “Head Checked” and the damage it causes. University of Toronto and several excellent US medical schools are discovering many new things about long term affects of head trauma in the NFL and NHL.
What I did not realize was that hockey players, because of the speed on their skates actually do more damage to each other than two 300 pound football players tackling each other.It does not seem possible, but statistics show this to be true. So that is why I said that based on new medical evidence the NHLPA / NHL have to get serious about concussions.
As you know Coach I am a ardent fan of tough, clean, physical hockey play.
Hey Jim,
Great stuff. Very enlightening.
I am right there with you Jim, hockey is a tough physical sport even when played clean, it doesn’t need false bravado of dirty play to make it tough.
Also, it doesn’t surprise me that hockey players hit harder. Basic laws of physics dictate that the mass involved in the force of impact is only a small part of the equation but since acceleration is squared it becomes a much greater factor so that since speeds are much greater on skates, force of impact is greater.
Rick
I guess its okay to take a guy out if you can play a little
Hockey (Rasmus Ristolainen) – Its also troubling not one
Penguin went after him. Zero comparison to the hit
Sestito put on the Jets Defenseman. Cant wait to see
the length of his suspension.
No telling how long Guentzel will be out. This one really
stinks.
Hey Mike,
I must confess, I didn’t see the hit live. By the time I got to the TV to watch the replay, Guentzel had already hit the deck a second time after trying to regain his skates.
After I read your post, I watched a video of the incident on YouTube. Here’s my take.
I honestly don’t think Ristolainen was trying to hurt Guentzel. But after studying the video a second time, I think he definitely meant to follow through on his check.
The best view I saw was from Ristolainen’s angle. As he lined Guentzel up, the Pens’ winger clearly had his head turned in the other direction. Ristolainen appears to be looking right at Jake, so he must’ve known that Guentzel didn’t see him coming.
Let’s stop here for a second. There’s an old adage in hockey that says keep your head up at all times. Guentzel certainly violated that time-honored bit of wisdom.
To digress, I’ve heard guys dismiss the brutal (and, ultimately, career-shortening) Darius Kasparaitis and Scott Stevens hits on Eric Lindros by saying the former Philly star failed to keep his head up.
Still, Guentzel could hardly be faulted for trying to locate the puck.
Okay let’s proceed. To my eye, Ristolainen didn’t show any signs of pulling up. In fact, he seemed to speed up a touch at the last second, just as Guentzel turned to face him. Although he didn’t appear to put an elbow, shoulder or forearm into the check, Ristolainen did seem to take a little hop step at the point of impact.
By all appearances, an intentional, ill-conceived but not overly malicious hit.
You mentioned the recent Sestito hit on Toby Enstrom. A fair comparison, to be sure, but a little different in my mind. As Sestito bore down on Enstrom, they appeared to make eye contact. Which, I guess, to a hockey player means, “He sees me coming, so he’s fair game.”
Then Enstrom turned away, into the boards. Far too late for Sestito to pull up.
Frankly, of the two hits, I thought there was more intent on Sestito’s part to deliver a punishing check. I think Ristolainen was just making a physical play to take the body. But he showed extremely poor judgment in following through. Especially with Jake in such an awkward and vulnerable position.
The fact that, in each case, the perpetrator dwarfed the intended target sure didn’t help.
Not to sound like an apologist, but the timing is so tight on some of these hits. Guys have a nanosecond to decide on whether or not to follow through. As phenomenally athletic as they are, they’re only human.
Regarding the Pens’ lack of pushback, I must be getting old (note grey-haired geezer in my new by-line photo). I was more concerned with Guentzel’s well-being than extracting a pound of flesh.
Had the hit itself been dirtier…with a high stick or an elbow…I probably would’ve been more upset.
Agree that we can ill-afford to lose Guentzel for any length of time. This kid’s a PLAYER.
Rick
Rick
The phrase they use in hockey for keeping your
head up is when your carrying the puck – in this
instance Guentzel was no where near the puck
and that’s the reason Ristolainen received an
interference call (5) min major. If Guentzel had
been in control of the puck I would defiantly have
a different take on the hit. Guentzel wasn’t in
possession of the puck but looking back to locate
it. This was a cheap hit on a vulnerable player and
i believe he should be suspended.
Hey Mike,
The more I view video of the hit, the more I agree.
I don’t think the hit itself was all that flagrant, which is where I initially got hung up. And I do think Ristolainen was anticipating that Guentzel would have the puck by the time he arrived. He’d already committed to the hit when Girgensons disrupted Crosby’s pass. Pretty tough to pull up at that stage.
However, Ristolainen was eyeing Guentzel all the way and had to see that Jake was facing in the other direction (thus vulnerable and defenseless). To me, that makes it a dirty hit.
Rick
Hey Mike,
This is kind of related to your pushback comment.
We’ll never know the answer. But I wonder if Ristolainen refrains from making that hit had Tom Sestito (injured) been able to play.
Rick
Rick
Great point. I do know this Sestito is a great team player and I don’t think he’ll forget the hit on Guentzel anytime
soon !! “Payback is a bitch” !!
See last pos t Rick .I was typing while u were composing this post.Needless to say I am not pleased with the hit to Jake.